Firstly, I would like to apologise to anyone who feels I have insulted or let anyone down in this blog. Or that in your mind, I seem to take a more optimistic viewpoint rather than a negative one. But to be perfectly honest, my patience and tolerance to anyone who has come up with the ridiculous diatribe that has been going on for the past two weeks has tested my patience and tolerance, and, to be blunt, it is becoming a bit farcical. So, before I go into my views on the game on Thursday, here is my apology: Sorry.
The reason for this stems from when I was heading to the car after the game, and a man behind me said to someone, ‘Well, that was a waste of a season!’ I mean, what? Luckily, I was holding on to the railing as I nearly fell down the stairs. What an utterly ridiculous thing to say! Have we time-warped somewhere that it is now Round 20 and not Round 2? Did I miss the entire season, as this game was the catalyst of the 2025 season?
Sure, we played well for the most part, and there were gaps in our game that allowed Hawthorn to filter and flit through. Sure, there were missed opportunities in front of the goal, but we are getting there compared to how we played in Round 1.
I remind myself and others that it is Round 2, and the season is a marathon, not a sprint. We have lost the first two games of the season. With each game played, we will get better and more productive in the backline and in front of the goals. But let’s delve a bit more, shall we?
Let’s take Hawthorn in season 2024. In the first eight rounds, they won only three games! Yes, three games. They lost to Essendon in the first round, Melbourne in the second, Geelong in the third, Collingwood in the fourth, and Gold Coast in the fifth. After the Bye Round, things changed for the club, and they finished seventh at the end of the season. The team that finished first, Sydney, got thrashed in the Grand Final by a team that finished fifth. Port Adelaide, Geelong, and even GWS finished above Brisbane and got beaten in the finals when it mattered most. The point of this is that after two rounds, no one, I don’t care who you are, cannot determine a club’s season based on two games!
Here comes the bluntness. To come out and state that this season is a waste after two rounds is ridiculous. To come out and state after two rounds how terrible the club is and that, once again, we should head down the path of sacking another coach is ridiculous. I ask the question, who in their right mind as a player or a coach would want to come to a club that simply does not believe in their current people? Who? What some ‘knight in shining armour’ that can, in one swoop, fix everything? Are some that delusional? We can be frustrated and angry, but it is only Round Two!
No club, no organisation, will ever attain success unless it believes in its people and ensures stability. The culture in this situation is not one that is fixed overnight or over a few years; it takes time. Time, it seems, some just cannot deal with it. The toxicity that had engulfed our club in the past is being eroded away, and we have to start changing the culture of the club and team, and this takes time.
No other club in the AFL has gone through five coaches in ten years. If we go down the road of sacking another coach, that would make it six coaches in thirteen years! I mean, how does this make the club one that is pushing and striving for success, any quicker or faster? Sure, we have waited a long time to become successful, but to assume that another or others will do better is delusional. To assume that by throwing out one to get another one, in the hope that they will turn things around, is delusional.
I am saddened that we just could not get the win over the line, but I am also heartened by how better they played over the four quarters. With the rest of the season ahead of us, I am sure that things will turn around. If some want to compare Sam Mitchell’s journey as the coach, then it was because the coach before him laid the foundations for what is a successful club both on and off the field. That took time.
So, if some believe that our season is a waste after two rounds, then I am at a loss for words at your rationale. If some want to believe that we should sack yet another coach, then I am at a loss for words at how this makes any semblance of sense and logic. I keep quoting a statement made by one of the greatest sports coaches in history, Bill Shankly, ‘If you can’t support us when we lose or draw, don’t support us when we win.’ But one of my favourite and most thought-provoking quotes comes from Michael Jordan, who says, ‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’ If we want success, we are going to have to take the bad with the good, even if that means losing a few games. We must understand that what the club has been through in the past affects the present and future and that it will take time to get it right. But given all this, after all, it is only Round Two!
SPORTZ 