Round 16 – Fremantle v Carlton: The King and His Men

Fremantle Dockers versus Carlton
5:40pm, 18th July
Domain Stadium, Perth
Josh Coales

 

Nat Fyfe, the future, Mr Brownlow, the King, the best thing since sliced bread, whatever you want to call him, he isn’t invincible. As was shown Saturday night against Carlton. He had only 23 disposals but we still won. So on the train home, I wondered, who stepped up in the ‘absence’ of Fyfe. Of course, it was the backup. The midfield that our attack on September/October will be based around. Lachie Neale, perhaps the most underrated cog in our machine fired with a lazy 31 disposals and David Mundy, had 30 disposals. So, who do you tag?

Grandad and I pondered this question at the pub with the usual 2 beers (for him) and 2 cokes (for me) whilst watching West Coast kick inaccurately against Collingwood. Grandad and I pondered the question, who do you tag? We decided, tag Fyfe. He can turn the game on its head with one burst. If you can stay in the game, whilst tagging Fyfe, you have a solid chance of winning. But, if you tag or limit Fyfe’s ability, the rest of the cavalry steps up. As was shown Saturday night.

Mum and my sister cam to this game as Dad was away in Hawaii. We need Dad back for the next game, as he puts up with Grandad and my analysing the game. Mum gets annoyed, posting a photo of Grandad and I on Facebook reading ‘Meet Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets’. I don’t know what is worse, being called a muppet or not being allowed to talk sense with Grandad.

The first 2 minutes weren’t what we wanted. Carlton kicked two quick goals. Grandad and I both agreed we needed to get back to our quick starts. We then get a couple goals back hitting the front. But Carlton pull it back. The AFL are like Watson with all these reviews, the umpires reviewed a goal that was a little chance that Sandi touched it. Goal umpire to replace Watto at number 3. Surprise,surprise it was a goal. We end the quarter with 6 goals 2 behinds. A solid start.

The second quarter was similar to the first quarter. Goal for goal both teams went. We need to go back to burying sides in the first half. We let Carlton stay in the game. If we continued from our first quarter form we could have buried them. But no, the young Blues weren’t saying die. They were still with us. The highlight was when the Carlton fans (who were most likely drunk) started cheering the Blues after they didn’t say or do anything for the first quarter. We only kicked 2 but they kicked 3 in a sloppy quarter.

Our third quarter needed to be better. We used to have a habit of having a really bad third quarter. We need to bury them this quarter if we want to win by a good margin and keep ahead of west coast or at least boost our percentage. The quarter was certainly an exciting one with both teams sensing the game on the line. The highlight, goal of the day and possibly the tide turner was Mayne’s volley that could see him become Perth Glory’s or Arsenal’s number one striker. His 4th goal in a season best performance.

Our final quarter was promising but inaccurate. We kicked 2 goals… 9 behinds! That’s right, 9 behinds. The highlight was easily Walters’ grab. It was a thing of green beauty seeing a small forward pocket take a hanger.

Overall, our forward line needs improvement. With Ballaz out for the rest of the season,cit’s a brilliant time for Max Duffy and Hayden Crozier to step up and play 4 quarters. Our disposal of the ball out of the back half needs to be slicker. As soon as the ball hit the deck, Carlton players were there like seagulls to a chip. Same as the forward half. I don’t pay much attention to Peel but we need a better tall forward who can take marks.

 

Fremantle  6.2   8.6   11.8   13.17 (95)
Carlton  3.2   6.3  8.5   8.5 (53)

 

Goals:
Fremantle: Mayne 4, Pavlich 2, Ballantyne, Griffin, D Pearce, Walters, Sandilands, Hill, Mundy
Carlton: Bell 2, Menzel, Everitt, White, Tuhoy, Docherty, Tutt

 

Votes:
Curnow (Carl) 1, Neale (Fre) 2, Mayne (Fre) 3

 

About Josh Coales

Josh Coales is a 20 year old studying a Bachelor of Media and Communications, majoring in Sports Journalism. Josh is a proud West Australian and Fremantle Dockers diehard.

Comments

  1. steve johnston says

    Nice work Josh, love the Shane Watson analogy.

    I think Crozier will get the chance against the Tigers in the starting 21 and maybe they’ll bring back Clancee Pearce back in the green vest.

    Too true about the forward line, they need to kick more accurately whichw as supposed to be one of the main aims over the off season. Keep giving Griff a chance up front and maybe he’ll kick a few more.

    And keep up the analysis with your Grandad!

  2. Nice one Josh, wish I could have shared it live, enjoy the Marvellous. Waiters’ grab is mark of the season so far!

  3. David Zampatti says

    Hey, Josh, where did “It was a thing of green beauty…” come from?

    Green beauty. Mate, that’s Shelley and Keats stuff, truly. There are famous writers (aren’t there Harmsy) go through their entire career and never come up with an image half that mysterious and wonderful!

  4. JoshCoales2002 says

    Yes David does sound odd re reading it now. Purple,red and white didn’t sound as good. Reference to the old days! Also meant as beautiful as nature. Very quirly.

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