I think the whole 'culture' thing is a furphy, when it comes to football, at least in the sense of a 'winning' culture that 'refuses to accept' losing. Whether a player or a team wins or aims to win is not a matter of 'culture'. I don't think anyone would seriously suggest that winning is not the ultimate aim of everyone on our list, yet that has nothing to do with culture - its simply the nature of competitive sport. Further, we have to acknowledge that losing is, in fact, sometimes acceptable. This year for example, I think most of would agree that our losses under Barks have been in that category, at least to a greater extent than those earlier in the year. I think we need to allow that such acceptance might be ok within the team itself too. If culture plays a role, it must be about a whole lot of intangibles that equate to an environment of improving individuals and their relationships with each other - such things are so vague and difficult to define that they don't warrant discussion, IMHO. That seems to be what happened at Geelong, for example, but I couldn't say how they fostered it. But it isn't enough anyway, its a red herring. Culture can't change the simplest, most obvious failing we have - we can't kick. Honestly, 90% of the problem is that 90% of our players just can't.
First in average tackles versus last. I don't hold out much hope of a a win, but I'd like to see our new-found aggression continue to arrest this kind of discrepancy. Not that I think the stats themselves mean everything - Port is still second on that point and we got over them.
