The loss the Dockers had to have
For most of the 2009 season, Ross Lyon’s Saints looked invincible. They stifled and suffocated their opponents en route to a 19-0 record, and a perfect season beckoned. But then the Saints lost two consecutive games and never quite recaptured their top form during the finals. In hindsight, they used plenty of petrol tickets during that epic winning streak and while the team that conquered it on grand final day (Geelong) had lost three games to the same point, it focused on tinkering its game plan and managing players. So you imagine Lyon won’t have lost much sleep over Fremantle’s 27-point loss to Richmond on Friday, when his side was shooting for a 10-0 start to the season. As the pragmatic coach would probably reason, every game added to a winning streak is simply a week closer to defeat.
It was a horror night for the Dockers – 200-gamer Michael Johnson was injured early, prime mover David Mundy was uncharacteristically quiet and Michael Walters missed shots he’d normally kick blindfolded when Fremantle woke from its first-half slumber. Even Nat Fyfe was caught holding the ball – perhaps he’s human, after all. But if Lyon plays his cards right, the loss will serve as a positive. It was certainly a reminder that if the team’s pressure isn’t on from the opening bounce, it is fallible. And at the end of the day, two of the Dockers’ next three games are against Gold Coast and Brisbane, and they retain a healthy lead over their rivals on the ladder. Any St Kilda fan would have endured a loss in round 10, 2009 if they knew it might have improved the team by just 1% later in the year. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and the Dockers remain on track.
None of this should detract from an impressive performance by the Tigers, who have found consistency over the past month, coinciding with the return of the influential Brett Deledio. Five weeks ago they were under the pump, now they’re talking top four. If a week is a long time in football, a month is an eternity.
Tribalism put aside to farewell a champion
One of the best things about our game is how rival fans will shun tribalism for the greater good. We saw it on Monday afternoon, when the footy world united to raise more than $2 million for motor neurone disease research, in support of former Melbourne coach Neale Daniher’s courageous battle. And we saw it in albeit different circumstances on Saturday afternoon, when Adelaide and Carlton fans rose as one to celebrate the career of Chris Judd. The Blues champ knew he was done the moment he grabbed at his knee after outmarking Patrick Dangerfield in the middle of the ground. He shook his head, winced in pain and offered a small wave to the crowd as he left the MCG for the final time, his expression one of pure resignation.
Almost all of the 32,000 supporters in the stadium put club loyalty aside to stand and applaud for at least a minute in recognition of the career a modern-day great. We might wear different coloured scarfs to the game each week, but deep down we share a mutual admiration for the players who put their bodies on the line each week. With Judd widely expected to announce his retirement in coming days, there will be tens of thousands of words written about his legacy. But in the heat of the moment, the goodwill shown towards him in his moment of agony was easily the weekend’s most poignant moment.
Blicavs is the game’s most versatile player
It is probable that Mark Blicavs is leading the Cats’ best and fairest, an impressive feat given he plays in the same team as the likes of Joel Selwood and Tom Hawkins. The former steeplechaser has played 55 of a possible 60 games since debuting in round one, 2013 and is improving week by week. Blicavs may not be the game’s most valuable player, but he’s mounting an impressive case as its most versatile. Having spent most of the season in the midfield where he’s averaging career highs in possessions (19), marks (five) and tackles (five), Blicavs was forced to play as Geelong’s number one ruckman on Saturday night following the late withdrawal of Rhys Stanley.
Blicavs took most centre square bounces, but when he received some ruck relief from Josh Walker, could be found shadowing Dyson Heppell at stoppages, pushing forward to score or taking marks deep in defence. Not since perhaps Adam Goodes in his prime have we had a player so comfortable in so many roles. And given his athletic background, Blicavs barely breaks a sweat by the end of games when his opponents are gasping for air. He’s a running machine in a 198cm body, and even Cats coach Chris Scott conceded he doesn’t know where Blicavs’ best position is. It is apparent, though, that there’s no ceiling on how far he can develop. Geelong’s quest to defy logic and remain competitive year after year seems a little bit easier with a guy like this running around.
Kangaroos’ win not one for the ages
Anybody who claims to have seen a high quality match in Tasmania is a fool, a liar or both. Routinely, match-ups that appear attractive on paper are rendered almost unwatchable by the blustery, cold and often wet conditions in the Apple Isle. Such was the case with Sunday afternoon’s meeting between North Melbourne and West Coast. In Perth, or under the roof at Etihad Stadium, this could have been a highly entertaining encounter. But in Hobart, with a gale-force wind blowing to one end of Blundstone Arena, it was hard to mark, hard to kick and even harder to score. The challenging conditions were summed up by a remarkable moment in the first quarter, where the Eagles’ Sam Butler attempted to boot the ball inside 50m. It travelled about 40m and then hit an imaginary wall before heading back towards where it came from, boomerang-style, and fortuitously landing in the arms of team-mate Elliot Yeo.
Kicking into the wind in the last quarter, North Melbourne used the conditions well by hitting up short targets instead of bombing the ball long as both teams had done all day. Their four last-quarter goals were the difference in a game that never threatened to blow out. It was a vital win but in terms of a spectacle you sense that nobody at North Melbourne, not even fill-in coach Darren Crocker, will look forward to sitting through the replay.
The three certainties in life
To grossly paraphrase Daniel Defoe, there are three certainties in life: death, taxes and football fans booing players who used to play for their club. The past few rounds have coincidentally featured a number of matches where big-name players have taken on their former teams. Whatever your stance on booing and jeering, you can’t deny that Hawthorn fans and Western Bulldog fans have reason to take umbrage with Lance Franklin and Ryan Griffen respectively; the star players having left their former clubs in acrimonious circumstances.
On Monday afternoon, Collingwood fans screamed themselves hoarse booing Heretier Lumumba, a Pies premiership player who played 199 games with dash and flair in the black and white. The running defender was traded to the Demons last year, and was facing his former team for the first time. In isolation, it was a somewhat strange decision by Collingwood supporters. Lumumba seemingly left his old club on good terms; even delivering a long-winded speech at the club’s best and fairest about how much Collingwood meant to him. And the three-team trade, in which Travis Varcoe became a Pie and former Demon Mitch Clark joined Geelong, was the epitome of a win-win-win, with all three players making strong contributions this season. In this era of free agency, more and more players will switch clubs each year and you sense that no Collingwood fan will be booing if they land a big fish like Adam Treloar in a few months. So why the pantomime jeering of a guy who gave the club his all for a decade?
