Gigs’ Stats Round 12: Last gasp goal for “drawn again” Magpies

Stats Entertainment – Round 12

by Andrew Gigacz

THE WRONG CONCLUSION TO DRAW

What is it with these young modern folk? Lamenting a draw like this week’s blockbuster between Melbourne and the Pies on the rare occasion that one occurs. Sure, it can be an empty feeling for the players and supporters. And yes, neither team’s theme song is played. But let’s face it. Draws come around only once or twice a year on average. Based on an average of two per season, it means supporters of each team will experience that feeling only once every four years, roughly speaking.

And the fact remains that each side gets two points from a draw. Had Collingwood lost, then a loss to them and a win to the Dogs in Round 13 would have seen them possibly slip from the top four. The two points from the draw means that now can’t happen.

If we really need a song at the end of the match, then play “Up There Cazaly” or “That’s What I Like About Football”. Everyone knows those songs, and those who want to celebrate the titanic struggle they’ve just witnessed can join in.

The Draw is an integral part of Aussie Rules and must not be allowed to die like the drop kick. And shame on you Luke Darcy for suggesting it!

76 TROMBONES

Oh, that’s right. This is a stats column, not an editorial. OK, I’ll stop trumpeting my opinions and get on with the stats that really don’t matter.

But still on the draw, when the siren went with Collingwood’s score sitting on 9.22 (76), my immediate thought was the 1977 Grand Final. The only other time in which a match involving Collingwood has ended with a team on that score, that game was also a draw. It was North Melbourne, and specifically Arnold Breidis (zero goals and six behinds from memory), who almost cost themselves a flag that day with a 9.22 scoreline. Mind you, the Pies were only a little better, scoring 10.16.

THE SPIRIT OF 76

The good omen for Collingwood is that, on four of the 13 previous occasions in VFL/AFL history that a side has scored 9.22, the “offending” side has gone on to win the flag that year. North went on to win the 1977 Grand Final Replay (and Breidis redeemed himself with 5 goals). After kicking 9.22 during both the 1982 and 1914 seasons, Carlton finished up as premiers, and Geelong did the same in 1931.

BLUES WIN AND LOSE WITH NINE TWENTY-TWOS

As mentioned above, there have been thirteen prior occurences of the score 9.22 (76) being registered. Remarkably, five of those 13 were posted by Carlton, in 1914, 1924, 1940, 1943 and 1982. Results were mixed for the Blues in those games, with three of the five being winning scores.

NOTHING NEW ABOUT 9.22

9.22 was last knocked up comparatively recently, by West Coast in their Round 17, 2004 loss to Port Adelaide. While some of the newer teams have never been involved in a match that included such a final score, of the 13 “pre-expansion” VFL sides (including University), the only team never to have been involved in such a match was South Melbourne.

AC/DC

The 43,000 fans at Docklands on Friday night witnessed history in the making. No, I’m not talking about North Melbourne re-living their Friday night glory days by beating the Blues. Nor am I talking about Lindsay Thomas’ personal best effort of 7 goals.

I’m talking about Ryan Bastinac. Because, in scoring his first goal in AFL footy, he became the first player since Footscray’s Max Isaac, in Round 1, 1950 to have a surname ending in the letters “ac” and kick a goal at the top level.

In fact Bastinac is only the third player in VFL/AFL history with a surname ending in “ac” to pull on the boots. The other was Anton Grbac, who scraped in two games for Essendon in 1982.

Max Isaac played 26 games for the Dogs and kicked 10 goals. So Ryan now needs only 16 more games and nine more goals to become an “ac” legend!

And where does the “dc” part come in? Well, unsurprisingly, there has never been a VFL/AFL player with a surname ending with “dc”. What did surprise me when I delved into footy’s “dc” past was that Brisbane’s Jed Adcock is only the third player in history to contain the letters “dc” in that order.

The others were St Kilda’s Bill Woodcock who played 155 games for the Saints between 1908 and 1921 (which would have been a much higher figure had it not been for World War I) and Essendon’s Andrew Radchenko, who managed a single game in 1975.

Radchenko did not kick a goal in his only game, so when Jed Adcock kicked his first AFL goal in 2004, he broken an even longer drought than Ryan Bastinac, as Bill Woodcock’s last goal came in Round 10, 1921.

CATS GET REVENGE

It was sweet revenge for the Cats against the Bombers on Saturday night, albeit a long time coming. Their 71-point win finally turned the tables against Essendon, who had beaten them by exactly the same margin in 1906 at the Dons’ home ground of the time, East Melbourne.

Mind you it was only three years before that Geelong handed out a 71 point hiding to them at the Cats’ home ground of the time, Corio Oval. How long will it be before Essendon squares the 71 point ledger once more?

SCORE WARS and THE MARGINAL MEDAL

Sydney’s 38 point win over Port gave the leaderboards in both of these competitions a new look at the top. 38 has now joined 36, 9 and 3 in Marginal Medal leadership. Each of those four margins has come up 4 times so far this season.

And their final score of 14.9 propelled 93 into joint leadership in Score Wars. 100, 93 and 63 have all come up 5 times. Amazingly there are 10 other scores that have registered 4 times. They are: 118, 101, 97, 91, 89, 86, 82, 78, 77, 76 and 75.

POSTCODE OF THE WEEK

Freo’s loss to St Kilda on Sunday was probably due in part to Stephen Hill having just 13 possessions, well down on his usual numbers. Is there a question mark over Hill’s consitution? Perhaps not, but it’s certainly a question worth asking because Fremantle’s quarter time (2.1) and half time (4.5) scores combine to form the postcode of 2145, which belongs to a place out in Sydney’s western suburbs called… Constitution Hill.

RIDICULOUS FOOTY ANAGRAM OF THE WEEK

If I’m not mistaken, Adelaide’s game against the Hawks on Saturday was their first NOT to have included either Tyson Edwards or Andrew McLeod since Round 12, 1998. A remarkable effort, particularly considering that the two players have supposedly been enemies since their famous “break-up” prior to the start of the 2006 season.

Apparently a couple of quiet words from coach Neil Craig and several others convinced the two players to call a “ceasefire” for the sake of the team. Given that Craig has a reputation as a sports scientist dedicated to studiously analysing the game, one could be forgiven for calling him a “footy nerd”.

All of this dovetails beautifully into the fact that

“TYSON EDWARDS AND ANDREW MCLEOD” is an anagram of “TWO NERDY WORDS MENDED A SCANDAL”…

About Andrew Gigacz

Well, here we are. The Bulldogs have won a flag. What do I do now?

Comments

  1. John Butler says

    Gigs

    If Neil Craig is prepared to step between two football wives, then I figure world peace should be a cinch.

    I’m in total agreement re Darcy. If we start paying attention to ruckmen, especially pretty boy ruckmen, then we’re on the fast track to hell.

  2. Danielle says

    Mr.Gigs, please dont eat me BUT…
    i don’t like draws.
    i think there should be a winner and a loser.
    The best team wins in the end right? well not in a draw!
    That’s why i think they should play on until there is a winner.
    i like the idea of a golden goal, a player that can perform under that type of pressure is a keeper.
    My non-football loving mother thinks they should have played both theme songs, i agree, why not!

  3. John Sandy says

    9.22 couldn’t believe it! As a Collingwood supporter i was typically, i suppose, left a bit empty. This quickly disappeared as I realised the score was 9.22 the same as the drawn grand final.

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