Oops... it has just been pointed out to me that I emailed to all my regulars but neglected to post this weeks Point on Book Face. PJ’s Point 2014 R.21 Sydney v St Kilda While there are no absolute foregone conclusions in AFL footy, given the form of the two teams involved any person musing on the possibility of a Saints win might be quietly whisked into a private room for a swab, for in reality a Swans win was a conclusion so foregone it was closer to six-gone. Nonetheless, I doubt that many of us considered the possibility that a single Sydney player would outscore the entire St Kilda side, as Lance Franklin did at the SCG on Saturday afternoon. ‘Bondi Buddy’ personally booted 9.4.58 – two points more than the Saints total. As Franklin’s total grew and we mused on how big a bag he might kick, I was reminded of the day in round 19 of 1995 when Sydney was playing the struggling Fitzroy Lions - the year before Fitzroy sadly folded up the tents in Melbourne to merge with the then Brisbane Bears. Sydney’s Tony ‘Plugger’ Lockett booted 16 consecutive goals, and as his tally grew through the afternoon during the breaks one could see masses of people streaming from one of the ground to the other, in order to be behind the Swans goal and see the master at work. The game has changed a lot, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll see a tally like that again – even if we did, the demise of suburban football grounds means it would be bloody difficult for the crowd to surge from one end to the other. But as it turned out Buddy let himself, his team, the Swans faithful, and the entire football community down - ending his 200th senior game with ‘only’ nine goals when many of us were hoping for more like 15. It must be said that the rest of the Swans were complicit in this disappointment – once the result was beyond doubt the entire focus should’ve been the GTGTB gambit – Get The Ball To Buddy. There’s little benefit in reviewing the game. As regular readers will know, I normally avoid clichés like the plague - but this was a flogging, a shellacking, a trouncing, a bollocking, a roll-me-in-flour-and-aim-for-the-wet-spot Little Big Horn boning. As such, to bang on about Sydney’s dominance would be somewhat graceless, especially from one whose ‘windows of opportunity’ rant expressed real empathy for St Kilda’s plight since the tragic replay of the drawn 2010 Grand Final. Speaking of Grand Finals, in this match St Kilda fielded more players from Sydney 2005 grand final victory than did the Swans – two, Dempster and Schneider, while Sydney had ‘only’ Adam Goodes. The Swans win came with a terrible price – a hamstring injury to gun Josh ‘Magic Bullet’ Kennedy, and a posterior cruciate ligament concern with Craig ‘Dicky’ Bird who was felled via friendly fire when team-mate Kurt ‘Katy’ Tippett slid into him. As I write (Monday morning) the jury is still out on what this will mean to Kennedy’s finals prospects but the broad concern for Sydney is the number of injuries to key players at this crucial stage of the season. As it stands there are now question marks over the prospects of five first-choice players – besides the above concerns there are fitness issues with Ben ‘Dover’ McGlynn, Nick ‘Oteen’ Smith, and Rhyce ‘The Word’ Shaw. That’s the bad news. The good news is that teams with depth of talent are well-placed to contest finals footy and the Swans are blessed with several youngsters who have shown their ability on the big stage, guys on the periphery of regular senior selection, blokes the likes of Jeremy ‘Legs Eleven’ Laidler who was solid in defence on Saturday, Jake ‘Pinkf’ Lloyd who played the full game and gleaned 21 disposals, and Shane ‘Tiny’ Biggs who collected 24 disposals in this, his first game of the year. Having said that, they aren’t Kennedys – there’s nothing quite like old heads when it comes to standing up in the really big games. If Kennedy was unavailable for several weeks as may be the case would Sydney then risk throwing him straight into the heightened intensity of a preliminary final? With most players - probably not. With the Magic Bullet – abso-freakin-lutely. Of course the other effect of Kennedy’s injury might be on this year’s Brownlow Medal. Considering the injuries to Kennedy, the Suns’ Gary ‘Mosiach’ Ablett, Magpie Scott ‘Snotty’ Pendlebury, and the