Well, I went to Melbourne over the weekend bright-eyed at the prospect of an exciting shootout between the mighty Freo and the enthusiastic young Saints. What I got instead was one of the worst games of football I have ever seen, with a troubling result that poses questions to our reshaping list.
It wasn't really the umpires' fault, you know. For every sequence of bewildering and frustrating decisions paid to St Kilda in their forward 50, there were indeed huge sequences of Freo frees that we simply failed to capitalise on (please practice your set shot kicking more, big fella!). Nor was it the injuries to McPharlin and Johnson, both of whom showed enormous grit and determination to return - or try to.
No, it was straight back to the core problem that has beset the Fremantle Dockers ever since the other 15 teams formulated their plans for combating our 2006 game plan. We simply cannot beat flooding, and our foot skills desert us under the slightest doubt or pressure. Given that the Saints were obviously battling by the last 15 minutes, it was a game we really should have pinched. Unfortunately we waited for far too long in the vain hope that a perfect opportunity would present itself, and then bombed to a very crowded goal square hoping Pav would take the mark of the century.
Telstra Dome can present problems for us, and it certainly did on Friday night. Half forward doesn't really exist there - meaning that Ryley Dunn was shut out from his effective link man role from last week and there was no space for the forwards to lead into. What ultimately proved the difference were the two running goals from Jason Gram outside 50. Where was the Freo equivalent? You can't tell me Brett Peake, David Mundy, Ryan Crowley and Garrick Ibbotson can't make the distance accurately - and yet these players simply refused to generate the movement necessary to take the shot. Very frustrating.
Even the post-match function seemed a little odd, as though the tiring scrap had got to everybody. Whilst it was fun seeing the Sirens, Victorian crew and WA blow-ins like myself commiserating as one purple army, there seemed to be little concrete organisation...Rhys Palmer was one of the first players to get there, and instead of being ushered to the appropriate autograph table swiftly, he was allowed to be mobbed by Freo faithful desperate to meet the great blonde hope and was in fact one of the last to reach said area. To his credit, though, he was one of the last to leave - and that was pleasing, at least.
Of course, the other point to be made was that games like that give credence to the "Pavlich is the team" mantra chanted by the enlightened. He isn't, we know that - but unfortunately the others didn't produce much evidence for the defence this time! To watch Pav in action this season at the height of his powers has been a privilege I will always treasure...let's hope that another marquee player develops in the next few years to thrill and excite us for the 2010s!
So, onwards. Essendon have the team capable of causing us trouble in the wide open space of Subiaco Oval, and I'm not taking this next game lightly. All I can hope is that the team revel in the increased space utilisation of their home ground and I really do get that high-quality shootout after all.