Round 14 – St Kilda v Geelong: Taking Big Challenges

Saturday, 25 June 2016

7:25 pm (6:25 pm Kyoto)

Docklands Stadium, Melbourne

 

During the week and including the previous round when St Kilda had a bye, I found some challenges in the footy world and my surrounding.

 

In the footy world, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott challenged umpires because he thought that Lindsay Thomas had not been awarded free kicks because he was a ducker. His post match press conference was a controversial one. The footy club and Scott were fined consequently.

 

At Round 13, the Western Bulldogs took a big challenge to beat Geelong that the Dogs had been struggling with. Geelong were too strong thanks to Dangerfield, Selwood and Motlop and won by 53 points.

 

Outside the footy world, in the Swans territory (if the locals barrack for the bloods), my friend has launched her little mummy at home business recently. Sadly she is fighting with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so unable to work. But she contributes to her family in the way she knows how to do by creating fairytale crafts for children.

 

Firstly Claire wanted to put magic in her daughter’s life with a garden and got pleasures from choosing the fun accessories to making the fairy garden and seeing the pure joy on her face as well as her son’s. Her products can be found at her online store called Crafty Clara. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/crafty.clara?fref=nf

 

What amazing contributions she is doing. She is taking big challenges with great efforts. If you have a little child or grandchild, I hope your little girl or boy will be happy with Claire’s crafts. Also I hope footy players’ children will enjoy creating their fairy tale world with her products.

Crafty Clara 1

Crafty Clara 2

Crafty Clara 3

Crafty Clara’s Products

My challenge of the week was overcoming shyness to talk to a Japanese person. On Friday afternoon, it was raining hard and a young Japanese woman had no umbrella. I was a bit shy to offer her to share my one, but I broke the comfort zone and offered. She was happy and thanked me. We even had a little chat.

 

Back to footy. Playing Geelong was a big challenge for the mighty Saints because we were facing the top team in the competition. Also we had been struggling to beat them since the Qualifying Final in 2010.

 

The key to winning the game (to have a big upset) was blocking Dangerwood (Dangerfield and Selwood) from creating goals. Before writing this article, I had thought that we would deploy a tagger to the potential Brownlow winner (Dangerfield). But I have just learnt on The Age article that Alan Richardson wouldn’t change his game plan to have a tagger as the Saints had no tagger. Instead he would focus on playing attacking footy as usual. It was a big challenge for us.

 

The ball was bounced at the centre field. Hickey hit out, but Dangerman touched the ball. Cats moved the ball towards their goal square. But Gilbert caught the ball and passed towards Steven. The ball was going backwards and Roberton missed taking a mark. But Riewoldt hit the ball sending it forwards and we showed great ball work as usual. Then McCartin took a mark in the deep inside 50 and scored the first goal.

 

Later Hickey dropped the ball in the close to the goal post but Nathan Wright grabbed the ball and bent his body to kick a goal. It was his first goal in his AFL career that was so nice. Even he kicked another goal later in the first quarter as two goals in a row.

 

Geelong’s defence line was hard to break and Tom Hawkins used small space in front of the goal post kicking a goal. But St Kilda kicked four goals in the first quarter while Geelong scored only one.

 

After Cats kicked a goal in the second quarter, Weller had a good opportunity to kick a goal close to the goal post, but was tackled and a behind was scored.

 

At 9:34 remaining at the second quarter, Hickey’s kicking ball was caught by Michington in the congested goal square and he kicked a goal. The margin widened to 31 points at the time.

 

Then McCartin fell down on the ground and many fans were worried of another concussion. But he was back at the third quarter that made me relieved.

 

After the main break when we led by 24 points, Geelong started kicking goals. McCarthy and Hawkins showed strong Cats’ attacking footy. We seemed to face a reality check and a true big challenge ahead. But at 13:15 remaining, we did a great team work by passing the ball effectively and Newnes answered by kicking a goal.

 

However Cats seemed to be fed and were in front for the first time of the game. Dangerfield looked excited and had contact with Geary. Dangerman seemed nervous on the verdict at the Match Review Panel on Monday, but unfortunately was cleared.

 

This incident seemed to motivate both teams. Weller was given a high tackle and awarded a free kick. His 50-metre kick brought us a goal.

 

Geelong’s attacking didn’t stop at the last quarter and did put us under the pressure. At the first minute, Moptop had a good opportunity to kick a goal, but our captain Nick tackled and it was just a behind. His boss Chris Scott was angry up in the box and it was usual Scott show (indeed his twin brother Brad offers such shows too).

 

Blicavs took a mark and was closed to the posts on the boundary line. He kicked a banana goal and Cats were in front by three points. Then Dangerfield and Moptop worked together to score a goal leading by nine points. It was just over six minutes reminding. Was it game over? Would we keep having a woe or curse?

 

Then Gresham didn’t allow the opponent an opportunity to tackle him, but instead turned over to seek good position and angle to score a goal. He did and now it’s a Goal of the Year contender. Also the goal brought him a Rising Star Nomination. Our efforts continued. The margin narrowed to three.

 

At last, the ball was around our goal square. After the tackle on the congestion, the ball was thrown up by an umpire and Steven ran towards the ball. He could have been tackled but kicked a goal pushing his right leg before being pushed by an opponent player. It was the winning goal.

 

We had a celebration and the opponent was confused about the interchange on the bench.

 

Final siren sounded and we won by three points. Our boys enjoyed the joy of the win. The win was a big one. As we lost close games against Hawthorn and North Melbourne in the earlier rounds, I’m happy to see the win on the close game. And it was against the top club.

