Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Runner Up Hangover

The Eagles' 2016 campaign has been bitterly disappointing so far.  Unless they pull their fingers out of their butts, they'll only be making up numbers in the Top Eight come finals time.  They'll end up being the Eagles of the late nineties - making the finals each year, but no threat to the premiership.

It's like they thought they were shoe-ins after being Grand Finalists last year.  That the only way was up.  That Jetta and Redden were the missing pieces of the puzzle, and they'd be unbeatable with them. But their two prize recruits have been as disappointing as their new team.  A lot of the players are playing like they don't really want to be there.  It's lazy football.

One of the saddest things has been Eric Mackenzie's struggle to reassert himself as the fullback he once was.  It's a bit like learning to live without a limb.  The rest of the body takes on the extra load to compensate for the missing limb.  Likewise, the Eagles' defence changed their gameplan after Mackenzie went down with a knee injury in the 2015 pre-season.  While they were tipped to struggle big time without him, the defence stood tall and picked up the extra slack.  Imagine getting your limb back after years of living without it.  Now Mackenzie's back and they don't know where he fits anymore.

The Eagles have the talent, but do they have the hunger?  That is the question.

I am so relieved they won the derby.  Imagine the humiliation at losing to the Dorks this year *snort*.

Image from here.

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