AFL – Round 9: The View from Shepparton

The racial jibe which so incensed Adam Goodes has already been well documented and covered but nevertheless I want to make the following points;

• It beggars belief that a thirteen year girl old in this day and age did not understand  exactly  the meaning and intent of  what was said.
• Rather than being treated as a poor victim of ignorance  herself and thus one to be pitied she should have “had the book” thrown at her and told to take full responsibility for her trash talk and advised that with freedom of speech comes full responsibility for what may or may not be said in one’s life.
• I admired Eddie McGuire tremendously for his quick action in this matter but would have preferred that he kept his interaction with Goodes confined to  the dressing room rather than later going public with the detail  of what transpired.
• Like everyone else and perhaps this is the positive point on which to end this segment, I thought Goodes was fantastic in his considered response the next day in making everyone understand how and why he had been hurt by the comment. I thought that his comments regarding the girl and the immediate after effects as related to her were great even though as discussed above I believe that she knew exactly what she was saying.

The game itself was really good if you were a Swan’s barracker, write them off and you are in for a shock. All the portents and signs were there for a Pies win but then there was Goodes, what more needs to be said?

I found the Carlton Lions game fascinating. The way that the Blues started out was a matter of schlock horror for me and I thought that Waite was going to see Brisbane cleaned up off his own boot. All the Carlton forwards were murdering our backs. Too fast, too tall, too skilled. I thought that we would be looking at a 100 point defeat but at 30 points down Brett Moloney went mad and with his possessions and two goals was the catalyst for Brisbane leading at half time.  And after the break they (Rockcliff for one), missed very gettable shots. In a close game you can’t do that, well the Blues did but they were lucky too that it didn’t cost them. So this was another game where the Lions just weren’t good enough but then again they weren’t totally awful either. Black was good and so was Hanley, again. For the Blues, Judd could have left his return to form for next week. Oh and by the way according to the Oz today, “Full moon blamed for howlers”, I would have been howling myself, full moon or  not,  for having another chance to get a win on the board slip by.

Essendon were always too good for Richmond. Jobe Watson is a great player.

Glad that the Dogs got up, I suppose that according to the law of averages, (whatever that “law” is), they had to get a win eventually. They played well in what was a close and exciting game.

Unless you were a Western Australian there wasn’t much to look forward to in Eagles Sprawlers game and a crowd of 6324 bears that thought out. Let’s face it, going to the footy at Skoda stadium is merely to view an exhibition, certainly not a real match.

Port Adelaide are finished this year, unfortunate but true, particularly after such a promising start, but then they had been playing lightweights, or at least I think that they had, can’t remember now. Geelong had yet another training gallop at the expense of the Powerless after the first quarter. The Roos, more later, can’t finish games whereas Port can’t start them.

Freo thrashed Melbourne, same comment as for the Weagles.

Adelaide had a comeback for  the ages yesterday. Petrenko could still have stuffed up that last goal kicking out of the air rather than picking it up, but overall there was a morbid fascination in watching North crumble in that last ten minutes. Could really make Adelaide’s season. Hope so seeing that my mob are going nowhere. Just think,  North would be top four had they had any sort of luck at all. Nice game by Kerridge.

For all of the untrue believers, we were sitting out of our seats just after half time when the Suns were suddenly 17 points up. For all of us (me particularly) who deride the expansion sides, the Suns are certainly providing a ray of hope, pun totally intended, well actually it wasn’t, but had to say that it was. I don’t think that anyone really thought though that a side laden with talent as is Hawthorn could be held in check forever.

Week’s Highlight. Adelaide’s comeback. Actually for me the other highlight was purchasing a 55 disc  boxed set of Deutscher Grammaphon Archiv of black vinyl reissues mostly featuring music of Bach et al. Will provide me months of happy listening. Have stacked all available players with these.

Week’s Lo light. Pretty obvious isn’t it?