This losing close ones, thing...

[barry]

We've lost a couple of close ones now against the best the comp has to offer.

Is it:
1) Just bad luck. The game could have gone either way.

or

2) We lack a quality game breaker to drag us over the line.

[swans32]

I have a feeling it's a bit of lack of self belief inexperience and not being sure what to do when in that spot. In saying that we did hold on against Geelong so we can do it

[ElaineAgapiou]

Def just bad luck! Tonight, for example, IF LRT was awarded the ball for his tackle on Pupolo (instead of him getting a free and goaling) & if we were paid that 50m free we should have received & kicked a goal it would be a very different outcome. But, alas, no point in what if-ing! We had a ripper of a game. In the end we fell short. They will learn from it & be better next time. Just remember- if we're disappointed, just imagine how the boys feel!

[mcs]

I think its a bit of a combo of both. The Adelaide game we were desperately unlucky, as Goodesy was doing everything to drag us over the line then went down. If he didn't get injured I think he would of got us home. Tonight really could have went each way.... that Pupolo call from that stupid umpire was absolutely awful and had it been called correctly could have made a huge difference, but we did lead with only 2 on the clock and should have won from there. That is where a calm old head like Jude helps immensely - don't underestimate his importance in a situation like that, and his return will help going into the finals.

I'm just hoping we are banking up our close one credits for the Finals. I'm despreately disappointed about tonight, but if this team can lift going into the finals, then we can beat anyone, anywhere if we play our best for the whole 4 quarters. I'm more disappoionted that we blew our such excellent work from the first quarter and a half so quickly. We were superb in that part of the game and deserved to lead the Hawks by 5 or 6 goals as a bare minimum going into the main break. but 15 minutes of sloppy football changed the complexion of the game completely.

[Margie]

We've lost a couple of close ones now against the best the comp has to offer.

Is it:
1) Just bad luck. The game could have gone either way.

or

2) We lack a quality game breaker to drag us over the line.

1) It often appears to be bad luck because the games are lost in the dying minutes.

2) Our only real "game-breaker" (Goodes) went down late in the Adelaide game, had a bad one in the Collingwood match and wasn't overly effective tonight.

We rely on a full team effort and if just a couple don't fire, we seem to have at least one bad quarter. Mind you, so did Hawthorn in the first and they managed to get home.

[DLBIA14]

It really is a worry that we can't get over the better teams. Maybe the greater worry is that we are not a team that can score at will. Give the Hawks less than 2 minutes and a lead to chase and they rose to the challenge. We essentially needed to respond and we couldn't. We couldn't in the Adelaide game after Goodes went off and we couldn't in the Collingwood game when we has so many chances and we couldn't in the Hawks game despite the amount of forward entries we had.

IDK, but I think there will be self-doubt heading into the finals. Maybe this is the final wake up call we need. I hope so becasue watching us blow a great start to the game killed me and I don't think I'd be able to handle getting bungled out of the finals like that.