by Dogwatcher » Mon Apr 14, 2014 9:31 am
I enjoyed Saturday's game for obvious reasons. I picked the margin, just the wrong winner.
But, it was a strange feeling at the ground - which was nowhere as full and as vocal as usual for Centrals v Norwood game.
I saw car parks just outside of the ground and know of someone who was 10 minutes late and was able to park just outside the gates. In all of my time attending Doggies games, I've never ever seen that.
Was it the time slot? Was it the live-against-the gate factor? Was it low expectations on behalf of Dogs supporters? Was it the SANFL/AFL reserves debate?
And where were the usually strong contingent of Redlegs supporters?
Whatever it was, that was the most disappointing crowd I've seen at a Doggies game for a long time.
Great win by the Dogs. I got there late, just in time to see a Redleg carried off on the stretcher, so missed the bad parts from the Dogs' perspective.
Best win I've seen for several seasons now.
Loved the run of our blokes - fitness was talked up pre-season so it was good to see some of that coming to the fore.
The tackling and aggression was outstanding. We often had two to three taking on one player in the contests.
Nason played the best game I've seen him play for us, while the veterans (Goodrem, Thomas and Williams) led the way.
Barmby's bump on Flipper was right in front of where I was standing and looked fair to me in 'real time', I thought he might have hit his head on the ground. The contact looked shoulder to chest to me - a solid bump. But...I haven't seen a replay (and we know how different things look on replay).
Strangely, I heard mutterings and the occasional yell from Norwood supporters about Ian Callinan following that bump.
The last quarter was beautiful, gut running and we had Norwood well and truly on the ropes. I saw players with their heads down and hands on knees a handful of times in the final term. Not a good sign for the Legs.
And...I'll have to stand up a little for Brady Dawes. I think his intention was to shepherd the ball through but it didn't run end over end as it should and bounced up back towards him and hit him in the chest. The soccer kick only came after the ball hits his chest. If anything, he may have been guilty of getting too close to the ball in the shepherd - but it was an unpredictable bounce. Still, it was very funny and foreshadowed what was to come.
You're my only friend, and you don't even like me.