Game Day Rd 13 vs Richmond @ Optus

Remove this Banner Ad

Status
Not open for further replies.
May 11, 2015
956
3,032
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Ipswich Town FC, Leeds Rhinos
Some of you may recall from past posts of mine that I grew up in the UK, only moving to Perth 10 years ago in my late-30s. So that means: (1) I grew up watching soccer; (2) my knowledge of AFL/Freo pre 2014 is pretty limited.

Now I know many people are big EPL followers and may be aware of the following – but for others this will be new, so please bear with me.

During the 1990s and early 2000s Manchester United were the most successful team and had an enduring rivalry with Arsenal. The United manager was Sir Alex Ferguson – the most successful manager in English top league soccer history and who was notorious for the mind games he played with other managers and the media – a bit like Beverage, except he was actually good at it.

1685782797810.png

In the 2003 season, Arsenal were having a particularly successful season with United close behind in the league. Ferguson was quoted as saying: “Arsenal have a replay against Chelsea and if they win it they would face a semi-final three days before playing us in the league. But then they did say they were going to win the Treble, didn't they? It's squeaky bum time and we've got the experience now to cope."

Now some ‘family friendly’ parts of the media will have you believe that Ferguson was referring to the Arsenal manager squirming in his seat – but most accept he was suggesting the Arsenal manager and team would be shitting themselves at the prospect of a tight end to the season.

Over the years, the phrase also been recycled by commentators when a team enters the last 4-5 minutes of added on injury time only leading by a goal.

What I hadn’t realised before coming to Australia, was that in Australia existed a sport that epitomised the phrase ‘squeaky bum time...a sport that continually changes the rules to makes the coaches, players and fans bums even squeakier…and nothing epitomises this more than the kick to win it after the siren.

And now, a few paragraphs in, hopefully everyone understands the relevance of all this in a Richmond preview thread!!

Anyway – we’ll come to that in a bit.

Since starting to follow the sport and falling in love with the Dockers, there have been several instances of squeaky bum time. Moments like:

  • In 2014 when Carlton’s Cameron Wood hacked kick it out straight down the throat of Lachie Neale 30 metres out, allowing him to kick the winning goal 45 seconds from the final siren (the ‘dumb s**t’ type of squeaky bum time).
  • In 2017 when Shane Kersten kicked the winning goal against the Kangeroos with 30 seconds to go (the ‘s**t player’ type of squeaky bum time).
  • In 2020, Jack Newnes kicking the winning goal after the siren (‘the s**t umpiring’ or ‘corrupt s**t’ type of squeaky bum time).
And not forgetting going back in time to Sirengate when Freo won a few days later in what can only be described as the ‘cracking the shits’ type of squeaky bum time.

And that brings us to the Tigers. In my ten years of following Freo, we’ve had more squeaky bum time moments with the Tigers than any other team. And this got me to thinking – has this always been the case?? So I did some research.

Prior to this season, across Freo’s 29 season history, we have had more ‘less than 1 goal’ finishes against Richmond than any other team – and it’s not close. The following table summarises the number of games Freo has played against the other teams, the number of times the game has finished within a goal and the percentage of times this has resulted in a squeaky bum outcome.

PlayedWithin a goalSqueaky bums
Adelaide
42​
6​
14%​
Brisbane
32​
4​
13%​
Carlton
39​
5​
13%​
Collingwood
35​
1​
3%​
Essendon
39​
4​
10%​
Geelong
42​
6​
14%​
Gold Coast
13​
1​
8%​
GWS
13​
0​
0%​
Hawthorn
40​
0​
0%​
Melbourne
42​
3​
7%​
North Melbourne
34​
5​
15%​
Port Adelaide
40​
0​
0%​
Richmond
40​
10​
25%​
St Kilda
40​
7​
18%​
Sydney
39​
4​
10%​
West Coast
55​
5​
9%​
Western Bulldogs
36​
4​
11%​


And what this shows is that in a quarter of all games Richmond and Freo have played, the stadium will have been producing more methane than WA’s entire cattle farming industry.

Delving a bit deeper into the results shows that of the 10 games decided by a goal or less, one was a draw and three were by a single point. Not only that but in another FIVE games the result finished with a gap of 7-10 points.

Whilst at the same time – we’ve never had a single game against GWS, Hawthorn and Port that has finished with a goal or less between the sides; and only five times have we had a tight finish in the Derby.

So perhaps it was no surprise that last year finished in just the second draw in our history – and it gives the opportunity to present the ‘Squeaky Bum Trilogy’ in all their glory:

SQUEAKY BUM 1: Houli’s s**t Kick

Round 17 AFL - Richmond v Fremantle highlights - YouTube

SQUEAKY BUM 2: Hot s**t Mundy

Round 8 AFL - Richmond v Fremantle Highlights - YouTube

SQUEAKY BUM 3: Richmond s**t the bed

Richmond v Fremantle Highlights | Round 19, 2022 | AFL - YouTube

Anyway, enough excrement for one day – onto this week’s preview.

Last time I did a match preview, in 2021, it was the week after the Pies and Buckley came to a mutual agreement to sack the coach – so it was very hard to predict whether there would be the so-called new coach bounce (there wasn’t).

And the evidence from the last couple of weeks is that whilst they put in spirited performances the Tigers are clearly not in for one final push to round out their Dynasty – something Hardwick clearly realised and so decided to jump ship before his own legacy was tarnished (or some bullshit to do with Michael Jordan - whatever).

And as we so often see with a team on the wane, injuries can really take their toll – with Lynch, Hopper, Gibcus, Soldo and Tarrant all out for multiple weeks, and not returning in time for this week’s game.

So whilst Darcy missing will clearly impact our structure and in particular Jackson’s time up front, the Tigers present as one of ‘teams we should be beating’ if we are serious about a finals push over the second half of the season.

But…then you remember we’re coming off the bye…and historically we’ve been pretty poor when that’s the case.

And…the long range forecast is for rain next Saturday.

And…then you have to factor the stats above which show that historically we have more close games with the Tigers than any other team in the comp.

Which means I’m predicting another close one, and I’ll be packing both a poncho and an adult diaper as I board the train to Optus.

Freo by less than a goal.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Kids own the bloody TV at night, so will be glued to my phone watching this one :)
Us by 11 points.
Amiss and Treacy with 2 each
My kids only 4months old and I’ve already got him glued to the footy he knows when it’s time does his little leg kicks, pity he only gets excited when the hawks play 🔫
 
Freo by 9 points, it's going to be a hard slog in the wet. Caleb Serong to be BOG, plays well in the wet
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Someone please just lie to me and say that the rain is going to have cleared by the time the game starts.

BOM is telling me no rain after 5pm. So it'll probably start chucking it down.
 
I too am concerned about the prospect of something Dockery tonight.

I’ll actually be more surprised if it’s a comfortable enough win, rather than a Dockery loss.

We struggled in the second half of last season when suddenly we had expectations weighing us down.

I look forward to seeing the level of growth tonight.
 
I have it on good authority from an incredibly reliable tinkerer that Fyfe is keen to get to the club he grew up supporting.

“He has been linked behind the scenes with a potential switch to Sydney, who will remain on the brink of premiership glory for at least the next three to four campaigns. Or Fyfe will consider a move to other rising contenders like Carlton, Collingwood or Richmond.”

I think he will set himself for a big game tonight to impress his new club. 30+ and a goal.
 
IMG_2479.jpeg

We struggle with moisture but we are travelling well and that should negate the above… Freo by 13 points
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top