one thing is clear

[terry smith rules]

There are those who have some understanding of football on here and the there are others

To come on here and bag our (and individual players) performance today is simply stupid

We are a clearly under prepared side playing interstate against a potential top 6 side who boast 2 of the top 15 players in the comp

We play exciting and riveting football for 2.5 quarters, with a breakout game from Hickey, signs from Acres

However that is not enough for some, they want to come on here and whip on our team, when the legs ran out and the big players like Dixon didn't get any smaller, and the great players turned it on (I mean how brilliant were Chad and Gray) it became too much for us

I am not lookig through rose coloured glasses I am looking as a realist at a great game with lots of upside

fqf

[BigMart]

Why are we under prepared.... We've had 5 months to prepare

Port lost a player, a running player mid first

Missing one game is not that dramatic... It was fitness, not skill/GP issues.
We've had two games, a match simulation training and an intraday club

[Moods]

Yeah, it's not the end of the world. But it's bloody disappointing when we had played well for nearly 3 quarters. It's like they dangled the carrot in front of us. Certainly could have been a lot worse and I doubt we'll lose too many supporters out of it. Hopefully the boys lift for Roo's 300th next week and stacks of Sainters get along.

[Bernard Shakey]

We are young and finding our feet.
Sandy flogged the Hawks by 20 goals today.
Lots of kids fighting for a game.
The future is bright!

[Bluthy]

Why are we under prepared.... We've had 5 months to prepare

Port lost a player, a running player mid first

Missing one game is not that dramatic... It was fitness, not skill/GP issues.
We've had two games, a match simulation training and an intraday club

And we had underdone Gresham who struggled to touch the ball until junk time. That was a bad selection. Port are a battle hardened finals side. They played a prelim two years ago. Do you not understand the whole bigger bodies, bigger tanks thing in AFL? I wonder why Richmond overran Carlton?

We could have played more conservatively, stacked the backline more. But we took the risk to back our midfield against theirs and went at their throats scoring 100 pts away from home. We pushed ourselves until we hit a wall. Its good to know where the wall is. You don't get better by not hitting your limits.

Richo's first year we were lucky to put one good quarter together. His second year we usually played two and half good quarters at most. Right now we look a team capable of three good quarters. By the end of the year we should be around 3 and half good quarters a game. And then next we become a four quarter team. And look out, cos here we come...

[BigMart]

We were not babies

We had how many teenagers

How many first year players, how many second year players?

People overplay how young we are... We just have a lot of insiders, and were a bit undersized... So when the game slowed down and we couldn't run and pressure
The class of Winguard, Boak, Gray, Hartlett and Size of Carlisle, Trengrove, Jonas, Westhoff, Dixon, Schultz was too much
Hickey also ran out of steam...

BTW
Port
A finals hardened side???
They've played finals 1 year in the last 6

[skeptic]

I also don't u/s why it is such a bad thing to point out bad performances from particular players.

By all means don't pin the blame on a first gamer like Gres, but there were a few other players, senior players, that we should expect a lot more from... And there's nothing wrong with recognising that.
Especially when the topic is running out of legs.

[BigMart]

Gresham would be the last concern

No one has even criticised him... He was not ready as far as I saw, but he's 18... He's only gonna show glimpses, which he's done

[Bluthy]

We were not babies

We had how many teenagers

How many first year players, how many second year players?

People overplay how young we are... We just have a lot of insiders, and were a bit undersized... So when the game slowed down and we couldn't run and pressure
The class of Winguard, Boak, Gray, Hartlett and Size of Carlisle, Trengrove, Jonas, Westhoff, Dixon, Schultz was too much
Hickey also ran out of steam...

BTW
Port
A finals hardened side???
They've played finals 1 year in the last 6

Games played: Gresham 0, Templeton 12, Acres 10, Lonie 17, Billings 25, Dunstan 36, Hickey 42, Webster 40, Weller 69, Newnes 70. We know that we lack the talent in the 100-200 game mark that is the tradmark of the top teams. We have to be patient for the young talent to come through. At the other end we have oldies who going to struggle with injuries and old legs - Roo looked like he could barely bend down today. And then thats on the back of one game in the last 4 weeks and you think thats not going to have any effect because we played an intra match simulation? You need to get a grip on reality. We will be much better for the run today.

