I discovered the loneliest longest walk : between the MCG and Richmond Station,
The solace and comfort of having earphones over my ears and the radio turned off,
The gratitude that the Sandringham train left on time.
Today, I felt very much for the one player who will mistakenly hold himself responsible for not winning the game against Brisbane; he has been identified by his coach of making the fatal mistake of telegraphing his kick to McPhee in those final 16 seconds of the game.
He will carry this burden unfairly because nobody reminds him of all the other mistakes Essendon made: like Fletcher kicking out to from goal to the Lion who then returned the ball for a goal; and all the dropped passes, and kicks for goals from set shots that missed,
and in those final 16 seconds, that there could have been many more team mates who could have lead to give him more options to pass to,
that nobody thought of simply hitting the ball back out over the boundary line for another throw in,
that no one was there to smother Johnathan Brown to prevent him from getting the ball and kicking it to an unmarked Daniel Bradshaw in the goal square.
Yeah! poor Lonergan made a mistake, but it was one of many in the game and one of several crucial mistakes in those final seconds.
For once, I think the coach could have shouldered the blame a little more and not blamed this kid. I hope Lonergan will shrug this off and become a better player. In the many decades that I have followed Essendon, this must have been one that I just feel very uncomfortable about. Why is it necessary to unfairly blame the one player who made one of the mistakes in those final seconds.
Maybe Freo might have saved the day for this youngster - I hope so.
The solace and comfort of having earphones over my ears and the radio turned off,
The gratitude that the Sandringham train left on time.
Today, I felt very much for the one player who will mistakenly hold himself responsible for not winning the game against Brisbane; he has been identified by his coach of making the fatal mistake of telegraphing his kick to McPhee in those final 16 seconds of the game.
He will carry this burden unfairly because nobody reminds him of all the other mistakes Essendon made: like Fletcher kicking out to from goal to the Lion who then returned the ball for a goal; and all the dropped passes, and kicks for goals from set shots that missed,
and in those final 16 seconds, that there could have been many more team mates who could have lead to give him more options to pass to,
that nobody thought of simply hitting the ball back out over the boundary line for another throw in,
that no one was there to smother Johnathan Brown to prevent him from getting the ball and kicking it to an unmarked Daniel Bradshaw in the goal square.
Yeah! poor Lonergan made a mistake, but it was one of many in the game and one of several crucial mistakes in those final seconds.
For once, I think the coach could have shouldered the blame a little more and not blamed this kid. I hope Lonergan will shrug this off and become a better player. In the many decades that I have followed Essendon, this must have been one that I just feel very uncomfortable about. Why is it necessary to unfairly blame the one player who made one of the mistakes in those final seconds.
Maybe Freo might have saved the day for this youngster - I hope so.
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