Just not cricket
by Darren Spence
Warning!…………the following report contains references to other sports that some readers may find inappropriate. If you feel that you will be offended reading analogies made to other sports in an AFL report you are strongly advised to not read on….
Now that I have the warning out of the way, at times watching the game on Saturday made me feel like watching a No. 3 batsman playing against a No. 11 batsman and it’s not why you think. Yes with their vast experience Geelong always seemed to find space and get balls between the gaps whilst the Demons always seemed to hit the opposition fielder. But I make the analogy because a No. 3 batsman always seems to get the benefit of the doubt from the umpire on close calls whilst the No. 11 always seems to get fired out.
How many times on the weekend did Geelong get the 50/50 calls and the Dees got none!…..I am sick of big name players (yes Joel Selwood and Stevie Johnson I am referring to you) get soft frees that eventually cost us goals! Those that know me know that I am a ‘fair’ supporter in that I call frees (either way) when I see it and it by no means cost us the game but I was pretty fired up with some of the calls on the weekend.
The game in some respects was similar to the Freo game in that the Dees matched the Cats early on but once again the pressure built up and (accompanied by some dubious calls) the Demons were blown away in basically a quarter of footy.
Having said this, Roosie did say that he wanted to create a ‘brand’ of footy for the way we play and you can definitely see this come through at times. The players are certainly getting used to the game plan. On the weekend you could see the boys trying to implement it but at the end of the day Geelong’s experience and talent shone through.
To the Dees credit we basically broke even in the second half. The 3rd quarter that Jack Viney played was one of the best quarters of footy that I have seen from a young player in all my years of watching footy. I used to have a lot of man love for Todd Viney when he played and this man love has continued on with his son.
When a soccer team can put seven goals past the favourites of the World Cup in their home country, another team puts five goals past the reigning European and World Cup team and the Demons have been lucky to kick that many goals in their last two games you know that you aren’t going to win too many matches.
The losses to our forward line have been well documented and big Chris Dawes has been amazing this year. His leadership and work rate has been exceptional…..imagine if he wasn’t playing?…..I would go as far to say that he is probably the most important player in our side at the moment.
Besides Viney and Dawes I was very impressed with ‘Pig Dog’ Riley’s game on Saturday, he certainly adds something to the side, Garland did a fantastic job on Bartel (cost me a loss in Super coach but I forgive you Colin). I thought Jeremy Howe played well and I would have mentioned Bernie Vince but not with that ridiculous hair cut of his!…..what on earth was he thinking?!
This week we are up against Port (who it seems like we just played a week ago). We gave them a good run for their money last time around and we did manage a win in Adelaide this year so I am expecting more than a competitive effort. The Power have been wobbling of late and let’s hope we can continue this wobble and grab a win on Sunday.
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