There are 19 rounds left in the season!

[Mike]

Chance plays such a huge part in the outcome of a close game. Carlton played the better football in a poor game in hard conditions last night and deserved to win. But had the chance factor gone our way, we would probably have been seen to have played the better game and would have deserved our win. Those chance happenings - the freak goal at a critical moment, the dubious umpiring decision that breaks a flow of play - can lift or break a team and change the whole nature of a game. We've all seen it, again and again.

I include umpiring in chance, because some of the decisions last night had absolutely no logic in them, and although the free kicks were even (21 - 22) on the night, the ones that changed the course of the game went against us. One you didn't mention Junkboy was when Presti (?) tried to handball for a rushed behind under pressure and missed the behind post and the ball went out of bounds. It was deemed deliberate. It was a goal on a plate for Carlton. Yes, there were mistakes - 2 goals to the filth from stupid play or bad kicking on the back line, accounted for a large part of the final margin.

The goals handed to the filth now add up to 3 - and there were more, as Junkboy pointed out.

Of course a strong team can negate the chance factor, but chance had already dealt a blow last night: we went into that game with three key forwards missing from the line-up. Chance skewed that game before we even got onto the ground.

Last night's loss was made worse because of the huge feeling of over-confidence amongst supporters during the week. The game was going to be a gimme, but gimmes often have have the habit of spitting in your face. This failed gimme was even harder to take because it was Carlton.

Losses always bring out the doomsayers. There are two types. There are the disillusioned who can't handle a loss and in their self-pity vent their crap on everyone else. Sometimes I think we should shut the board down for 24 hours after a loss so that people don't post in the heat of the moment.

The other type is the smug 'I told you so' expert. What really surprises me is that after 10 years of misery these people haven't given up and gone away. Why are they still here? I'll tell you why, it's because they know better and they get a self-serving satisfaction out of showing how bad the [insert one of the following: coaching, players, administration] is. If we had a prolonged period of success, we wouldn't see them.

The difference between the knockers and the coach, players and administration is that the knockers have never been and will never be in a position to have their precious theories tested. Why? Because they're not good enough. To be able to perform at that level you first have to get there and getting there is not a lottery. You don't get your name drawn out of a hat, you have to be the best of the best.

It's going to be another hard week on the Bulletin Board because the not good enough coaches and players are going to be out in force with their never-tested solutions. They know the answers, they know we are shit and will never be any good. Makes you wonder really.

Pies won't make the 8?

Give me a break... it was Round 3.



[This message has been edited by Mike (edited 13 April 2002).]

[Black_White]

"There are 19 rounds left in the season!"


Too true!

But I was hoping for 24-25 games this year..........

[Mike]

There are only 22 rounds in a season.

Then there are the finals.

[Black_White]

Yes, 22 games plus 2 or three finals = 24 or 25 games. Yes?
Did I hope for to much?

-Craig

[Mike]

You can never hope for too much Craig, but let's the get the 22 out of the way first.

[junkboy75]

as far as I'm concerned, c'wood was up against 3 things last night - carlscum, the elements and the umpires.

that tackle in the last quarter that was deemed a trip instead of holding the ball was the killer. sure, the tackle slipped down the body but the carlton player dropped the ball first. c'wood at that stage were mounting a mini come back and had a bit of momentum, so that decision effectively killed that off. I bruised my hand hitting the empty seat in front of me when that happened.

another decision I want to clarify: is how far a player allowed to run determined by the actual distance in metres or how many steps a player takes?? neon was pinged for running too far as he streamed into goal, but there was no way he ran his full measure. the umpires were deceived because neon takes fast little steps that make him look as if he's taken one too many.

also, that last carlton goal, although it didn't matter, was sooo touched on the line that it wasn't funny. by then people were focussing on the fight behind us rather than the match.

yeah that presti deliberate situation. all night, the umpires were very inconsistent in playing deliberate out of bounds. I saw many "even up" frees being paid because the white maggots realised they have made a mistake in the first place.

any way, I don't want to go into every bad decision. I'm going to go watch the game again (I taped it) to see what went wrong from the TV perspective.

"..we flew at them as a hawk to his prey, passed through them in the disordered state in which they were, separated them into two distinct parts and then tacked upon their largest division.." -- Captain Cuthbert Collingwood, 1797

[Dr Alf Andrews]

When I saw the title of the topic, I thought, "Oh, here we go. Mike has beaten me to it this year ... the countdown thread."

Does this mean that after next week's hammering we can expect a Mike thread titled "There Are 18 Rounds Left In The Season"?

floreat pica
**************
My Ph.D. thesis, "Football: the People's Game?" is now available for viewing and/or downloading at http://alf.magpies.net

[Mike]

Aahhh, the pre-Dralf Alf is back!

[PeterWH]

!!! WE WILL BE THERE COME SEPTEMBER.....TRUST ME.!!!

PeterWH
PIES FOR PREMIERS 2002

[CQ]

never trust neone who says 'trust me'.


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