COACH Mark Neeld says it was a “weird wash-up” from his side’s 95-point loss to Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday, as his team was able to achieve some key internal measurements despite being thrashed by almost three figures.
Although not happy with the result, Neeld said some pleasing “one percenters” came to the fore.
“We have, like all clubs do, a measurement for one percenters in the common language and we had our highest result for the year. That measurement is of effort … and we hit 300 disposals for the first time for the year,” he said.
“We wanted to compete for as long as we could - we came up with a few strategies for that and in the end, I think they only got us by a handful. We were really keen to be consistent with our tackling effort, and we were OK in that area.”
Neeld said his team’s performance showed exactly where it was against one of the best in the business.
Still, he believed that there was only one match in recent times where his team’s effort was well below par.
“There was one day against Gold Coast when our tackling was poor, so that led to six days of people claiming the boys didn’t have a crack,” Neeld said.
“We were poor in our tackling performance and our defensive efforts against Gold Coast, but that’s probably the one that stuck in people’s minds.”