A failing tipster’s Round 3 Report

 

Well blow me down like a Queensland cyclone if we didn’t have a round of upsets not unlike Round One. Of course it played havoc with all of our tips. Even the boys from Fox Footy bombed out.

 

I went to the Sydney/Collingwood game and on form everyone expected Sydney to win. Not so. The Pies came flying out of their nests and quickly shot to a 21 point lead and were never headed. The Swans kept fighting back but despite ruffling a few feathers of his flock at quarter-time Buddy couldn’t rally his teammates quite enough. In his 250th game he was held goal-less. In a terrific finish the Pies held on to win by a point. It was a memorable night and for another week at least the monkey is off Buckley’s back. Will the monkey now jump to Longmire?

 

I felt a little uneasy before Saturday night’s game. I clearly remembered Freo beating the Dogs at Domain Stadium in the last game of last year’s home and away season. Despite our big win over the Eagles the following week in the finals, that ground has not been a happy hunting ground for us. After their big loss the previous week and with a rash of changes and new young blood coming in, I knew Freo would be primed. And this time they had Fyfe back as well. My fears were well grounded. In almost a replica of the previous night’s game, Freo dispensed with the anchor that had grounded them the previous week and all of last year and sailed away to a four goal lead within minutes. The Dogs were still in their kennels feeding on Premiership Pie. Despite a terrific fightback and actually taking a 14 point lead into the final quarter, the Dogs failed to score a goal in the last quarter whilst the Dockers kicked 5. The Dogs whimpered off the ground to go back to eating humble premiership pie which by this time had gone stone cold.

 

Why I keep tipping North I don’t know. Maybe I thought they had some kind of home ground advantage in that place off the map. Not so. GWS used their GPS to navigate that prime real estate and notch up a huge win.

 

Fortunately I did pick the Tigers to get up, once again suspecting home ground advantage might work. And it did this time. I only saw Rioli’s heroics but that was enough to convince me that the Tigers will at least be thereabouts again this year. Finals? A bit too early to wag that tail.

 

I saw the end of the Geelong/Melbourne game and watched Melbourne kick themselves out of it. Bad kicking is bad football as they have been saying since the day our great game was invented. I was sorry to see Max Gawn go down as he is one of the game’s great characters.

 

I didn’t see any of the showdown as it was on at the same time as the Dogs game. However, I did see that the scores were close all night. The result was the one expected, but Port has certainly improved and wouldn’t be disgraced by their effort.

 

I also saw a bit of the Lions taking it up to the Saints. The Lions have definitely improved and seem to be playing with more confidence. I hope they pick up a few wins this year. Queenslanders need something to smile about after the floods.

 

Flood relief did come however in the form of the Suns who scorched the whole state dry with their 180 point or so turnaround from last week. I only saw the opening few minutes but they were switched on from the word go. More sun on them I say to give the competition a bit more shine.

 

As a contrast the Carlton/Essendon game was played in typical Melbourne weather or was it remnants of the cyclone headed south? I didn’t see a raindrop of this one but good to see the Blues crack a win.

 

Only a few more drops of rain and it is back on with a cracking round of games again. If you are going to the games – enjoy. If you are going away for the Easter break – take a deep breath, put on a blindfold and throw a dart at the board with the games pinned to it. You might have more luck.

 

 

About Les Currie

I'm a passionate lifelong Bulldog supporter born and raised in Melbourne, After stints in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne I have now been in Sydney for the last 30 years. I have been involved in the arts all my life predominantly as a Theatre Producer and Manager with early stints in film and television. I am now getting back into writing and enjoying developing the character of Zuka the Flying Wonder Dog and working on a novel set in post '54 Footscray. When not working, writing, watching plays or movies or watching footy I'm at the beach or in the bush avoiding traffic.

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