AFL Round 3 – Brisbane v Gold Coast: The Silence is Deafening

The one thing you can guarantee in Brisbane is that AFL is hard to read about. This week the NRL dangerous tackle has dominated. The AFL news is usually 3 pages in the back of “The Courier Mail” but this week it has been with the Lawn Bowls and the Trots. The Australian Swimming Trials has had more exposure than the Q Clash. (What a sad name – no one up here cares except for those few hardy died in the wool expats who love their AFL).

Today the team are heading to the local Pub namely the Pub Lane Tavern in Greenbank, about 50 mins South of Brisbane. (Yes there is a lane titled Pub and it has a Pub on it. The funny thing is, the Pub is only 2 years old yet the Lane has been there forever. A Hotel did exist in the 1880’s and was used as a Cobb and Co exchange, but was no longer there in the early 1900’s). I should introduce the Team; I’m Dave and was born and raised in the Croydon Lilydale area of Melbourne, educated at Yarra Valley Grammar and a mad Collingwood supporter. Was a junior member in the late 70’s and from 1977 to 1980 never missed a game, even though I was 11 – 14 years old. Always catching the train, bus and tram to every suburban ground, yes the train to Kardinia Park, with my younger brother. Which parent today would let their 12 and 10 year old sons go to the footy by themselves?

The other member is my brother in law Stu and he is from the Ivanhoe area, Trinity Grammar educated and a crazy Blues supporter. He is a couple of years younger but has a similar passion for sports. As he spent a lot of time living in NSW he is also a dreaded NSW Blues supporter, so we spend a lot of time sledging each other regarding sports, but as men do, we love the banter. As an aside, it also continues on the Golf Course. As you would understand, 2 years ago he was giving it to me regarding Malthouse, but he is strangely silent at the moment.

Due to other commitments (I coach an Under 16 Boys Basketball team, and our State Championships are starting) we can’t attend Metricon Stadium, so I raced home after my first game, changed into some clean clothes and we made our way to Rugby League territory to watch the game.

An interesting afternoon and evening was had by the team. The first battle was to arrange for one of the TV’s to be flicked over; we walked into the Hotel adorned with our Lions gear and drew curious glances from the patrons of the sports bar with their eyes glued to the races. I walked up to the bar and ordered a couple of schooners of Carlton Dry and asked if they could change the TV outside to the Footy. They thought I meant the A – League and turned it onto Fox Sports, when I said the AFL (I thought the Lion’s hat and T-Shirt would give it away) the friendly barmaid searched the channels but the Foxtel package at the Hotel doesn’t have Fox Footy. After quickly searching my smart phone for the TV guide it was ascertained that the game is shown on 7 Mate, so it was duly changed. Channel 7 had the V8’s.We settled back and started watching the game; it didn’t start until a repeat of “Hot Rods” or something had finished (we miss out on the preamble.) The bar was packed on a Saturday Afternoon but we were the only ones interested in the game, although a friendly couple came outside to have a smoke and heard us lament about a missed tackle on Ablett and looked at us. We said hello and told them we had the AFL on, they politely smiled and said “we like the Broncos” and turned away. The wives turned up at half time so we got excited, we had a crowd with us, the atmosphere was building but our team was getting flogged. There was a god almighty racket inside, apparently a $52 long shot had come in and Jas (one of the locals) had $10 on it. We cursed the concessions to the new clubs and wondered where the Lions help would be. Stu laughed about us wasting draft picks on Fevola, while I cursed the favourite son as coach syndrome that clubs have (Tony Shaw, James Hird, Michael Voss and Nathan Buckley). How come we never got Kenny Hinkley or Leon Cameron or Adam Simpson or one of the Scott Brothers? As the flood gates opened, big sauce was in trouble and Rich was gone, the discussion turned to G Ablett and how good is he. I think he is better than Dad because he has arrived at a footy outpost (I know Geelong of the 80’s was considered an outpost but if they could afford to fly Brian Peake to a game in a helicopter, then it isn’t an outpost) and has completely turned the club around. It’s a win if you can keep him to fewer than 30 possessions.

Some other friends turned up, and we had copious amounts of beer and headed home to watch the Pies v Cats game. Apparently I cooked a ripper BBQ and watched the game but all I can remember is the Pies lost and I fell asleep before all the cleaning up was done. I do remember however talking about doing it again next Saturday to watch the Lions v Port game.

Comments

  1. Love your passion Dave. Sounds like a good day out – win, lose or draw. Keep the faith.

  2. It’s a brave thing to get a pub in RL territory to change to Aussie Rules.

    One of the U16s for Coolum Breakers is an ex-leaguie and he had a cracking game in an under-manned team that had a very good win on the weekend. Still learning the subtleties of the game but has great left boot and hard at pace. Great to watch. Unlike the lions currently.

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