We lost this game because we lost the centre clearance battle after quarter time....save the first 10 mins of the final quarter. And low and behold, that was when Tabs and to a lesser extent Lobb were real threats.
During the middle part of the game, Tabs was forced to lead up the ground...mainly wing to half forward, in which he still managed a number of contested marks. His workrate for this is topnotch , and is often called to do this particlarly when Fyfe is off the ground or is being well tagged.
I dont think they manged to control him that well at all, it was just a weight of numbers thing.
Conversely, our undersized and under experienced defence copped the brunt going the other way. They did well but the dam wall had to burst, and while I dont think Kennedy wouldve kicked 4 with a Hambling and or Pearce on the job, I think the dam wall may well have still burst.
As much as I hate to say it, I think Notacluey(the Sandi lung puncturer), gave them a significant edge after quarter time and that was the stark difference.