Brave Blues Bottom Out
Blues v Power
By Shane Thiele
August 11 2002
Surrounded by the media hype regarding John Elliott, the board, Denis Pagan, Rodney Eade, the wooden spoon, priority picks and members petitions believe it or not there was a game of football still to be played at on Saturday.
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If the team that took the field last
week was the weakest in some supporters memory then this week we found
a new winner. The suspension of Matthew Lappin and late withdrawal of
Justin Murphy further weakened what is fast resembling a VFL line-up.
Mark Williams warned his players that
Carlton were a proud club and would react savagely to last week's
loss. With no less than a dozen players in Navy Blue playing for their
careers you think that it would go without saying. Unfortunately
we've seen too many poor perfomances this year to be able to guarantee
such a response. Thankfully - for once - the troops rallied.
This one was far from a classic but the
standard of play was of little concern to Blues supporters. It was
another loss but by no means a waste of an afternoon.
From the first minute you could tell
there was a change in attitude. Why it has taken so long is anyone's
guess but the swirling conditions suited a Blues line-up devoid of
match-winners, key position players, onballers, ruckman etc.......a
good old fashioned dog-fight was the only way to go.
There were no radical positional
changes although Carlton did go in with as tall a forward line as they
have all year. Predictably though a tall forward line means a lack of
crumbers. Just as when we have skilful crumbers we have no tall
forwards. Not that it matters anyway because most of our skilled
players have no heart, which in turn means those with heart seem to
have little skill!
Whatever the case the scoreboard
attendant should refuse to collect his pay as the Blues failed to
score a major for the entire first half. We did get close though, if
not for a couple of off-sides and missed penalties we may have got one
on the board. Seriously it was a poor reward for such hard work and
combined with last weeks debacle, meant just four goals had been
registered in the last three hours of football.
Thankfully Port had just three but the
feeling around the ground......alright the feeling in my lounge
room....was that Port Adelaide would inevitably break the game open
after half time. Their dominance could be put down to the individual
efforts of a few players. Roger James was running rampant in the
middle, Brett Montgomery was doing what he pleased unopposed down back
and Warren Tredrea was looking to upstage his 1998 demolition of the
Blues.
In the second half the contest only got
hotter in a game dominated by gang tackling, poor disposal and endless
ball-up's. When Corey McKernan marked and goaled the Blues were
finally on the scoreboard. The team was playing with more confidence,
more system and running for each other but once again wasted
opportunities were hurting badly.
(Insert note: Bradley in hospital with
suspected broken ribs - writer lost interest in review)
Blah, yada, spam, missed more shots,
couple of marks disallowed in front of goal, Plunkett missed a
shocker, Blues got close but lose again. Serves me right for not
finishing this last night I suppose!
It's probably an appropriate time to
make mention of Bradley's effort yesterday. Each year my admiration
grows for a true champion and the ultimate professional. His 30
possessions today had nothing to do with being a receiver or chasing
easy kicks. Have a good look at yesterday's line-up and you'll soon
see there is no-one even capable of getting an easy ball out to him,
or no ruckman to run around for a quick handball. Yesterday's game was
as hard as any to get a kick.
The fact that he may have played out
the game with broken ribs makes his efforts all the more Herculian.
The same opposition supporters that have lauded similar courageous
deeds from the likes of Millane, Dipper, Brereton & Hocking to name a
few must also now pay recognition to one of the game greats.
In today's junk mail which in South
Australia is called the Sunday Mail, Neil Kerley rated the best 25
players he had seen from South Australia. To include Tony Modra and to
leave out Bradley says a lot for the man's credibility. Modra's one
great season hardly stacks up with Craig's twenty.
Lets hope this is just a premature
epitaph.
Behind Bradley, there were at least
others today that could also hold their heads high. Sam Cranage
produced what might be a career saving performance picking up a stack
of possessions and showing us also that he at least has the
determination to continue. Hickmott was back to his pack diving best
and youngsters Thornton and Wiggins took the points down back.
For Port Adelaide there were worrying
signs as September looms closer. Despite missing some key players too
much was left to too few.
As mentioned earlier James, Tredrea,
Montgomery were the standouts with good support down back from Wakelin
and Paxman. Primus got on top of McKernan as the game went on and for
the second time in a row in Melbourne, Francou was tagged completely
out of the game.
What will concern coach Mark Williams -
despite his false enthusiasm to the media - was the way that some of
his players struggled under intense physical pressure from the
opposition. No doubt rival clubs will have a close look at this game
and their performance against the Kangaroos, when planning their
downfall in future weeks.
Finally unless the AFL decides to dock
Premiership points from clubs the 'spoon' is now ours. It hurts like
hell but the feeling is similar to being asked after your wedding day
"What does it feel like to be married?" when you have been living with
your partner for years before hand. "No different really" is
really the stock standard reply. We've known this has been coming for
week's and yesterday's loss - like the wedding certificate - just
makes thing's official.
Lets hope the honeymoon is much more
enjoyable than the ceremony.
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« Round 19 10 August 2002 Optus Oval
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| Carlton | 0.3 | 0.4 | 3.13 | 5.15.45 |
| Port Adelaide | 2.3 | 3.9 | 7.10 | 7.12.54 |
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