Voice of Reason
23 Jun 2002, 16:07
It was with some trepidation that we set out up the freeway to see Stan Magro's boys bring their boring, flooding, Germany, negative, water-polo, suffocating football style to Arena Joondalup yesterday afternoon.
A cold day made colder by the pre-match loss of the Mighty Q, rested at the request of the Eagles, and young Jason Salecic (watch out for that name) WA Under 18s. But surely we wouldn't lose to Perth?
The Falcons dominated the first quarter into a 4 goal breeze with numerous possessions but precious little penetration. Perth kicked 2.0 on the break to our 1.2 and the game was as awful as expected.
The only bright spot was Andrew Williams, who took an outstanding mark and kicked the first goal. However, as Darren Harris said in the huddle, we weren't getting adequate reward for our possessions, but if we gave it a bit more grunt, we would in the next quarter.
The wind dropped. We continued to play crap. Our State players looked completely out of it. The amazing Brad Hardingham for the Demons took the highest mark seen in Australian Rules Football this century (honestly, it was absolutely brilliant - and he kicked the goal). By half-time it was 8.0 to 3.a lot. We weren't out of it yet.
The rest of the game was a blur - the quintessential bad day at the office. The Perth fans were delirious - hadn't seen a performance like it since the '60s. Bossong and Burgiel playing like champions. Richard Kelly - tough as. Brad Highmark Hardingham finished with a lazy 7. Transformed they were from also-rans to Brazil. West Perth - well, there's always next week. In Newdegate.
As for AFL players:
Williams - a bright start and got a fair bit of the ball, but in my view was outplayed by his direct opponent, Andrew Shipp of the Dockers, for the next 3 quarters. Made mistakes and seemed to gradually lose confidence as the game wore on. Is there a pattern here? He always starts well, but seems to fade. He was on the ground for the whole game, so it wasn't Woosha interchanging him this time.
Seaby - the young fella was stuck at FF and didn't really get much of a go. When he did, he didn't do much (one good mark near goals I do recall).
Longmuir - got a lot of the ball and did well for most of the day - probably WP's best player after Big Ron Skender.
Fewster - little effect on the game.
Glass - picked up his customary head injury and ended with a large bandage. Good smother right in front of us. Has such an ugly, scrubby style to his game, even down to the way he runs, as well as his kicking. Always looking for a hand pass, even at this level. Having said that, played reasonably well.
Shipp - most possessions for a Perth player - beaten in first quarter, but won overall and a terrific one-handed mark low down on the boundary in the last.
MacDougall - had very little impact on the game. Spent a lot of time running to and from the interchange where he swapped with Perth's no. 50. Seems to jog around without much urgency. 12 touches and beaten in the ruck by Big Ron when he was there. I'm not impressed, I'm afraid, hopefully he's just carrying an injury.
Woods - did well as a loose man across half back and did some quality things - he is a skilful player. Why he was left as a loose man is one of those questions that will remain unanswered forever.
Fundamentally, possessions meant nothing in this game. I think it must be very difficult to go from Perth to the Eagles or the Dockers because the style of game is so remarkably different.
Looking forward to next week..........hope neither of my teams turns up as switched off as West Perth were yesterday. Oh well, we all have "one of those days".
A cold day made colder by the pre-match loss of the Mighty Q, rested at the request of the Eagles, and young Jason Salecic (watch out for that name) WA Under 18s. But surely we wouldn't lose to Perth?
The Falcons dominated the first quarter into a 4 goal breeze with numerous possessions but precious little penetration. Perth kicked 2.0 on the break to our 1.2 and the game was as awful as expected.
The only bright spot was Andrew Williams, who took an outstanding mark and kicked the first goal. However, as Darren Harris said in the huddle, we weren't getting adequate reward for our possessions, but if we gave it a bit more grunt, we would in the next quarter.
The wind dropped. We continued to play crap. Our State players looked completely out of it. The amazing Brad Hardingham for the Demons took the highest mark seen in Australian Rules Football this century (honestly, it was absolutely brilliant - and he kicked the goal). By half-time it was 8.0 to 3.a lot. We weren't out of it yet.
The rest of the game was a blur - the quintessential bad day at the office. The Perth fans were delirious - hadn't seen a performance like it since the '60s. Bossong and Burgiel playing like champions. Richard Kelly - tough as. Brad Highmark Hardingham finished with a lazy 7. Transformed they were from also-rans to Brazil. West Perth - well, there's always next week. In Newdegate.
As for AFL players:
Williams - a bright start and got a fair bit of the ball, but in my view was outplayed by his direct opponent, Andrew Shipp of the Dockers, for the next 3 quarters. Made mistakes and seemed to gradually lose confidence as the game wore on. Is there a pattern here? He always starts well, but seems to fade. He was on the ground for the whole game, so it wasn't Woosha interchanging him this time.
Seaby - the young fella was stuck at FF and didn't really get much of a go. When he did, he didn't do much (one good mark near goals I do recall).
Longmuir - got a lot of the ball and did well for most of the day - probably WP's best player after Big Ron Skender.
Fewster - little effect on the game.
Glass - picked up his customary head injury and ended with a large bandage. Good smother right in front of us. Has such an ugly, scrubby style to his game, even down to the way he runs, as well as his kicking. Always looking for a hand pass, even at this level. Having said that, played reasonably well.
Shipp - most possessions for a Perth player - beaten in first quarter, but won overall and a terrific one-handed mark low down on the boundary in the last.
MacDougall - had very little impact on the game. Spent a lot of time running to and from the interchange where he swapped with Perth's no. 50. Seems to jog around without much urgency. 12 touches and beaten in the ruck by Big Ron when he was there. I'm not impressed, I'm afraid, hopefully he's just carrying an injury.
Woods - did well as a loose man across half back and did some quality things - he is a skilful player. Why he was left as a loose man is one of those questions that will remain unanswered forever.
Fundamentally, possessions meant nothing in this game. I think it must be very difficult to go from Perth to the Eagles or the Dockers because the style of game is so remarkably different.
Looking forward to next week..........hope neither of my teams turns up as switched off as West Perth were yesterday. Oh well, we all have "one of those days".