redandblack wrote:The footy gods don't like bottom teams.
West lost because they don't quite know how to win and because they can't kick a goal from 25 metres out, straight in front.
Glenelg had Ty Allen, Ben Kane and Panozzo to thank for staying in the game and can thank Duldig's second half. After dominating with the breeze for the first 20 minutes, the Bays were out of the game until the third quarter. West clicked and used the ball impressively to kick 7 goals in the second quarter, with some great play from Caruso and Davenport in paerticular.
The other problem with being a bottom team is that you get no credit for good footy. Opposition supporters, such as my friend Pseudo, immediately put it down to poor play from their own team, with never any credit to the Bloods good play. In the second quarter, they ran and carried impressively for their best quarter for some time.
Easy misses in the third quarter kept the Bays in the game and their superior experience and knowing how to win got them the points. Good teams don't lose from the position that West were in, but at this stage, West aren't a good team. Yet.
The footy gods don't like bottom teams and the umpires certainly don't. As the RPH call underlined, 5 of Glenelg's 12 goals came from free kicks, most by the same umpire who seemed to camp in Glenelg's forward line all day. Needless to say, the winning goal came from a free kick. At the other end, 'open and shut cases' were generally called 'play on', as West scored 0 goals from free kicks. Put one win down to the Snouts.
Regardless of that, the Bloods had only themselves to blame for the loss. Poor kicking and decision-making at vital times were crucial and Glenelg were kept in with a sniff when West should have closed it out. They were good enough to lift and deserved the win.
As for West, plenty of good signs. Ferguson up forward kicked 3 goals and gave a contest all day, Caruso was brilliant at times and was B.O.G at the club, Moran was terrific in the ruck and around the ground and Davenport showed why he was drafted by Port. Ben Fisher was also strong at half-back.
Oh well, the lot of a Blood's supporter continues, but apart from the Sturt game, the improvement has been immense.
In some good news for the Bloods, Sal Hassan made a successful comeback in the winning Reserves side and Daniel Webb was also excellent in his first match back from injury.
there are so many holes in this post i dont know where to start
1- west werent the only team who missed easy goals - glenelg also missed their fair share with c.kane, mcconnell, o'grady and duldig also missing easy enough shots
2- should throw meyer into the good glenelg players for four quarters
3- the breeze was going to the southern end most of the day and when it wasnt it was going accross the ground
4- of wests so called impressive play for 7 goals at least 4 of them came direct from a glenelg player kicking straight to a west player in the defensive 50 - that isnt good play by west it is rubbish by glenelg
5- i dont hav ethe stats for how many goals were from frees but i cant think of any that were unwarranted, and obviously the mauling that kirkby was receiving all day without reward from the umpires has escaped your notice.
6- free kicks were 25-22 which is very even
7- west were very inefficient in their play with their 324 possesions only yielding 35 inside 50s, excessive handball for most of the day, glenelg had 332 possessions for 54 inside 50s
8- agree that caruso and moran were very good - a lot of davenports possessions were part of west junk play early in the game and he only had 1 kick in the 2nd half
Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 5:30 pm
