Results tagged “football” from Oh Susanna

Oh yeah, the Footy season. AFL. (Australian Football League) has definitely started...

 

As long term readers of this blog know, I am a totally foccussed St Kilda supporter, who has been following them for many years.

 

Last Friday night, after somehow managing to get tickets to see the sold out match, G and I set out on the train to travel the short journey into town. Alighting at Southern Cross Station (aka Spencer Street Station) it's a short walk down the Northern end of the platform along the walkway that joins Bourke Street to the Docklands Stadium.

 

I always find my pace lengthening as I approach the Stadium, until we met the crush of excited St Kilda and Collingwood supporters thronging around Gate 3, where loud speaker announcements constantly advising supporters to go to other gates where the queues were less. One of the rewards of pre-booking tickets, is that you can walk in at any time, and your seat will still be available. But I was a bit sorry that we came in at the last moment, because you miss the build up before the start of the game. In this case, we got to our seats to see the start, and the aggression and ferocity of tackling, stupid free kicks given away on both sides and low scoring had us on the edge of our seats. I find watching a close match on TV to be much more stressful than it actually is at the game, and although it was very close for three quarters it was not from brilliance of forward moves, generally, rather the defensive pressure which made the game so riveting. Add to the mix, the serious hamstring injury to Saints star, Nick Riewoldt just before half time, who would surely miss 10-12 matches. Then, serious injuries to two other key Saints, Sam Fisher who was knocked out, and carted off on a stretcher; and Lenny Hayes with a badly broken nose. By mid way through the third quarter the radio commentators were giving St Kilda no chance of winning the match. Indeed, all was poised at the start of the last quarter, for a rout, according to all the experts.

 

However, St Kilda had not read the revised script, and burst out of the blocks, scoring two goals in two minutes, followed by another three to break the game open, and it was all over.

 

As we left the ground, the forlorn sight of Nick on crutches, at some distance from his celebrating team mates brought a tear to my eye, but also raised the question: How do the rest of the team carry the weight of a superstar in their midst, on a week to week basis? Do they feel that an undue amount of praise is given to him, when AFL is surely a team game, and there must be significant contributions from the other 21 players on the team to win one game, let alone for the 22 out of 25 games which they won last year? Without question Nick Riewoldt is a superstar of the game, and he will be sorely missed. But labelling St Kilda as entirely reliant on one player denies the effectiveness of a polished, resilient and flexible team who will be able to cope, and who will rise to the challenge.

The real footy season has now started, and I have once again put the St Kilda matches into my diary, so that social events can be planned around my attention span for other things besides football.

 

Saturday week ago, we had guests for dinner, and dinner was not ready to be served until the St Kilda-Sydney match had started. This created something of a dilemma: should I be rude and stay in the family room watching the direct telecast on TV, or should I be sociable and sit with our guests. Fortunately for me, the game got off to a slow start from the Saints' point of view, and in the first quarter they failed to score a goal for some time, so I was happy enough to catch the occasional glimpse as I went back to the kitchen.

 

By half time, I was able to find a seat in the family room, without offending social sensibilities, then grab some knitting in an attempt to hide my nervousness at the close game, and watch the end.

Pink Ukulele was very impressed at the speed of knitting when the tension was at it's highest and will be pleased to know that both sleeves have now been completed.

 

Last Saturday, a headache dared to intrude on my pleasant six days off in a row, and we decided not to go to a birthday party or the footy, instead, we stayed home and watched the game on delayed telecast. Unbelievably, St Kilda kicked eight straight goals to North Melbourne Kangaroos' no score. After that, the end result was academic, and I was able to enjoy the sight of Nick Riewoldt kicking 7 goals, and do a bit more knitting at the same time.

 

More enjoyable weekends over the winter will follow

It has been pointed out that it is some time since I wrote in this forum, and that my last entry said that there was life after football, but there clearly isn't....as I haven't been able to bring myself to write anything at all until today.

