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April 12, 2007
Water of Life
Its was only one game and one loss early in the season but R1 was not an ideal start when the GFC is in membership recruitment mode. Its only one game but one could sense the doubts staring to creep into the publics mindset. Could all the effort rebuilding the club be a wasted effort? Could it be that our kids just aren’t as good as we had been lead to believe? The media was just about ready to go nuts and Thompson was right on a razors edge , Geelong need to do something stop the rot before it really got rolling.. In a football club the Water of Life is talent , Geelong the town might be in the middle of a big dry but Geelong the footy club needed to show that there was plenty of liquidity in their talent dam and they need to do it immediately.
One area I’ve had question about our talent depth is our rucks. King has the resilience of a Royal Dalton gravy boat , Ottens a fine ruckman when not sucking in more air than a Hoover upright , Blake the project FatherSon who’s movement thru the midfield looks as appetizing as a wet and saggy Fillet of Fish and the last man in West who hasn’t even made it to the A’s yet. To me the four of the represent about as much depth as the kiddies pool at Eastern Beach , hardly the stuff to turn around negativity.
So when Blake lined up against Cloke I felt it was a big night for the apprentice “Tap Master”. Blake went up for the first bounce , won the first tap and proceed to win nearly everyone there after for the rest of the night. He was dominant in the centre circle giving the Geelong’s centre bounce mids more “first ball” use than they have been used to for some time.
This is all good news for Geelong and Blake because he really needed to start rewarding the faith that’s been placed in him and he need to show that he could carve up a rookie ruckman like Cloke. Sure he made some fluffs around the ground but the positives far outweighed the negatives. Maybe , just maybe the rucks stocks aren’t so shallow after all but lets wait to see when the opposition is a little stronger than the Carlton rucks.
The Usual Suspect played well in the middle. Ling was back to being the defensive “Full Stop”, closing down Stevens. Corey, Gablett, Chapman and Bartel all made the most of Blake and Ottens. Nothing new from the talent dam here , you might think but Prismall and young Selwood showed plenty to think they both have a big future. Prismall is really starting to lock down his spot , his footwork to setup Varcoe 2nd goal was worthy of Dancing with Stars. Selwood is struggling with the pace of the AFL game but considering the base he has come from he really has done extremely well.
Of course , nothing can be as revitalising as when the talent dam supplies some fresh goal kicking superstars. Although not brand new Nathan Ablett across the half forwardline created plenty of muck and mire for the Blue Baggers. His leads where quick , his hands where soft and sticky and his dual sided kicking ability gives him a lethal weapon There have been some who doubted his ability , there have been some who doubted his mental capacity or dedication but I doubt there would be many left now who think this kid is anything other than a potential star. To play like he did , after 13 games makes one drool for what he will be like with another 30 or 40 in him.
Then there was Tom. The pre-game build up was big , to have a nickname uniformly used in one’s first game is very unusual. “He had hardly played” the experts said , “it’s like throwing the lamb to the wolves”. But he played not like a raw kid overwhelmed but a kid who had been mentally ready to play for some time. Its not so much that he did heaps its just the way he did what he did. He contributed 3 goals from marks but none were gimme goals and all the set shots were good strikes. He took a couple of strong grabs and showed enough awareness to see other players around him and bring them into the play. To see him is to know we will not be thirsty for a Full Forward for some time.
Varcoe the other newbe showed the type of flash that will make him a crowd favourite at Cattery. I loved his little lasso move after his second goal , the exuberance , the love of the moment is great to see. Sure he might be raw but the side step to kick his first and the effort to get room for his second showed he is a dangerous asset. He has speed , he has flair and he has the type of gloss we need.
And that’s not all , a quick look in the VFL showed plenty of kids that have just started their football journey.
So , in the space of 2 hours Geelong turned around a building vibe and has reminded all , including myself, that just like the Dogs and the Eagles we have some pretty handy players and some pretty handy young kids. For the moment , the doubt has been washed away by the excitement of goals generated by a very youthful team , their performance has given rise to fresh hope that Geelong’s future may be bright. Which is a good thing because Geelong’s support has been faithful for a long, long time and its time for the drought to end for Geelong the footy team as much as Geelong the town.
Posted by Turbocat at April 12, 2007 07:51 PM
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