Round 6 – Melbourne v St Kilda: We’re back!

Saturday, 30 April 2016
1:45 pm (12:45 pm in Osaka)
Docklands Stadium, Melbourne

On Friday, I am back at Coolabah, the footy pub in Osaka, even the day before. The game day is my precious day off, so I have decided to enjoy the night after work.

I am back on the ‘dance floor’ thanks to nice women who respond to my party attitudes at the footy pub.

Then doing karaoke is another come back.

Having slept at an Internet cafe nearby, I got up just after midday and had a shower to get ready to support the mighty Saints.

Once again I am back at Coolabah. Sadly the door opens at 1:00 pm, so I miss a part of the first quarter.

Tim Membrey comes back to the game today. Welcome back!

St Kilda are behind. Many experts in The Age newspaper picked Demons as well as most tipsters in the AFL tipping site. Are we allowing Demons to end their 12-game connective loss record towards us?

My voices to encourage boys and to express my thoughts on the game are back at the footy pub.

Like the week before, handling the balls is not good at the first quarter. Melbourne 5.3 to St Kilda 3.4.

But the second quarter is the point where we are back. Good ball works come back. The first goal is scored by Dunstan followed by Acres’ kick. Then Savage, Montagna, Armitage, Dunstan and Acres keep doing great kicks and passes that eventually leads Riewoldt’s mark. Demons coach Paul Roos expressed worries in the coaches box.

Rooey kicks a goal and St Kilda are in front by a point. Now Nick Riewoldt is back taking great marks and scoring goals. Within a minute, Sinclair kicks another goal. St Kilda scores four goals in a row.

Cheering voices of St Kilda also come back at our home although it is Melbourne’s home game.

My boys accelerate at the third quarter kicking eight goals to opponent’s two.

Firstly Melbourne shows lack of kicking skills in the beginning. Then St Kilda’s nice ball works continue and Acres kicks the first goal after the long break.

But then my boys don’t gather around the opponent’s gun Jessie Hogan. Our coach Alan Richardson’s face expresses unbelievable. However Hogan only kicks behind.

After we allow the opponent to score a goal, four unanswered goals are scored by the mighty Saints.

Finally Josh Bruce follows Rooey.

The last quarter is okay.

Putting a lot of pressure on the opponent gives Roosey other worries. The Dees coach plays his own comedy show at their home away from home. However scoring a goal is not easy for us and even we allow Demons for the first goal.

Then Bruce kicks a goal and my fellow Sainters start a party at our home stadium that is far away from me. Unlike Round 3, I feel I am joining the party because I can say “St Kilda!” at the pub. When the game is nearly over, St Kilda supporters start singing our club song that I follow a bit.

Final siren sounds and my favourite footy song is played. Indeed I sing the song to celebrate a good win!

To be honest I wish Saints could score 150 points, but I am happy with the score and the margin. We are back to win and keep the winning record against Melbourne.

Channel 7 says St Kilda had 13-match consecutive win records towards Fitzroy in the past. We hope to extend the Melbourne streak in the next match creating the new club record.

My coming back continues even after the game. While my footy is on, two blokes come to the pub and ask the bar man to get a Super Rugby game. We watch the Highlanders vs Brumbies.

While footy is fast paced, rugby players are around the ball all the time, so it is a pushing slowly game. Tackles and a rumbles are important in rugby. I feel being a Kiwi again while watching rugby. It is good to watch rugby and to see differences between two sport codes.

Friday night and Saturday afternoon are big times to be back in many fields. I still go back to footy on Sunday afternoon watching the first half of Carlton vs Essendon.

MELBOURNE 5.3 8.3 11.5 15.6 (96)
ST KILDA 3.4 9.9 17.11 20.15 (135)

GOALS
Melbourne: Hogan 7, Watts 2, Frost 2, Bugg, Tyson, Jones, Kent
St Kilda: Membrey 5, Riewoldt 3, Bruce 3, Acres 2, Sinclair 2, Dunstan, Newnes, Gresham, Weller, Armitage

BEST
Melbourne: Hogan, Viney, Jones, Vince
St Kilda: Riewoldt, Acres, Steven, Membrey, Sinclair, Armitage

OUR VOTES
Riewoldt (STK 3), Acres (STK 2), Membrey (STK 1)

Umpires: Brown, Meredith, Findlay

Official crowd: 27,260

About Yoshihiro Imagawa

Love, passion and pride are seen on the footy that is the biggest part of my life. 1. St Kilda Club member: I am a passionate and crazy Sainter. Just hope we will win the second flag soon, especially after Dogs and Tigers having ended long premiership draughts. 2. The Osaka Dingoes Player and Public Relations Officer: Player number 44 that I chose to honour Stephen Milne with my wish being like a small forward like him. Lenny Hayes' hardworking attitudes are adopted on my trainings and practices. Nick Riewoldt's great plays are in my player audiobook too. 3. Writing: Here on the Almanac and also on the World Footy News. My skills utilise on great footy websites.

Comments

  1. Yvette Wroby says

    Good on you Yoshi, fantastic work, and I like that you danced and sung even before the great result. It sounds like it was a terrific weekend of life and footy. Keep it up

    Yvette

  2. Thanks Yvette. I bet you enjoy the game at the stadium. I guess you felt warm atmosphere of supporting the mighty Saints. I need this kind of occasion more and to enjoy the single life more. It seems I need to watch footy at the stadium soon! Have a good week! – Yoshi

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