It's not the end of the world, you know.
Ohhh, I know... the summer looked so promising with all sorts of tidbits emanating from Hope Central but the reality always, was that we turned over about 1/3 of our senior list.
You don't do that and come out bowling teams over willy nilly, do you? Especially teams like the Bulldogs who have done one thing really well over the last couple of years and that is run hard all day and hustle the ball forwards. Hustle and run, run and hustle... that's hard enough to enunciate clearly that I'm going to make you do it again
hustle and run, run and hustle. One thing a young team will struggle with is pressure of the hustle and run sort. Just ask any of the teams who fronted up to Ghengis Kahn during the Golden Era of Hustle and Run on the Steppes. It's rather effective.
I liked the look of the Bullies... well, the second half that I saw, I was working in the desultory heat of the northern goldfields during the first half, swatting flies the way Sandi swats opposition players. I liked the way Sandi swatted players, by the way. Who was it that he laid a shepherd on at one stage... nearly knocked the poor bloke into JB O'Reilly's where, by the way, there is a surprisingly comprehensive selection of Belgian beer. Consider that as an option this season, folks. Not the pub... Belgian beer. Go Trappist is my advice. It could be one of those seasons. Plus, Trappist is a lot more legal than nudist. That's my other option.
We've got a lot of kids who are going to have to play and we might see some bloodshed along the way. We might also see some scintillating skills and fast ball movement, too... get their tails up and these guys are going to go alright. There's no shortage of abilityin the squad... but you aren't going to see it shine on a day when the opposition, a tad more experienced and battle hardened, get on top of you and have you scrambling when you want to rumble.
Basically, while it blew out and got a bit disappointing, there's plenty to go on with and footy is never a case of instant gratification...
"I'm no clown, I won't back down
I don't need you to tell me what's goin' down
Down, down, down, down, da down, down, down
Down, down, down, down, da down, down, down"
We'll go alright. Don't forget to dance a bit...
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4bHMVAKDao]
these boots are made for walking...
oh... at least we didn't choke up a 47 point turnaround.