The pessimistic part of me has a feeling of 1998 about this year. I'll get pumped just to be participating in the finals. I'll have hope that our little engine that could will not let us down from an effort perspective. And so far we've exceeded my expectations big time and jumped past the level I hoped we'd reach with a bunch of largely under rated recruits.
But in 1998 we lifted in the latter part of the year to scrape into the finals. We smashed every round of the finals through grit and determination until we faced a Brisbane roster that was maybe 4-5 players short of being all rep players. And grit and determination just couldn't get us home against that stacked team.
My biggest area of doubt right now is that we've lifted already from our win against Brisbane this year. We haven't needed to improve defensively, but do we have another level to reach through the finals. I think maybe Melbourne do. The Panthers you'd expect have something left in the tank. I haven't watched much of the Sharts or other finals contenders.
If we can maintain the energy, desire and self belief we're a chance. But I just don't know if we've peeked.
