Pretty easy to take aim at the players but for me you can really see the lack of confidence that has crept into the team. Playing catch up footy (even when in front) mentality forces silly mistakes and we saw that today with the push passes that weren't on.
Having only 1 on the bench after half time certainly didn't help but when you're already in a down cycle these things just compound on top of everything else.
Considering we were only behind by 7 until the 79th minute showed we have resilience, especially when its 14 v 16 players. Lafai was a huge out when he went off, that when they directed their play to that side and it payed off for them.
I thought Lomax did well for his first run at fullback, we looked safer, however, he was gassed not long after half time. Robson was great, some nice darts and runs through the middle, a few errors yes, but in a confidence team those errors probably don't happen. Pearson was ok, only 1 error but generally looked better than Rava.
I hope we stick with this team for a while now, the only change I would make is when Norman comes back and maybe play him at right centre and leave Field at 5/8, because it doesn't appear likely that Lomax will be the goal kicker playing fullback, he'd be too exhausted with the extra responsibilities.
We wont make the finals this year, that's a gimme, some say we have to win 8/13, I'm thinking more like 10/13 and that's not going to happen.
