Yeah, you don't go from multiple wooden spoons and a 2 win season to ruthless overnight. Hawks success came a long time after their line in the sand game. We're heading in the right direction though

The difference is we played above ourselves in 2017. We couldn’t have played any better. This year we have plenty of progress still to make.

Agree, but we haven't had our line in the sand game yet. If we're going to get slaughtered each week by the umps, which we seem to (is that my Blues glasses ???) then why not take a few players down and make them hurt to beat us ?

This. The Simmo and Kruse losses both hurt us.

Soon we will be able to cover a key loss or two during a game but right now it makes the didfeeence.

So much to enjoy today. So much to look forward to. But god it hurts tonight.

Jones made one mistake for the day but boy did it have a huge effect. Total momentum changer. Don't want to hang him but from that moment on you saw Hawthorn suddenly believe we can be pressured into mistakes, and the opposite effect was true for us... we went into panic mode. Simple things. Not rushing a behind. Silly free kicks. Kicking long instead of hitting up short targets. That 3rd quarter was just awful.

I don't want to turn all Essendon** and blame the umpiring, no matter how shithouse it was. This one was on us.

The fight to the end was great though. We were literally a second away from a shot after the siren for Harry. So many what ifs today. In the end they had more star power that got them the win. JOM, Wingard, Breust, Scully and Roughead dragged them across the line.

We're growing and next week becomes a must win. We failed our first must win test against GC so this week against North is significant

Jones made one mistake for the day but boy did it have a huge effect. Total momentum changer. Don't want to hang him but from that moment on you saw Hawthorn suddenly believe we can be pressured into mistakes, and the opposite effect was true for us... we went into panic mode.

I don’t care about the first half.
I don’t care about the umpires.
I don’t care about the injuries.
I don’t care about the coaching.

What matters to me is that we again had an opportunity to evolve a little more, to elevate ourselves above opposition we should be dispatching, and we again @#$%&! blew it. Outside of Richmond and Port, every opposition has been beatable, and we’ve got one W to show for it.

I said this after the Sydney and GC games, and I’ll say it again. We’re not going anywhere until we put teams like this away. I’m past green shoots, “moments of brilliance”, and “if <player> wasn’t injured we’d have won”.

This team needs to rise above this shit and start winning 50/50 games. That’s what the Lions are doing, that’s what the Saints are doing. They’re put in these situations and are finding a way. Meanwhile our guys continue to back down when the challenge is made. Only exception was against a team mentally weaker again.

I don’t doubt they’re giving their all and leaving nothing left, but there’s not an ounce of ruthlessness in this team, and even mid-table opposition can sense our moment of weakness and exploit it. Oppositions know when they start to push us around, we back off. This again comes from our introverted senior leadership and filters down.

This game was lost upstairs, and the moment of bathwater-consumption was the red rag to the bull. Until they pull their heads out of their arses and demand ruthlessness on days like today, they’ll have to continue suckling on green shoots.

Norf next week presents a similar challenge to today, and a perfect opportunity to see if we’re capable of learning. They’re shithouse but physically they’re more developed, and have been put under the pump in da meedya. They will throw everything at us and superior ability alone won’t get us over the line. Ruthlessness, not backing down and not accepting any outside excuses are what will win us next week.

At some point, encouragement awards aren’t going to cut it anymore. Get the @#$%&! job done.

/Rant

Why is that Trigger because I speak the truth and you don't like it.

I was at a Swans game some years back and I told a few on this site that this club will never be any good until such time as all those associated with us tanking for Murphy Gibbs and Kruez are gone.

I would hate to say it but this must have been 6 to 8 years ago

You can not condone losing then suddenly expect to win at will.
Take a look at Melbourne

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