We Are Gone for 2009

[Canteen Worker]

Tonight it was all on the line for the season in my view - and we blew it. Various players put in and the effort at times was good. However the combination and the execution let us down.

Mathematically we can still make the finals but with 8 games gone we need to win at least 10 games to be even in the hunt and the way we are playing we just don't even look like it. I am not saying give it away but with the side we have on the paddock we should be doing so much better.

In my view we are gone and won't make the Top 8. It won't stop me watching/going to games but I have revised my expectations of back to back premierships and will console myself with the odd win we pick up from time to time. (I just don't know where the next win is coming from but have some pretty good videos from last year's final series that might have to console me!)

 

[DUFFMAN]

Only the sharks can save us from coming last

 

[Ian Martin tragic]

haven't seen the replay but frankly not keen to subject myself to that for my birthday; mortality is enough to get you down....

Agreed this was a crunch game and that the result tells a story. next week shaping up like a ritual bloodletting. already it's feeling like that scene from Flying High (yes that movie again) where they are lining up to belt that woman who is going hysterical. we are that woman.

maybe after next week dessie will go back to the drawing board a bit as it seems like a sensible move to use the season to consider longer term solutions to:

over dependency on strike power from b. stewart
halves combo (anybody want to tell me orford + bailey worked successfully v. storm?)
front row stocks
deficiency in tryscoring players

 

[blitzkrieg]

Mathematically we can still make the finals but with 8 games gone we need to win at least 10 games to be even in the hunt and the way we are playing we just don't even look like it. I am not saying give it away but with the side we have on the paddock we should be doing so much better.

Once the terms like " mathematical chance" come out you know deep down that the season is over!

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

We're just not gelling Cw seems like not even dessie can fix it you maybe correct with your comment.

 

[niccipops]

I can face the fact that we're not going back to back but I'm not ready to write the season off yet, though I think they're a snowballs chance in hell of beating the Broncos at Suncorp.
Comeback season to start in Round 10.

 

[Berkeley_Eagle]

Manly got all of us fans used to being winners and the stuff they are dishing out to us is pure garbage

 

[Utility Player]

It's got me stuffed, take the fullback out of any other team in the competition and they don't perform anywhere near as badly as us.

 

[Thehill]

I think the most frsutrating thing for fans at the moment is that whilst we have lost SOME players from last years team (and only 1 since WCC) we are so so so much worse. We still have the nucleus of last years great team:

-Kite
-King
-Ballin
-Orford
-Lyon
-Matai
-Wolf

How on earth can we go from winning the GF 40-0 (and the WCC) to playing like we have been for the first 8 rounds?

It HAS to be mental. Oh I wish we could change the past and scrap that season launch- would be VERY interesting to see how we would be playing.

 

[niccipops]

Like it or not it's a part of sport we have to accept. Success is fleeting. Slamming down to bottom is extremely hard to swallow.
In my wildest dreams I would have never believed we'd win '08 40-0. In my most negative thoughts I would not have predicted us to be 2 from 8 in '09. Losing hurts and sucks. In the current competition teams can rise and flounder very quickly. We've been to the top. We're now at the bottom. We will get back to the top (not kidding myself about in '09) but we'll recover from this situation way quicker than the Beagles years.

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

Last night was like watching Bret The Hitman Hart v Andre the Giant

The excellence of execution beating the raw power of the big man

If I was offered the 08 Premiership at the expense of 09 this time last year, I would have taken it, but it doesn't make it hurt any less

3-4 years ago this sort of stuff would have been killing me, but some other stuff happening over the past 6 months has put it all into perspective I suppose

 

[Merc]

We are Gone!!!!!!!!!

Just look at the crowd numbers, a smidge over 10,000 on a nice night.

Everyone is thinking the same.

I just hope the players pull their heads out of their arse and get stuck in. I see a lot of talk of putting in but it is not the same team as last year. The kick chases are a case in point just look how jaged the line is....

Oh well i feel like a Le Tigre supporter in 06

Merc

 

[eagle_predator]

Where's the ****ing pride in this ???

 

[eagle_predator]

I just don't get it their not playing for each other until they do only then will they start playing as a team again.

 

[DSM5]

Look, a losing team, playing on a Friday night after work, on the peninsula.  What do people expect?  Just getting there from the city takes hours.  People are stuffed after a weeks work, then to get to the footie and have expensive crap to eat is beyond most mortals.  Only the faithful would do it.   

 

[Dan]

Told you so , told you so.

I still think going back to back is a terrible idea and teams should immediately start a rebuilding process the year after a premiership and aim for 1 in 3 years. It would keep your players cheaper too

 

[Cameron]

Told you so , told you so.

I still think going back to back is a terrible idea and teams should immediately start a rebuilding process the year after a premiership and aim for 1 in 3 years. It would keep your players cheaper too

i think your right dan
i feel a big post coming on

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Cold shower time cliffy.

 

[Matabele]

Given the standings of various teams we're yet to play I don't think it out of the question we can put in a long winning sequence and make the finals.  Let people write us off I say.

 

[Pearso]

Look, a losing team, playing on a Friday night after work, on the peninsula.  What do people expect?  Just getting there from the city takes hours.  People are stuffed after a weeks work, then to get to the footie and have expensive crap to eat is beyond most mortals.  Only the faithful would do it.   

That's the smallest crowd they've had for a while (all days included) I've been to every home game this year and there has been a fair number of supporters from the opposing teams(Including the warriors but most kiwi's live here anyway ) But playing an interstate team their was not too many Storm fans there. I think that would have made a difference and the fact they are losing.