I know the media and fans hate to hear those words, but they’re the truth.
Take the Lions for instance. In the past few weeks we’ve sat only a game or two outside of the top eight, and I can honestly say that the prospect of playing Finals never came up in our team meetings or discussions.
And our approach to games won’t change now that Finals are officially out of reach - we will continue to focus on trying to finish the season off as strongly as possible.
The results, sometimes, are secondary to how we actually go about things.
Our narrow loss against St Kilda back in Round 16 was particularly tough to swallow, but at least we stuck to our structures and showed that we can be more than just competitive against a quality side.
The following week we got the four points against the Suns, but didn’t play nearly as well as we did against the Saints.
Then, only last Sunday, we got taught a harsh lesson by the Eagles - a team we had defeated only two months earlier.
Even though our confidence might have taken a bit of a hit in recent weeks, it doesn’t affect our intentions heading into Saturday night’s match against Richmond at the Gabba.
A spot in September might not be up for grabs, but both teams will still have plenty to play for.
