Round 21 – Melbourne v St Kilda: Hero match turns into losing game

 

Sunday, 13 August
1:10 pm (4:10 am York, UK)
Melbourne Cricket Ground

 

* I am sad being unable to deliver the story before the Round 22 match against North Melbourne. Long working hours during the week brought me no time to write. It’s out of my character.

 

A couple days prior to the match, great news was spread on the social media as well as old fashion media.

 

Our captain Jarryn Geary helped a boy on the busy road when he tried to cross the road. His dad is a St Kilda supporter and realised the gentleman was our skipper and took a photo of his son and his club’s captain.

 

He is a hero at the back line on field and off field too. I admire his braveness and hoped St Kilda won. I wanted my hero to kick Demons “Evils” out at MCG.

 

But my hero of Nick Riewoldt was ruled out due to concussion that he got in the previous winning game against West Coast.

 

As we would see Rooey playing only a few games, I was sad as well as would be fellow St Kilda supporters. And I wanted him to stand against my hidden rival.

 

It’s alleged that Melbourne used the match against us in 2009 to lose deliberately to get an early draft pick later that year. Even we won the game, I have the hidden rivalry towards Demons as we played hard and they tanked.

 

14 consecutive wins over Demons ended sadly at Round 1 this year and my rivalry was coming up. As my opponent gave out a good win to Giants the previous week and we beat GWS this year, I hoped the streak towards “Evils” was coming back and this time it would be forever. My another hope was stealing Melbourne coach’s surname, Goodwin to us. Or we could change his surname to Badloss.

 

But the reality was me getting annoyed with updated scores at work in between tasks (I hid in the back room and checked scores as usual on my working days).

 

Watching the match highlights video even after the following week’s match against Kangaroos, I found the “Evils” mimicked our strengths of kicks, handballs and creating space to dominate the game at the first quarter. These skills should have been used by my boys, not the opponent players.

 

Slow start cost the 32-point defeat at the first quarter.

 

It was like we played at Adelaide Oval. Oops, we were quite good when we faced Port Adelaide this year.

 

High marks and goals done by Bruce and Membrey were positive, but should have done earlier to put much pressure on Demons. I seemed to make contagious of being put a lot of pressures towards my boys from my work?

 

Braving Gilbert was not defeated by Brayshaw’s tough leg contact and passed the ball to Dunstan. The number seven answered the veteran’s braveness by scoring a goal from 50 metres.

 

Fighting back like hero didn’t help well. 24 point defeat was given to us. Footy God was not kind to us this time.

 

We need a big engine to accrete well to dominate the game. Hit outs, clearances and handballs need to be gained and accurate.

 

Hardworking is needed as we will have no Nick next year. We have to win without the hero.

 

Our opportunity to win and gain more percentages to be top eight was missed. I seem to have to wait until moving to York to see my Saints playing finals.

 

I am off to York on Friday this week (25 August) and hope to find the best option for the future. I am so excited to go back there.

 

** As of 20 August, St Kilda still have a chance to play finals footy depending on the results in Round 23. I will see what happens in York. I hope being in York brings us the top eight. Go Saints!

 

MELBOURNE 6.3 9.6 10.9 14.12 (96)
ST KILDA 1.1 4.4 8.11 10.12 (72)

 

GOALS
Melbourne: Harmes 3, Pedersen 2, Hannan 2, Melksham 2, Viney, Tyson, Gawn, Neal-Bullen, Garlett
St Kilda: Dunstan 2, Membrey 2, Sinclair 2, Bruce, Billings, Weller, Webster

BEST
Melbourne: Jones, Pedersen, Oliver, Harmes, Brayshaw, Lewis
St Kilda: Steven, Dunstan, Billings, Ross, Steele, Longer, Carlisle, Geary

OUR VOTES
3. Lewis (MEL), 2. Billings (STK), 1. Dunstan (STK)

Umpires: Stephen, Chamberlain, Ryan

Official crowd: 53,115

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.

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