The View from Shepparton

 

by Peter Schumacher

 

The round started well with the demise of Collingwood, and now with the injury to Luke Ball I reckon that it could be terminal for them this year at least. Like every one else I wonder why he was allowed to return to the field after he had first twisted his knee.

 

At least the manner of Carlton’s win did in the first instance make their belting of Brisbane not look so terribly terrible for the latter. Again it was a pleasure to sit back and enjoy the way the Blues are playing at the moment. Did Garlett kick the goal of the year? It was bit like an intercept try the way he gained the ball on centre wing and out ran Dawes and Clarke. The difference was though that he had to take three bounces, dodge defenders and then drill the ball from a distance out. Just magic, as were Eddie Betts and that Judd chappie.

 

Poor old Melbourne will continue to cop it, indeed the season is starting to look depressingly familiar at the moment even this early, there are easy beats starting to emerge although fortunately there is the capacity for surprise. Coach Neeld reckons that the morale at the club is good. How can it be so? there is nothing going for them at all. If I was the coach or Neil Craig, I would be feeling extremely demoralized and in the case of the latter wonder why I continued on in any sort of footy role. Hard to tell how good Richmond were, given their opposition.

 

The Powerless lived up to their name, sides with any pretensions at all MUST win at home. As happens year after year the Swans have slipped through the radar and in truth this was a really good away win for them. I fervently hope that Goodes doesn’t get a suspension, it is nearly impossible to imagine him being an unfair player.

 

My mob lost to Freo at home the main issues being the injuries to Fyfe and Leuenberger. Neither side can afford to lose players of this calibre. I listened to this game on the wireless for a while but walked away because it was so boring and the result predictable.

 

Which just goes to show that walking away from the wireless in anticipation of a hopeless game and a foregone conclusion isn’t always a good idea. I viewed the first quarter of the Suns Essendon game and gave it away and went to bed intending to watch Clarke and Dawe instead as it seemed to represent a much better way of spending the evening. Just in case though I flicked on the footy first and bloody hell the Suns were just a goal behind. Gazz was putting on a footy clinic which left Stan Alves on “The Inquisition” the next day to ponder if Ablett was the best player to have ever played the game. I have been talking up Judd this year but this bloke takes it to another level. If I lived on the Gold Coast I would attend every game to see this champion in action. And what with this and Karmichael Hunt at last finding his feet, what a contest it was. I was glued to the screen, somehow the Minister for Home Affairs slept through it. What about Fletcher though, is he good, is he timeless, will he still be playing at age 40? Anyway to Essendon’s credit, and my immense disappointment, they steadied and went on to a comparatively comfortable win. I really really hope that for the good of the game the Suns can repeat this form next week and the week after and so on but they can’t expect Ablett to keep carrying them like this.

 

“The Sunday Age” quoted Hawthorn coach as saying “Crows a threat”. I suppose that before the game it was a reasonable statement but doubting cynics like myself had always thought that even though they had had all of the momentum so far this year, the Crows would fall over in their first away game playing a decent opponent. OK so Hawthorn won as expected but the way that Adelaide were overrun was very depressing. Yet another interstate side that is apparently not up to it. Adelaide has not won at the “G” for 6 years, as I understand it. It pains me to say this but Hawthorn were worth looking at for the manner and ease of their win. Surely Adelaide won’t lose next week playing Greater Western Sydney, surely not?

 

G.W.S. were predictably thrashed by the West Coast Eagles. I think that there ought to be a mercy rule put in place when a side is on the way to losing by forty goals, but fortunately the wining margin was only 81 points and the Giants actually won the last quarter. I won’t necessarily suggest that the Eagles went easy on the Giants but it is hard to imagine that they had the incentive to maintain the same intensity at that stage of the game. The Eagles are definitely the best interstate side this year, early call given that Sydney is undefeated but they have a much better attack than the Swans at this stage.

 

St Kilda would be happy at two one, I must say that the fall of the Bulldogs at this stage of the season has passed me by. Lake must have had a “Scarlett” moment. Interesting that Lenny Hayes is starting to fire up. St Kilda could yet be a really competitive side this year.

 

This leaves the other big one, North Melbourne, you little rippers! Another thing, I have often talked up State of Origin “State against State, Mate Against Mate” but even the NRL can not come up with, or at least I don’t think that they can, “Twin against Twin, Lion against Lion”. So the footy firmament for this year isn’t quite settled this year after all. And like happened in that 1970 Grand Final, and I quote from “Wikipedia”, “champion Carlton coach Ron Barassi instructed his players to handball and play on at all costs, instituting a strategy to try to nullify Collingwood’s long kicking game“. So this was really back to the future. Meanwhile, Geelong are three positions out of the eight. Who would have thunk it?

 

Once again with apologies to “The Inquisition”, my highlight of the week, not withstanding Ablett, was Fletcher somehow outmaneuvering, out running an opponent probably near half his age to a loose, bouncing ball to spoil a possible goal. in the last quarter when such a result could well have had the Suns coming back. My lowlight was the Crow’s defeat and the manner of it.

 

About Peter Schumacher

Wannabe footy commentator and writer, used to be a wannabe footballer

Comments

  1. Ben Footner says

    Adelaide beat Hawthorn @ the G in 2009 I believe, and I think that is their last win there.

  2. Peter Schumacher says

    Yeah, fair enough, forgot about that

  3. Ben Footner says

    You’re right mate, sorry to be a stickler! :-)

    After watching Adelaide over the last couple years I still feel as though they are a different side this year. They look like they’ve got their heads around the theory (they ran around like headless chooks for most of the last 2 years!), it’s just the execution now that’s lacking IMO.

    They are now getting to the contests but fumbles, poor disposal, and poor finishing hurt them badly. I’m confident they will improve as the season goes on though.

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