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August 29, 2006
Put On Your Suit & Tie
*Pops Champagne*
Our season is officially over. No more talk of finals as it is, wait for these two magical words, mathematically impossible.
Ahh, now we can move back to bitching about the club...
As usual I made my way over to Kardinia Park on Saturday. Got there in time to honour Peter Riccardi on his fantastic career for the club. A tear started to well up in my eyes as he went past the terrace. It was great seeing some of the great moments up on the big screen also, despite the fact the club fluffed it for a few minutes where it stopped and then restarted. Whoever is responsible for the clubs mutlimedia on gamedays should be fired as they always stuff things like this up. Every single time. It is just so unprofessional and reflects poorly on the club.
In another nice touch Ricco handed over his #15 guernsey to Ryan Gamble for next season which was a touching moment for the young kid. We'll ignore the fact he should have been playing...
After all this Geelong then proceeded to put in one of the worst halves of football I've ever seen. I commented at half time to someone I'd lost count the amount of times I'd said that this season, which pretty much explains why we don't deserve to make finals. We were down by 31 points and lucky to be only down that much honestly. Melbourne weren't fantastic, they made their fair share of poor mistakes also but were definitely the classier side.
After half time everything changed. The players came out wanting to play football. It was a change in mindset, suddenly they were throwing their bodies at the ball and putting Melbourne under the kind pressure they crack under. Players started to come to life, Gazza for instance burst into the game with the presence he usually brings to the table. The result? A 6 to 2 goal third quarter which put us within touching distance.
The last quarter will be remembered for 4 things. Firstly Tommy Lonergan coming back infront of a Brad Miller lead and getting absolutely crunched for his courageous act. He was aided from the field, but more on that in another entry. Secondly Dog Johnson delivering one of the best shirtfronts on Ben Holland that I had seen for quite a while, this set up Scarlo the full forward for his second of the game and I'm pretty sure gave us a lead. All this good work was undone by Steven King who let Mark Jamar fly uncontested and kick the deciding goal in the end. Jamar Jamar! Oh well, as a kind of sidenote King was hopeless all day and is simply too slow to play AFL football. Lastly was the Scarlett snap at goal which fell 10m short only for Carroll to drop a simple mark under pressure which lead to Jimmy Bartel punching through the winning point about half a second too late. Yes, it ended as a bloody pointless draw.
GEELONG: 2.1 5.4 11.5 14.10 (94)
MELBOURNE: 5.2 10.5 12.8 14.10 (94)
GOALS - Geelong: S.Johnson 4, N.Ablett 2, Scarlett 2, G.Ablett, Corey, Chapman, D.Johnson, Ottens, Prismall Melbourne: Yze 3, McDonald 2, Robertson 2, Bartram, Bruce, Jamar, Johnstone, Miller, Pickett, Sylvia
INJURIES - Geelong: Lonergan (ribs) Melbourne: Whelan (hamstring)
CHANGES - Geelong: Mackie (back soreness) replaced in selected side by Kingsley Melbourne: Neitz (hip flexor) replaced in selected side by Sylvia
REPORTS - Nil
UMPIRES - Meredith, Wenn, Ellis
CROWD - 23,006 at Skilled Stadium
Geelongblog.com Player of The Year
5. Jimmy Bartel
4. Steve Johnson (Despite the customary 'want to kill Dog' moment)
3. Tommy Harley
2. Cameron Ling (Despite the fact he is too slow and should be traded if possible)
1. Gary Ablett (Would have got more if he did it for the entire game)
Leaderboard
35 - Paul Chapman
33 - Gary Ablett
33 - Jimmy Bartel
27 - Joel Corey
24 - Darren Milburn
21 - Cameron Mooney
20 - Jarad Rooke
19 - Brad Ottens
17 - Cameron Ling
13 - Corey Enright
9 - Josh Hunt
9 - Matthew Scarlett
7 - Steve Johnson
6 - David Wojcinski
5 - Andrew Mackie
5 - Kent Kingsley
4 - Tom Harley
4 - Matthew Stokes
4 - Shannon Byrnes
4 - Steven King
1 - Brent Prismall
Posted by Sammy D at August 29, 2006 12:03 PM
Comments
That gane pretty much summed up Geelongs season.
With a full squad they started off poorly, not really wanting to be out on the paddock at all.
Then halfway through they decide to play footy, and look at what they can do if they turn up...Win!
But in the end they fell short, well short i believe of what this team is cabable of. Some reporter in the Herald Sun said they should be fighting for a top 4 finish this time of year, not for a chance at 8th.
It ended as a pointless season for all the fans. The draw was what Geelong has delevered to its fans all year.
Posted by: Club Ryno at August 30, 2006 08:32 AM
5 votes for Jim puts him in touch with the lead and he can win player of the year with a dominant display against the Hawks.
Go JimmyJimmy.
Posted by: Ricketts at August 30, 2006 10:30 PM