Rico’s Roughnecks (2045) vs In Gore WE Trust (1796)
Rico’s Roughnecks have done it again! For the second time in three weeks, they posted the second highest score in the league, a good hundred points clear of the third highest. Except this time, they won!
Off the back of ten tons (impressive!), and another five solid nineties, the Roughnecks played good team footy to post a comfortable win. Particularly impressive was the fact that Treloar, Parker and Goddard did not need to get hundreds and yet their teammates lifted (although if Adam Treloar went out and got a mark, I’m sure his coach would be happy).
That and Cameron Pederson coming off the waivers to register a 97 on debut. The selection team at the Roughnecks has been on fire of late and in a season where it’s hard to see who the second-best team is; this week highlighted the best of the purple hoops.
As for General Soreness, we know they struggle against good opposition, but a lot went right Obviously, Tom Rockliff (167) and Bradley Hill (159) were awesome, but Jarryd Roughead (107) returned to form. In addition, Ben McEvoy (124) has averaged 114 over the past month to be, right now, the best ruck on the team. On the what went wrong front, Goldstein’s contentedness to score merely 90s hurts. Injuries to Grant Birchall (19) and Mitch Robinson (23) really hurt. Moreover, a third loss for the season against a decent opponent hurts most of all.
I think the following table of cherry-picked scores highlights what really went down on the weekend:
|
Players who got their highest 2017 score |
Players who got their lowest 2017 score |
|
Chad Wingard – 132 (Roughnecks) |
Jeremy Howe – 55 (Soreness) |
|
Connor Blakely – 110 (Roughnecks) |
Jeremy McGovern – 45 (Soreness) |
|
Robert Murphy -100 (Roughnecks) |
Rory Sloane – 65 (Soreness) |
|
Lachlan Hunter – 131 (Roughnecks) |
David Zaharakis – 62 (Soreness) |
Defenestrators (2126) vs Stranger Danger (1843)
1843 is a good score. I always thought that 1850 was around par and that if you scored more than that, you’ve had a good week. Now, 2100s are normal. I remember seeing two 2100s all of last year. Now, there have been five of them in seven rounds, two of them provided by the Defenestrators.
The men in pink were incredible all weekend and made their opposition look a class below. They scored ten hundreds. Hurley and Shiel both scored 99 and Kreuzer scored 98. Woah!
One wonders how much better Paul would fare if he didn’t have a crow bias. Brodie Smith (43) and Tom Lynch (39) really stank. However, the results of the weekend did show us one thing – the Defenestrators are a whole lot more formidable than the crows. With another 7-0 start, only a North Melbourne style collapse ala 2016 could see Paul not finish in the top two.
Stranger Danger didn’t have a lot of joy, but it was nice of Jamie Elliott to score more than Josh Kennedy.
The Redshins (1617) vs The Bailout Plan (1664)
This game was an awful one to watch. Neither team deserved to win. Nevertheless, there had to be a winner and Luke came up trumps.
Only three hundreds for Luke and one ninety. This was not at all a dominant performance, but at least Brad Ebert is back to awesome form with a lowest score for the year of 96. That’s a high low. On the low-high side of things, Ebert’s 113 this week has to be the lowest high score for any individual match. In addition, The Bailout Plan’s 1664 is officially the lowest winning score in our league.
Luke’s forward line has major issues. With Robbie Gray tagged out of the game, they could only muster a 61 point average. Ugh! On the bright side, three of his emergencies scored nineties, including one Tom Boyd. The Bailout Plan might actually have won that Boyd for Rioli trade. Well done.
Say what you will about Chris’s score – putrid, low, embarrassing. But one thing you can’t question is his tigers strategy.
Bachar Houli (99)
Alex Rance (82)
Kamdyn McIntosh (59)
Dustin Martin (99)
Trent Cotchin (92)
Brandon Ellis (96)
Jack Riewoldt (91)
If anything, Chris needs more Richmond players because his tigers were not the ones to blame for this week’s score. For his sake, let’s hope that Tom Lynch isn’t the only one to get a hundred next week.
Champs16 (1785) vs Such is Fyfe (1777)
This was an epic game. The stakes were high. Nelson won and moved to outright second. Nathan lost and is now in the quagmire of 4-3 teams. The four points on offer were massive.
It came down to the Freo vs Essendon game. Nelson had three players and Nathan had seven players. Nelson had a lead of 337.
|
Champs16 |
Such is Fyfe |
|
Kelly 53 |
Sutcliffe 66 Sandi 77 |
|
Weller 67 |
Duncan 128 Leuenberger 67 |
|
McKenna 50 |
Mundy 71 Balic 41 |
|
|
Colyer 49 |
|
Total 170 |
Total 499 |
Besides Mitch Duncan, who has been All Australian good this year, the scores in that last game were pretty poor – an average of 61. However, it did give us a thrilling finish and no one wins tight thrillers better than Champs16.
MaherShalalHashBaz (1862) vs In Gore We Trust (1725)
It is nice to be back on the winner’s list, even if I did slip out of the top six. Nevertheless, a win is a win. Paddy Ryder and Ben Reid broke through for their first hundreds of the year. As for Alex, he’ll be happy that Jack Viney (145) and Lachie Neale (138) are back to a 2016 version of themselves. Most notably for me, this game was a reminder of my trade with Alex early in the year – the trade where he gave me Ryder and Heppell for some young kids. Check out how the traded ones went against their old club:
Paddy Ryder 131
Dyson Heppell 95
Sam Petrevski-Seton 93
Jarrod Witts 121
Blake Acres 108
It turns out those kids I discarded all have some serious game. Speaking of kids, we are expecting two debuts for Alex very very soon – all the best mate!
However, given our ladder positions, Alex is in a good position for his rebuild whereas I am precariously placed outside the top six with a list built for finals. I feel a lot like Hawthorn right about now, except without the premiership trophies in the cabinet.
Bring on next week against General Soreness. Loser will be 4-4 and at the back of the pack in the hunt for finals.