Round 13 – Sydney v Richmond. Sketchbook Review; Buddy’s Fizz

 

'Buddy' - Kate Birrell 2015

‘Buddy’ – Kate Birrell 2015

 

 

Buddy, I’m no footy expert, but I think you did your self in on Friday night.

I watched you on the TV from the comfort of my loungeroom.

You exuded a bustling, bubbling and effervescent energy from the time you planted your long, scarlet, banded legs upon the verdant, and, as some say, slippery turf of the SCG.

Your zap was put to superb use for a good while, drowning your opponent in a sparkling spray of feistiness, angst and domination.

In one wave after another, like the Bondi surf, you kept rolling through.

In one contest after another, you reigned supreme.

Red and white was all I could see. Scarlet blazes, bleeding bright with their redness across my screen; whiteness, crisp and sharp.

Buddy, I saw you fly.

I saw you lift, all legs and torso, twisting, reaching and lunging towards the ball. The ball was yours. You knew it. I know it.

I was nestled into the fireside end of the lounge suite, so I had an experts view.

What came over you Buddy?

At the last moment, you changed your tack. Your shoulder, instead of steering the great ship of your body into the mark, it turned and pointed to another direction.

Your intention shifted its focus from the ball to the player. Your shoulder rose, pummelling your opponents head, flicking it towards the dirt, his arms tangle and his torso looses shape.

Your contact is high.

The ball spills to the side and you land on top of your man.

And after that you seemed done.

Flattened and spent.

The scarlet blazes and bleeding redness across the screen faded to a watery rose pink. The crisp, sharp whiteness seemed to turn sallow, becoming limp and turning to a muted grey.

Friday night Fizz.

Buddy….was it all you had?

Comments

  1. Kate – I thought his bump was a beauty. Sadly its gone the way of the dinosaur.

  2. Kate Birrell says

    yes it was a beauty Dips…it seemed to happen in slow motion too, you could see him planning and executing at the one time.

  3. I thought it was a good bump.In 1979 it would have brought the house down, however in 2015 it brought his team down.

    Until then buddy had been a dominant presence up forward, a vintage Franklin performance. From that point on he might as well have been subbed off as i doubt if his statistics from then could be counted an one hand.

    A performance that Buddy will not want reminding of.

    Glen!

  4. Buddy is a bully and a sook. If he can’t physically intimidate he goes to water. He never got a kick on Glass or MacKenzie because they had the physique and legspeed to stand up to him. Check his lack of goals against the Eagles even when we are going crap.
    Last year against MacKenzie at Subiaco (a game the Swans won easily tnanks to Jack, Hanneberry etc) he went toe to toe for a half, and couldn’t get a kick. Wandered off into the midfield after half time.
    When he can’t intimidate he is mentally fragile. An all or nothing footballer. Gutless act against a smaller man going for the ball on Friday.
    Hope he gets a month. (And wunderkinder Tippet gets double).

  5. ned_wilson says

    What an enigma. Like a 16 year old kid playing against 11 year olds, but nobody has explained the rules to him.

  6. MRP Lotto says Buddy’s bump was careless.

    Yep, only in he couldn’t care less that the bump, or charge as it was, might have put an open target in hospital.

    The focus on the outcome rather than the action is wrong headed imo.

  7. Steve Hodder says

    Kate, they look as though they’re gunna have a nice kip together. Maybe that’s why Buddy only got a week? Careless rather than intentional kipping? Onya

  8. Kate Birrell says

    Could have been a bit of both, but more so on the side of intent, you could see it in the split of a second, the change of plan that took edwards down. Lucky for Edwards, he seemed to bounce with renewed energy and no injury. Maybe it was Buddy who was concussed.

  9. Malcolm Ashwood says

    Kate there must be a huge question over,Buddy mentally to go from dominating and looking to be to good for Rance to not worth a burnt crumpet after the incident,most players after doing something stupid double there efforts in that they owe there sid.
    Franklin seemed to do the opposite,thanks Kate

  10. E.regnans says

    Love this Kate.
    And your art work.
    “I was nestled into the fireside end of the lounge suite, so I had an experts view.”

    Peter B and Malcolm A paint an interesting picture themselves.

  11. Buddy deserved two weeks for that hit.
    I know Edwards played the game out but one week for an incident like that is no deterrence for the next player who lines up his opponent.
    Jack Ziebell got four weeks for a charge when he was going for the ball.
    Buddy wasn’t.
    I’m disappointed in the MRP.

  12. Kate Birrell says

    I think he was marked favourably based on the thought that it wasnt intentional/careless..didn’t look that way to me. it comes up in conversation,,,,no one has thought one week appropriate, should have, and would have been if Edwards was hurt,

    and Thanks David… I am wearing in the newish lounge suite….when the leather shows some wear and tear and some flattened springs, I will declare myself a ‘footy expert’

    Malcom…Buddy; the burnt crumpet…something quite poetic there

  13. Buddy’s bump was intentional, not careless. He elcted not to pick up the ball, and ran past it to deliver the bump on a player who was not braced for the contact.
    And to those bemoaning the the fact that the bump has disappeared from the game, I ask: “Do we want multiple repeats of Neil Sasche type injuries.”
    The game is different now. The players are bigger, the game is played at a break-neck (pun intended) speed. Buddy knows the rules, and was very fortunate to live with the consequences of a one-week holiday.
    I would suggest that his opponent was even more fortunate.

  14. Charlie Dillow says

    good bumped buddy but poor guy

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