Injuries to key defenders aside, Its not a physical monkey that has materialised on our back as much as a mental one.

Why cant we be just as madly desperate to win with a patched up backline as we were with a full strength team...

What do we need to do to rid ourselves of this monkey (or maybe we were spanking it this week and this brought us undone...).

We need to come out brimming with aggression and hunger on Friday night.

Team structure and player attitude and disposition are both critical part of the equation.

Structure is about moving the chess pieces on the board and providing the necessary plans and playing instructions, but we need to grasp at least part of that pre season X factor again that was on display in all its glory in the pre season cup.

I suspect that this year will see days when the X factor (the right 'between the ears' attititude) will be there and others when is will be like that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - in sight but moving further away when we approach.

With the exception of say Campo yesterday, maybe it has something to with the youth of our players and their general level of maturity...

You comments are invited..

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My Blue Heaven

It seemed to me the endeavour and attitude were mostly there, but the Roos were able to turn our game plan to their advantage. We were not able to get a run on, our confidence suffered, a bit of panic set in, we turned the ball over a lot and too many tackles that should have stuck didn't.

As Mr Pagan says, we need to concentrate on the simple things. For mine, that is man up your opponent, and when you tackle, make it stick. This is what the roos did well.

I agree. I think sometimes we tend to have too many Magnas and not enough Murcielagos. I think we need to get our sparky players up and running. I think we need to start using Walker more on the ball, and get SIMMO(!!!!!!!!!!!!) up and running... maybe at the expense of the Bannisters and McGraths of the team.

If Stevens and Campo and Scotland don't run their guts out, we get exposed for skill.

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