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obviously with Mike & Dan leaving the site's all but folded and no one's put of the Ghost this week - so here tis.
Tis the season.
And so we ended with a whimper not a bang, a glimmer not the fact, but for some moments there we almost showed them. In the end we ran out of steam but the experience will burn deep over the summer months, will drive the club to push harder, to reach higher.
So rather than dwell on what almost was I thought I 'd do a little flashback on what has stuck in the mire of this little mind of mine.
1: The Bluebaggers are back in the big time. Yes we lost but we played finals and this is just the beginning. More experience, more depth, more miles in the legs and we'll get better and better. The stand out for the club, for mine, was AJ, the rookie who took on some of the biggest roles and never let the team down, not once. Sure Rich is rich but AJ is ours. Kudos too, to JR who copped more flak than a platoon in a Hollywood war movie and yet by the end was in our best week after week. A real dasher is JR. Add Robbo and Yarran and others we haven't even seen yet and the side is developing. I cannot wait to see Warnock, Waite and Jammo back as well. They give us flexibility.
2: The hypocrisy that is Hawthorn. An amazing effort from the poo and wee stripes – Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover have nothing on this little club. If there was a grassy knoll this club would be its lawn mowing man. It loves to blame all and sundry while never looking to its own backyard. Clarkson is the angry little man and Brown, well I'd like to push a few pressure points on his jaw to stop his whining.
3: The Richmond Football Club. Can this sad little club ever resurrect itself? It's a bit like the sad big cat in the old barred cage at the zoo. It paces back and forth, back and forth, always looking out at the passers-by who play finals, fall below and rise up to play finals again. The Tigers really should be called the Tiggers. The bounce and they bounce all summer yet fall flat as soon as the real stuff starts. They should cop weeks for the yearly gouging of the hearts of their own supporters.
4: Essendon*'s catwalk year. Or more importantly, how good was it to see them get smashed in that final. I loved every minute of it. The Bummers have become the Press's sweethearts and if this is how it ends then I hope the Press cherish them for years to come.
5: The Rules committee, the Rules interpretations. I am sick and tired of the changes, the interpretations and then the watering down that happens about midyear as the AFL and its cronies realise they have got it wrong – again. What we want, all of us, is a strong contest between clubs and between players and we want to see the best play at their best – both forwards and backs. We want the bloke going for the ball, making the play, to be rewarded and we want the umps to be as invisible as possible as they umpire the game. The AFL, sadly, has other ideas.
6: The Tank that does not exist. Evolution shows that we and apes came from the same stock. In the far off past the first midfielders were chimps, the backmen were gorillas and the people running show, just like now, came from a different kettle of fish. They were ostriches burying their bewildered heads in the sand while denying the existence of anything untoward. The tank is alive and well and so is the incessant denial that it is so. Well done Melbourne, the camouflage worked a treat.
7: When is a bump not a bump – or big men may not get any smaller as the game goes on but small men's heads don't get any higher either. Maybe the rule should be - only like can bump like. Ruckmen bump ruckmen, midfielders bump midfielders and so on. It might be bizzare but it couldn't be any more confusing.
8: The Collingwood Football Club. Hands up all those barracking for the Crows tonight. Out in straight sets, oh please let it be so. I love my wife and so, for her sake, I cannot speak these things out loud (luckily she never reads what I write, probably never listens to what I say either, but that's another story). It is right and fitting to hate the Pies; it is part of being a Carlton supporter. Go Crows!
9: Iceman Wallace and his band of merry downhill skiers. Some things uttered by some people,regardless of there truth or not, are just a but rich given their history. The thing I'd like to ask Terry is - if you are such an insightful gent in spotting a flaw in our midfield why did you perpetuate through recruiting and coaching the biggest bunch of downhill skiers the winter Olympics have ever seen? Your aversion to a footballer who goes in hard is almost as big as your aversion to pale skin, Sadly, I recognise that the media will lap up that 'fingernails on blackboard' voice of yours and we'll be forced to hear again and again what you would do – not that you ever did mind, just that you would, given another go.
10: Brett Ratten. Brett has copped a lot of criticism. Even I, though not as loudly as my brother, have been known to bemoan the coach when things go awry during a game. That said I just wanted to make the point that Brett said he'd have us playing finals again. We did. Brett has brought pride back to the club. It feels like Carlton again. I'd like to congratulate him for the year he has had, wish him all the best for the summer break he deserves and look forward to seeing his and his side's development in 2010.
Rest up well players and staff – thanks for the year that was and come back roaring and hungry.
Go Blues!
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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!
Last edited by dannyboy on Fri Sep 11, 2009 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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