My Weekly Footy Wanderings

[from my column for the Australian sports magazine, The Roar.]

            As quick hitting as a Bulldog end-to-end, here’s our weekly look at the ins and outs, ups and downs, backs and forths, and highs and lows of the AFL’s “Gender Pivot” fortnight:

            …I’ve no problem with the no third-man up rule on bounces (or “fake” bounces – sorry, I don’t care if you bounce or throw, umps). But when the ball’s being thrown in from the side, over the umpire’s head, just let anyone get the ball. Time after time, I saw rucks frantically running to reach the wildly mis-thrown ball. I can’t even blame the thrower – it’s got to be near impossible to gauge an over-the-head backwards chuck within a few feet. Just let whomever it comes to go after it, save yourselves the five seconds of figuring out who’s “nominated” to ruck, and move on.

            …Collingwood supporters may be down, but look at it this way: you’re ahead of Hawthorn and Sydney!

            …I don’t really get worked up over guernseys one way or the other, but I loved seeing that same beautiful shade of red on the Melbourne men’s unis that the women sported. It’s an exquisite rebranding that doesn’t actually change the Demon look – at least, not as much as going 2-0 does.

            …Dustin Martin has been devastating so far this year, and he sits atop my Player of the Year scoreboard, culled from as many different voting sources as I can find (afl.com.au, The Roar and several other mags, AFLCA, best on ground voting, and many more). Richmond putting Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy alongside Trent Cotchin allows Martin to roam free and play the position of “superstar”, which Gary Ablett Jr has played for so many years, and the likes of Paddy Dangerfield and Lance Franklin play so well today. (For the record, Scott Pendlebury, the Eagles’ Josh Kennedy, and Dangerfield are sitting in the three spots right behind him at this instant.)

            …Best mark of the year so far goes to the Hawks’ Paul Puopolo on top of poor Josh Kelly of the Crows Saturday. Best game so far was the Grand Final rematch Friday night between two teams who very possibly could stage it again on the 30^th of September. Speaking of which, the Best Pair of Goals so far this year were Buddy Franklin’s two 60-meter left foot shots in the fourth quarter of said rematch. And those were particularly difficult, given that he had the weight of the Swans’ season on his shoulders at the time.

            …Handballs aren’t always signs of panic, but it does take more time to set up a good kick than a good handball. So, when you see a player whose kicks make up far less than half his disposals, you watch to see what the reason is. Watching Tom Mitchell and Jaegar O’Meara kick a combined 17 disposals and handball the other 57 for Hawthorn Saturday makes me wonder. At one point in the late third quarter, O’Meara had made just three kicks out of 29 disposals. Suffice it to say that those other 26 were not all “healthy” or “good choices”.

            …And speaking of “not good choices”, what is going on with the abundance of bad kicks out of the behind pocket? It seems like there’s been at least one pure turnover kick per game so far this season. Similarly, it’s strange to see top-tier players kicking into the man on the mark, about the most obvious no-no you can imagine in that situation.

            …Feel good stories abounded. After the gloom and doom around the Lions the last couple of years, the women’s success may have rubbed off on the men, whose first half against Gold Coast may be the best they’ve played in years… Great to see Jarryd Roughhead play well after a brave year away… Sam Reid’s comeback debut in Sydney after injury was superb, and Nat Fyfe’s wasn’t far behind... Debutants like Sam Petrevski-Seton, Sam Powell-Pepper and Ben Ainsworth have excelled... Carlton would love to clone Jake Weitering seventeen times… And if you don’t want to feel good about the success of Essendon’s WADA “victims/criminals”, feel good for the guys like Zach Merrett, David Zaharakis, Brendan Goddard, Joe Daniher, and all the other Dons who had literally four years of their careers <strong>wasted</strong> without any chance at finals until now. They may not get this year either (consider the competition), but they can dare to dream.

            …Love the attendance throughout the first weekend– all ten games. Four hundred thousand patrons watched the men’s debut weekend. Fifteen thousand watched the women’s final (more than stayed for the men at Metricon, in fact). Eighteen games so far are averaging forty thousand  per game in attendance through two weeks, a pace that would be a first in AFL history.

And those folks have been treated to some spectacular matchups and individual performances. The first two weeks should remind all of us what we love about this game – the balletic athleticism, the strength and bravado, and the sheer skill on display in these games that made me anxious and excited to watch the next 189.

Round 2 results: Richmond by 19 over Collingwood; Western Bulldogs over Sydney by 23 (pulling away late); Adelaide defeating Hawthorn by 24, or four goals (the three-time consecutive premiers haven't started 0-2 in a dozen years), GWS over Gold Coast by 102 points (you read that right), Essendon by 27 over Brisbane (the Dons are 2-0 in their first season out of the cloud of suspicion of drugs), West Coast by 19 over St. Kilda (after the Saints led after three quarters), Geelong by one point over heavy underdog North Melbourne (Geelong didn't lead until the last shot), Melbourne over Carlton by 22 (but the young Carlton Blues led at three-quarter time), and Port Adelaide dismantled miserable Fremantle by 89 points.