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May 30, 2005
It Was Just Too Good To Be True
As I awoke from my slumber around 11am out of the corner of my eye I could see a slither of light behind my bedroom window blind. After I bothered to wipe the sleep out of my eyes I saw a familiar and feared sight. Clear blue sky. It was not a good sign for the coming day.
I've been a standing room guy all my life. I have become used to having to get over to the ground at midday and watching the reserves or falcons play, but with no curtain raiser or even a piss poor attempt at pre-game entertainment & the fact we were playing probably the worst travelling fan base in the country there seemed little point in getting there early as usual. Infact with about an hour before the bounce I received an urgent call from a mate he needed an immediate lift to Deakin University otherwise the Geelong Rams (Rugby Union) U/21 Colts would be a player less this arvo.
So finally with about 20 minutes to spare I made it into Kardinia Park only to find the standing room was about 20% full if lucky. If I had brought along a Sherrin my mates & I could have had a game of kick to kick in there it was that empty.
Since waking up the weather had deteriated. It was cold & windy, but the sky was overcast with no signs of miracle showers that would save our small defence. Likewise Tom Harley wouldn't be making a late recall to the side in attempt of being our saviour as both sides went in as named.
The Dockers won the toss and were kicking with a fair breeze towards the City End. Signs of a bad day were evident early as the Dockers rammed home the first five goals of the match despite us having a bit of the play, but not taking our opportunities. For example Kent "The Duke" Kingsley failing to make the distance 30 metres out in front from a set shot. By this stage all 8 Fremantle fans in my area of the standing room were getting chirpy. I think I even heard one of them say "Freo Freo", while plastic anchors were being flung around with gay abandon. Geelong then hit back late in the quarter with the last three goals to be within touch at quarter time.
Using the wind to our advantage in the second term Geelong seemed to be showing signs of overcoming Fremantles style as they booted four goals to two to see us ahead by a small three point margin at the long break.
It turned out the best part of the second half were the jam donuts I enjoyed at the start of the third quarter. Connolly used exploited our lack of height by throwing the street pole Aaron Sandilands forward which brought them two goals. That and their sharp kicking for goal had them up 11.4 to 9.11 going into the last quarter.
In the last quarter we huffed & puffed but could not blow down their house despite desperate attempts late in the game as the wharfies came away with a historic 9 point victory as Pavlich put an exclaimation point on the game with a goal after the siren.
To be blunt it was an incredibly frustrating game of football. Chris Connelly has his team playing a very bland, boring style of football but to him & his players credit they stuck to it religiously managing to strangle us. Connolly definitely outcoached Thompson in selection & on the park (even on the sidelines!) as we were made to pay for our lack of tall defenders & our static midfield.
Scarlett had his hands full with McPharlin, while poor dependable Jarad Rooke had the mammoth task of limiting Pavlich which he did to an extent. Pavlich got heaps of the ball, however most of it was 70-80 metres out from goal. Playfair was sacrificed to play down back for parts of the game and had to man up on Sandilands who was of course too tall for H.
Meanwhile in the midfield we allowed Carr (early on) & Bell to run around and do what they pleased. Playing possession football and often swifty moving the ball foward on counter attacks to an empty, yet tall & mobile forward line. We paid little respect to the likes of Crowley & Dodd who made us pay for it.
King was average in the ruck & Longmuir led him a merry dance around the ground all day.
Our small defenders, Hunt & D. Johnson played well, but likewise did their opponents Medhurst & Farmer, with the Dockers duo probably edging the points.
Ottens was our best tall forward for the afternoon, but didn't have much competition as Polak was a rock for Freo, while Troy Cook enjoyed man handling Gary Ablett all afternoon. Garry from first look probably should have had a free kick late in the last quarter from 25 metres out on a tough angle, but it was not given.
In short we were pretty much totally outplayed in my opinion yet if we had taken our opportunities should have come away with the four points.
GEELONG: 3.5, 7.8, 9.11, 11.16 (82)
FREMANTLE: 5.2, 7.5, 11.7, 14.7 (91)
GOALS – Geelong: Kingsley 2, Chapman 2, Mackie, Ottens, Lonergan, Playfair, Ablett, Scarlett, Milburn Fremantle: Farmer 4, Crowley 3, McPharlin 2, Sandilands 2, Longmuir, Black, Pavlich
What better way to forget a bad days football than drink it away as a few of us headed to the local for its warmth & amber fluid. Unfortunately it also had the replay of the game on. The men in yellow made some very ordinary decisions it seems without having a huge influence on the game.
As I watched the Dockers huddle round the middle of Shell Stadium after the game I taunted "sing the song, sing the song" to no one in the particular, only to have a middle aged woman in a Freo scarf drinking Chardonnay turn around and retort
"I'd sing it, but I would be embarrassing you." I replied along the lines of,
"Yeah, right. It's the worst song ever written. Go ahead and sing it, I need a laugh." She then changed the subject to something about us having to beat Brisbane or something...
Anyways on to the votes for the:
geelongblog.com Player of the Year
Round 10
5. Paul Chapman
4. Josh Hunt
3. Jimmy Bartel
2. David Johnson
1. Gary Ablett
Leaderboard:
Chapman - 20
Enright - 18
Corey - 15
Ling - 13
Hunt - 12
Milburn - 11
Bartel - 10
David Johnson - 9
Ablett - 8
Byrnes - 6
Next week I'll be making my way up to the Phone Dome as we're taking on the Pies for Friday Night Football. Dare I say it, another danger game. Especially if we continue on how we played this weekend.
Posted by Sammy D at May 30, 2005 12:42 AM