by Andrew Gigacz
8.17.1
Who do Geelong and Collingwood think they are, fighting out a dour, low-scoring, every-play-counts kind of a game? St Kilda? Shame on them.
But good on Geelong for scoring less goals than Collingwood and still beating them, meaning that Collingwood STILL haven’t beaten the Cats three times in a row since 1985.
And good on them too for kicking 8.17 and winning. The last team to do that was the Cats themselves, knocking off the Eagles 8.17 (65) to 4.9 (33) in Round 14, 2002, down at Kardinia Park.
8.17.2
The final score on Friday night was 8.17 (65) to 9.8 (62). Only once before in history has that exact score-line been registered. That match, too, was a Round 8 encounter back in 1977 when Carlton defeated North Melbourne at Princes Park (a year after Blight’s famous torpedo).
Interestingly, by round 8 of that season, there had also been three draws. After winning that match Carlton maintained their place in the top 5 (where they had been since Round 1) for the rest of that season, only to get knocked out in Round 22 after losing to Footscray. North went onto draw the Grand Final and beat Collingwood the week after.
So if we substitute the 1977 teams with Geelong and Collingwood, we can see that Geelong will get knocked out of the finals (by Collingwood) in Round 22, Collingwood will go on to play in the Grand Final, draw it, and then win the replay. (That last bit seems somehow familiar…)
8.17.3
And just how many times has 8.17 actually been a winning score in the last 115 years of VFL/AFL footy? Here’s a list of the previous occasions:
R14, 2002 | Geel | 8.17 | WCo | 4.9 |
R13, 1999 | Port | 8.17 | Haw | 6.9 |
R13, 1997 | Syd | 8.17 | NM | 7.13 |
R18, 1995 | Bris | 8.17 | Fitz | 7.16 |
R8, 1977 | Carl | 8.17 | NM | 9.8 |
R12, 1971 | Fitz | 8.17 | Rich | 6.11 |
R5, 1970 | Coll | 8.17 | Melb | 8.9 |
R10, 1966 | NM | 8.17 | Carl | 6.6 |
R17, 1959 | Coll | 8.17 | Foots | 5.5 |
R5, 1948 | Coll | 8.17 | Carl | 9.9 |
R13, 1947 | Coll | 8.17 | Haw | 6.9 |
R2,1945 | Rich | 8.17 | NM | 7.18 |
R9, 1934 | Coll | 8.17 | Melb | 8.15 |
R7, 1932 | Ess | 8.17 | Haw | 7.9 |
R12, 1931 | Rich | 8.17 | Carl | 6.12 |
R17, 1928 | Coll | 8.17 | NM | 8.9 |
R12, 1926 | Carl | 8.17 | Haw | 8.9 |
R10, 1925 | StK | 8.17 | Carl | 5.1 |
R1, 1918 | Coll | 8.17 | Carl | 4.6 |
R15, 1917 | Geel | 8.17 | Coll | 9.9 |
R13, 1914 | Geel | 8.17 | Uni | 3.3 |
R5, 1911 | Fitz | 8.17 | Geel | 4.8 |
R7, 1909 | Coll | 8.17 | Uni | 4.5 |
R5, 1908 | Rich | 8.17 | Geel | 8.11 |
R10, 1905 | Ess | 8.17 | Melb | 5.11 |
R3, 1904 | Carl | 8.17 | Geel | 4.8 |
R13, 1898 | Coll | 8.17 | StK | 1.0 |
So Friday’s was the 28th such occurrence in 115 seasons.
Interestingly, Collingwood was the winner on 9 of those 27 previous occasions. Maybe the Pies have always had a problem with bad kicking.
THE MARGINAL MEDAL
And Geelong’s three-point win means we have a tie at the top of the table, with 0 and 3 now having been recorded three times as margins this season. Behind them an amazing ten more different margins have been registered twice. They are 7, 8, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 30, 32 and 71. Like Collingwood, 3 is right in the mix for back-to-back titles. Last year’s runners-up, 9, 29 and 36 have all registered once this year.
SCORE WARS
Meanwhile, 100 is doing a remarkable impersonation of St Kilda this year. Having been right up there for a couple of seasons (recorded 10 times in 2010, more than any other score, and eight times – equal third – in 2008), it has not come up ONCE this year. This takes it back to the bad old days of 2008 when it was the only score between 61 and 120 not recorded.
So what’s the glamour score of 2011? It’s 98, which has been seen six times, with 84 having come up five times (in four games, thanks to the Melbourne-Sydney draw in Round 1).
TODAY’S HOROSCOPE
Today’s horoscope: ARIES – Is your life singular or plural? Clearly you don’t yet know, given that ARIES is an anagram of IS/ARE.
POSTCODE OF THE WEEK
Didn’t the Swans give Port a whipping after half-time on Saturday night?! And even though they were only nine points ahead at half-time, the signs were already there. Sydney was 3.5 at the first change and 5.6 at half-time. And 3556 is the postcode of WHIPSTICK.
RIDICULOUS FOOTY ANAGRAM OF THE WEEK
Bummer about Hawk Stephen Gilham doing his knee on Sunday. If anything I would have expected any injury he sustained to be a little higher up on the body, given that his name is an anagram of MANGLES THE HIP.
VALE BOBBY DAVIS
Eleven years no cup, then
Bobby made a flag achievable
I just can’t believe he’s gone
It’s fair dinkum unbelievable
About Andrew Gigacz
Well, here we are. The Bulldogs have won a flag. What do I do now?
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Gigs, liking the 1977 outcome, although I don’t know if I could handle another drawn GF.
Phil, I’m sure you could handle it if you knew you were going to win the replay!