Round 18 – GWS v Collingwood: Floreat Pica Society match report from Paul Harkin

PIES V GIANTS

Arrived to a beautiful day at Spotless Stadium. I was lucky to have access to a membership ticket. The bad news was I was told my ticket only entitled me to a seat behind either goals. With the scoreboard at the other end, I’m not sure I’ll even be able to see the replays.

FIRST QUARTER

The Pies won the first 2 centre clearances, but the Giants opened the scoring. Great play by Grundy and Mayne set up Browny for our first. The backline looks very short. From there the Giants were able to run the ball too easily and kicked the next 7 majors. We looked fumbly and slow.

They were all over us.

The Giants forwards of Cameron, Finlayson and Himmelberg were all on fire.
Sidey and De Goey were  prominent as well as Mr. Reliable Grundy, but that’s about all.

Giants 8-2-50 to Pies 1-1-7

SECOND QUARTER

“Barry” Crocker scored his first goal and our second after slick movement and a 50 metre penalty. Things look better but it’s a long way back. The next 20 minutes was an arm wrestle. Barry broke the deadlock with his second to reduce the margin to 30 points before Himmelberg outbustled Appleby right in front. Roughie was holding up the backline. While we had most of the play, our bombing into the forwardline wasn’t paying dividends.

Giants 9-2-56 to Pies 3-2-20

THIRD QUARTER

40 seconds in and they extend the lead. Sidey scores 2 minutes later, after a  great setup by Pendles. Quick movement again and Pendles scores. Dropping easy marks by Sidey and Crocker is not helping. Either is missed handpasses. Resistance is almost gone as the Giants reignite and extend the  lead to 46. The move of Crispy into the middle drives a mini surge for the Pies. Howie was taking his usual number of speccies, but his opponent, Cameron was scoring at will. Sier scores after a scrambly passage. Another goal came when about 4 players could have taken the shot before Browny scores.

Giants 13-5-83 to 7- 7-49

FOURTH QUARTER

Another early one for us before Toby Greene kicks a ripper. Dawson Simpson gets an over the top goal and all resistance is gone. The game descended into a procession for the Giants. Another goal to Greene when everyone on the backline just stands and watches. Quite frankly the Pies have lost interest and so have I.

Best players in alphabetical order:

Adams, Brown, Crispy,  Grundy, Roughie

The final scores are:

Giants 18-8-122 to Pies 11-9-75

The coaching staff have to take some responsibility for the poor performance. By selecting a tiny backline when Scharenberg,  Goldsack and even Madgen were available is mystifying to say the least. When Mihocek, who is an experienced backman, can’t get a kick why not move him when the backline is under siege?

Not looking forward to the Tigers match next week.

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The votes for the Michael Horseburgh Medal are not being revealed until our dinner at the end of the season. This is why my report did not contain votes. Could all future Horseburgh report writers please omit their votes from their reports

Paul Harkin