I think the weekend game was all about Reps. In one thread it was called 'the loss we had to have', but I think it goes deeper than that. We don't have enough Reps. Yet.
Reps are easy to understand: The more you do something, the better you will be. You can't go to the gym and bench-press 100kg without doing the hard work, the Reps, to get there.
Reps are a good thing unless you're a porn star, a hooker, a cocaine addict or Ben Cousins. In football, sometimes you can get too many reps in the wrong direction and it does more damage than good (Richmond, Melbourne).
John Worsfold got his coaching reps on a team with a once-in-a-lifetime midfield that didn't require any coaching, so he never learned. Add to that his extremely limited intelligence (and I'm being kind) and you'll see that he never had a chance.
You can argue that Freo has never had enough big game Reps to really make an impact in the AFL.
In 2006, the Dockers had to play a big game on a joke of a football ground against the reigning premiers in order to make the Grand Final. The last time we even made the finals was 2003! Is it a surprise that we went down to a team that had its Reps?
In 2003, our in-form side went up against a weaker Essendon team in Round 1 of the finals. A looking-out-of-their-depth Freo side went down to an experienced Bombers side that day. That Bombers side knew how to play finals footy, they had their Reps, and the Freo side didn't.
Last year, as painful as it was, was all about Reps. Getting Reps in the young blokes so they know how to play AFL footy. Reps in 211, Mundy and Duffman as the dominant players that they need to be. Reps into Taz as a premier backman. Pav doesn't need Reps, he is Superman.
On Sunday we came up against a team with plenty of big-game Reps. Plenty of finals Reps. And we took it right to them for all but 10 minutes of a hard-fought game. At their home ground.
St Kilda might win the flag this year. They have their Reps. But now they and the rest of the competition know: they need to look out for Freo. Especially once we get ours.