Essendon V Fremantle
Once again, I'm a very happy bomber. Another great team effort - I can't ask for much more than that.
Awesome mark by Adam McPhee - in defence too, so he had to take it.
There was a moment in the match when I was wondering what the Freo players would've been thinking.
Andrew Lovett was coming off the ground for a rest and I rekon the Freo players would've been thinking 'finally, some respite from that pest' and just as he gets to the interchange bench, on runs Alwyn Davey.
It was priceless to have speedster go off and another one replace him to keep floating around the ground pestering the opposition.
A couple of the highlights for me were the crowd at a couple of moments in particular. One of them was when Scott Lucas had the ball near the boundary line in front of where we sit and James Hird was free. Almost in unison, the whole side of the crowd was yelling "KICK IT TO HIRDY!!!" - in the end he didn't and there was a turnover, so maybe he should've listened.
Another was one of the times that Alwyn Davey got the ball. Once again, the crowd in unison screaming "RUUUUUUNNNN!!!!"
I've missed the footy. Great fun.
Just a couple of things that bugged me. Chris Tarrant all day, and Matthew Pavlich in one instance took what seemed like an eternity to line up for goal and apparently that was fine, but then Lloydy got a shot at goal and got called to play on after 30 seconds [I didn't watch the clock, but they were red-hot on it].
The rule was most likely brought in with Lloydy in mind, and [today at least] it seemed like he was the only one that they were policing it against.
The other thing that bugged me was the Freo players creeping a couple of metres over the mark and largely getting away with it. The one particular player that was doing it all day was Roger Hayden, and the umpires finally cottoned on to it in the last quarter and payed a 50 against him, but he did it on numerous occasions. I will be watching him the next time I see Freo play to see if it's something that he does week in, week out.
... and that's my 2 cents.
I was a bit hammered though at the game, especially beforehand. We went up to the Kangaroos social club area to have a drink and see Peter, and I was like death on two legs. I was sleeping on my feet. At one stage, I was bending over leaning on a chair with my eyes closed falling asleep. Then, at half time I lay across 2 seats and used my cushion and scarf as a pillow and had my eyes closed and was again very close to falling asleep.
I guess that's what happens when you work through the night and get home at 8:30am. Hopefully soon it won't be as bad for me. I can't stand having to wait for a train for an hour and 40 minutes. It's torture. Not to mention, it's freezing!
It was alright though, as soon as the match started to fire up and my bomber boys put the foot on the accelerator, I was wide awake. I just have to mention that I am lovin' the style of Leroy Jetta [or Leroy Jetstar as I almost called him]. He plays with a lot of flair and is really excitable and joyous. I love it - it's infectious.
So, that'll do me for now on footy.
Moving right along to the sporting episodes of last night. It was a big night in sport.
I crash landed when I got home from the footy and ended up sleeping until the F1s started. I set my alarm to wake me up when it started and just as I put the tv on, they were on the grid. Perfect timing. The move that Luis Hamilton made in the first couple of corners was a brilliant and brave one. I am amazed at how calm and composed he is managing to be when he's under fire, given that this was only his 2nd ever Grand Prix.
I am very happy with how it all turned out. I can't ask for much more than a McLaren 1,2. Although, I would've preferred the order to be reversed, coz I still don't like Alonso.
Then I moved onto the cricket [well kinda watched that at the same time as the race]. I couldn't be happier with that either. I can't say that I watched the entire match closely, but we cruised to victory. Punter was awesome again and it's always nice to be the ones who basically put England out of the world cup. Also, it's about time we got back to where we belong on the international ODI rankings.
The reason I didn't watch the cricket so closely was because it was the final round of the US Masters last night/this morning also. There was no way I wasn't gonna be watching that with an Aussie [Stuart Appleby] being overnight leader. A Victorian I will add, and one of my favourite golfers. Unfortunately he didn't start well with a double-bogey at the first hole and then was doin' okay until the 12th when he teed off into the water. That sucked really badly.
So, the hoodoo continues with no Aussie having ever won at Augusta. So close, yet so far. Well done to Zach Johnson anyway. He was a relative nobody and then came out in the final round and smashed the course when pretty much everyone else seemed to be struggling.
