Hoping for the best

I concur with Mick McGuane that Blues fans need to “hold fire on buying Grand Final tickets”.

Also, that “better conversion from the Western Bulldogs and an ounce of luck” by Hawthorn would have created a very different result.

Disappointingly however, McGuane did not mention in his article (“Don’t book GF tickets just yet, Blues”, HS, 8/4) the reason the Bulldogs so competently destroyed a 41-point lead; namely, that when their players applied intense and unrelenting pressure on the Blues, their players followed the form of many past years and succumbed with copious skill errors, abandoning their earlier running game and seemingly too, losing their self-belief and confidence in each other.

Likewise, against Hawthorn.

Indeed, there are “holes” and plenty of “bad” to address, but as far as I can see, coach Michael Voss must “teach” them not to panic under pressure first and foremost.

Moreover, he needs to ensure players hold on to their sense of self playing together as talented teammates. But then, perhaps I cannot read the play as perceptively as an ex-“premiership star”?

As the late, great football scribe and player Lou Richards commented all too often, “bad kicking is bad football” and “luck’s a fortune”.

Meanwhile, I’ll just watch patiently, perhaps even excitedly, hoping for the best.