The Kangaroos had a narrow loss to the Eagles in round one and went down to the Dockers last Sunday and Petrie says everyone at Aegis Park is aware of the reasons.
“We just turned the footy over far too much,” Petrie told 1116SEN Morning Glory’s Andy Maher, Tim Watson and Anthony Hudson.
“We had only two less inside 50’s than Fremantle and I think it was a similar kind of result against West Coast in round one. We’ve had the ball inside 50, but just the polish and finishing off the good work up the ground wasn’t there for those games.”
Petrie said the players are looking forward to the opportunity to turn the club’s fortunes around against the Tigers on Sunday and believes they have enough x-factor on the field to ignite their season.
“Lindsay Thomas…had eight shots on goal on the weekend, he kicked two out on the full and 6 points so…you saw what happens when he kicks straight against Carlton last year, he kicked 7 goals. Wellsy kicked and amazing goal from the boundary on the weekend and Boomer’s still got those qualities about him. We definitely still have the players.”
With only two games under his belt so far this year, Petrie will also be looking to make a bigger contribution after being well held by Fremantle defender Antoni Grover.
After an injury plagued 2010, Petrie knows only too well how difficult the comeback trail can be and believes criticism of Jack Ziebell must be tempered given the youngsters horror run.
“He’s definitely improved on where he has been last year…Ziebs is one of the hardest blokes I’ve seen go at a footy and he’s copped two broken legs in his first year of footy so the hardness isn’t a drama.
“Because he’s such a good player we just want to keep him out on the track, out on the game-day field for as long as we can. So to get that elite fitness, it’s going to take a couple of years as it does with most players so it’s not a knock or a criticism of Jack but it’s just going to take another year to get that absolute gut busting running type of tank that the good midfielders have in this competition.”