Some of the young players went into their shell in the last qtr. That is understandable when their heads are spinning and legs are jelly in front of a hostile crowd.

Port have played 3 finals in 2 years including a brutal prelim that went down to the wire. That is battle hardened.

I loved our guts today to play for as hard as we could for as long as we could instead of gutlessly pacing ourselves. You start the season by playing they way you want to all year long - aggressive, pressuring and running as hard as you can both way. If we keep doing that by the end of the year we'll be a much better team. Today the battle was lost, but it was not for lack of bravery. The war is still there to be won this year.

[BringBackMadDog]

Why are we under prepared.... We've had 5 months to prepare

Port lost a player, a running player mid first

Missing one game is not that dramatic... It was fitness, not skill/GP issues.
We've had two games, a match simulation training and an intraday club

Missing one game is huge. You can do all the running and aerobic work that you want but nothing replaces the constant bashing your body takes in a game. Plus remember most of our starting 22 didn't play in the first nab challenge game either so we had around 12 players today who had only played a minimum of 4 quarters of competitive football.

[bigred]

Heck. They had a red hot crack.

And for the most part played better football and caused Port to cough it up.

Lots to like.

Lots.

[Verdun66]

Heck. They had a red hot crack.

And for the most part played better football and caused Port to cough it up.

Lots to like.

Lots.

I agree. Was pleasantly surprised at how well we were going. Port at home just had some more stars, and a bit more maturity at the end.

[BigMart]

Don't be too happy with a 5 goal loss.... Which it seems many are... That is the hallmark of mediocrity
Richo would be FILTHY with the fade out.... To balance the pleasing first 3 qtrs

Three qtrs were very good

One Qtr diabolical

Don't make too many excuses for it... Port were a rotation down for the entire game, and when we tired... We were smacked.

[saintspremiers]

Don't be too happy with a 5 goal loss.... Which it seems many are... That is the hallmark of mediocrity
Richo would be FILTHY with the fade out.... To balance the pleasing first 3 qtrs

Three qtrs were very good

One Qtr diabolical

Don't make too many excuses for it... Port were a rotation down for the entire game, and when we tired... We were smacked.

He was filthy about that aspect in his members video that I'm sure you've got.

But in reality he prob saw it coming, but wouldn't admit to it publically.

P.S. Good to see you taking up P66's role!

[Saint_J]

one thing is clear

We still have alot of work to do... but for 3&1/2Quats felt team played its heart out

[Bluthy]

one thing is clear

We still have alot of work to do... but for 3&1/2Quats felt team played its heart out

What I loved was the two way running and no one cheated out there. They took risks pushing forward but when it went the other way they chased damn hard. That's a great sign that they are buying into that. Compare that to Port players who didn't want to do the hard running back - the number of players we had unmarked streaming through the middle of the ground was crazy. When Port got in front suddenly they all found the energy to run forward again. That was their problem last year.

[The_President]

There are those who have some understanding of football on here and the there are others

To come on here and bag our (and individual players) performance today is simply stupid

We are a clearly under prepared side playing interstate against a potential top 6 side who boast 2 of the top 15 players in the comp

We play exciting and riveting football for 2.5 quarters, with a breakout game from Hickey, signs from Acres

However that is not enough for some, they want to come on here and whip on our team, when the legs ran out and the big players like Dixon didn't get any smaller, and the great players turned it on (I mean how brilliant were Chad and Gray) it became too much for us

I am not lookig through rose coloured glasses I am looking as a realist at a great game with lots of upside

fqf

Credit to you!
Some people are just blindly passionate -nothing wrong with it. But they just want the best always for the club.

I much prefer to be a realist

[The Fireman]

one thing is clear...leading thread titles s*** me to tears....a title is all about describing what you are on about.

this title is all about "look at me "