Mark West was one of the reasons we had a match winning lead (or so we thought) in that game.
He only played about 15 games all up from memory but he was almost unstoppable in this game.
Re: Libba’s behind/goal, I think I’ve said it in the 10959 other threads about 1997 along with several other posters but at the time from where I was I definitely thought it was a goal.
I only watched highlights of the game after the 2016 GF and several other things stood out to me:
- The first of our missed chances in the last quarter was when Jose Romero hit the post from a shot on the 50. You can see from this chance that James Cook is all by himself in the goal square, but Jose just doesn’t see him. If he did see him and he passed it, it’s all over - Cookie has 6 and is 40m in the clear.
- There is a passage of play when we were still only just in front when Scott West emerges from a clearance on the win in space. Michael Martin is running alongside him like a headless chook instead of providing a shepherd, or ahead him. With no one shepherding, and no runner ahead of him which Martin should’ve been, West gets caught instead of getting an Inside 50 and it’s holding the ball. Absolutely crucial bit of play - was furious at Martin (who I never liked - complete dud) when I saw this
- Its been said before but our players totally lost their heads in the last quarter. Leon Cameron did a kick in, when we were still in front, that went straight to a Crows player. But the most telling bit of play of our players doing crazy things is when the Crows launch an Inside 50 - we are still just in front - and Matt Croft takes a spectacular defensive mark, but then immediately plays on instead of taking his time and looking to control possession. Just total craziness - if we did that, we could have knocked 30 seconds or a minute off the clock and held on. Nothing actually came from Crofty playing on - in fact it leads to the missed Mark West shot - but it is still just total craziness.
- Re: the Mark West shot, because I was up the other end and it had been so long since the game, my recollection of it was that he was about 25m out, he wasn’t, he’s actually just inside 50 on the run. Still a chance he should have nailed but not as falling as I remember.
- Again, been said before but the Chris Grant missed shot after they had hit the front is another face palm moment. If either one of them - Hudson or Grant - provides the shepherd it’s a goal, no question. Again, our players just lost their heads.
- Some people I’ve seen have blamed Wallace for the loss, ie Romero playing injured, not putting someone else on Jarman, not flooding the shit out of the backline when the Crows got on a roll etc etc. For me, none of these are relevant - I don’t blame him, I blame the players. If one of our chances goes through, or our players don’t have a meltdown and keep their cool, we win the game, we are in the GF and Wallace a week later would likely be remembered as a club immortal and the man who broke the curse and the drought instead of Luke Beveridge. I feel sorry for him in this sense - coming so close to being a legend and then having it stolen away from him. Instead he is remembered as another coach who couldn’t quite get there, along with Grant Thomas, Neil Craig etc who Plough was so much better than.
So there’s another post from me on the 1997 prelim = a day that shall live in infamy.