Sad really, as I've always seen them as the Adelaide Freo. I've put myself in Hinkley's shoes and tried to work out what I would do - moving Boak out of the middle, sticking Wündergard deep forward and running Hoff along the back wing was worth a try, but it isn't working. Polack was the mobile run-through guy they haven't been able to replace, Hartlett is good off the boot, but he runs like an Edsel. Paddy should've made a huge difference, but they don't know where to plunk him. All in all, their weaknesses as players, and collectively as a team, are just proving to be too easy to exploit.
But in all fairness, the bounce of the ball, the small 1%'rs just haven't fallen their way - game after game, which says to me they're done. If you can't manufacture gaining that 1% you're cactus (no matter how much effort you put to it).
But, as I tell myself, they did this to us in 2008 - first game, Purple Haze game at home with the purple jumpers/white anchors (everyone's favourite special jumper) - and Port come over and kick 10 in the third. The rest of the season - the entire rest of the season - was struggling against the suction of water spinning around at the bottom of the toilet bowl. We did that to them this year - Smiley would shrug and call it karma (with a smile).