Fremantle 14.10(94) def St Kilda 13.15(93)

I think you’ll all notice that I have not put the ‘official’ score up on the site. I believe someone has to tell the real story after yesterday’s Tasmanian/Umpire bungled debacle. Whether or not the AFL hands down the correct decision we should all (well educated as we are) at least believe that despite Fremantle’s best efforts to the contrary in the last quarter we were the winners on the day. In all my years I have never seen anything like the chook raffle that was presented to us by the beautiful Aurora stadium yesterday. Even old Trevor on ABC news said he could die now as he must have seen it all after the amateurish effort by the umpires. In an event that left Dennis Cometti speechless and Dermot Brereton unable to provide the answers he is normally so free to unload, I was staring into the screen absolutely dumbfounded that anything like this could happen in our modern, supposedly professional game. 

Even without this concluding drama, the game was a decidedly strange one from the word go. St Kilda it must be agreed played like absolute dogs with Grant Thomas claiming that it is the worst he’s seen them play and that it must be something to do with the ground because every time they go there their intensity is well down. That’s rich! We have to go to that hellhole twice in five weeks and for what? To be cheated out of a win when we finally do break the Tasmanian voodoo? I am just disgusted with the entire thing. Every time I try to write about the actual game I just keep coming back to that.
 

--Overall it was an ugly, ugly game that ended even uglier so that if I hadn’t had so much invested in it I would have found it hysterically comical.--

The big drama before the game was that the Saints had no ruckman and Justin Longmuir had been replaced with Troy Cook due to ‘general soreness’. I think the collective thought within the commentators was that this was the perfect opportunity for Sandilands to take advantage of a hugely inexperienced and undermanned ruck department. Wishful thinking I would say, as Jason Blake played his best game ever for the Saints while we threw just about everyone except Sandilands into the ruck after he failed miserably in the first quarter. This game just confirmed the sneaking suspicion I have had since round one that he is not the answer. With the ruck being more important than ever perhaps we’ve invested too much in a guy that just isn’t up to it?!?

The big positive for the day was that Pavlich finally played a dominant game kicking six and taking a few beautiful marks. The only concern I had with this was that he didn’t appear to be playing true centre half forward. Don’t get me wrong I think he looks great when he is on the ball but I thought they were trying to develop a powerful Tredrea/Brown like character and it is a problem if Pavlich can only take control of the game when moved and playing as a floating utility.

Polak and McPharlin also took a few good grabs with our forward line looking much more dangerous and the forward pressure was much better. Little Farmer continues with his paradoxically consistently schizophrenic displays and Des Headland’s performance was much improved on last week’s.

Paul Duffield’s debut was also pleasing but I felt at times that our young defence seemed to almost go to sleep after playing so well for most of the game. Fraser Gehrig was entertainingly idiotic as usual and was dragged off so that at one stage Voss and Milne were the only forwards down there, ironically this proved almost the most potent forward line of the game. Our disposal was once again below par at times, only matched by the Saint’s equally poor skills that left me thinking we have an uncanny ability to drag teams down to our level. Our tackling was impressive but the slowing, chipping tactics in the third quarter actually hindered our chances by affecting our intensity and flow.

Overall it was an ugly, ugly game that ended even uglier so that if I hadn’t had so much invested in it I would have found it hysterically comical. The umpires, not content with stealing victory from the Dockers, decided to give the Saints a chance at victory after giving Baker a second chance to goal. If our sport had not become such a big business, the Saints in the spirit of fair play would have immediately conceded defeat. Where have integrity and the spirit of the game gone? Can you imagine if this had happened to Collingwood? This was the most depressing result of Sunday’s game, technicalities may rule over what anyone who saw the game can consider to be reasonable and right. If the AFL does not overturn the draw it is a travesty not only for the Dockers but for the game as a whole.

While our Chief Executive fights for our lost two points at the AFL we can only hope that the Dockers’ players are applying themselves to the almost insurmountable task this week, the dreaded Western Derby. The Eagles are sitting pretty as the only undefeated team on the top of the ladder and have to make room in their team for such lightweights as Kerr and Cousins. We can only hope that Dean Cox won’t be fit for the game as he is suffering from a bruised heel but hey they can throw any old nobody into the ruck and they’ll still beat Sandilands! I’m sure much more drama will unfold before the week is up, sport news on Channels nine and seven will be having a field day!

Votes:
3- Mathew Pavlich
2- Peter Bell
1- Des Headland

Dishonourable mentions to all persons involved in umpiring, timekeeping, siren upkeep and just Tasmania in general..

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