Round 17 – Fremantle v Geelong: Anchors a-weigh pt 2

Anchors A-Weigh Pt 2
Fremantle vs Geelong
6:10 pm, 15th July
Domain Stadium, Perth
Josh Coales

 

PREFACE
For those of you that haven’t read the first ‘Anchors A-Weigh’, I recommend reading it first as a little bit of context about the title. (http://www.footyalmanac.com.au/round-10-fremantle-v-richmond-anchors-a-weigh/)

 

Anchors are never meant to float. If they do float, they are only there for a short period of time before sinking back to the dark depths of the ocean or, in this case, the bottom of the AFL ladder. This is where Freo find themselves, having only 3 wins for the whole year. After reaching the top of the AFL ladder, for the first time in 21 years, the Fremantle Dockers, and their anchor, have sunk straight to the bottom. It wasn’t a slow descent, it was a heavy and fast descent. With injuries to star recruit, Harley Bennell, the Brownlow Medalist Nat Fyfe, Aaron ‘Hodor’ Sandilands, Michael Johnson and numerous other injuries to role players, this season has not been easy for anyone in purple. The Cats on the other hand have had a far more successful season after slipping out of the eight for the first time since 2006, Geelong have rebounded strongly fuelled by a fairly uninterrupted injury run and their star recruit, Paddy Dangerfield, this Geelong season is still shaping up to be a very successful one. Although the ladder positions would tell you this would be a very dull, one sided affair, the Fremantle Geelong rivalry of the past few years has produced some amazing football moments. This match was shaping up to be a fairly good game.

 

We headed off to our usual pub for the traditional 2 pints, 2 cokes ritual and headed off to the game. Going towards the salesman selling the record I noticed something. A very terrible thing. Something that brought back memories of my first time writing for the Almanac. Inflatable anchors. I dragged Dad and Grandad to the site of the anchors and Grandad got one, just to re-live that infamous moment he stabbed the anchor, deflating it. I hoped he wouldn’t have to do the same again.

 

For the first few minutes it looked like he wouldn’t have to. Freo were playing well. Delivering the ball well, kicking well, running well and just playing well in general. Until Geelong did what we all expected and came back. They couldn’t convert and let Freo off multiple times. Freo led by 16 points.

 

At quarter time I remarked to Grandad how quiet Dangerfield had been for his lofty standards, kicking only one goal. One of the telling factors that he or Geelong weren’t doing too well was that the inflatable anchor sat untouched next to Grandad.

 

The second quarter was much of the same but, Geelong were slowly gaining. Their play was getting better. Dangerfield was becoming more dangerous too. They hit the front through a very controversial goal. Dangerfield ran out of bounds with a boundary umpire three meters in front of him. Perhaps a sign of things to come in the second half. Freo led by 1 point heading into the long break

 

After digesting a fairly good half of footy from Freo, we settled in to watch the second half and, in typical Freo fashion, we had a terrible third quarter. We fumbled and only kicked 1 behind for the whole quarter! Whilst there were some terrible umpiring decisions, our ball use was woeful. Geelong capitalised on this. If it wasn’t for the efforts of Weller, Walters and Blakely, the margin could definitely have been a lot worse at three quarter time. Geelong led by 11 points heading into the last quarter.

 

The last quarter was filled with false hope and comedy. Freo were getting really close. At one point they were within 5 points. Our poor ball use and lack of calm cost us. Grandad and I resigned to the fact Geelong were going to win and started having a bit of fun by still holding a sarcastic hope. Just before Cam Sutcliffe kicked Freo’s final goal, Grandad’s pocket knife came out and claimed its second victim in just over a year. The final margin was Geelong by 17.

 

As I said before, if it wasn’t for Walters, Weller and Blakely, the margin would be a lot more in the favour of Geelong. For this reason, I have awarded the Hot Coales award to all three of them. Good effort boys. The future is bright. As for the next home game, it is Pav’s 350th. He deserves a big win as he is hands down the greatest Docker ever. As for this season, hopefully we get a good draft pick and come back firing in 2017.

 

FREMANTLE: 4.1 7.2 7.3 9.7 61

GEELONG: 1.3 6.7 8.11 11.12 78

 

GOALS
FREMANTLE: Ballantyne, Barlow, Walters, Weller, Pavlich, Taberner, Blakely, Sutcliffe, Mundy
GEELONG: Dangerfield 4, Smith 2, Murdoch, Stanley, Menzel, Hawkins, Cockatoo

 

BEST
FREMANTLE: Hill, Neale, Walters, Weller, Blakely

GEELONG: Dangerfield, Selwood, Enright, Mackie, Guthrie

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.

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