How to Get Ahead, or, What Lid?
By now we’ve all heard, and indeed adopted as our mantra as Cats supporters, the phrase ‘keep a lid on it’. We’ve had it drilled into us by fellow supporters, the club itself and on these here pages. We’ve been beaten to death with it. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been this sick of hearing a catch phrase since Uncle Joey from Full House started pulling the ‘cut it out’ routine, complete with ridiculous hand gestures. But, Tanner family hi-jinx aside, what exactly are we ‘keeping a lid’ on?
Last year Geelong’s disappointing season was largely chalked up to the players and club ‘taking the lid off’ and, after a pre-season cup premiership and two impressive opening victories in the season proper, ‘getting ahead of themselves’ But, again, what is ‘getting ahead of oneself?’
This season the club is committed, across the board, to a full-on ‘one week at a time’ routine. They review each game and the group’s performance in the same manner on Monday, be it win, lose or draw. Then, leaving that week behind, they focus on the upcoming match, not looking back or daring to look any further ahead. It is a conceited effort to maintain this program across all facets of the club that is now being credited for Geelong’s success. But is it that simple?
Perhaps. Although I have ended every paragraph so far with a question, this piece does have a point: The Geelong players now understand what they need to do every week in order to win. Early in the season the Cats, for whatever reason, committed to that burning intensity required to get to, and stay at, the top. It is a Zen-like focus that requires 100% attention, intention and energy into every effort made on the field. This has resulted in an incredible 15 game win streak and an understanding that they don’t need to ‘keep a lid on it’ at all, because the truth is, there is no lid.
The gap between top and bottom is miniscule in today’s AFL: Other than West Coast, the current top 5 teams on this season’s ladder did not play finals last year. Read that sentence again. None of those teams, Geelong included, have had a massive overhaul in terms of list, nor have any of them installed a new coach since last season. Conversely, the other teams in the competition have not had a ridiculous loss of talented players or coach either. Regardless, the label of good and bad is assigned to teams at some point or another throughout the season, and good teams are expected to win and keep winning.
At some point, as a ‘good’ team, you have to accept that you’re not underdogs anymore, that you’re not just trying to win back some sort of lost respect, but that you know how to win and you’re going to go out there and do just that. Winning demands more winning and we shouldn’t shy away from that.
We, as supporters, cannot, as opposed to should not, take the lid off either. It is not ours to take. There is certainly some joy in the team’s performance thus far, pre-game at the pub each week expecting another victory being one of my favourites, but we have also awoken. We no longer need to be told. We can see the resolve in the team. We can sense the unity amongst the players. We can feel their concentrated focus.
As an overall view, every team’s goal is to win the premiership. For some, being realistic, it may not be this season, or next. For them it is about obtaining and then developing younger players. If they’re lucky, those young players will develop into a team. If they’re extremely lucky that team will one day learn what it takes to win, what it takes to become a ‘good’ team. And good teams that know how to win also know that you’re only as good as your last game. Especially if the last game happens to fall on the last Saturday in September.
Fear the lid no more, brothers and sisters, for it doesn’t really exist. Just as The Buddha taught us that his religion is merely a raft to be discarded once one reaches the other side of the river, so to has Bomber taught us that the lid must stay on only long enough to prove that it isn’t needed.
By now we’ve all heard, and indeed adopted as our mantra as Cats supporters, the phrase ‘keep a lid on it’. We’ve had it drilled into us by fellow supporters, the club itself and on these here pages. We’ve been beaten to death with it. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been this sick of hearing a catch phrase since Uncle Joey from Full House started pulling the ‘cut it out’ routine, complete with ridiculous hand gestures. But, Tanner family hi-jinx aside, what exactly are we ‘keeping a lid’ on?Last year Geelong’s disappointing season was largely chalked up to the players and club ‘taking the lid off’ and, after a pre-season cup premiership and two impressive opening victories in the season proper, ‘getting ahead of themselves’ But, again, what is ‘getting ahead of oneself?’
This season the club is committed, across the board, to a full-on ‘one week at a time’ routine. They review each game and the group’s performance in the same manner on Monday, be it win, lose or draw. Then, leaving that week behind, they focus on the upcoming match, not looking back or daring to look any further ahead. It is a conceited effort to maintain this program across all facets of the club that is now being credited for Geelong’s success. But is it that simple?
Perhaps. Although I have ended every paragraph so far with a question, this piece does have a point: The Geelong players now understand what they need to do every week in order to win. Early in the season the Cats, for whatever reason, committed to that burning intensity required to get to, and stay at, the top. It is a Zen-like focus that requires 100% attention, intention and energy into every effort made on the field. This has resulted in an incredible 15 game win streak and an understanding that they don’t need to ‘keep a lid on it’ at all, because the truth is, there is no lid.
The gap between top and bottom is miniscule in today’s AFL: Other than West Coast, the current top 5 teams on this season’s ladder did not play finals last year. Read that sentence again. None of those teams, Geelong included, have had a massive overhaul in terms of list, nor have any of them installed a new coach since last season. Conversely, the other teams in the competition have not had a ridiculous loss of talented players or coach either. Regardless, the label of good and bad is assigned to teams at some point or another throughout the season, and good teams are expected to win and keep winning.
At some point, as a ‘good’ team, you have to accept that you’re not underdogs anymore, that you’re not just trying to win back some sort of lost respect, but that you know how to win and you’re going to go out there and do just that. Winning demands more winning and we shouldn’t shy away from that.
We, as supporters, cannot, as opposed to should not, take the lid off either. It is not ours to take. There is certainly some joy in the team’s performance thus far, pre-game at the pub each week expecting another victory being one of my favourites, but we have also awoken. We no longer need to be told. We can see the resolve in the team. We can sense the unity amongst the players. We can feel their concentrated focus.
As an overall view, every team’s goal is to win the premiership. For some, being realistic, it may not be this season, or next. For them it is about obtaining and then developing younger players. If they’re lucky, those young players will develop into a team. If they’re extremely lucky that team will one day learn what it takes to win, what it takes to become a ‘good’ team. And good teams that know how to win also know that you’re only as good as your last game. Especially if the last game happens to fall on the last Saturday in September.
Fear the lid no more, brothers and sisters, for it doesn’t really exist. Just as The Buddha taught us that his religion is merely a raft to be discarded once one reaches the other side of the river, so to has Bomber taught us that the lid must stay on only long enough to prove that it isn’t needed.
posted by the captain at 7:14 pm
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