Seeya later Tommy, Cam and Brady

Remove this Banner Ad

SHill Shall

Club Legend
Aug 22, 2009
2,842
4,590
Melbourne
AFL Club
Fremantle
History remembers that game a certain way. Understandable due to final scoreboard. But the usual comments ... regulation Hawthorn win ... too good ... Lyon can't beat Clarkson ... that's not quite the full story.

Umpiring was the closest thing to cheating I have ever seen. Fyfe and Pav on one leg. No McPharlin. We actually did quite well. Hawthorn had 2nd fewest scoring shots all year but kicked 15.4 with lots of high difficulty shots.

At the ground, the sense was palpable that we were all over them in the last. You could see the players running over the top of Hawthorn. We had numbers everywhere and waves of runners and overlaps. TV just doesn't do this justice. I was sure we would win, until Sheridan dropped that mark. I'm not sure he shat himself just because of Rioli. We had a good setup on the wing/half forward and could have gone the length of the field. But needed to move it very quickly before it was shut down, and Tommy rushed/botched it.

Never seen a crowd/team deflate as much as that from one single incident. We may have been running over the top, but I suspect it was on fumes/adrenaline/home crowd energy ... and then that all disappeared instantly. Would have been a tough one for Sheridan to have on his shoulders.

Agree with your recollections.

And while Rioli was in the vicinity, Sheridan dropped an uncontested mark in a switching chain. Unforgivable.
 
May 3, 2007
36,018
20,786
Parts Unknown
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Man City, Valencia, Lazio, Panthers
Well, except the multiple gimme shots on goal from directly in front that were missed at critical times. Mayne had one early that would have given us the first 3 goals of the game, Griffen had one just before half time that would have been huge, and Barlow had one in the last that would have got us to within a goal which would have sent the crowd feral (more so).

In the end I came to the realisation that we just didn't have the depth.

I agreed with that bolded bit.... I learnt a lot from that 1st half of that 2016 season. Injuries to key players hurt us and it hurt team morale. I am still bitter about being 0-10 and being 4-18 that season as our squad at the time are better than that. 2017 and 2018 seasons proved I was right.

Its Ironic that we couldn't lure quality experienced players when we made finals from 2012-15. Danyle Pearce was serviceable. Yet after our drop from 2016 onwards, guys like McCarthy, Brad Hill, Harely Bennell (yes. he is a quality player before he got injured), Rory Lobb and Jesse Hogan arrived when freo finished in the bottom 6 in the last 3 seasons.

So Grey is in the WAFL. Sheridan is at GWS, Sutcliffe is at the Port Magpies
 

Purpletown

Club Legend
Sep 22, 2014
2,189
4,550
Restumping
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
SFFC Denver Broncos
[QUOTE="Freomaniac, post: 59075315, member: 40895"
Its Ironic that we couldn't lure quality experienced players when we made finals from 2012-15. Danyle Pearce was serviceable. Yet after our drop from 2016 onwards, guys like McCarthy, Brad Hill, Harely Bennell (yes. he is a quality player before he got injured), Rory Lobb and Jesse Hogan arrived when freo finished in the bottom 6 in the last 3 seasons.

So Grey is in the WAFL. Sheridan is at GWS, Sutcliffe is at the Port Magpies[/QUOTE]

I think the club was on a hiding to nothing with the players we targeted back then as most were Victorians who just used us to up their value with their existing team and had no real intention of moving to Western Australia.

We seem to put our time and effort into West Australians with an excellent strike rate now. We have also become a lot more willing to become involved in the whole trading scenario that has evolved with free agency and the freedom available to players in this day and age to change clubs even if they are under contract.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Marty Whitelaw

All Australian
Aug 27, 2014
921
2,070
Nedlands
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
West Perth Falcons, LA Clippers
Agree with your recollections.

And while Rioli was in the vicinity, Sheridan dropped an uncontested mark in a switching chain. Unforgivable.

That game is probably my worst footy memory of all time.

It felt like every time we got back into the game, something would go wrong (some absolutely appalling free kicks against us or a really flukey Hawthorn goal...that one from 50 on an angle just before three quarter time for instance).

