Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final Collingwood Magpies 1.2 4.3 13.5 17.10 112 North Melbourne Kangaroos 4.4 10.6 10.9 14.11 95
The first half
Matt was doubly cursed: first for leaving his phone on; secondly for answering it. He left at quarter time - and so missed out on an amazing game. Mind you, at half time, I was envying him - and performing the sort of calculations I'd performed during the Adelaide game in round 2: how bad would the score have to be for me to leave at the third break?
Perhaps on paper the margin didn't looks so bad. Before he left, one of Matt's contributions was to agree that the Roos had underperformed on the scoreboard. Given the number of opportunities they'd had, they should have been further in front at quarter time; and again at half time. So there was even some thought of leaving at half time. Could I stand another quarter of this tripe?
Instead I was treated to a third quarter for the ages and a second half in which the teams put on a "show with everything but Yul Brynner"1.
The third quarter
18:57 Pendlebury milks a free and squeezes a goal from 30.
15:20 Cloke snaps around his body from 20 after a North turnover.
13:00 Pendlebury marks. He'll kick from the point where the 50m arc meets the boundary, on the side favouring his dominant left foot. The commentator (Matthews) reckons it's kickable, but Pendlebury is carrying an ankle injury. He kicks to 20 out where 2 small Pies raffle it. Elliott seals the deal. You expect the North players to be a little nonplussed given that all of them where inside F50; but as he walks back after kicking the goal, even Elliott looks bemused. The team that managed 3 goals to half time has kicked 3 in a row.
But wait; there's more.
9:03 Waite marks on the wing, but his day had been one of extremes: doing some good things, but also committing some hideous clangers. This time his kick to the centre is intercepted. On the rebound, Crisp on the burst from 52.
Oxley subbed out for de Goey.
6 minutes left. Collingwood have kicked 4 unanswered goals.
5:45 A North player falls onto Swan 25 out, directly in front: goal.
4:34 White is marking in a way which matches the hype for him when he came across from Sydney. Handpass to Adams; kick to Fasolo, contested; the ball spills; Fasolo contests again and shovels it laterally; Blair chases and kicks off the ground into F50; Elliott pounces and snaps another.
3:45 From the centre bounce, Witts handpass to Crisp, on to Williams, kick into F50. Mark and goal to Elliott. Scores are level!
1:56 Pendlebury handball to Fasolo who kicks from 70 out on the boundary to a vacant F50 - except for Sidebottom running straight towards goal from CHF, an opponent metres behind chasing furiously. Sidebottom marks 2 metres out and steps left as his opponent overshoots. Sidebottom steps back into the box and goals.
0:38 Fasolo marks 30 out on the boundary which favours a right footer. The umpire starts him outside the boundary. He steps in and kicks. The direction is good, but the umpire signals touched on the line. Harvey takes the ball for the kick-in and surveys his options. Eventually the umpire blows his whistle which usually means that the player has taken too long; but no, he wants a review. 10 seconds later, the decision is reversed: goal.
0:02 So close! A kick from Crisp 85 out bounces past everyone and trickles through for a behind. The way everything Collingwood has touched has turned to gold, we expected better.
Mercifully for North, the siren sounds. 9.2 to 0.3 for the quarter.
The final quarter
It was strange seeing White tackle.
18:14 North are trying to clear from the last line of defence; a little untidy; scramble; Elliott from inside the box goals off the deck. When I replay several times, I finally see that Elliott is sort of in the vicinity without an opponent; tracking the ball as it pinballs from one contest to the next, no one in control; he's trying to get involved but the ball keeps eluding him; then as the ball enters our box he gets really activated, jumps over a couple of fallen soldiers, puts a hand in the back of a North player (6), nudges him out of the box and soccers it. He's becoming a beautiful game specialist.
10 unanswered goals since half time, a 59-point turnaround.
17:07 Nahas marks behind the pack in the goal box, plays on and kicks his third. Our run has come to an end. Can we hang on with a 20-point, now 14-point, lead?
16:35 Lindsay Thomas snaps accurately.
16:18 Waite in the goal box hacks it out of the air from 1m.
Goldstein has been involved in each of North's last-quarter goals. The Collingwood ruckmen need to tighten up.
8:39 After a great pack mark, Petrie goes back and kicks it. He's spent most of the afternoon finding creative ways to miss, but not this time. North in the lead and the rain's coming down hard.