 

We are on the right track. Richo must have put strong beliefs into our boys. Saints go marching in the last five of six games at Docklands. It’s possible for us to play in September this year. It’s not too late. We can be on the top eight this year.

 

ST KILDA 4.2      8.6      12.8      14.9     (93)

GEELONG 1.4      4.6      10.9      13.12     (90)

 

GOALS 

St Kilda: Minchington 3, Newnes 2, Weller 2, Wright 2, Bruce, Gresham, Steven, McCartin, Membrey.

Geelong: McCarthy 3, Hawkins 3, Menzel, Murdoch, Blicavs, Dangerfield, Kersten, Motlop, Lonergan.

 

BEST

St Kilda: Ross, Steven, Riewoldt, Montagna, Weller, Hickey, Newnes

Geelong: Henderson, Selwood, Dangerfield, Enright, Guthrie, McCarthy

 

OUR VOTES

Riewoldt (STK 3), Steven (STK 2), Weller (STK 1)

UMPIRES: Findlay, Farmer, Mitchell, Fleer

 

CROWD: 28,745

About Yoshihiro Imagawa

Love, passion and pride are seen on the footy that is the biggest part of my life. 1. St Kilda Club member: I am a passionate and crazy Sainter. Just hope we will win the second flag soon, especially after Dogs and Tigers having ended long premiership draughts. 2. The Osaka Dingoes Player and Public Relations Officer: Player number 44 that I chose to honour Stephen Milne with my wish being like a small forward like him. Lenny Hayes' hardworking attitudes are adopted on my trainings and practices. Nick Riewoldt's great plays are in my player audiobook too. 3. Writing: Here on the Almanac and also on the World Footy News. My skills utilise on great footy websites.

Comments

  1. Tom Bally says

    Nice write up Yoshi. Loved the game and not just because it temporarily put the Swans on top of the ladder. I reckon the Cats went into that one a bit complacent.

  2. G’day Tom,

    Thanks for your comment and compliment on my writing.

    Dangerfield seemed to bring Cats on the top level winning over Hawthorn, North Melbourne and the Bulldogs. But loss to St Kilda made Chris Scott to admit the problem at Geelong.

    It would be possible for Cats to win the flag, but I am not sure.

    Cheers

    Yoshi

  3. Phillip Dimitriadis says

    Great win Yoshi, in one of the best games I’ve seen this year. Bruce’s courage was something in the last qtr and the Saints looked so much quicker than the ageing Cats. Seb Ross a beauty.

  4. G’day Phil,

    Thanks for your nice comment.

    It was a great game for us Sainters and I hope for footy lovers. Our young boys picked space well so that they can score goals. They accelerate speed of the ball movements well. Young players catch up experienced guys on the field and take over. Our exciting path is on the way.

    Cheers

    Yoshi

  5. Way to go Yoshi , supporting your friend and trying something that is more difficult for you. Good weekend all round

  6. Hi Yvette,

    Thanks for your positive comment.

    I reckon you can talk to your friends about Crafty Clara. It would be much appreciated. If they are interested in her stuffs, you can tell me and I will talk to Claire.

    Anyway the great win over the top team made us Sainters smile and brought a fabulous weekend, didn’t it?

    Like our mighty Saints, we have bright future.

    Go Saints!!

    Yoshi

  7. Neil Anderson says

    Really enjoyed this win by the Saints Yoshi.
    I’m glad I watched this one after some of the other poor matches on the weekend. To win against a top side is special and gives the Saints a chance for the top eight.
    I think Stevens is your best player but you had no passengers at all and somehow managed to curb the influence of…DANGERWOOD! It sounds like a character out of a James Bond movie.
    Good luck for the rest of the season …except when you play the Dogs.
    Neil

  8. A great win by the Saints, Yoshi.
    You must be stoked !!

  9. Rulebook says

    Great stuff Yoshi love your enthusiasm good luck to Claire also

  10. Earl O'Neill says

    Yoshi
    The most perfect pop song in the world was writ for you:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=It75wQ0JypA

  11. G’day Neil, Smokie and Rulebook,

    Thanks for all your comments!

    Neil – I’m glad that you enjoyed watching the game. The win gains confidence for our young players, I reckon. And I think Richo’s strong believes will drive him positively. Dangerfid is a good player, but his attitudes towards Geary made me not to vote him. I wished we could attract more spectators in the game like in the previous match against Carlton. Good luck with your Doggies! I hope you guys win over Geelong at Kardinia Park!

    Smokie – Sadly I was not able to watch live as I was working. Some messages from my friends delivered the result. I was so happy to hear the win. Then I watched the replay to see how we played so good.

    Rulebook – Thanks for compliment on enthusiasm! You did a good job today encouraging Almanackers to involve in the great site here. And thanks for the wish for Claire. She wiil be happy to hear your warm words.

    Cheers

    Yoshi

  12. Great report Yoshi. Did you get the phone number of the girl who shared your umbrella?

    Saints were too hard for the flaky Cats. Very bad loss for Geelong. I can see the Saints rising up the ladder in the next few seasons.

    Claire’s little fairy treats will bring a lot of joy.

  13. G’day Earl,

    Thanks for showing the song for me!

    But I haven’t seen the young Japanese woman since then. That’s the life and I will have the bright future in the ways what Saints strive.

    Cheers

    Yoshi

  14. G’day Dips,

    Thanks for your comment.

    The chat only lasted a minute or less, so I didn’t get her phone number…

    Yes, Saints are rising up on the ladder. I believe the second flag is on the way for Sainters.

    Can you please pass information about Claire’s crafts to your friends and family? It would me much appreciated.

    Cheers

    Yoshi

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