Overplaying our hand

The frothing at the mouth from some of the posts today is incredulous, almost turned me back to the Daily Terrograph to get my footy (eels) fix. Some of the posts would have done Murdoch proud.Let get this right:1. Referee's make errors (every single game)2. Player make errors (every single game)3. Good player milk penalties (eg: Sandow running out of dummy half into a marker a game or two ago, brilliant!)Our mighty blue and gold team has become competitive once again, we would all like to see the boys go through a season undefeated. How quickly we all forget where we have came from. I know we should not look at the past, but we must learn from it, otherwise we are destined to be stuck there forever.We saw the boys lose on the weekend, even though we were the dominant team by a long mile. We have read supporters blogs talking about ANZ curse, favorites curse, shadows in the dark, perhaps the bogie man was somewhere in the back ground.We did not lose the game because Mannah and Semi dropped the ball. We did not lose the game cause Paulo made one or two bad decisions.The reason why we lost the game is the we overplayed our hand too many times. We were like little kids in the candy shop running around like headless chooks not knowing were to turn. There were too many times where we continued to play like we were 40 points behind and we had to push the envelope. Our key play makers were guilty of this. Errant passes when there was no need for a pass, trying to push a pass on the first of second tackle after a turnover when what we needed was to take the tackle. By not adhering to footy basics 101 we gifted the game away.We played as though the boys were thinking "with all this domination, easy meters to get down field. Great field position, why are we not further ahead?". This sort of logic got the better of the boys. We need to take a few deep breaths and play with better composure. This is something which will come with experience and make no bones about it, BA will rectify this within the week. How long the boys take to absorb and implement the coaching? hopefully very quickly.So no need for sooky sooky lala about this player dropped the ball, this player missed the tackle, missed attempts at goal etc etc. We need to play with composure and a level head. We need to understand there will be a arm wrestle in games and we cannot always get all the points or have massive leads. Look at the doggies, it is no surprise they are playing like Manly, hanging in there, keeping their composure. Playing to the game plan and the wins will come.I am not saying, shackle players in the team. The players just need to learn to add some composure to their games, because, to win a GF you need it in bucket loads and there will be many more arm wrestles in the weeks ahead.Lack of composure highlighted all the other errors raised in other blogs, those errors were not the problem of why we lost. In fact, if not for those errors, it would not have been made clear to all and sundry we overplayed our hand.I am proud of the boys after a torrid time in the wilderness. If they keep at it, learn composure, learn when they need to overplay their hand (with a quick risk assessment so if they fail it will be minimal impact to the team) they will be a dominant force for many years to come.Go the mighty blue and goldPS: the other issue is playing the whilst, but Gus sort of beat me to it last week. Watch out for that blog.

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  • Before anyone has a go at me, the next blog, if required, will be "playing the whistle" not whilst!!!!

  • Nice read! BA said exactly the same thing at the press conference - that we had every opportunity to just close the game out and we didn't do it.

    All you can hope for, and so far this has happened under Brad Arthur to date, is that the team learns from that and gets better next time the situation arises.

    I've always been a bit different in terms of while it's great to see exciting footy, I really appreciate teams who know how to get the job done. I hate the fact that right now the two teams that do the best at that are the two teams I hate the most - but Manly and the Dogs just know how to win. They both have halves who are calm but fiercely competititve and I think that's what we're possibly missing at the moment. Who takes control when we need to just put the head down and close out a win? 

    • Has to the halves. 

  • I will still sooky sooky lala about Joseph Paulo. Even when we win I do. He can take his one handed carries, his forward passes and crabbing back to wenty as far as I'm concerned. Yes I'm aware of the role he does for team but there are other options. There is always options. He is reliably unreliable
  • You're right, it's Hayne's fault ;)
    • Some could say that if he didn't gift that try we win. Or if Sandow kicks a goal we win, or if Paulo doesn't pass to the ground we possibly win. But without these attackers in our team we'll never win. With attack comes errors because not everything comes off. But when its not your day, you need to recognise it early and put some tricks away for another day.

  • This is what I've been saying, even on twitter.

    I tweeted the boys that we tried too much high risk stuff & it bit us on the arse. Peats mustn't agree because he blocked me.

    Warriors play high risk entertaining games and when it comes off it looks great. Manly cuts down on risk and grinds out when needed.

    Warriors win games, Manly wins comps.

    We have to learn to not get caught up in the 'you call that a pass? I'll show you a pass!" Gamesmanship and lose focus on what we are playing for, 2 points.

    • Alot of good it has done the warriors

  • Young inexperienced team we have. We will come good.
    Halves need to be patient.
    Tigers are lucky and that kind of luck will run out.
    Farrah plays we have a different attitude and him not being there made us play impatiently and pushing the pass too much.
    We will bounce back this week.
    Stay positive eels fans need to start believing.
    Need to inject some positive energy around this joint and look to at winning every week.
  • Spot on!

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