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March 14, 2006
NAB Cup Semi-Final: Geelong Vs Fremantle
I'm going to do this ambitiously having not watched the replay. Mainly because if I wait to watch the replay this probably wouldn't be posted until Thursday/Friday which by then nobody will give a jack's to be honest.
Well, due to a mate playing cricket we were forced to catch the 6:30pm train meaning we should've got to our seats pretty much as the ball was getting bounced, but thanks to some bogans who got on at Geelong station drunk and refused to pay for their ticket we were forced to stop at Werribee for 30-40 minutes to wait for the police to chuck them off. They had little kids with them, poor little blighters, what did they do to deserve parents like that. Bloody Collingwood supporters.
Anyways, by the time the cops arrived some bloke who had also been drinking and was cursing off his head at them for holding at the train had a swing at one of them and nearly fell over in the process. This was turning out much more entertaining than watching Geelong kick poorly.
So I missed the entire first quarter and two minutes of the second, but here are the txt's I received to keep me informed of what was going on:
7:47pm - Schofield goals. 7pts to 1. Egan on Pavlich & Sandilands @ full forward. Kano getting the ball but shit kicks.7:50pm - Tenace long kick to the square. Moons marks and goals. Scores level.
8:02pm - WORST DECISION EVER! 13-10 Fremantles way
8:07pm - Geelong 1.4.10 to Fremantle 2.2.14. We aren't kicking very well.
Well there you go, simply riviting action. Still am yet to find out what that "WORST DECISION EVER" was all about, so if anyone can shed some light on that it would be appreciated.
So what to take out of the match. The match would have been great from a neutral perspective as the momentum continually swung back and forth between the two sides. If a side kicked a goal they seemed to go on and kick the next 2-3 and seemingly gain the advantage until the other side came back at them.
Bad kicking for goal hurt us for the first three quarters as we went in behind at 3 quarter time, but in the last quarter it was Fremantle who had the yips. Longmuir & McPharlin had a chance each to put us out of the contest really, but they both missed when they should have done better and left the door open.
Meanwhile for us in the last quarter Joel Corey, Corey Enright & Darren Milburn stood up and helped us get over the line, while there was very promising signs shown by Kane Tenace, Matthew Egan & Brent Prismall.
We were sitting right where the Geelong bench would be going for their runs, which led me to see both the Abletts with injury concerns. Nathan of course went off in the last quarter and didn't return with which what has been reported to be an ankle injury, meanwhile Gazza came off in the third quarter and was regularly talking to the trainer in what looked like a groin related injury, but he sucked it up and went back on.
A crowd of 12,000 was disappointing as I thought we'd push 18,000-20,000, but it's only pre-season. Another disappointment was the umpires who were awful again towards both sides. If this continues into the regularly season I will 'do a Quartermain' and simply refuse to acknowledge them.
I thought we would lose pretty easily and I said to mate going up I would be happy if we could get 5 goals out of Nathan, Tom Lonergan & Charlie Gardner but I didn't think it would happen. We won & they kicked 1.3 so mixed results. Geelongblog.com is also in pre-season mode.
Now we have the AFL's version of a "plastic trophy" to play for...
Posted by Sammy D at March 14, 2006 09:15 PM