It’s an old saying; ‘a week is a long time in football’, but never has there been a more accurate statement. After seeing some positive change in our preparation over the past few weeks, we came bounding back to earth with a giant thud last Saturday night against an imposing Gold Coast Suns team.

We make no excuses because our intent and effort weren’t up to standard and from the outset we got what we deserved in that first quarter of the game. While there are some positives in the better effort we showed in the last three quarters, it’s not what we are about as a football team and most definitely not how we have gone about our work over the last little while.

The buck stops with me as the senior coach, and so we have looked hard at every aspect of how we do things; what is working and what we can do better right from the moment the siren sounded. What I am confident in is the ability of our playing group and the work we have done to this point, it is now all about getting the intent of the collective group aligned and following that up with consistent effort at every moment we get.

It has been evident that the difference between when we get this right and when we don’t is far too great and with the standard of the NEAFL competition improving it’s hard to compete for long periods if we are slightly off, let alone the level we were performing at.

This is a great challenge for us as a collective group, and from my perspective, it’s been a constant in all of my thinking since 10pm last Saturday night. What I’m sure of is a committed and desperate group will take the field against Southport this Saturday afternoon. And I guess we’ll find out just how long a week in football really is!

Go Thunder!