By John and Nicholas Burmej
We covered this game for the Almanac last year. That time we watched it in the company of the extended family at Nonna’s. This time we were at the game. I’m sure back at Nonna’s the rest of La Famiglia will be watching the game but with less intensity than usual. They are all going to be a bit distracted tonight. There are two important absentees tonight (apart from Nicholas and me). Aunty Mary and Uncle Tony are missing. They have far more important things on their mind tonight.
First home games are always interesting. We have to get to the bus station for the trip to Subiaco/Paterson Oval. It is a 15 minute trip on most occasions but the for the first game of the season for some reason you think it is going to take 30 minutes, and that’s if the traffic is in your favour. Packing everything into the new season Fremantle backpack is always a challenge. Where do we put the radio, what about the water and the roll for dinner, where is that gonna sit so it doesn’t end up a pancake. What about the jackets if it is cold or wet? Sorry did I say wet?
The packing that starts half an hour before we need to leave ends up like one of those reality cooking show episodes. It all looks like it is going to plan but you are still left with everything to do in the last 30 seconds.
Less than a minute down the road I get Nicholas to check the bag. Tickets, check. Food, check. Radio, check. Jackets. Jackets, Nicholas? Silence. You mean jacket, Dad. Naturally the little fella’s got one packed. Mine on the other hand is still on the lounge room couch. Oh well, if that’s the only thing we have left behind no damage done. Yeah I know it has been overcast all day but not a drop of rain so far. And when is the last time it rained during a footy match in Perth. I think it was the weekend the West Coast Eagles lost the free kick count at Paterson’s – actually I think it was still called Subiaco back then. Not worth turning around to get it now. We wouldn’t have got to the bus station with 20 minutes to spare otherwise.
“What’s that water doing on the window mate?” “It’s rain, Dad”. Of course it is. If I’d gone back to get my jacket, it would have cleared up. If it was last season we would have had some of those disposal ponchos in the bottom of the bag. Oh well, a passing shower never hurt anyone. Problem was this ‘passing’ shower took over an hour to pass.
The game can be summarised in a few salient points:
The Suns came out firing and after three minutes had two goals on the board. It would take the Suns another 120 minutes to kick their other three goals. At the end of the game you asked yourself, “what could the Suns have done to be more competitive?” The answer was nothing.
The Dockers are no longer a side that gets rattled. They know what they need to do and they go about doing it. If they execute their game plan they are confident of winning the game of football. They have more general midfield types than I have ever seen in a football team.
Any team that can keep Ablett to 24 possessions, 14 of which were handballs and no goals is going to go a long way to beating the Suns. Cheers Ryan.
There is one area of concern to the Dockers and it’s the clearances. Sandilands absolutely dominated the hit outs all night long but the clearances ended up in the Suns favour. The same thing happened in the 1st round against the Pies. Not sure we can get away with that against the very best sides in the comp.
In reality, the conditions didn’t really suit any of the midfielders. The greasy ball and slippery conditions meant that they had their heads over the ball most of the night trying to pick it up while waiting to be smashed by half a dozen opponent midfielders. It was a tough night for all but Fyfe took more than his fair share of whacks. It wasn’t that this was a vintage Fyfe performance because it wasn’t. The text book hip and shoulder Matera laid on him in the second term had the old concrete pillars at Paterson shaking from the force of the impact. But he staggered to his feet, composed himself and kept going. In the third term he clashed heads with Rischitelli and went off with blood pouring from his head. He came back looking like John McEnroe in the 1980 Wimbledon final. And yet his last term was an absolute blinder. He just kept on keeping on all night long. He never took a backward step, he never gave up, never gave an inch, he refused to be beaten.
Do a Fyfe, Aunty Mary. Just keep hanging in there. We’re counting on your last quarter being your best as well.
| Fremantle Dockers | 4.1 | 5.5 | 8.9 | 12.15( (87) |
| Gold Coast | 2.1 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 5.9 (39) |
GOALS
Fremantle: Walters 2, Mzungu 2, Barlow 2, Crowley, Johnson, Pearce, Hill, Sheridan, Duffield
Gold Coast: Day 2, Hall, Matera, Lynch
BEST
Fremantle: Mzungu, Mundy, Sandilands, Barlow, Walters, Fyfe
Gold Coast: Swallow, Day, Rischitelli
Umpires: Ryan, Kamolins, Fisher.
Official crowd: 35,583
Our Votes:
Tendai Mzungu (Fremantle) 3, David Mundy (Fremantle) 2, Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) 1.
Clearly the weather gods support the Eagles, John and Nicholas. You diss their boys and they send a thunderstorm to remind you about respecting your elders and betters.
Nice report, but. Roll on the Round 7 Derby. Nice fine evening I think, please gods.
Go well, Mary and Tony.
Nice one J n N – You need to read So Long and Thanks For all the Fish PB – we are all rain Gods – at least that is what i was saying sitting in the Singaporean like conditions with the rain dripping off my nose and into my expensive already watered down beer. Yes bring it on……I hope it snows
The only thing that can beat the mighty high-flying Fyfe is the Match Review Panel, it seems.
That’s not a light at the end of the tunnel, Pete. It’s a dirty big train.