Round 13 Recap: Agony at the G

I was going to run with the title "What becomes of the Broken Hearted?" but you can't really be broken-hearted by a performance like that. The result, yes. But in the harsh light of a cool Sunday morn you have to accept that a bounce here or there and we would have prevailed. It was truly a titanic clash between two top teams.

I first must disclose that I was unable to watch the game live (heartbreaking in itself) so perhaps my reflections will be more measured and less emotion-motivated than usual.

The first few minutes matched what I feared. 3 goals to zip and we looked in danger of being blown away. But then we steadied. Then we really had a strong second quarter to grab the lead by a goal at the half. Then, we (it seemed) got blown away in the third. If I had've been watching the game live I imagine I would've been infuriated. We just couldn't match their intensity and their midfield controlled things. As I knew the final margin I was stunned to see the lead stretch out to 27 points (albeit briefly) as that would seem an insurmountable task. But again we responded extremely well. Goals from Masten and Kerr were critical.

Then, the last quarter and well...so close and yet so far. We dominated the first half of the last quarter but just couldn't seal the game. We didn't kick a goal in the final 10 minutes of the game and although the Pies only snagged 1 for the quarter it was enough.

We had chances too. Hill lined up from about 40 out with 8-9 minutes left to stretch the lead beyond a goal but he didn't score. The final few minutes, even though I knew the outcome, was agonising. Though the ball was inside our forward 50 we just couldn't get a clean shot on goal. Beams' goal with 6 minutes left turned out to be the winner. I was fairly disappointed with Waters. I know he did his usual courageous things but a couple of his efforts were just poor. He just plowed into Beams' back when the Pies didn't really look likely to score. Then back in the 3rd he marked the ball about 55 metres out and blazed away when he had time to find an option or run in and take a shot more likely to score. Also, Brennan's hurried miss late in the game was shocking. I think he's been very solid since he came into the side but he should've finished there or given the ball to a teammate.

I thought Kerr was superb throughout the game. At times it was vintage Kerr, like when he bounced off a couple of tacklers and won a clearance in the first. His goal in the 3rd, when he was evidently on the brink of exhaustion, was inspirational. He looked shattered after the game; both emotionally and physically.

Elsewhere I thought it was a very even effort. Although E-Mac had 5 kicked on him I didn't think he was terrible. Cox and NicNat probably didn't do as well as they should've, but NicNat especially was an effective focal point up forward. My big concern, our relatively inexperienced and less talented midfield, was better than I expected (excluding the third). I know Pendles was missing, but I think this game demonstrated that we have definitely improved from the corresponding match up last season. Who knows, maybe if we had a few more of our forward guns in we would've found a way to snatch the points.

Unfortunately, it means it's another loss to the Pies and another loss at the G. The third quarter was the big disappointment. You can't let that happen. We really have struggled to give complete performances of late.

We have also lost our last 3 away games (two narrowly) and 3 of our last 5 overall. In a season where this is no one truly dominant team it's a fine line between 1st and missing the top 4 altogether. We got lucky yesterday when the Roos upset the Crows which allowed us to remain 4th. But I don't think 4th is good enough. For us to be legitimate premiership contenders we need a top 2 finish. There is now little margin of error if we want to accomplish that. Next week it's the GCS (yawn), then the Roos in Tasmania and then we face the Crows in Adelaide and the (evil) Swans at Subiaco. We can win all 4. We probably need to win at least 3.

A kick away from 1st...

Finally, how annoying was Dwayne Russell's comment before the siren "You're about to hear one of the greatest sounds in the world" (that being 70 000 Pies fans cheering). Really?! I don't know about you but I would rather have Mike Tyson chew my ears off than listen to those orcs. They really are a soft bunch though aren't they? When we were on top they were blaming the umps. It doesn't surprise me though, for a club that considers games at Etihad 'away games', whenever things don't go their way they have somehow been cheated. In conclusion, yuck.

Eddie and Friends