Don't get me wrong: What a game (ending)! We looked dead and buried; 15 points down with under 7 minutes remaining. I was watching with a sense of resignation. Not disappointment really. Not after our first month of football. It was a familiar sense of doom. But man of the match (sorry Nic) Josh Hill kick started our resurgence with a few nice moves inside the 50 to snap a goal. Yes, he should've kicked it about 5 seconds earlier, but no harm done. And it was a great game by Hill. Commentators have been all over him this season, and they didn't give him much credit last either, but he showed his worth in the second half. He has a superb ability to mark the ball, has clean kicking skills (a rarity for us at this point) and he has that innate sense of being at the right place at the right time. Sure, it hasn't been a great start to his season, not alone there, but hopefully his performances can grow from here.
After the Hill goal, Shuey stabbed one through from close range to get us within a kick. He then had a chance from about 50 to put us in front but pulled a 'lecras' and shanked it horribly. A Roo marked, cleared, old Selwood takes the ball and....free kick for high! Contentious yes. But right? Initially I didn't think so, but after seeing a few replays I think it was the right call. To be honest, that's all Adam Selwood seems to do any more. He can win free kicks, but not do much more. Anyway, we all know what happened next- Naitanui proved he is far and away the most exciting player in the competition. Let's all take a second and pay tribute to the Melbourne Demons, who passed on Nic in the draft. Here's to you Dees, we will remember you're stupidity when you're gone. I'm sure Demons fans are thinking WTF! (as in Watt(s) the f-!)...sorry.
Nic vanquished the spectre of the Majak man, predictably irrelevant, and lit up the league. He might not be Mr Consistent, but football is all about these moments.
In other news, Scott choked back the tears, as he stared down the media pack stoically and handed out platitudes about 'controliing what we can control'. Apparently though, from what ABC radio said on Saturday morning, he gave an interviewer in the Roos dressing room a major expletive-laden spray when they tried to talk to him. Hilarious. Keep plugging away Scotty, one day you might win a tough game.
What else was hilarious was watching James 'Eddie Jr.' Brayshaw looking devastated in the rooms after the game. Right in the view of cameras- coincidence? I think not. At least it allowed us to capture this epic image of him:
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| Brayshaw Post-match |
Now onto the bad news. It was a vital win. An exciting win. But perhaps undeserved.
Look away now if you don't want to read my complaints...
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Gone? Cool. I don't live in the fantasy world of some footy supporters. There would be no point in this blog if I did.
We're 4-4. We struggled to beat a side, that although decent, is a marginal top 8 team. We were at home, we wasted chances, we botched possessions. Some have pointed to the injuries we suffered (Wellingham- ankle, Schofield- finger.) Fine, but our problems were prevalent from pretty much the start of the game. Start of the year really. Mentioning Wellingham, what an awful start to his Eagles career. The trampoline injury sounded funny, but it was so incredibly dumb for a guy being payed as much as him. In his first 2 games he was fairly anonymous. Now it's the non-trampolining ankle which has been injured. He's looking at 2 weeks out. (UPDATE: Out for 7 weeks now...and Schofield out for a month)
We've won 3 in a row, but we haven't looked convincing. After watching Saturday night's games, I can't see us getting close to any of those 4 teams (Collingwood, Geelong, Sydney, Fremantle). Not to mention Hawthorn. Unless we can lift our performances, eradicate the errors, up our intensity we will be lucky to make the 8.
GWS next week, I'm trying to summon any desire to watch that one.
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- In other news, remember Ashley Sampi? He's featured in the club's 'indigenous countdown'. Although it's pretty sad thinking of what Sampi could've been as a player, it's even sadder to think about his personal problems.
- Ablett thinks he's in America. Religion's fine, but leave it out of sport. Would give 'God' give a crap about an AFL game? Not a Suns game that's for sure.
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