Rico’s Roughnecks (1974) vs Defenestrators (2104))
There was a lot at stake for both clubs. The Roughnecks had hit a purple patch, winning two straight. The Defenestrators have been a purple patch since February. It was a seesawing contest and seemed to be very close most of the way. Unfortunately, for Adam, in the week he would have beaten anyone else by a hundred plus, he faced Paul.
Paul has a strong team, but the coaching has impressed me. Paul dropped the highly rated Prestia and played the consistent hard man Cunnington instead. The move paid dividends with Cunnington posting 91 and Prestia 55. He also elected to play Nankervis over Campbell and that, too, was a move that paid dividends with Nankervis obliterating whatever ruckman/ wannabe-ruckman was put before him. Good selections mean good football and it’s part of the reason the Defenestrators are flag favourites.
But let’s be honest – it’s a really good team. If I were Paul, I would be giving Kade Kolodjashnij a bake. KK scored 57 but if you ignore that, the next lowest was Josh Kennedy’s 70. Wowee! This team is going places and I do not mean the ski slopes in August.
The only downside to the weekend for Paul was the fact that Nankervis was denied the three votes from a greedy pig named Adam Treloar who stole them at the last moment. That and the fact that Rico’s Roughnecks had the Crouch that scored more…by 1 point.
In Gore WE Trust (1738) vs Redshins (1745)
Somebody had to win! In the battle of the bottom-dwellers, we saw some strange things. We saw
- No one for Alex score less than 50 – seriously!
- There were four centurions in Alex’s team, two of whom came in a trade with Paul
- Chris’s defence average an impressive 87.7 points
- Jack Riewoldt kick six goals on his way to…84 points
But what made this game interesting to watch was the close finish. It came down to the ANZAC day match. The Redshins were done and dusted with a lead of 174. Alex had two players – Crisp and Ramsay – who needed to average 87 each. Crisp played a blinder for 113, but Ramsay could only manage 54, giving the Redshins a seven point win, their first of the year. In Gore WE Trust is still looking for their first win in the rebuild era, but be careful – it could happen against you! Then again, Chris is victorious this week with the second-lowest score in the league.
Stranger Danger (1866) vs Champs16 (1761)
Two teams on 3-1 faced the music. In theory, it should have been a good game. However, with three other matches decided by twenty points and a points blitzkrieg in the Adam-Paul matchup, this game came last in the ratings for the weekend.
Champs16 put in their first poor performance of the year. Only four people cracked the ton and others like Kennedy, Yeo and Petracca were well below par (that’s the bad one right? Below par? I’m pretty sure it is, even though in golf you want to be below par). Matera, who was banging the door down in the twos, really struggled with only 55 on the big stage.
I mentioned last week how at least one Swallow seems to do well. In bad news for Stranger Danger, they both stunk and have now been dropped. Oops.
The Bailout Plan (1854) vs General Soreness (1872)
Ebert (147). Broadbent (110). Gray (125). These are the names you want in your team in the week where Port Adelaide play Carlton. After Friday night, my Dad was complaining more than a cricket fan with Shane Watson in the team. His mighty man Marc Murphy merely managed 97 and Luke’s impressive Power players were raking in the stats.
Saturday saw Rory Sloane score 132 and Tom Rockliff score 124. Dad was complaining less, but as not having the comfortable weekend he envisaged.
Luke had a good many more good performances, but enough bad ones to have Dad as heavy favourite entering the Collingwood-Essendon game. Dad and I watched this game together.
So overall, Luke had no players left and Dad needed an average of 80ish from his three players to win. We all thought Dad would win comfortably. In the first half, Howe played well, but Zaharakis and Hoskin-Elliott were putting in stinkers. At half time, General Soreness were on track to lose if his three players scored the same as the first half.
At three quarter time, Dad was down by about 70. Zaharakis and Hoskin-Elliott had about two possessions between them in the third. Given his players had stunk it up so far, he had good reason to doubt. He kept saying to me “I should have won this. I should have won this. Is Zaharakis even on the field?”
Then came the last term. Howe was marking everything. Hoskin-Elliott actually got the ball. In addition, Zaharakis kept getting cheap kicks and marks in the backline. They scored ninety points in the quarter. General Soreness had the win with two minutes on the clock and then each of his players got a possession in the last minute just to make sure of it. Thrilling win from General Soreness that catapults them up the ladder.
MaherShalalHashBaz (1790) vs Such is “Fyfe” (1806)
I was so far in front in this game. So far in front. I was enjoying my Dayne-combo so much. Beams and Zorko starring with 126 and 157 respectively. On Saturday night, I had a player in hand AND I lead by more than 100. Assistant Coach Stephen Bradbury was not very helpful in this game, as he had no idea what to do when our team was way out in front.
Nathan needed to do something special to in. And so he did. Joel Selwood scored 175. I watched that game and Selwood’s performance not only lifted Geelong over St Kilda, it lifted Such is ‘Fyfe’ to a position of victory when they were looking at being flogged.
I was still a chance, even when Spencer went down with an injury, and I just needed multiple good performances from my four bombers on the Tuesday. I only got one good performance from Zach Merrett and thus came up short. To rub salt in the wound, even Zach Merrett’s awesomeness doesn’t seem to be noticed right now. He has scored 134 and 137 in the last two weeks and only got the one vote in both games.
So after being on a high for much of the weekend, I came crashing down. Nevertheless, I have to take my beating like a man and try to improve my coaching.
In a fit of rage, I have now dropped Mark LeCras and Brent Stanton from the team as they scored less than 50. I am sending a message to the whole squad. Oh, and instead of training this week, we have just been watching Braveheart to try to inspire these young men.