We really were up and about in that last quarter but Tommy dropping that mark just killed us. I think he was already thinking about quickly switching play before he’d even taken the mark. Never seemed like he was the same player after that.
 

Freo Shark

Invasion of the Purple Haze
Oct 18, 2003
4,814
2,362
Perth
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Sharks, Miami Heat, Wildcats, 49ers
That game is probably my worst footy memory of all time.

It felt like every time we got back into the game, something would go wrong (some absolutely appalling free kicks against us or a really flukey Hawthorn goal...that one from 50 on an angle just before three quarter time for instance).

We really were up and about in that last quarter but Tommy dropping that mark just killed us. I think he was already thinking about quickly switching play before he’d even taken the mark. Never seemed like he was the same player after that.

Yea he dropped the proverbial Cup.
 
May 2, 2017
19,686
40,007
QLD
AFL Club
Fremantle
That was actually a blessing in disguise.
If we won that game, we would’ve played west coast and probably lost.
In Pav’s book, he explains the injuries sustained in that game. Pav and Fyfe would both have missed and it would’ve been tough!
I know Pav and Fyfe were beat up but the Eagles were rubbish in the GF. I would have backed us to put in a better shift than they did.
 
Nov 8, 2000
33,295
21,790
South of the river
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Peel Thunder
That game is probably my worst footy memory of all time.

It felt like every time we got back into the game, something would go wrong (some absolutely appalling free kicks against us or a really flukey Hawthorn goal...that one from 50 on an angle just before three quarter time for instance).

That was from 60, on the boundary line, after the siren. I know Suckling is a huge kick, but he probably never kicked a goal like that in his life (He was traded at the end of that season). * me.

And let's not forget the on the spot invented rule outlawing "Ballantyne stuff" when we had all the momentum early in the game.
 

LeftFootBanana

All Australian
Aug 7, 2017
607
2,634
AFL Club
Fremantle
That game against Hawthorn confirmed that no matter what we do, how successful we are, or where we play, the umpires will always bend us over.

Anyone who believes that umpires don't impact game results is kidding themself. It's funny how few of those 50-50 decisions go our way.

I reckon I could umpire and easily give 5 or 6 "technically correct" decisions that would ensure a team beat an evenly matched opponent comfortably.

Let's face it the AFL have never cared whether we are successful on field. As long as the club in financially secure and the supporters turn up in sufficient numbers, they don't give a sh1t. They're too busy trying to make GWS and GC viable so they don't have to admit that creating them was an act of monumental stupidity.
 

Galvo

Senior List
Feb 11, 2010
235
420
AFL Club
Fremantle
That game against Hawthorn confirmed that no matter what we do, how successful we are, or where we play, the umpires will always bend us over.

Anyone who believes that umpires don't impact game results is kidding themself. It's funny how few of those 50-50 decisions go our way.

I reckon I could umpire and easily give 5 or 6 "technically correct" decisions that would ensure a team beat an evenly matched opponent comfortably.

Let's face it the AFL have never cared whether we are successful on field. As long as the club in financially secure and the supporters turn up in sufficient numbers, they don't give a sh1t. They're too busy trying to make GWS and GC viable so they don't have to admit that creating them was an act of monumental stupidity.

I think that game has lead us down the path we’ve gone down. At the end of they’ve concluded that the only way we win a premiership is by being at least 4 goals better than the next team.

We then moved on the role players to make us less competitive, shifted payers out of their best position, dropped the running loads at training and pulled Ross out of running the day to day. That ensured finished low and we went to the draft and trade table with good bargaining chips.
 

ImperialPurple

Matthew Pavlich Medallist
May 26, 2003
24,238
18,050
South Freo
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
SFFC, Aussie Women's Cricket, HNK
That was from 60, on the boundary line, after the siren. I know Suckling is a huge kick, but he probably never kicked a goal like that in his life (He was traded at the end of that season). **** me.

And let's not forget the on the spot invented rule outlawing "Ballantyne stuff" when we had all the momentum early in the game.


Suckling himself admitted in an interview that he "probably ran well off his line" and it shouldn't have been a goal... but what can you do now?
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back