The Footy Almanac 2007 Round 6 – West Coast v Western Bulldogs

The first printed edition of The Footy Almanac came out in 2007, before we had a website. In the absence of a real 2020 season, we will be publishing the 2007 pieces for the first time ever on www.footyalmanac.com.au. Follow the season!

 

 

West Coast versus Western Bulldogs

2.10pm, Saturday, May 5
Subiaco Oval, Perth
By MATT O’CONNOR

 

FOR ME, MAY 5, 2007 WAS SUPER FOOTY SATURDAY. It started out at the Brunswick Street Oval, with my six-year-old Liam receiving expert tutelage from Auskick supercoach Warwick Green (nine games for St Kilda in 1987, now sportswriter at The Age). Daniel, who is nine years old, and I practised “Don’t tell me” goals from impossible angles, while Green did his best to occupy 36 grade oners for an hour and a half.

 

My plan was to watch the first half of the Cross Coast Western Derby at home in Northcote, then catch a tram down to the Rose Hotel in Fitzroy for the second half, and be nicely ensconced by the time the Pies ran onto the field against the Crows. As a bonus, I knew the Kangas and Sydney would be on in the back bar. They like their footy at the Rose, and they serve it with cold beer and steak.

 

After a bit of weed-pulling and dish-doing, I settled down to the news that it was a sunny 22° in Perth and that Andrew Embley was a late withdrawal for the Coasters. The Dogs emerged in a predominantly white strip, and I became less bullish about their chances. Teams that dress like umpires rarely win.

Brad Johnson opened the goal scoring after seven minutes, cashing in on a well-weighted kick from Jason Akermanis. The Eagles answered quickly when Matt Priddis pounced on a loose ball created by a Chris Judd tackle and kicked truly from just inside the fifty. Underlining his rapid rise, Priddis had been given the job on Scott West and seemed to be relishing the role.

 

Matthew Boyd kept the Daniel Kerr half of the Dynamic Duo under wraps from the first bounce, but Judd was creating mayhem. He accepted a handball from Priddis, used up his shot clock to break a Lindsay Gilbee tackle, and popped through a left footer from close range. Bulldog fans calling “Ball!” were drowned out by a standing Subiaco ovation.

 

The Dogs were then able to steady, and goals from Robert Murphy and Farren Ray reduced the margin to four points. They carried that form into the second term, and hard running from the likes of West and Daniel Cross pushed the ball inside fifty to create goals for Daniel Giansiracusa and Akermanis. Johnson was released from Brett Jones on to the ball and barrelled his way across Subiaco like a dog allowed a rare run.

I realised the Fox commentator was the guy who normally did the basketball when he referred to something called a “wrap-around play”. He then mistook Adam Hunter for Ashley Hansen when Judd pinpointed Hunter inside fifty. Mercifully, he resisted the temptation to yell “makes the shot” when Hunter kicked straight to narrow the margin to two points.

 

But the Weagles were struggling to get Johnson back on the leash. He entered stage left to take a goal square grab from a Ryan Griffen bomb and then reappeared in midfield to intercept an Eagle pass and drive the Dogs back into attack. Woosher shifted a few chess pieces, and goals to Mark LeCras and Quinten Lynch edged the home side back in front at the main break.

 

The 112 tram arrived on time, and after boarding with a Docklands-bound Swans fan I made an excellent tactical decision: I bought a ticket. I was only going a few stops, but as fate would have it, I had enough change to cobble up the required $3.20. The fun started at Holden Street, North Fitzroy, when a posse
of inspectors flooded the tram. They were wearing NYPD-style badges and, judging by the squirming of commuters, were clearly on fertile ground. Notepads flapped as excuses were rejected.

 

The Rose was humming when I arrived. In the back bar, they’d just jumped in the sixth race at Belmont, and in the front bar the Eagles had already found
a second-half goal. It must have been Priddis who scored it, because when he kicked one shortly after I arrived, the screen told me it was his third. Steven Armstrong added another and the Eagles were out by 18 points. Giansiracusa got one back, but it would be the last goal of the quarter. Woosher gave the signal, and the Eagles applied their full-court press.

 

I’d knocked off my first pot when Essendon mate Gav arrived from the ’G. He’d witnessed the Buddy Franklin nine-goal show and was philosophical about the day. “They’re pretty good, the Hawks,” was all he could muster as we snaffled a couple of vacated seats at the bar.

 

Jordan McMahon risked losing his new porn-star moustache as he scorched inside fifty and narrowed the gap to seven points. It should have inspired the Eastern Westies to greater heights, but they appeared to lose their structure at this point. Dog attacks were aborted, as their midfielders either had nothing to kick to or ignored what was on offer. Akermanis twiced kicked to lone Eagles, and Giansiracusa was run down by Kerr after running out of options. Once again, the Coasters were able to absorb the punches and win on points. Their 10 goals in perfect conditions were enough.

 

With base camp established, we ordered two more pots and reached for the bar menu. There were still four quarters to go on Super Saturday.

 

 

West Coast 3.5 6.7 9.12 10.17 (77)

Western Bulldogs 3.1 6.4 8.6 9.8 (62)

 

GOALS

West Coast: Priddis 3; Lynch, LeCras 2; Judd, Hunter, Armstrong.
Western Bulldogs: Giansiracusa 3; Johnson 2; Murphy, Ray, Akermanis, McMahon.

BEST

West Coast: Judd, Priddis, Lynch, Braun, Hunter.
Western Bulldogs: Boyd, Johnson, Giansiracusa, Harris, Cross.

MILESTONE : Hargrave (Bulldogs) 100 games.
UMPIRES: Donlon, Vozzo, Margetts.

CROWD 40,668

OUR VOTES: Judd (WC) 3, Priddis (WC) 2, Boyd (WB) 1.
BROWNLOW: Priddis (WC) 3, Harris (WB) 2, Judd (WC) 1.

 

 

 

 

For more Round by Round reports of the 2007 season click HERE

 

Printed copies of The Footy Almanac 2007 can be purchased here.

 

 

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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