7:11 Sidebottom on the boundary after an OOTF, uses his left boot and hits the post. Anguish.
5:51 Crisp roves and quickly gets boot to ball; touched; spills off hands; Cloke slick handpass to Elliott cruising past; bounces and runs to 50; he kicks to the top of the square; Swan is in best position; he stands his ground as an opponent bounces impotently off him; mark; goal. The lead back with Collingwood.
4:05 The Pies have their tails up. They're playing perfect wet-weather footy. The ball is scrambled from half back along the Members' wing until Fasolo kicks inside F50. Blair running with the flight marks 40 out and kicks it from 45.
0:00 Another scramble; the ball is shovelled to Pendlebury; quick kick inside F50 where Elliott marks, 30 out. As he walks back, the siren goes. He kicks his fifth.
Of course I've left out oodles of important moments like Marley's bump and a couple of North set shots that missed.
The real winner
It's traditional to say that the real winner was footy. For those whose only interest is the result, this was a great game. I'm generally not in that camp. I usually say that, if we kick 100 points and play well, I'm ok if we lose. So I should be more ok that we kicked 112 points and won. And, certainly, at the game, after the dismay and despair of the first half, and the grudging acknowledgement of the early goals in the second, I (and all around me, who, of course had been scathing of our boys earlier) became more enthusiastic with each subsequent goal.
The real contest came in the last quarter, won by us by 3 points.
In the cold light of the following week, it's a lot easier to see the negatives. One goal in the first quarter; 4 to half time; an opposition that squandered opportunities like a rich man sharing coke. 10.6 might sound like good kicking, but you had to be there: shots out on the full, or maybe just straight up in the air, or simply not registering. Abysmal ball handling by both sides.
Brad Scott said of North's third quarter:
It's as disgusting a performance as I've been involved with
since I've been at North Melbourne.2
All of which goes to say that Collingwood still have a long way to go.
The wrap
A win's a win, and they're all nice; but this was not just four points. Collingwood was gone for all money. I didn't see any odds at half time, but I'm guessing they would have been pretty long. It's about the belief that comes from a comeback. I guess Collingwood players can put this win in the (memory) bank against another rainy day when their backs are to the wall.
Sources, Notes, Footnotes, References
[1] One Night in Bangkok, Chess, Tim Rice.[2] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-31/roos-coach-scott-fumes-after-27disgusting27-loss-to-pies/6510474
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=6043
Dear Mr TFB
ReplyDeleteAnd what a pleasure it is to be able to respond to your superb summaries and interpretations of the games. None better than this latest one.
I have been away walking in the south of France and courtesy of a program called AFL Watch I have been able to see the games streamed on the net. Due to limited streaming I saw them in 4-minute blocks, which some people would have thought of as being frustrating.
That 9 goal third quarter was one for the ages as you have said. One hardly saw a North player in the middle of the screen for about 20 minutes, or so it felt.
How could it happen?
I think if you go back to the Richmond game, it was also there but we just could not kick the ball through the big sticks and so we lost. A possible 4 goal victory torn to shreds. The foundations were apparent – Cloke not a centre of attention, White starting to strut his stuff. When before have you seen Cloke give away a free kick for rough play off the ball in the centre square?
And you are right in saying they looked asleep – Frosty being so below his best sticks in my mind. As it turns out, the Tigers are a damn good team, as evinced by their demolition of Freo a few days ago in a near perfect display of modern team football in that first quarter.
The game against the Suns was a quiet stroll in the park and I hardly remember it. Elliott’s five and I think Fasolo’s three are important to show we are creating a forward line to be reckoned with.
I am in mind of your bon mots to Grundy. You should look at the Freo game against Richmond and just focus on the Sandilands – Fyffe teaming. Fyffe is half the player he is because Sandilands can palm the ball to Fyffe’s bread basket when he is at full pace, from any direction. I cannot remember seeing a better teaming.
I am sorry to keep on about that game, however another aspect of the Tiger’s game that I loved (and have previously harped on that we have to adopt and perfect) was their short kicking to the next man down the chain who was leading directly to the kicker. Keeping control along the wing and gaining distance without risking giving the ball away.
It is lovely tp be back.
Floreat pica
M
Hi M
ReplyDeleteI saw the last and first quarters of the Richmond-Freo game (last quarter live, first quarter replay). Very impressive.