It's disappointing that our hard fought win has become obscured by a segment of the media's focus on one umpiring decision. It's also disappointing that Andrew Dillon was naive enough to add fuel to the fire by his unqualified acceptance that there was an umpiring error. He should have made it clear that field umpires make decisions in real time and don't have access to slo-mo replays and touched ball calls go either way in virtually every game. After all, the Freo players were claiming that the ball came off Aish's head rather than his shoulder.
Cripps was robbed of shot at goal when an out on the full free wasn't paid after Hughes toe-poked the ball in our forward pocket. Then there's Kemp copping a friendly fire kick in the face and not being sent off under the blood rule until after the Sonny Walters' free. As famous NBL referee Eddie Crouch said to me when I was fouled for a perfect shot block on Bruce Doull, "Swings and roundabouts!" So many decisions can go either way in a game of footy that it's pointless to focus on one incident.
It was an interesting game with Freo being a lot cleaner with their ball use and uncontested footy. While we seemed a little off, our defensive work was very good and we were able to shut them down and force kicks to contests. Freo did much the same to us.
While we were well down in the clearances, we often got the first touch but couldn't capitalise on it. When we did win the clearance, we made the most of it. Freo didn't get great value from their clearance work. Jackson has been the standout ruck in the opening rounds with exceptional Champion Data rankings and 18 AFLCA votes but Tom De Koning's all round game was too good for Jackson. An interesting stat; Jackson gained 27m, De Koning gained 325m.
Freo's tall forwards were a constant threat but Weitering's dominance and generalship gave our defenders an edge. McGovern was under a lot more pressure than usual and had a relatively quiet game. The other defenders all had very good games. Williams in particular is improving with each game and he'll be missed next week.
Harry was out of sorts and I thought the heavy knock he copped early in the game may have caused some damage. We missed his dominance in the air but Charley helped to make up for it.
Probably the determining factor was our game awareness. Freo's players were caught out by our surge and didn't respond until it was too late. Our blokes knew exactly what was required when it counted and they got the job done.
PS My shot block on Bruce Doull was in a geriatric competition long after we both should have given the game away
Cripps was robbed of shot at goal when an out on the full free wasn't paid after Hughes toe-poked the ball in our forward pocket. Then there's Kemp copping a friendly fire kick in the face and not being sent off under the blood rule until after the Sonny Walters' free. As famous NBL referee Eddie Crouch said to me when I was fouled for a perfect shot block on Bruce Doull, "Swings and roundabouts!" So many decisions can go either way in a game of footy that it's pointless to focus on one incident.
It was an interesting game with Freo being a lot cleaner with their ball use and uncontested footy. While we seemed a little off, our defensive work was very good and we were able to shut them down and force kicks to contests. Freo did much the same to us.
While we were well down in the clearances, we often got the first touch but couldn't capitalise on it. When we did win the clearance, we made the most of it. Freo didn't get great value from their clearance work. Jackson has been the standout ruck in the opening rounds with exceptional Champion Data rankings and 18 AFLCA votes but Tom De Koning's all round game was too good for Jackson. An interesting stat; Jackson gained 27m, De Koning gained 325m.
Freo's tall forwards were a constant threat but Weitering's dominance and generalship gave our defenders an edge. McGovern was under a lot more pressure than usual and had a relatively quiet game. The other defenders all had very good games. Williams in particular is improving with each game and he'll be missed next week.
Harry was out of sorts and I thought the heavy knock he copped early in the game may have caused some damage. We missed his dominance in the air but Charley helped to make up for it.
Probably the determining factor was our game awareness. Freo's players were caught out by our surge and didn't respond until it was too late. Our blokes knew exactly what was required when it counted and they got the job done.
PS My shot block on Bruce Doull was in a geriatric competition long after we both should have given the game away
“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?” Oddball