Monday, April 16, 2012

I Guess I Knew It Was Coming


Stevie J fumbled an early ball. James Kelly didn’t get low enough for another one. Jimmy Bartel missed a goal. Everybody ran away from Paul Chapman.

Geelong seemed tired last night.

Ryan Bastinac was good in close. Jack Ziebell was kicking goals from everywhere. Aaron Edwards was swallowing everything. Harvey was running all over Geelong, all alone.

North Melbourne seemed wired last night.

Like so many things in life, there wasn’t one sole cause, but a number of contributing factors in The Cats loss to North Melbourne.

It’s not surprising that a team missing Varcoe, Wojack and Stokes looked a little slow; or that a defence missing Scarlett and Josh Hunt (not to mention a suddenly vitally important Andrew Mackie) looked a little loose; or that a team coming off a draining win, with 9 players of under 30 games experience, looked a little sloppy.

Defenders look bad when the ball is coming lace out and luck seems to run your way when you have more players running towards it. Geelong hasn’t had that many fumbles and skill errors since Hank Playfair was prominently involved. North’s pressure and effort were excellent.

And yet, with 10 minutes to go, down 6 goals, the Cats were still a massive chance. And they fought it out, no matter how tired they were and how futile it seemed.

It’s round 3, and to quote Denzel, this shit’s chess, not checkers.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Text, Lies & Videotape

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I was at a wedding last weekend and couldn't watch the game. I entrusted Mrs Watson with providing score updates that I could sneakily check between courses, bad speeches and Clare Valley Shiraz. Unfortunately, the wedding being in rural Victoria, I had zero reception and thus did not get a single score. In the morning, however, with a couple of hundred kms behind me, the following messages were waiting for me.

  • Chappy has a beer gut.

  • Sandilands is fucking raping us.

  • As is Lonergan.

  • Fyfe with the classic Perth haircut: 6 years ago, worst nightclub in town.

  • We got a good fucking manly battle happening here. Tough stuff. I’m erect. I hope you are later. With a bridesmaid. Givem the sex!!

  • Scarlett just punched ballantyne in the head.

  • Fork. Chapman. Put.

  • Woody looks good. Quite good.

  • I think I have a new most hated team.

  • Fuck.

  • I can’t handle Fyfe’s hair.