The effort then was just enough, we won by 1 more point than the GF in 2004, when the difference was a few of Andrew Ryan's fingertips. Such a dogs thing, can play great but for some reason so often have to win it by a thin margin. This team can't afford to do that, but getting them around the corner isn't going to be a case of cutting strips off them.
Chooks had the mental advantage of nothing to lose, we've seen this before in sports, especially when it comes to send offs, it takes the pressure off and the disadvantaged team can actually play with much more strength. Also, our team structures got devastated again with Taffee getting a Cat 1. Interesting to see that CC started out with Salmon in the centres, then shifted Burton out there instead, that certainly helped.