I see a few of you are predicting gloom, and are requesting big changes need to be made.
But I'd vouch that all 17 players yesterday recieved the greatest football lesson of all; how to handle favouritism. The Broncos, the roosters, and the bulldogs have all been doing it for many seasons. They get the top spot, and they relish in it. They thrive on being the best. It makes them work harder.
Para for the last few years has been using the 'underdog' tag too build themselves up to perform on the field. Thats all well and good, but there's a transitional stage. Suddenly in 2005 they started winning games, and became the minor premiers. They had an easy first round game, and people started wondering how the hell they couldn't play in a grand final. But its all one big mindf**k, to put it bluntly, when you start making the transition from 'every game being sudden death', to 'whens the next one coming?'.
But these blokes will learn from this, if not thrive. They'll learn the reality of sport, and the mental fortitude it requires. These guys are winning players, they just had a brain explosion. But after experiencing that, I can assure you eels fans that next year, so long as the existing 17 (and maybe hindy, haha) are on the paddock, you'll never see a performance like that ever again.
You can call for heads from both coaches and players, you can sit there and get angry, you can think irrational thoughts about what should be done. But take a deep breath, and see that losing a game like this is how champions are made.
And champions the eels shall be in one of the next couple of years.
But I'd vouch that all 17 players yesterday recieved the greatest football lesson of all; how to handle favouritism. The Broncos, the roosters, and the bulldogs have all been doing it for many seasons. They get the top spot, and they relish in it. They thrive on being the best. It makes them work harder.
Para for the last few years has been using the 'underdog' tag too build themselves up to perform on the field. Thats all well and good, but there's a transitional stage. Suddenly in 2005 they started winning games, and became the minor premiers. They had an easy first round game, and people started wondering how the hell they couldn't play in a grand final. But its all one big mindf**k, to put it bluntly, when you start making the transition from 'every game being sudden death', to 'whens the next one coming?'.
But these blokes will learn from this, if not thrive. They'll learn the reality of sport, and the mental fortitude it requires. These guys are winning players, they just had a brain explosion. But after experiencing that, I can assure you eels fans that next year, so long as the existing 17 (and maybe hindy, haha) are on the paddock, you'll never see a performance like that ever again.
You can call for heads from both coaches and players, you can sit there and get angry, you can think irrational thoughts about what should be done. But take a deep breath, and see that losing a game like this is how champions are made.
And champions the eels shall be in one of the next couple of years.
Yes.
.