ineligibility due to suspension of Nat ‘Piccolo’ Fyfe, the field of contenders has been throw wide open. The SCG crowd bid a fond farewell to the retiring Lewis ‘Fortesque-Pilkington-Smythe’ Roberts-Thomson. Considering the number of positions he’s played – ruck, tall forward, and notably defence – LRT has been the Swiss Army knife of Sydney’s line-up through the past decade. Together with Adam Goodes, Ryan O’Keefe, Jude Bolton (all in 2005 and 2012 wins) and Vic Belcher (1909 and 1918) the Hyphenator is one of only five Swans dual-premiership players. That’s pretty good company to keep. Not bad for a bloke who grew up playing rugby union, didn’t start playing Aussie Rules until he was 14, and had played less than 40 games when he was drafted by Sydney in 2001. There’s something about LRT that’s really endeared him to the Swans faithful. God knows it wasn’t his God-given natural ability because at times he appeared so ungainly one wondered how he got there, but gee he got the job done and always appeared so cheerful and happy to be there we couldn’t help but love the bloke. Good on you Lewie – your fourth nickname in this one piece – you’ve earned in roughly equal parts the respect, gratitude and affection of a huge number of people. Many players earn one or two of those gifts, but very very few get all three. I’ll come and say g’day when I next see you at the Bondi Rd Fruitologist. While on the subject of farewells, and the downside of Sydney’s aforementioned depth of talent, is the fate of guys who have been stalwarts of part success but are unable to now force their way into senior selection. In particular I speak of the wonderful and highly-decorated Ryan ‘Rhino’ O’Keefe - 286-games, 261 goals, all-Australian (2006), dual Swans premiership player (2005-2012) Norm Smith medalist just two years ago - who has unable to get a game in the seniors since round 4. He led the reserves from the field on Saturday, but there has apparently been no talk about a farewell senior game for the deserving champion. Certainly one would take no sentimental risks whatsoever in the final round against the now-potent Richmond, so in cold hard reality the only game in which a farewell guernsey for O’Keefe might be considered possible would be next weekend when Sydney have an ‘easy’ (on paper only…!) encounter with the Bulldogs - whose only wins of note this season were R.13’s eight-point 106-98 win over Collingwood and R.3’s 100-98 win over the then underachieving and erratic Tigers. Personally, I would love to see Rhino get the respectful farewell that he so richly deserves. But with percentage and the development of younger players with an eye to finals football so important at this crucial stage of the season, I guess there is precious little scope for sentiment. I get that. Nonetheless, this feels like a somewhat sad and less-than-satisfactory punctuation to O’Keefe’s magnificent career with the Sydney Swans. So, once again I am prompted to say - it’s a cruel game, footy. Thanks Rhino. Really – thanks, you’ve been a joy to watch and so damn appreciated by all those of the Bloods persuasion. On the – ahem – up-side for Rhino – and perhaps in a somewhat unorthodox way to prove his fitness for finals football - O’Keefe and his lovely wife Tara are due to star in a rather unique campaign for condom manufacturer Durex, named ’30 Nights Of Nookie’. No – I’m not making this up, get online and Wetcheck for yourself. The couple will couple every night for a month - as you do. And provide a daily online account of their encounters. As you do. Only fitting that after all these years of taking one for the team, O’Keefe will now be giving one. Or thirty, to be more accurate. And who knows maybe a couple of extras here and there – I’m guessing that Rhino would still want to celebrate if the Swans won a Grand Final. To paraphrase the words of Billy ‘The Pen’ Shakespeare, the very late Stratford-On-Avon ruck rover turned sports scribe, when expounding on the classic 1598 finals series:- “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust into them.” Now Tuesday – and the great news is that the injury to Kennedy is not as bad as first feared, indeed he’s unlikely to miss more than the next game, against Footscray, the very first time he’s missed a game for Sydney. This is great news for the Swans, but