I finally got around to writing something semi-substantial. I haven't done that for a while.
- Panda
Awesome mark by Adam McPhee - in defence too, so he had to take it.
There was a moment in the match when I was wondering what the Freo players would've been thinking.
Andrew Lovett was coming off the ground for a rest and I rekon the Freo players would've been thinking 'finally, some respite from that pest' and just as he gets to the interchange bench, on runs Alwyn Davey.
It was priceless to have speedster go off and another one replace him to keep floating around the ground pestering the opposition.
A couple of the highlights for me were the crowd at a couple of moments in particular. One of them was when Scott Lucas had the ball near the boundary line in front of where we sit and James Hird was free. Almost in unison, the whole side of the crowd was yelling "KICK IT TO HIRDY!!!" - in the end he didn't and there was a turnover, so maybe he should've listened.
Another was one of the times that Alwyn Davey got the ball. Once again, the crowd in unison screaming "RUUUUUUNNNN!!!!"
I've missed the footy. Great fun.
Just a couple of things that bugged me. Chris Tarrant all day, and Matthew Pavlich in one instance took what seemed like an eternity to line up for goal and apparently that was fine, but then Lloydy got a shot at goal and got called to play on after 30 seconds [I didn't watch the clock, but they were red-hot on it].
The rule was most likely brought in with Lloydy in mind, and [today at least] it seemed like he was the only one that they were policing it against.
The other thing that bugged me was the Freo players creeping a couple of metres over the mark and largely getting away with it. The one particular player that was doing it all day was Roger Hayden, and the umpires finally cottoned on to it in the last quarter and payed a 50 against him, but he did it on numerous occasions. I will be watching him the next time I see Freo play to see if it's something that he does week in, week out.
... and that's my 2 cents.
I was a bit hammered though at the game, especially beforehand. We went up to the Kangaroos social club area to have a drink and see Peter, and I was like death on two legs. I was sleeping on my feet. At one stage, I was bending over leaning on a chair with my eyes closed falling asleep. Then, at half time I lay across 2 seats and used my cushion and scarf as a pillow and had my eyes closed and was again very close to falling asleep.
I guess that's what happens when you work through the night and get home at 8:30am. Hopefully soon it won't be as bad for me. I can't stand having to wait for a train for an hour and 40 minutes. It's torture. Not to mention, it's freezing!
It was alright though, as soon as the match started to fire up and my bomber boys put the foot on the accelerator, I was wide awake. I just have to mention that I am lovin' the style of Leroy Jetta [or Leroy Jetstar as I almost called him]. He plays with a lot of flair and is really excitable and joyous. I love it - it's infectious.
So, that'll do me for now on footy.
Moving right along to the sporting episodes of last night. It was a big night in sport.
I crash landed when I got home from the footy and ended up sleeping until the F1s started. I set my alarm to wake me up when it started and just as I put the tv on, they were on the grid. Perfect timing. The move that Luis Hamilton made in the first couple of corners was a brilliant and brave one. I am amazed at how calm and composed he is managing to be when he's under fire, given that this was only his 2nd ever Grand Prix.
I am very happy with how it all turned out. I can't ask for much more than a McLaren 1,2. Although, I would've preferred the order to be reversed, coz I still don't like Alonso.
Then I moved onto the cricket [well kinda watched that at the same time as the race]. I couldn't be happier with that either. I can't say that I watched the entire match closely, but we cruised to victory. Punter was awesome again and it's always nice to be the ones who basically put England out of the world cup. Also, it's about time we got back to where we belong on the international ODI rankings.
The reason I didn't watch the cricket so closely was because it was the final round of the US Masters last night/this morning also. There was no way I wasn't gonna be watching that with an Aussie [Stuart Appleby] being overnight leader. A Victorian I will add, and one of my favourite golfers. Unfortunately he didn't start well with a double-bogey at the first hole and then was doin' okay until the 12th when he teed off into the water. That sucked really badly.
So, the hoodoo continues with no Aussie having ever won at Augusta. So close, yet so far. Well done to Zach Johnson anyway. He was a relative nobody and then came out in the final round and smashed the course when pretty much everyone else seemed to be struggling.
I finally got around to writing something semi-substantial. I haven't done that for a while.
- Panda