Dees Yo-Yo Continues

Almost every one of my reports for Dees games open with an excessively kind comment directed towards the MCG, but this wasn’t just any old day.

A 6:30 start to the airport to see my brother off to America was the main differential from my average footy-going day. There’s something I love about the Airport that’s a bit hard for me to put a finger on, it’s just exciting and mysterious to see others going off in planes when you have rarely been on one in your life. I also love to keep an open ear for the wide variety of accents and an open eye for dumb tourists who come to the country in thongs and board shorts only to realise its ten degrees outside and that postcards and a reputation aren’t always true. What I also love is the sign in the bag-checking area that says ‘No joking about carrying bombs in luggage’. It’s just illogical. If you actually did have a bomb in your luggage, I doubt you’d joke about it; you’d keep a straight face and quietly move about while your eyes shift. Also, if the sign actually implies that you can’t ‘joke’ about the bomb, then there shouldn’t be a problem as the sign knows you are only joking.

After seeing the (enormous) plane off from a fantastic viewing area of the runway where there are usually a few cars filled with sad plane-addicts who are conveniently smokers as well, I took on a very messy route to the MCG.

Earlier in the week, my Dad presented me with three free tickets from work, after having done the same last week for the Queen’s Birthday clash (which I don’t want to talk about). But this week I didn’t have two friends to sit with, I had arranged to meet another friend behind the goals so I had the task of handing the tickets to strangers on the concrete outlining of the ‘Home of Football’. For some reason my candidates were a Freo Man and Woman, who resembled a just-married or just-engaged couple. They reacted like it was the best day of their lives (I doubt it was after the conclusion of the game).

Feeling good from my humanitarian experience, I sat down in the ever-so-vast amount of empty rows behind the goals, next to the cheersquad. When you go to the footy every week you start to recognise the same supporters, whether they be sitting near you in the crowd or sitting in the same carriage as you on your way to the game. When you see the same faces every week it gives you the illusion that they are your friends, or your family, when in actualality you have never even spoken before or just mumbled a sentence to each other about ‘Scully Gate’.

My friend arrived, who I actually met at the footy and is my age and every bit as passionate as I am, we indulged in some banter (mainly about Scully) as we soon saw Scully dominate the opening term, the Dees kick the first four goals, and the train of thought turned into “This was always gonna happen!”. It started with a fantastic paddle from Sylvia on the goal line to allow Green to soccer it through, finally giving our captain some much-needed confidence. Sylvia followed up by kicking his own from the goal line moments later. Martin was playing well in the forward line, continuing his reign of form, Gawn even converted one. The Dockers managed one goal but with us ahead by 31 points, Green with 2.2 in the first quarter, Scully with 11 disposals and our record against interstate teams at the MCG (funnily enough those seem to be the majority of the games we win) we were already home.

The feel-good undertone of the match was the return of Michael Barlow, and he clearly didn’t lose his ability to win the ball a year on from the infamous leg break. 25 possessions he gathered and he also found his way inside fifty to have a ridiculous amount of shots on goal. All in which were behinds or fell short are were rushed through. My loud shouts of “Break a leg Barlow” before each were much appreciated, because not a Freo fan was to be seen at my end of the ground.

The Dockers won the second quarter due to some straight kicking, especially from Johnson, but only by a goal. Green slotted a couple more and had 4.3 by the major break, but Jack Watts was the real star, a fantastic mark and goal at the start of the quarter had the crowd on their feet.

The second half of the match was just pure ecstasy, the sort of thing that happened six weeks ago V Adelaide. We kicked away to 44 points at the final break, and an unbelievable run of six goals in the first ten minutes of the final quarter had us in a great position for a 100 point victory. Jeremy Howe kicked a couple in a row, on a fantastic day for himself (12 marks) and even young Dan Nicholson, off the rookie list as a late inclusion for Gysberts, spun around a couple to put through one on the run. I was worried that Nicholson was becoming our resident substitute, so to play so well without that controversial vest on is more important than ever. A late goal to McPharlin ruined our chances of 100 points, but I was content enough was 89. “Super” Pavlich got deserved bronx cheers towards the end of the match. For such an experienced player and leader as he is, he simply needs to play better in a team so young.

Jack Watts was on my mind. He just keeps getting better each week. If you are still bagging him, you haven’t seen anywhere near enough Melbourne games this year. His skills are one thing, but his spirit and passion he shows when plays are a sight to behold. And he can play at either end! It was also great to see Jurrah snag a couple at the end of the game, having been in fairly poor form over the space of a few weeks.

If only we could play well two weeks in a row…

 

Melbourne 6.5—10.7—14.12—22.17 (149)

Fremantle 1.4—6.6—7.10—8.12 (60)

Goals

Melbourne: Green 5, Martin 3, Watts 3, Jurrah 2, Howe 2, Nicholson, Petterd, Jones, Gawn, Frawley, Trengove, Sylvia.

Fremantle: Johnson 3, Mayne 2, McPharlin, Pearce, Pavlich.

My Votes: 3. Jack Watts (MELB), 2. Tom Scully (MELB), 1. Brad Green (MELB) Crowd: 19,092

 

About Steve Healy

Steve Healy is an entity of a Melbourne supporter.

Comments

  1. John Butler says

    Nice work Steve

    Did Watts play mainly forward or back in this game?

  2. Steve Healy says

    He mainly played forward, and even through the middle a little bit. What’s important now is he is just having a huge impact on every game, no matter where he plays.

  3. Re Jack Watts: I saw most of Steve Kernahan’s first 25 games for Carlton. They can’t have been all that much better than Jack’s, and Steve was already 23 with five years of senior football behind him.

    In Steve’s 26th game, he was club Captain.

    And I’m getting just a tad jack (sorry folks) of Watts’ critics now dissembling like billio by rabbiting on about how much he has improved in the last few weeks….

  4. oozeboss says

    Watts is the real deal, and what the rabble say or don’t say about him is utterly immaterial.

    Pulled off another speccy & generally played a blinder last night when the Dees kicked the stripes off the Tiges.

Leave a Comment

*