Watching two other teams

[redandblack]

Contributed by Forum member "redandblack"

It’s strange watching a game on TV after being there for your team every week, but I was looking forward to the Eagles and North clash. This season, I’d seen the Eagles as a steady side, plenty of talent, but not as fearsome as some recent teams they’d put on the park. On the other hand, they’d been strengthened by the inclusion of some good players from injury and the AFL, so their line-up looked pretty good.

I hadn’t been able to work North out. They had a powerful looking line-up on paper, but hadn’t seemed to gel. There were several young players, all with talent, several experienced players, including some who appeared to be struggling with injuries and a game plan that looked to be a work-in-progress.

Overall, it seemed to be a 50/50 game. It turned out to be just that and it was a ripper.

North fronted up without Damon White. Fully fit, he’s a serious player and the Roosters can play him at both ends of the ground, but he hasn’t looked fit for some time now to me. Matthew Wright was the other major out and his absence hurt a lot. He’s now an elite player, with a big engine.

That’s a cue to digress. There was a time a player was fit and could run a game out, but now he has a big engine. I like it, though, and you’ve got to move with the times. Big engine or not, Wright is a class act.

Last year, I also rated Daniel Stewart very highly. When you only see a team about every two months, it’s often hard to follow players’ form, so I was surprised to see him line up in the Reserves when West played them at Prospect earlier this year. Here he was playing in an Elimination Final and here he was dominating it. You could almost see the Port Adelaide hierarchy rushing for the Rookie Upgrade papers as Stewart’s long arms plucked another Sherrin from the sky.

The game ebbed and flowed. First North flowed, then they ebbed. Ditto the Eagles, so it came down to a basketball finish where the last 5 minutes decided the game. Before that, SANFL footy was on show and it was a good show.

There was also a lot to like about the Eagles. Again coached into the finals by Ron Fuller, whose reward for a premiership and constant finals appearances seemed to be regular criticism, their core experienced players kept them on track. A reborn Cicolella left early with an eye injury, but Jarrad, McKenzie and McGregor directed traffic and the younger players played their part. When they went forward, they always looked like they might score, with Salter finishing well and Grocke contributing.

It soon became apparent that the Eagles had some young talent to show the football public too. Who was that little No. 49 that kept getting the ball? Hang on, he’s just run away bouncing from a North player with style. Look at that pass. Look at that vision.

The kid can play.

Five minutes to go. Once again, time to digress.

I’ve been a big fan of the ABC TV coverage. Michael Maney, Neil Cross and their team put out a professional and interesting coverage. Their calls are pretty well spot on, but the producers need to understand one thing. Why do they think we want to miss parts of the game to again see something we’ve just seen, up to three or four times. Why?

Back to the game. The ball went from full-back to the wing, but I don’t know how it got there, I was watching a third replay.

Oh, the last five minutes. Really interesting, for a number of reasons. The Eagles had young Fairclough playing. He’d played in a League Premiership when he was about 13, but had struggled to cement a regular league spot since then. He played Reserves and was clearly better than that standard, but was perhaps running out of chances. He’d gone OK during the game, but with minutes to go he looked like a player who knew his turn to go for the team had come. He had a go, his team won the ball, his team goaled and his team won.

For North, James Allan and Rhys Archard also dominated in that last quarter. Allan will probably win the Medal and fair enough too. Young Cunningham had a huge job to do on Salter, did it well early, but ‘they don’t get any shorter as the game goes on”.

I enjoyed the game. Both sides have a fair bit to look forward to. Can North successfully play to Daniel Healey’s game plan? Can the Eagles rise just that little bit extra to take the next step?

All in all, a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Oh, the second game. I haven’t got space to write about it this time, so here’s a summary.

Sturt were very good and looked winners. With five minutes to go, Sturt had the game won.

Central won, of course.

[Mickyj]

Very well written Red and Black .
Number 49 will be one to watch in years to come .At 16 he is to young for the gold coast. But will get drafted high if the drooling mouths of Crows officials in weeks gone by is anything to go by.

And he proved that white men can bounce the ball from near the boundary line through the goal .