Re: Will it stand up?
Reply #155 –
@IOT the number of surgeries you have I think is probably irrelevant. You could have 44 minor scar tissue cleanups and probably go forth without a hitch in your preparations.
Where it gains context and relevance is combining our surgeries with how badly we fell away vs Port Adelaide and then further supported by our overall conditioning of players in our senior list.
The overall landscape of our team is that we are having real problems playing four quarters. It indicates its been an issue for us where we havent got bodies right be it due to the surgery, due to not having booked the indoor stadium in Arizona, or even just due to the fact that we are coming off a historically lower fitness base combined with an average pre-season. If 2012 was an injury interupted year, 2013 was not remarkably better and 2014 is the 3rd year in a row where bodies havent done the amount of work we would like them to have done to be in tip top condition. (thinking of blokes like Carrazzo, Murphy and Judd).
It may not be the case, but I flash back to round 1, and I remember Henderson and Murphy having taken marks from within scoring range (30-50 metres out) and electing to pass off to people in poorer positions to score, and with arguably less chance of hitting the target. Where that occurs it points to a lack of confidence in the body.
At the end of the day, as time goes on we are seeing a better ability to run as well as contest. Tells us some information regarding our pre season not being a good one, and that is something that I would hope gets rectified going into next season as this is no way to begin a season. One thing I do know of is that we have a few blokes that have had injury interrupted years sequentially. This is not something that can be fixed in one pre season. You lose lots of running power in that process. Think back to Brock Mclean. It took him roughly 2+ years to get going.
Personally, i dont like using injuries as an excuse. If your good enough, odds are you will win anyway. The only thing I can use it as is a reason for why we were so down on confidence. Thats understandable. The boys need to gather the mental fortitude to not drop their heads because of a bit of adversity and just keep motoring on.