We’re saying the same thing but in a different way.
We’ve whimpered and been bullied for so long, that it’s festered.
I remember McGrath ‘flying the flag’ in our final against West Coast in 2019.
Without followup actions, it means nothing. Both in the game and through the next pre-season into the following season.
When we do respond, we need to be ready to go for the ball at all costs. Merrett showed a bit of frustration when he gave a free kick away sometime later in the Bulldogs game and pushed his opponent into the ground as he was standing the mark. But he rarely does that kind of stuff.
We don’t have enough of a spread of players to get behind something like that. And the next generation (Caddy, Roberts, Kako, etc) are certainly not ready to lead that kind of habit.
Hopefully when their time comes, they don’t whimper.
I miss the old the days of Mark Johnson,Jason Johnson,Solomon those blokes wouldn’t let that ■■■■ slide if they saw one of thier team mates getting bullied.
If they didn’t Sheedy would remind them to not let it happen again.
I think there’s an attitude problem that starts at the top. We’re too afraid of upsetting anyone or drawing attention to ourselves. Too timid and passive. Terrible traits for an allegedly competitive football club.
You only have to look at last year when the media got hold of the ‘Essendon edge’. A few mocked it, but who cares? It became more of a thing than it should have been, but we should have embraced it, or at least shrugged the attention off. Instead, we backtracked from it.
We had a chance to set a standard, and we shirked it. We are too scared of making ourselves a target when that’s precisely what we need if we are brave enough to accept it.
Reality is, the best teams don’t give a stuff what others think or say of them. They leave that for the mediocrities. And the best teams have an edge. Nah, not for us.
Love everything about this guys game. Just needs to settle over some kicks as they can end of rushed and hacked. I thinks it’s down to how hard he hits the ball/contest.
You can have disposals that don’t count as possessions, because getting the free kick for a deliberate out of bounds doesn’t count as a “free for” for the player who takes the kick and they’re not considered to have taken possession (mark, ground-ball get, handball receive, free for, contested knock-on). Possibly kick-ins where the player plays on also don’t count as possessions but do count as disposals, I’m not sure.