bloody awkward for me as I’ve already dedicated a big slab of the Point his loss. It’s pretty inconvenient to be honest, he could’ve at least waited until Wednesday night by which time the Point is out - to announce he’d be OK. It’s all “me” with some people… Well I’m not going to go back and rewrite the whole thing now. Carlton v Geelong Last week I recanted my previously published doubts about Geelong. Or should that be recatted...? Whatever – I was wrong. I now believe that the Cats are easily good enough to earn themselves a loss in a preliminary final… Once again, it was a total thriller of a game, and once again the Cats only just got over the line. What a cracking game, another extraordinarily tight contest between these two sides, one that Carlton were pretty unlucky not to win. After a bumpy start the Blues fought right back into the game but injuries decimated them to the point that they had only one fit player on the bench. Still they remained not merely competitive but totally threatening in a cracking contest – they were fantastic to maintain the pressure they did, neither team led by more than 12 points at any stage of the game as the lead changed many times. Geelong came from behind to win by six points, but there was no ‘noble loss’ feeling for Carlton who may feel righteously miffed because once again the result hung on a controversial umpiring decision – a very soft ‘push in the back’ free kick that handed the match-winning goal to the Cats on a platter, made especially galling for Carlton given that the non-controlling umpire over-ruled the ump closest to the incident. Adding to the miff-factor, this was all strangely familiar for the Blues. In round 12 they also lost to the Cats, by five points, in a game that was also decided by a very questionable and result-altering last-gasp free kick. A text-book case of déjà vu all over again. This was Geelong’s seventh win in a row – their sixth straight over Carlton, who haven’t beaten the Cats at Coventry-Lockett Dome in their last 13 encounters. Both teams face a stiff contest next week – the Blues travel to play Port Adelaide on Friday night, while Geelong have an extra recovery day before facing the mighty fighting Hawks in a Saturday night blockbuster at the G. Gold Coast v Port Adelaide A wet miserable day for footy produced a wet miserable game, the Power eventually grinding out a win, keeping top four hopes alive and pretty much killing any hopes Gold Coast had of playing finals football for the first time. Port held sway through most of the match, the Suns making a charge in the fourth, showing more ticker than in any other ‘post-Ablett injury’ game but unable to force the win. It’s easy for people to sit back on the couch at home and say ‘no Ablett, no Gold Coast’ because - well because it’s kind-of true and it’s nice and cosy on the couch, especially on a wet and miserable day, and that’s where I came in... Essendon v West Coast And here, yet another team - this one from the opposite side of this wide brown land - had its slim finals aspirations sliced off and hoist onto a tall pike, entrails flapping in the wind. What a strange day for West Coast. Essendon may have booted the first two goals but thereon the Weagles sliced, diced and julienned the Bombers, booting eight of the next ten goals to be 34 points ahead in the third quarter – capitalising on 18 intercept marks in the first half alone and thrusting wistful dreams of an unlikely finals berth from downstage up into the limelight. But these Bombers are made of stern stuff - a devastating five goals in ten minutes got them within four points. The home side fought willingly but in the gritty final term they were unable to goal, adding just two behinds as the Bombers forced 2.3 to snatch a cracking two-point win. Actually, ‘a win’ doesn’t quite cover it, for this is exactly the type of hard-fought result that a team needs as they contemplate finals. Again I say, I really admire how this group of Essendon players has - for the most part - been able to turn adversity into cohesion despite two years with the ASADA/WADA/ boom-shawaddy-waddy sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. Speaking of which – James Hird’s AFL-imposed 12 month suspension expires at 2.00am this Monday, and he will then be free to coach. The club has confirmed that Bomber