What are the rules of playing wet weather footy?
Bodyline the footy.
Take distance and lock it in.
Don’t over-possess the footy.
They’d the three I’d base a strategy on when fronting up to play in conditions that make skills secondary to desperation. And GWS did all three of those things for the entire game. Melbourne… well, they did them most of the time and at other points, they tried to be just a little bit fancy.
But you don’t win wet weather footy by being fancy. You win with guts. You win with determination. And you win by not piss-farting around with the footy. The more you chip it sideways and backwards in the wet, the more likely you are to double-grab, invite pressure, and turn the footy over.
And that is exactly what happened to the Dees, who did get a little fancy here and there, and paid dearly for it.
Don’t get me wrong – there were some of the hardest players on the ground wearing red and blue – Jack Viney was incredibly good in every contest he was involved in, and Christian Petracca tried his guts out, but in the end, the team that went direct the most despite obstacles in their way, won the day.
And after being crucified by the umpires in the first half, I felt it was kind of fitting.
Anyway, plenty to get through in this one – let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Loves and Hates.
Oh, what the hell? A Mongrel paywall? Yep, I believe my work is worth twenty cents per day. If you don’t, that’s fine. Don’t complain, though. Sometimes, I open these reviews up after 24 hours or so. Sometimes, I don’t. There is no favouritism… I just don’t. Want to join us and access the members’ game reviews, as well as columns like the Wingman of the Year, Recruit of the Year, and other nonsensical stuff HB comes up with each week?
