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Message: [QUOTE="Rally Towel, post: 2584350, member: 8569"] Despite being gutted by the loss, I can't say or performance has altered my perception of the team or our potential this year. First off, conceding that initial 14 point margin was a horror start, and it would have been easy to capitulate there. Instead, we put four unanswered tries in them to take the lead. I doubt that we would have possessed the mettle or ability to do that over the last two seasons. On the same subject, I haven't checked the stats, but live I felt like Souths earned about six or seven repeat sets to our one? Despite losing the game, they showed some commitment and resolve to hold them out many times. As tough as some of the refereeing to swallow, contentious calls happen in all games, and we cannot attribute a loss to that. Good teams find a way to win. I thought our kicking game was poor. We found their back three on the full too many times. Inability to turn them around or force repeat sets was always going to make the going tough. Souths managed to put quite a lot of pressure on Hunt, but we rarely could say the same. As for Corey's kicking, the less said the better. Love the guy, but it's just not good enough. The scary thing is, I doubt he'd be the appointed kicker if someone proved superior in practice. Too many games lost due to missed conversions, and likely more to come. Unfortunately, I never have confidence that we can snatch a game that hangs in the balance that late in the game, particularly against quality opposition. In terms of positives, the usual suspects all turned in good performances. Macca continues to deliver, Gillett is still turning in consistent performances (which was my main criticism of him in the past). Cozza lead from the front and did well, kicking notwithstanding. Hannant appeared to returning to form, though I'll reserve judgement for a few weeks yet. Hunt had a bit of an off night, but was close to a couple of clean breaks. He still lacks polish, but I'm more confident in him than I was to start the season. I think Hodges showed that we would be much more effective if we had a little more capability in the halves to pair with Hunt. I have already touched upon the resolve and spirit shown by the team. We sorely lacked it through the last two seasons. This has been the brightest light for me this season. Between that and our improved fitness, I still believe we'll have a reasonable season. I still foresee a finish between sixth and tenth place. We were never going to be contenders for the title this year. Our performances back this up: we've rolled the weaker teams, and have been in the game until the death against the top dogs. As tough as defeats are to swallow, I think it helps to be realistic about our expectations... [/QUOTE]

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