Thompson will continue as senior coach for the remainder of the 2014 season, which is only sensible decision as reinstating Hird immediately would be ridiculous. Personally, I find bringing Hird back ridiculous, but maybe that’s just me. West Coast will host Melbourne. They should win, and as such are still a mathematical chance of playing finals, but when you have to think more about maths than footy, you’re pretty-much making up the numbers. I know I was - as soon as they changed the name of the class from arithmetic to mathematics and started bringing letters of the alphabet into the equation, I was screwed. The Dons will host Gold Coast on Saturday. Collingwood v Brisbane The upset result of the round, and it’s difficult to imagine a worse night for Collingwood. The pear assumed its shape well before a ball was bounced in anger, with captain Scott ‘Snotty’ Pendlebury and derringer forward Jamie ‘Jelly’ Elliott both withdrawn at the 11th hour. Then a few minutes into the match first-choice defender Ben ‘Swampy’ Reid pulled a hamstring, meaning that Tony ‘Muscles’ Armstrong - a late call-up who’d already played a game that day in the Magpie VFL side’s 14-point win over Geelong – had another full game to play. But wait…! There’s more…! Travis ‘Dagger’ Cloke went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter. And in the third quarter, adding further injury to the substantial insult already displayed on the scoreboard, Dayne ‘Rafters’ Beams was hobbled in an unfortunate tangle with a team-mate – leaving the Magpies with only one player on the interchange for the last 50 minutes of the match. I’m sure that the Lions would’ve preferred to beat Collingwood at full strength but you take your wins however they present themselves. Considering that they lost to Adelaide by 105 points last week, this was the biggest form reversal in their history. When you also add the fact that they had not beaten Collingwood since 2010, this was a meal the Lions would gobble with relish - keen as mustard, and my condiments to them. They host Fremantle at the Gabba on Sunday. Collingwood travel to play GWS in a twilight game on Saturday and over the next few days their medical rooms will be almost as busy as their tattoo department. Adelaide v Richmond When Brett ‘Beady’ Deledio gleaned the ball from the first ruck contest and kicked a 55-metre bomb, Richmond had booted the first goal before the Crows had picked the lint from their arse, and with two more quick goals from the Tigers, the home side were on the back foot. They pulled back a goal before the break, then in pelting rain scored the first two goals of the second quarter and it was just four points betwixt ‘em. By this time the rain was coming down so heavily it was more like doonas than sheets, hardly conducive for classy football, and apparently affecting the kicking of both sides, with eight consecutive behinds between them before Richmond finally goaled on the stroke of half-time, earning a 13-point lead. It didn’t get any easier in the third term, with both teams swimming up and down the field trying to kick goals, the Tigers only slightly more successful with 1.9 to the Crows 1.3. The Adelutians booted the first two of the final quarter and began to dominate all over the ground until James ‘Spod’ Podsiadly gave them the lead, but despite looking nowhere near as intense as they had in the early stages of the match the Tigers were certainly not lacking in effort, making sure that Adelaide didn’t get another, and persistently working their way forward until finally a long bombed kick found Nathan Gordon who, quick as a flash, crumbed the ball and snapped it through to put Richmond ahead by five. With as many minutes to play there was plenty of time for Adelaide to goal and snatch a one-point win, but only if they could get the ball to their end. They couldn’t, and it was all over when Dustin ‘Tootsie’ Martin gleaned an incoming ball and snapped it truly. Adelaide had damn-near pinched the premiership points, but the best side over the four quarters won. Despite the loss Adelaide have the consolation of still being in eighth spot, courtesy of rival lower-ladder contenders having the decency to lose this weekend. They play North Melbourne on Saturday, Richmond host St Kilda on Sunday. North Melbourne v Western Bulldogs North booted