History for mjp2

I think what is happening, in part, is we have got good enough to game manage.

Our guys do a lot more travel than the other sides, except Perth and the team in the ACL.  We also have a bunch of players coming back from injury and building up minutes and top match fitness. 

We used to have a lot of games against sides like Sydney when we would be competitive and pushing for a win or a seemingly deserved draw, and they would then turn it on with 5 or 15 minutes of intensity, pace and quality.  And take a game away from us.  They were good enough to beat us at 90% and occasionally had to go to 100% to beat off the nuisance we were.  A generalization, but that happened often enough.

We're doing that to other sides now. And managing the impact of our greater travel load and fitness rebuild after the injuries.  Albeit we are not doing it as comfortably as the Sydney, Victory and City sides of the past were able to do.  So we look a bit limp and fragile when our intensity drops and we rely on defence. I don't think it is necessarily a deliberate thing, but tired players back off a bit and make errors that put the team on the back foot. And games ebb and flow.

And then, in the past, the playoffs started and the good sides would lift to 110% and we invariably could not quite match them.

Sunday was one of the first times I felt we were able to up a level - with the help of the substitutes - and do enough to take a game away from a pretty decent opposition.  We were extremely good for that 10 minutes.

Adelaide created plenty in that game. I don't think you can put all that down to us being poor.  But we were good enough to beat them.

I think what is happening, in part, is we have got good enough to game manage.

Our guys do a lot more travel than the other sides, except Perth and the team in the ACL.  We also have a bunch of players coming back from injury and building up minutes and top match fitness. 

We used to have a lot of games against sides like Sydney when we would be competitive and pushing for a win or a seemingly deserved draw, and they would then turn it on with 5 or 15 minutes of intensity, pace and quality.  And take a game away from us.  They were good enough to beat us at 90% and occasionally had to go to 100% to beat off the nuisance we were.  A generalization, but that happened often enough.

We're doing that to other sides now. And managing the impact of our greater travel load and fitness rebuild after the injuries.  Albeit we are not doing it as comfortably as the Sydney, Victory and City sides of the past were able to do.  So we look a bit limp and fragile when our intensity drops and we rely on defence. I don't think it is necessarily a deliberate thing, but tired players back off a bit. And games ebb and flow.

And then, in the past, the playoffs started and the good sides would lift to 110% and we invariably could not quite match them.

Sunday was one of the first times I felt we were able to up a level - with the help of the substitutes - and do enough to take a game away from a pretty decent opposition.  We were extremely good for that 10 minutes.

Adelaide created plenty in that game. I don't think you can put all that down to us being poor.  But we were good enough to beat them.

I think what is happening, in part, is we have got good enough to game manage.

Our guys do a lot more travel than the other sides, except Perth and the team in the ACL.  We have also got a bunch of players who are coming back from injury and building up minutes and top match fitness. 

We used to have a lot of games against sides like Sydney when we would be competitive and pushing for a win or a seemingly deserved draw, and they would then turn it on with 5 or 15 minutes of intensity, pace and quality.  And take a game away from us.  They were good enough to beat us at 90% and occasionally had to go to 100% to beat off the nuisance we were.  A generalization, but that happened often enough.

We're doing that to other sides now. And managing the impact of our greater travel load and fitness rebuild after the injuries.  Albeit we are not doing it as comfortably as the Sydney, Victory and City sides of the past were able to do.  So we look a bit limp and fragile when our intensity drops and we rely on defence. I don't think it is necessarily a deliberate thing, but tired players back off a bit. And games ebb and flow.

And then, in the past, the playoffs started and the good sides would lift to 110% and we invariably could not quite match them.

Sunday was one of the first times I felt we were able to up a level - with the help of the substitutes - and do enough to take a game away from a pretty decent opposition.  We were extremely good for that 10 minutes.

Adelaide created plenty in that game. I don't think you can put all that down to us being poor.  But we were good enough to beat them.