Connolly got it right a couple of years ago when he said that the side needed to continually improve if it was to be competitive in this competition. If you aren't on the improve, you are on the slide. There is no static ground in the fierce battleground that is the AFL; teams need to be giving their best week in, week out or it is inevitable that they are found out by hungrier teams.

--I believe on the whole that the club is not professional enough--

And so it was again for the Dockers. Since 2003, when the team finished fifth, the team simply has not improved and, as the saying goes, this meant we were going backwards. This is reflected in finishes of 9th and 10th in 2004 and 2005. I am glad I am writing this in October when the bitterness has subsided somewhat. I am still pissed off, but I am able to reflect more easily about why.

Now this may be unfair to say, because I believe there are significant elements of the club that are getting better in this area, but I believe on the whole that the club is not professional enough. Aside from Bell, Pavlich, and Parker, I think that there are question marks over the team and its coaching staff regarding their ability to get the best out of themselves on a consistent basis. The AFL is tough, and if you desire to be top dog and win a flag, you need to be nearly over-zealous in your desire to defeat your opponent no matter the round, no matter the occasion, no matter the respective positions on the ladder. If there are elements in our club that aren't prepared to be like this, then they either need to move on or become so, and quickly. The careers of the core group of players supposedly supposed to take us to a premiership (Pavlich, Haselby, the Carr boys, Longmuir, McPharlin, Black) are already half over, more or less. With each season that slips by, is an opportunity missed. Professionalism and hunger need to improve at Fremantle, the procession of ex-players who criticise the club's level of professionalism can't all be wrong.

--I would like to say that my new least favourite word is now "passion"--

An example of what I mean is what was said after that lamentable performance against Richmond in Round 4. I distinctly remember the line being bandied around then: "Well, that was our one disaster for the year, the boys are allowed one of those a year". That sort of talk is just ridiculous and shows the club up as less professional than the others. Sure enough, the Dockers served up similarly unacceptable performances against Hawthorn and the Kangaroos, both crucial clashes at home. After great and stirring wins, they come out with the classic, "I think at last we've turned the corner". Well it seems as if we've been turning corners for years - too bad where on the street to nowhere.

Enough has been said about our talent, and our list. We all know, the whole country knows that our list is reasonable at worst and premiership worthy at best. There is a systemic problem at Fremantle which is preventing the club from nurturing that talent to become what it should be.

Lastly I would like to say that my new least favourite word is now "passion". I used to consider myself an extremely passionate member of the Dockers, but ever since the club turned the word into a marketing ploy it now has a hollow, tasteless sense to it which is greatly disappointing. It is hard to feel passion for a club which treats its members as just customers purchasing a piece of plastic to view the team play 11 times instead of an integral part of a CLUB. I think that the FFC don't really understand the nature of what a Club is meant to be. They pump ads into your ears at every break in play, when you are trying to catch up with your friends and family, they ban the after match function at the Billy Walker room because of a few disgusting louts who don't represent the 99.9% of other "passionate" Freo supporters, they don't have a single area in the new club facilities for members to go and socialise, and catch up and feel like they are part of the fabric of the football team. Other clubs know who they are, where they come from and they look after their own. Freo does not. Then to cap it all off we all turn up to see a team under perform, year after year (many of whom travelled hundreds of kilometres just to see them) and they ask us if we have the "passion". John F Kennedy did say "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country", but this is ridiculous. We already fork out big bucks to go to the games. We put up with the ads, we settle for not seeing the coach and players after the game, we accept mediocre performances, we travel endless miles, we create websites devoted to them (well I did); I think we have done our bit. I think it is high time they did something for us.

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