the first four goals of this game and despite digging in and fighting back Footscray were unable to overcome this lead, especially disappointing in the second term when they dominated play but kicked a wastrel 4.6. The Kanga’s Ben ‘Stunner’ Cunnington put the Dogs to the sword during the final quarter in which he booted all four of his goals. An invaluable win to the Kangaroos who’ve now put two wins between themselves and the other final eight challengers, needing only one win – against Adelaide next week or Melbourne in the last round – to secure a place in the final eight. The Doogies face a red-and-white-hot Sydney at Coventry-Lockett Dome on Sunday. Melbourne v GWS As somebody once said – it’s a cruel game, footy. The Giants joyous thrashing – and it was certainly that – of Melbourne in front of no less than 372 spectators at the MCG has been sadly overshadowed by the awful knee injury to captain and star big bloke Jonathan ‘McGroin’ Patton, the second in his short career. This, after losing Phil Davis to concussion in the opening term, and co-captain Callan Ward to a calf injury just prior to half time. Melbourne were – how does one put this nicely? – feckin’ awful. They led by two points at the first break, and given the injuries the Giants had incurred there was a reasonable expectation that they might take advantage of the situation. But they didn’t. Indeed, they didn’t even kick another goal until the last quarter, just before GWS did what any team would do in this position – form a phalanx and charge through the opposition with sabres drawn, putting the opposition to the sword. At the last break GWS had amassed their biggest-ever three-quarter time lead – 44 points. Melbourne booted one in the last term but GWS added five more, the 64-point winning margin their biggest to date and dramatically halting their six-game losing streak but – as mentioned – at an awfully high price. Melbourne’s coach Paul Roos said in the after-match press conference that it looked like his players had ‘put the cue in the rack’. I doubt they had the coordination to execute such a complex task. Melbourne’s season can’t end quickly enough. They face West Coast at Subiaco on Saturday night then the rampaging North in the final round. The Giants will be confronted by the wounded Collingwood, then Footscray in the final round. As I opined earlier this year, the GWS GIants – having ‘won’ the Wooden Spoon in both of their two seasons in the big league – will almost certainly avoid the loathed implement this year for the first time. Fremantle v Hawthorn The Dockers could not have picked a better game to flex their muscles. The rematch of last years grand finalists was an absolutely ripping contest for the entire game, with the Hawkers holding leads at the first and second breaks – 13 and 6 points, the Dockers cracking the game open during the five-goals-to-one third term – an 18 point lead, then holding firm through the torrid fourth quarter. Hawthorn will certainly hit the finals with intensity – following this torrid encounter they play Geelong at the MCG on Saturday night, surely the match of the round. Freo travel to the Gabba to play Brisbane who – in all likelihood – blew all their powder in the emotional win over Collingwood. Sad to read the news that Neale Daniher - Essendon legend, former Melbourne coach, member of one of the great football family dynasties, and by all reports thoroughly decent man - has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. While I wouldn’t wish such a fate on anyone, why is it that such a universally respected and loved bloke cops such a fate when there are so many card-carrying arseholes walking around living healthy long lives… C’arn footy in general PJ CAR 1.4 5.6 9.10 11.10 (76) GEE 3.2 6.5 8.13 11.16 (82) SYD 6.3 8.8 15.9 19.13 (127) STK 1.1 2.4 5.7 8.8 (56) GC 3.2 4.3 5.4 7.5 (47) PA 1.5 2.8 4.12 7.14 (56) ESS 2.1 4.5 9.7 11.11 (77) WC 2.4 8.4 11.6 11.8 (74) COLL 4.3 5.3 6.6 8.8 (56) BL 6.1 10.7 15.11 18.15 (123) ADE 2.3 4.10 5.13 9.15 (69) RICH 5.1 7.5 8.14 10.9 (79) NM 5.2 8.2 12.5 17.9 (111) WB 1.0 5.6 7.11 8.13 (61) MEL 2.4 2.9 2.11 3.16 (34) GWS 2.1 6.4 10.7 15.8 (98) FRE 3.0 10.3 15.6 17.8 (110) HAW 4.7 10.9 11.12 13.13 (91)
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 08:34:34 +0000
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