Bombers feast on Suns

by Andrew Else

“Och that’s a sin. They’re gunna thrash them”

Trust my Mum to start feeling sorry for a team with a borrowed, un-original name that wears a glorified training jumper. How a person raised on the streets of Glasgow could have sympathy to such a conglomerate baffles me.

“C’mon Mum, just think of all the spankings we’ve had to endure these past few years”

“Yes, but they weren’t against the Gold Coast dear”

And there you have it. Just when you think you’re on top, your Mother can always bring you back to earth. It reminded me of when I would walk out the front door without a jacket/food in my stomach/my keys and invariably end up cold/hungry/locked out after being reminded to attend to all three things.

After an opening 5 games which we all knew would be testing, and coming out with a 50% record (and we still don’t know if that is respectable or not), the Bomber fans were baying for blood. Home games against interstate teams had turned into horrific affairs in 2010, with the Bombers getting rolled by Freo (for the first time since we settled at The Docks) the Power (no surpises there), the Eagles (sacre bleu!) and the Lions (we’ve touched on that) in front of an ever-dwindling number of aghast fans. It was this as much as the Pies/Blues whippings that cost M Knights his job.

0 from 4 against interstaters at home just isn’t acceptable. Something had to give, and if it was to be against a team full of players born post-1992 (do they know about amigos para siempre means?) then so be it.

We all knew the GC were ripe for the picking. First win last week, back-to-back road trips, no Bock/Brown against Hille/Ryder/Crameri/Bellchambers rotating forward; the signs were all there. Having said that, I didn’t expect the quarter time margin to mirror the year of our 15th flag.

And didn’t we enjoy it. I think it was when Reimers dribbled one from the boundary line and clearly accepted the ‘oh yeah, its our day’ moment award (L Brown, 2010 prelim), that we really started to salivate. By virtue of our reserved seats for Bomber home games, I was able to see the people that had watched the 2010 LeCras dozen and the J Brown merry dance and I’m sure I witnessed their appearances changing from gaunt, skin-and-bone Logies-like figures to ones resembling Monty Python’s Mr Creosote after a long lunch. It was pure gluttony and it was delicious.

As the siren sounded, we were compelled to stand and applaud. So what if this had a whiff of Matt Hayden v Zimbabwe about it? You still have to fill your boots when its your turn, and with the roof closed on a mild autumn day, there was never a better time.

(While I’m on the stadium, here is some feedback. It would be really useful if they wanted to add to the ‘fan experience’ by providing some relevant statistical information. For example, I’m sure that anyone in the ground who didn’t have a radio with them, or, in my case, have a person who could accurately relay radio information to them, would’ve loved to have known that we were on course for, and then surpassed, the AFL/VFL record for a 1st quarter score. The fact that the crowd was going bananas as we approached the 200-point mark shows that fans are more likely to be triggered by the thought of seeing their team crack a milestone than they are by Betfair odds and the like.)

Predictably, the 2nd quarter saw a lift in GC intensity and a dip in Bomber effort. The crowd weren’t overly thrilled, but you can see how you might take the foot off the pedal when you’re 93 up at the first change.

In the 2nd half, the teams seemed to settle midway between their respective 1st and 2nd quarter efforts. That was fine by us.

I liked what Hibberd brought to the team, I think Stanton cops a harsh deal but doesn’t do himself any favours by getting a kick smothered every week and I think Crameri really doesn’t want anyone to look at him or talk to him. Reimers deserved his 8 also….and I miss the boots.

And if Tommy Bellchambers’ agents’ mobile isn’t ringing, he’s not doing his job….But he’ll stay.

We all walked out of the ground licking our fingers and wiping our lips. Tellingly though, as applies to many meals derived from a distant location, we were soon hungry. We need something of more substance. Good thing we’ve got Monsieur LeCras next week.

That will please Mum, she always said to eat something more substantial.

About Andrew Else

Andrew has self-reported to this site as a lifetime Essendon supporter. He also played local footy for Lara and Melbourne Uni Blacks.

Comments

  1. johnharms says

    Andrew, Just love that word Och. Does your Mum know Billy Connolly, and drink her single malts in measurements of gils? Agree on Bellcahmbers. I didn’t see the game, but Is aw him baulk a smaller opponent like he was Matthew Lappin v Collingwood (not that tht’s why you’d want him – just shows that he has skills like Mumford at South).

  2. Pamela Sherpa says

    You’ll remember it as one of those “I was there games ‘ Andrew. I tuned in via the internet.- I was actually concerned beforehand that we might be exhausted after the Anzac day clash. We needed the 4 pts that’s for sure. Percentage booster was a bonus.

  3. It certainly would have felt better against an established/hated opponent, but it felt pretty good nonetheless. The Suns DID look a bit like the witches’ hats used at training during that first quarter. I was taken aback when Bombers fans near me on level 2 applauded Rischitelli’s goal in the second quarter (the Suns’ first for the game). “Feel sorry for them next week,” I said to my companion. “Today it’s all-out war!”

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