Gigs’ Stats: St Kilda loss marks four weeks in a row that games have been decided after siren

TEAMS KEEP TRYIN’ EVEN AFTER THE SIREN

By now most footy fans area aware that St Kilda’s dream of a lossless season came crashing down on Sunday evening when Nick Riewoldt’s post-final-siren shot sailed wide.

What many may NOT be aware of is the fact that Riewoldt’s last-ditch attempt was the fourth time in successive weeks that the result of a match has hinged on a kick after the final siren. Last week it was Daniel Bradshaw, who kicked a goal to level the scores against Essendon (making it two weeks running that Bomber players and fans have had to watch helplessly as the result of their match was decided). A week earlier it was Richmond’s Jordan McMahon, who gave the Tigers post-siren glory with a goal against Melbourne. And back in Round 18, Jimmy Bartel kicked the point of his life after the final siren to give Geelong victory by that margin.

The chances of five in a row might seem slim, but with Geelong taking on the Dogs this Friday night, it’s worth remembering that Bulldog Brad Johnson’s post-siren miss in Round 9 handed Geelong victory, also on a Friday night. And while inflicting pain upon myself, I may as well mention that Johnno did exactly the same thing in round 9 last year against North.

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO MISS THE TOP EIGHT

The battle to avoid making the top eight remains as heated as ever. On Friday night, the Hawks established an early five-goal lead over Adelaide before realising the danger this was putting them in and fading away. On Saturday Sydney kept their fans worried for most of the night before allowing a Geelong to sneak home by 5 points. Port Adelaide were probably the most impressive of the four teams struggling to miss out. Although within seven points of Carlton at three-quarter time, the Power were kicking in to a howling gale in the final term and ran out comfortable losers. It was the Bombers who stuffed up big time. They allowed the Saints to fall as much as 43 points behind before a withering fade let the Saints back into the game. But in the end the Bombers had to rely on St Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt to kick a goal after the siren and he couldn’t manage it. The Bombers will now need to do everything they can to fall over at Subiaco next week before they face off against Hawthorn in round 22 in what could be the Battle to Miss the Eight.

A WIN OR A LOSS SET UP BY THE TOSS

With the Ashes Test series locked at 1-1 with only this the fifth Test at the Oval left to play, it would be difficult to imagine a more important coin-toss than that which will occur between the England and Aussie captains this Friday night.

Or maybe it wouldn’t. Take a look at the potential results in the three matches below from rounds 21 and 22:

Collingwood 133 defeat Sydney 132.
Western Bulldogs 103 defeat Geelong 102.
Western Bulldogs 141 defeat Collingwood 140.

This would create a very interesting scenario in which Collingwood and the Dogs would finish equal 3rd on 15 wins with an identical percentage of 120.0. (No amount of decimal places will change this.) How then, does the AFL resolve 3rd and 4th places on the ladder? The current rule is that the team with the better head-to-head record is awarded the highest place. BUT, this scenario has the Dogs beating Collingwood by one point in round 22. And the last time they met in round 15, Collingwood won by – you guessed it, one point. So the AFL’s resolution method in such a case? The toss of a coin. I wonder which network would have the rights to that.

REALLY MR HEALY?

When I first joined the workforce (yes, it was a long, long time ago), one of the buzz terms in use was “succession planning”. Well, my old bosses would be proud of the fact that I’ve embraced the concept. If I go under the next bus, it’s good to know that Steve Healy is waiting in the wings with crazy stats and anagrams at the ready. Here are some of Steve’s Round 20 offerings:

•    The Tigers’ disgraceful performance on Saturday was made even worse when Tom Hislop decided to take his anger out on O’Bree. An anagram of Tom Hislop’s name highlighted how the Tigers played. They played like a “MOPISH LOT”.
•    If Nick Riewoldt had kicked a goal with his post-siren kick, the score would have been 110-113, with the Saints winning. That is the exact score registered between the Dogs and the Kangaroos after Brad Johnson missed after the siren in Round 9 2008.
•    In each of the last two weeks, two of the three Sunday games have ended with the winning side scoring in the 120s and the losing side in the 60s.

•    And just for the record, the total score this round was 220.196 (1516), which beat last week’s 198.189 (1377).

I guess that’s Mr Healy’s way of telling footy fans that things are looking up.

SNEAK PEEK OF THE WEEK

This omen might sound a bit scary for Saints supporters but ultimately it’s a good one for them. With Essendon’s unlikely win on Sunday, they are now a real chance of taking eighth spot. Depending on results, there is also a reasonable chance that Collingwood will end up fourth. What this means is that St Kilda would play Collingwood in the first week of the finals. If they then lost that game and Essendon won in week 1 of the finals (potentially they’ll play Carlton whom they’ve beaten twice this year), then in week two the Saints would come up against the Bombers. Now if we cast our minds back to the 1966 finals series, we see that St Kilda lost to Collingwood, and then defeated Essendon before going on to win the Grand Final against the Pies. So we can see now that Nick Riewoldt’s miss was all part of the Saints’ plan to replicate the glory of September 1966.

5 COMES BARGIN’ TO BE LEADING MARGIN

Another five-point game this week gives 5 the outright lead. 5 is now on 7, ahead of 15 on 6 and 22 and 20 on 5. Still no sign of 29, 39, 49 and 59.

ONE MORE FROM 94 CREATES A ROAR IN THE WAR OF THE SCORE

The 94 scored by Adelaide on Friday night moves that score onto 9, in second place and two behind leader 85. 67 bobbed up twice to move to 8 and equal third spot.

THEY’RE THE ONES YOU LOVE MOST – THE CODES OF THE POST

Hawthorn’s quarter-time score (5.3) combined with their half time one (5.5) gives us 5355, the postcode of Ebenezer. Very appropriate given Adelaide’s Scrooge-like efforts against them after quarter-time.

Richmond’s four-quarter behind sequence was 1226. A quick visit to the Aus Post postcode search engine (it should be everybody’s homepage) reveals that to be the postcode of the Queen Vic Building in Sydney. Aus Post also includes the comment “Heavy Recipient” for this postcode. I have no idea what that means but it does make sense when you think of how the Tigers were the recipients of such a heavy defeat at the hands of Collingwood.

REARRANGEMENT OF LETTERS TO MAKE IT SOUND BETTERS

I’ve had this one ready for months and Aker has finally come up with the goods for me. With the game in the balance in the last quarter at the Gabba, it was Jason Akermanis who squeezed one in from the boundary line to assure the Bulldogs victory over his old team. How serendipitous it is that Jason Akermanis is an anagram of “SNEAKS IN A MAJOR”.