How to process Sydney's season - The Curiosity | The Means Test with Adam Simpson! (21.09.26)
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How should Sydney review their 2026 season after the recent collapse?
So the curiosity is, how do we review Sydney in the aftermath of all of it? That's a great question. You can't play that way all year. So to have a game style of, we're going to bash and crash, we're going to run you off your legs, and we're going to beat you up. You can do it, looks like, with this team anyway. You did it for six quarters, six and a half. Maybe they did it against North. That was an emotional game. So there's three and a half games they did it for.
What are the immediate consequences for the players involved in the fallout?
So... For Sydney, how do they review this season? You must be split into what to do about this. Well done. Great credits. We've earned a little bit of on-field respect back. What does that mean, off-field? Nothing, I suppose. I don't know.
How did injuries and missing key players impact Sydney’s performance?
We've got a bit of admiration for how they dealt with the situation that was self-inflicted. Now, what happens next? Like, what happens to those players? I think I said it on Saturday. There's the club and how they feel. Then there's the five and how they feel. And then there's the other 40 players that go, hang on, I don't want to play with him again. Or, no, no, come back here. You know, we all make mistakes.
Why might some players never be forgiven for costing a premiership chance?
Yeah. My gut feel says there's at least 10 players. We'll never forgive that because you cost us a chance to win a premiership. I will never forgive you. We can talk or we can be teammates. We're not mates. There's definitely, that's going to happen. That happens at any league, in any level. Yeah.
What does the season’s ‘selfishness of a handful of players’ mean for the club’s future?
So there's still some things to work through from a Sydney point of view. How do you see it
all? A bit the same. A bit the same. And a season completely squandered through the selfishness of a handful of players. They were so primed for their tilt at it. And then they had to perform heroics against the odds to get what they could. And they're out. Missing eight players.
How would the season have differed if all the best players had been available?
Yeah. Eight of their best 23 weren't playing on the weekend. So three injuries, five players and yeah. And, but you just don't know, cause they don't play that brand all year. And then, then they play this brand that, um, is electrifying for, for three or four games. And you don't, you don't know what would have happened. I don't, you know, Brisbane, Brisbane might've had a completely different attitude. against Sydney if those players are playing.
You
can't transpose one onto the other. But you can't help but think it. When you're in the rooms after a game, you're 30 points up at three quarter time or 20 points up and you go, I wish we had our teammates with us for this game. You can't stop thinking that. So you can't unscramble the egg.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How should Sydney review their 2026 season after the recent collapse?
0:00–0:26
2
What are the immediate consequences for the players involved in the fallout?
0:26–0:41
3
How did injuries and missing key players impact Sydney’s performance?
0:41–1:07
4
Why might some players never be forgiven for costing a premiership chance?
1:07–1:25
5
What does the season’s ‘selfishness of a handful of players’ mean for the club’s future?
1:25–1:47
6
How would the season have differed if all the best players had been available?
1:47–2:27
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Whateley
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