The Three Amigos (l-r) Errol "Goolies" Gulden, Logan "Lofty" McDonald and Braeden "Campo" Campbell.
Well, there's a turn up
for the books. Way too gutless to outlay cash money at luxury odds
about the Swans on no form and dire pre-season predictions all
'round. The returns would've been better than GameStop and
should have put the house on The Red and The White. But, no.
Supercoach Horse raised some eyebrows but was vindicated in
showing faith in a trio of 18 years olds on the basis of if
you've got draft picks ready to go, then play them. Gulden,
McDonald, Logan go down in the record books as first gamers, and
all acquitted themselves nicely. Theory has it that about one in
four draft picks really makes it in the AFL, and go on to play
lengthy, perhaps stellar, careers - the rest can't hack it, get
sick of it (and who could blame them) or succumb to terminal niggles. A good case in point is
Callum "Saw" Mills (2015 draft and he of the really stoopid busted
leg fame that kept him out for all of 2018). He's been hanging around in the Swans backline for a
few years now, sharpening up the day for when he would be moved to
the midfield and really shine. Always rated the kid and now he's
got his chance with some years under the belt in the top flight.
It also bodes well that Isaac Heeney The Cardiff Zucchini (2014
draft) was Best on Ground for mine. The poor bloke has spent the
last couple of years being bashed from pillar to post by
opposition teams who've tagged him out the game more often than
not. Now he's got the room to move under the new rules, he's set
to be a wild boy breaking free. The
new "standing on the mark" rule is undoubtedly the most
advantageous for the young Swans in the new suite of regulations -
which at least compels the Bamfords to at
least give the new rule book a cursory read. As well as
stopping ay opposition hanky panky while take a set shot for
goal (such as well known players climbing up the big sticks like they
were coconut trees) it also encourages the play-on. If a
player is ordered by the Bamford to "stand" on the mark, then
he's trapped inside a one square metre box, so it's easier to
just run around him. That improves the "flow" of the game
which the PR Dept. is after, and adds to the goal tallies
which is always good for the ratings. A win-win-win situation.
All this could be an
aberration or a one-off, of course, but the Stats Guru has
been been whirring the beads on the abacus, and reckons the
Swans have a much better chance of avoiding the Wooden Spoon
again this year. And he's not even factored in the triumphant
return of The Great Lance Franklin this weekend, which should
cause no end of trouble for the team with the youngest roster in
the comp - the Pride of South Australia. There will be chagrin in the colonies. After being missing in
action for the entirety of the 2020 season, Buddy is now in the
8th year of his heavily back-loaded $10M nine year contract. And he
sure could use this weekend's appearance fee after some slim
pickings lately and given he has a brand spanking new mouth to feed.
BRISBANE: 3.3, 8.4, 10.7, 14.10 (94). Goals: Bailey 3, Daniher 2, McCarthy 2, Berry,
Coleman, Lyons, McCluggage, McInerney, Hipwood, Zorko.
SYDNEY: 2.4, 8.4, 17.6, 19.11 (125). Goals: Gulden 3, Heeney 3, McDonald 3, Mills 2,
Parker 2, Reid 2, Wicks 2, Blakey, Papley.
At Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba).
Crowd: 22,762.
Looks like the Mighty
Tiges honeymoon period lasted for all of ten minutes - and that
was last week. To get beat to thirty in the opening stanza is
one thing, but to get comprehensively toweled up to forty is
another. Oh dear. As My Spy at The Ground was moved to remark -
"painful to watch". They are going to need a lot more oomph in
the coming weeks to be at least competitive.
Super Coach Magoo will be pulling great tufts of hair out of his
bonce soon enough, and he's already half-bald with a prominent
'widow's peak'. It's a long time since he won a Premiership
with Souths back in '14, and just getting this year's Balmain
mob in the top eight for the first time in a decade will take a
superhuman effort. Sure it was pouring with rain and the ground
was underwater, but there the excuses end. It should have been a
low scoring grinding game, but became a try-fest with a
34-year-old
Eastern Suburbs winger with grey hair running in a hat-trick of
them. Balmain
has already been found out by the new "six again" rule being
ruthlessly enforced to effectively replace penalties for minor
infringements like offside in order to speed up the game at
the play the ball. That is difficult to handle if the opposition
are adept as 'milking' those six-agains.You spend the whole time
with forwards having to endlessly take on the opposition
battering ram, so
when they do eventually get the ball, it has all but died by the
time it reaches the backs and any attacking momentum is lost.
You simply can't coach against that. On current form, the Tigers
won't even come into the pundits previews as 'capable of a
surprise on a good day'. As it stands, they'll be flat out
avoiding
the tag as the league's whipping boys and that's no place to be
and certainly would be "painful to watch" over 25 rounds. Looks
like the poor suffering rusted on supporter has some more suffering to
do, as of 10 years wasn't enough, but as always, there's faith, hope
& charity to cling to.
WESTS TIGERS 6. Tries: Liddle. Goals: Doueihi. (1). SYDNEY ROOSTERS 40. Tries: B.Morris (3), Tedesco (2), Tupouniua,
Baker. Goals: Taukeiaho (4), Tedesco (2). At Campbelltown Sports Ground. Crowd: 6,102.
Balmain Tigers dejected as Eastern Suburbs pot yet another goal. Sunday 21 March, Campbelltown Sports Ground.
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