So...Saturday.
It was one of least skilled games I've seen in a long time. Sturt were horrible for the first two and a half quarters.
Probably the youngest side I can recall putting on the park for a long time.
Paul Thomas tried his guts out and his mooted retirement at the end of the season is going to be a massive blow for our leadership.
After the first quarter, I was really angry because I thought we were playing so poorly.
Then, as the match progressed, I reflected on the youth of our side and its inexperience
In the end, a 10 goal loss wasn't so bad, it could've been worse - some important players out, inexperience, playing one of the leading sides - and it was only a 15 minute patch which saw the margin blow out.
Thankfully, a late goal saw us kick away the possibility of kicking our lowest score against Sturt.
So...I don't want to get too used to losing but have to accept this is a development year.
Our defence is reasonable, as we can keep opposition to low scores, it's just that when they get a run on the midfield, we seem to have no way of controlling it and stopping the flow.
We don't have enough players running both ways and we aren't intuitive with the ball, or getting into the right position to receive the ball.
One thing that does frustrate me, is our scoring - we seem to find ways every week to not score. So often we attack promisingly and through no-one else's fault but our own we butcher the shot/opportunity.
Two examples on Saturday, I think it was Habel got bumped as he kicked towards an open goal in the goal square. The ball hit the post - unless you're getting dragged down, it should always be a goal from there. There was also Hewett's dropped mark, easiest I've ever seen dropped.
It's not pressure from the opposition that forces these mistakes, it's our own lack of confidence in ourselves and our team-mates.
Hopefully we can get some of our better players back next game.
Two blokes that are having a go week-in, week-out are the Schillers. We can build a side around those blokes - hard at it, in and under and they're going to be good leaders.
Who was 21 for Sturt? Did he cop much of a ribbing after the actual siren started?
On a final note, I hate to think what Port are going to do to us when we play them.