Don’t hate us Skip, we still love you. We can’t all be great at everything. Time to Restump Podcast the seemingly season crushing loss to the Western Lobradors.  

Well that one hurt. We’re still a mathematical chance of making the eight but the percentages are diminishing at a rapid rate. We probably can’t afford another loss, or maybe one at the most, but even that doesn’t guarantee us a spot, given the logjam. 

For two and a half quarters the game looked ours as we matched and surpassed the dog’s pressure. But in the blink of an eye, they got a lucky decision, they took the ascendency and literally piled on 3 goals in a minute. We were left Memphis Raines like – Gone in sixty seconds. 

Our subdued start to the game hurt us again and while we had switched on and closed the gap by the end of the first quarter, it was energy sapping damage that had been done. 

Poor execution of skills, an inability to deal with frenetic pressure and at times horrendous decision making could account for the loss. 

Does the Chief’s “Alex Pearce Kick Deterrent System” need to be implemented? $5,000 fine every time he kicks the ball. That’s a little too harsh but…. it’s difficult to have confidence when he has ball in hand and doesn’t take a handball option. 

Did Bevo and his coaching crew out coach us at pivotal points in the game? Could Jackson have come into the ruck in that last quarter when things got dizzy quickly? Were there pivotal times in the game when we had Erasmus and Johnson in the middle? 

Caleb Serong was again off the scale and while finals might not be coming his way in September, his fair share of Browlow votes will be. 

He might not be amongst the votes but Sonny Walters is in goal galore territory. With 25 goals on the board and another eight games to go, at 32 years of age Evergreen Sonny is in career best form range. 

Liam Henry made it two on the bounce. Sure, he butchered a couple but he wasn’t on his Pat Malone and his productive performance far outweighed his errors. His growth is a 2023 positive, especially as we know, or we should know, he’s just 21 years of age and far from the finished product.  

And you can’t speak about 2023 positives without the great Jye Amiss. You have to continue to remind yourself…. he’s a teenager. He’s on track to kick 40+ goals and he’s a teenager! 

We’re not going to dwell too much on wouldas, shouldas and couldas. We got provided another presentation explaining exactly where we are as a club and a list. The upside is that the window is only just starting to open.

So, join us for these 50 minutes as we pull apart the purple performance. There’s blame, there’re regret, there is sorrow, acceptance and then rejuvenation. Have the bright lights of season 2023 been turned off or have they just been dimmed? 

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