AFL Round 7: The View from Shepparton

As I commence this, to get into the right mood I am listening to a program on the net, “Pipedreams” (“program 1319”) which is a weekly 2 hour pipe organ program which I love to listen to. This week it is featuring music of Wagner re arranged by various composers for the pipe organ. [Here’s a little taste for our readers – Ed]

This is getting me into the right mood to indulge in some serious earth shattering philosophy. Does anyone else in the target audience know of or listen to this program. Do other writers have favourite music or programs in general going in the background when they attempt to marshal their thoughts as to what they might put down?

Another question, I note a headline in today’s Oz, on the back page. “Demons players are at fault, not Neeld”. So how does one decide where the blame starts and ends in these things?

Finally, why does the AFL in its wisdom schedule any games for play on a Monday? Sheer wanton greed, that’s what, or at least that is what I think. And I hope that it bloody backfires on them. It messed up my evening trying to decide between the footy and the ABC Monday evening line up. Yeah, sure with Foxtel I could have recorded the game but generally speaking if I can’t watch something live I as sure as hell won’t have time to watch it in retrospect. So the ABC won with me having to make do with the  casting of  furtive glances at the game intermittently. Well I saw that Walker goal, just fantastic.

Finally finally! Why on earth did Sheedy mouth off at the Western Sydney Wanderers? Jealousy is a curse mate. And guess what, until these “expansion teams” can start to play even remotely consistently they will not attract an audience. Instead of bagging the Wanderers, Sheedy ought to pay homage to their coach and administration and find out exactly  how to properly establish a team from absolutely nothing. Yes I am sick of the excuses continually  being trotted out, “young bodies, take years to get up to speed”. Bloody Hell, if they have young bodies they should be able to run all oppositions off their legs, surely.  I’ll concede that experience can only be gained well, by experience but these kids when selected were supposed to be the cream of the crop. That gets me to the next thing.

How can anyone enjoy the thrashings continually being handed out to in particular Melbourne but also the Sprawlers and to a lesser extent the GWS? Actually I notice, sob, that my mob are fourth last with even the Suns having one more win so far this year, which gets me back to the second question in this rant.

I was happy to see Geelong get up, particularly given that Essendon seemed to be in unbeatable position well into the second quarter. As we all know though teams in this day  seem and age seem to be able to come back from the dead and thus Essendon ended up looking like gibbering wrecks or if not the team their supporters were or should have been  So sad I thought, not.

There was no sign of any sort of comeback for Sydney, indeed Hawthorn looked awesome particularly with Franklin at last playing a decent game well perhaps a half decent game, well he did get three goals damn it! I suppose that outsiders like Roughead, Hale, and Hodge deserve some sort of mention, well according to the Oz they did. Thank you Oz for being a help to me in this particular matter.

Collingwood lost, thanks Maggies, backed you, you who travel so well in a footy comp. You were playing a team which has had havoc wrought on it by injuries and yet you couldn’t get up. You are not anything as hopeless as my lot but you are still pretty bad. Another knee injury struck again with Jonathon  Griffin the victim this time. Just terrible really and there seems to be no solutions in sight to prevent these season

Port’s bubble has burst, they will struggle to win another four games this year. Richmond though had  a great away win once again tantalizing their supporters as to what might be. Once again absolutely terrible luck for Chris Knights just when he was getting going for the Tiges.

Brisbane played pretty well really but that errant handball of Merrett’s in the last quarter fixed that. West Coast on the other hand continue to pick themselves up off the floor.

North Melbourne were far too good for the Bulldogs but please, please, folks, don’t start some sort of Majak Daw bandwagon. Look, fair enough he scored 6 goals which is an outstanding achievement for a fourth game but honestly he looked to me to be out of position and nothing near the ball a lot of the time. And I didn’t reckon that he necessarily put pressure on the backs either when the ball was coming out of defence. Having said that I really hope that more than most he does succeed because I have a nodding acquaintance with some of his countrymen here in Shepparton due to church affiliation. I would love to see many more of their number take up our game, their build and athleticism just screams out “Aussie Rules”, or at least that is the way I see it.

Enough has been said about Melbourne. So all I can say was that it was terrific that at last the Suns have made their mark in Melbourne and nobody should take that achievement away from them.

The Crow’s murdered GWS, let’s see how they, and in particular Lynch, go next week.

Carlton fought back against the Saints but gave them too much start. “They” talk about Ablett but how well is Riewoldt going this year? His marking and on field play is peerless at the moment.

Hi Light this week, Walker’s goal. Also in our church yard before service, African kids kicking an Aussie Rules ball around instead of a soccer ball!

Low Light this week. Greater Western Sydney and Sheedy’s dopey comments. Also two more really good players out for the year. Even as a casual observer these season ending knee injuries seem to be so unfair, I can’t imagine how the players concerned must feel.