Disappointing - South Melbourne 0 Australian Institute of Sport 2

I wish I could write more, but after deliberately waiting until the day after, so as to be calmer about the whole thing, this is just about all I could come up with. That these days, every loss is like a little death. The club's heart is fragile, and while the core will always be there, their willpower becomes weaker and their enthusiasm becomes drained. That kind of performance, lacking energy and direction, is not necessarily just a one off on the field. It's the kind of performance that could perhaps define us as a club; tired and without a sense of purpose.

And despite the lack of intensity and the general lack of method, we still created chances enough in the first half. Had a penalty. Could have taken the lead. But perhaps it's better that we didn't. To keep the game going at 0-0, to see what we would do in that situation. As expected, not much. I was an advocate of removing Johnny A' at the end of last season. To me, it had been obvious that part of the cycle had run its course. Leaving aside Green Gully's Ian Dobson, who took time off for family reasons, we're the only club who hasn't changed coaches in the three and bit years if post-NSL VPL. There was a case for giving him another year, in that he had won us the championship in 2006; but for mine it was better to nip the downward spiral in the bud. Some may say it's only been 5 weeks, but it's been more like 18 weeks. How much longer? And even if we do win the derby against Preston this week, will that be a one off or a true return to form. I suspect the former.