Yeah, Drubbing, the umps didn't cost us those games.
What cost us those games was rank stupidity. The tactic of having one player in the forward 50, usually Ballantyne, opposed to two or three taller defenders made it hard for us to score. Flooding the backline didn't really slow them down that much.
Added to inflexibility and a likely lack of ideas in the coaches box, the slime didn't have to do much planning to beat us. Having a game plan of Hoon, Fatty McGov and occasionally another tall was all they needed to think about. We never responded to any of that and we lost for the same reasons every time.
That said, the maggots don't get a clear slate. The slime have a history of injuring our players and only rarely do they get held accountable. Allowing Margetts, who's partner works for the slime, to umpire any slime game is such a horrible conflict of interest that it should be unsupportable.
Yes, we lost those games through stupidity but the maggots thoroughly deserved the criticism levelled at them.