The View from Shepparton – Round 2


by Peter Schumacher

Thursday night. Was uneasy about being at home by myself when the Minister for Domestic Affairs was at a Maundy Thursday Church service which in theory I too should have been attending. 

Too  bad, quarter time, Lions up by a couple of points and playing well enough to make me think about the glory days, you know, fast breaks from the centres, exquisite passes. And somehow they had pulled back a Carlton lead of 15 points. Life was fabulously fabulous. Sure Carlton were looking good as well but you sort of expected that. Betts was threatening.

Pretty much after quarter time I gave up compiling the detailed notes that I was going to use to provide a more detailed resume of the game and sat back to just enjoy the Blues’ footy. Betts (again and again), Judd, (forever after the first quarter) Waite, who had looked ominous most of the time and backed this up with his five goals.  Then there was Murphy and indeed most of the team in the second half. We of course had Simon Black; he is such an out and out champion, and now he has a broken hand. Rich played well too.  To get back to Judd though, how he was or is able to be in the right place at the right time is uncanny. That goal in the second half where he swooped onto the tumbling loose ball at a tight angle to the goals and belted it through was just, well, uncanny. Or to put it another way, using a definition provided by the Encarta Dictionary it was “unexpectedly accurate or precise”.

I can’t see many teams getting near Carlton in this form, certainly the Maggies won’t this week, as for Brisbane I was prepared to give them some slack immediately after the game at least, they were simply “smashed” as coach Voss himself admitted by a much better team. On reflection though I think that this was a very disappointing fade out. Richmond provided the perfect example of how to fight on in their game, more later.

I thought that Collingwood would easily beat the Tigers, but the latter hung in there somehow, particularly as I just flagged, in the last quarter. Nevertheless the Pies did have a bit to cheer about, Cloke looked really good and even kicked straight. Dale Thomas who I have trouble recognising these days got those three goals in a big hurry in the third quarter. I think that one of the most exciting things in footy is the quick break away from the centre bounce and a resultant goal. The thing is though that Richmond DID fight on in that last quarter. Deledio was outstanding. Vance got a lot of possessions but his disposal lets him down so often.

The Crows haven’t lost yet so they can’t complain but the Bulldogs were very competitive. Once they hit the lead in the last quarter I thought that Adelaide were gone, the side last year would have been but they are certainly different now. Still, let’s see how they go next week against the Hawks. Just hope that they are not a two win wonder, as opposed unfortunately to Brisbane’s being a one win wonder.

Melbourne are a no win worry at the moment. The way the West Coast are now they will thrash everyone at home but that is of little comfort to the Demon’s.  Actually the only thing the demonic about Melbourne right now are the nightmares that they are causing their supporters.

Accepting the proposition that any team worth its salt must win its home games Sydney’s win against Freo merely reinforced the idea that the Swans will again be a force to reckon with this year. Freo should be encouraged though by that third quarter comeback.

Port Adelaide gave Essendon a fright. How I was hoping that they would do more than that and have an away win. Give the Bombers their due though; they fought back through injury to run out comparatively easy winners.

St Kilda and North Melbourne both beat their 17 on the field opponents. Issy is showing some promise perhaps.

The best game of the round was the last. All the wise people of football had argued that the Cats were undisciplined and done for and with no ruck division, no longer up to it. The Hawks on the other hand would win easily despite the hoodoo brought about by Jeff Kennett’s comments. Well sorry Jeff, the hoodoo is still there.  Hawkins was the best big man on the ground. Buddy missed again when he should not have and he and his team mates missed important pack marks in that last quarter as well. Geelong captain Selwood was inspirational,  oh and Posiadly can definitely play. For Hawthorn  an encouraging return by Roughead  

High Point. Eddie Betts second mark. Low point, different sport, Anna Meares losing to Victoria Pendleton in THAT race.


About Peter Schumacher

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

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