Maybe if my team was Collingwood, it would be a bit easier to get over it, they have been in 13 losing finals apparently, not that I care about them....

It's just that the excitement of getting there was fantastic, but the disappointment is palpable, still.

I'm not used to extended heat waves in November, either...can't really come to terms with night after night being hot. Not helped by three felines cuddling up in the night.... I sincerely hope this is not a harbinger of a hot summer to come, otherwise the aforementioned felines will be in another room.

 

I think Saints have missed some opportunities they should have taken. In the Saints attacking zone, now a goal from Montagna of St Kilda and Saints in front again...

Grand final week started on Saturday evening, after the result of the Geelong Collingwood match was known, finally we knew who was going to play who, although we've known that there was every chance that the top teams would get there, it's not been unheard of for the leaders at the end of the home and away matches to miss the Grand Final. In case you've been on another planet, the competing teams are St Kilda and Geelong. Thankfully, neither of the top two teams missed out this year. Next, the speculation about who was to win the Fairest and Best award for the year, The Brownlow Medal, which was decided last night was awarded to Gary Ablett Junior, after being favourite three years in a row, this is the first time that this star of the game won. A clear winner, in a superb season, it is an absolute joy to see him play. Almost like a dancer, changing direction with seeming ease, pirouetting around the opposition players; then crowning it all with usually deadly accuracy in front of goal.  He is in the league of those other amazing players, now retired, Robert Harvey of St Kilda and James Hird of Essendon. Readers of this site might recall that last year in Harve's last game, I wept in the stands to see him go, and Hirdy remains a respected figure in the world of AFL.

 

To GAblett's credit, he has also been able to rise above the expectations of everyone in some ways exceeding the exploits of his famous father, also Gary Ablett, in winning both a Premiership in 2007 and the Brownlow in 2009.

 

But now, we can move on, after being able to comment on the often tasteful, but sometimes appalling dress sense of the wives and girlfriends of the footballers or club personnel (see The Age for photos)

 

Now the conversations are couched in terms of: was Collingwood that bad on Saturday night, or was Geelong just really, really good? Opinions on the outcome are divided, with good, logical reasons on both sides. The temptation is to listen to the messages that are favourable to your own team, and to ignore the rest!  

 

The betting favours the Cats, so apparently the bookmakers are hoping that the tipsters are wrong. Then , as always in these things there are some respected commentators who give the Saints a good chance to win, too.

 

It all remains to be seen- I just have to survive the week....

Two semi finals of AFL at the weekend, and footy finals fever is well and truly here...we are down to four teams left to playoff the preliminary finals next weekend: St Kilda vs Western Bulldogs on Friday night at the MCG; and Geelong vs Collingwood on Friday evening.

 

Each game now is an elimination final, and the results will depend on performance on the day, not on what has gone before. An example of this was Saturday night's match, when just about every tipster had Adelaide on for a win; even our good friend H, who is a long term Collingwood Magpies fan. But a determined fightback by the Pies, after trailing by 31 points in the first quarter, and a see sawing, tension wracked final quarter with goals kicked by both teams in the last minute and a quarter saw the Pies win by 5 points.

 

Next morning, when I walked into Southern Cross station to take my step mother to catch the train back to the country, there were sombre looks on the faces of the Adelaide Crow supporters who were gathering to catch the bus back to Adelaide. In 1997, when they beat crowd favourites St Kilda in the grand final, their supporters had to drive back to Adelaide under banners draped across overpasses which rudely told them where they should go...Perhaps the glow of victory made the journey sweeter, but this time, the eight hour journey across the flat Wimmera and South Australian desert, would have seemed endless. There is only so much which can be said about your team when they are well on top, but lose by a kick in the last dying moments of the game.

As for the Collingwood fans, in TV footage of the Magpie fans outside the MCG after the game they were euphoric, singing the club song, over and over again. The journey back to the G next weekend, and the hurdle that they must face in the preliminary final against Geelong temporarily forgotten in the joy of the last minute victory.