Someone forgot to tell Santa

It was all set up and ready to go. Christmas in July with a big round of blockbuster clashes and we supporters were ready and waiting to cash in on the presents and the thought we’d be getting two christmases in the one year. The only problem was someone forgot to tell Santa.

All week on Fox Footy and on their advertisements they were raving about christmas in July as all keen football followers looked forward to a round of blockbuster clashes that would start to shape the eight, with the struggling Cats pitted against the Bombers, a mouthwatering clash between the in-form Hawks and the Pies, the Crows taking on the Eagles, the Swans matched up with the Saints and the Tigers and North fighting it out to try and gain ascendancy in the race for 8th spot.

But in the end it turned out to be a dud and just too good to be true. It started on Friday night with the Cats flogging Bombers and once again showing all the doubters that we shouldn’t write them off just yet. It then continued the next day with the Hawks and Crows dealing the Pies and Eagles hidings from start to finish.

I guess we could tell it was going to be a flop from the moment we saw Jason Dunstall as Santa in the Fox Footy ad. He had a support cast of elves, the likes of Brereton, Shaw and Frawley, and we all should’ve seen it coming. By Saturday afternoon I was nearly depressed but thought there still might be some hope as I got down to Bassendean to watch what was touted as a mouth-watering top 4 clash between my mighty Black Ducks (Swan Districts) and the Sharks (East Fremantle) to save this Christmas in July. But keeping true to the trend of the weekend, the boys from Basso copped a belting as well in a non-event.

It’s not like the footy clubs’ players and officials were on their best behaviour and maybe Santa decided they were unworthy of their presents. The poor behaviour was kicked off by the most well-behaved and Santa’s favourite out of the lot, none other than Chris Judd, and his chicken wing tackle on Leigh Adams and followed through to the most exciting and extravagant of the lot, Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin, doing 90 in a 50 zone. And you wonder why Christmas in July wasn’t all that it was talked up to be and failed to deliver.

But someone must’ve reminded Santa that Christmas, whether in December or July, can’t go on without him and he finally came to the party and delivered in spades on Sunday. What a cracking present he bought us footy fans in the thriller at the G between the Tiges and the Roos in a war in the fight for a spot in the 8, and to a lesser extent, a hard fought and enthralling battle between the Swans and Saints, with the Sainters pushing the Swans until the end.

Oh well, at least it ended on a high note, and hopefully come the real thing in December we all get what we wished for.

Comments

  1. Dennis Gedling says

    I went down the Bassendean Hotel with a friend to watch the ‘Blockbusters’ on Saturday along with the West Perth V Claremont game on TV and settle in all afternoon and was let down on all fronts as nuetral and a cardie. Not even that busy for the biggest match of the Black Ducks season before their game.

  2. Brandon Erceg says

    It was probably a lot busier after when they were all drowning their sorrows after the loss

  3. I hope you found a couple of midfielders under the tree Brandon. Priddis and Kerr are starting to look very tired and slow. Shuey and maybe Embley will help a bit, but our consistent losses at the clearances are negating much of the Cox/Natanui tapout advantage.
    Any thoughts – change of setups and tactics maybe? The personnel looks limited to me.
    That said – Thompson, Sloane, Dangerfield, Vince and Van Berlo are awesome. Strong and quick. Our strong midfielders are slow, and the quick ones are small or light.
    Good writing – loved the continuing Santa gag.
    And what about our Swannies – no Hansen no Swans??? The rest of the personnel looked ok on paper on Saturday. They have gone from chocolates to boiled lollies in the last month. What are the tom toms telling you?

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