When you watch some games of footy, there are points in some contests where it seems to hit a bit of a lull. Sometimes it is just after halftime, as both sides reacquaint themselves with what’s going on and other games see it occur for five minutes here and there when the teams arrive at a bit of a stalemate.
This game felt like it was in a lull for most of the afternoon.
We can perhaps put this down to two teams with nothing really to gain from the result.
Port were playing to finish in the top four, with no way of dipping out. The result in this game was either going to see them face Brisbane at the Gabba, or the Pies at the MCG – both huge asks and neither all that enviable. In contrast, the Tigers had no reason to win, with a victory potentially bumping them up a few spots on the ladder and impacting their draft hand…
… lol, just kidding. It’s GWS’ draft hand, as Richmond traded away this year’s first-rounder to get their hands on Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper.
Anyway, what it meant was that we had a game that was close, yet it felt nowhere near as urgent as a contest between these teams should. There remained moments of intensity, but for the most part, we had two teams looking at very different scenarios. Port wanted to get to the line without incurring an injury – Tick! And the Tigers wanted to both get time into kids (Tick!) and try a couple of different things when and where they got the opportunity (Half Tick!).
Here’s what occurred.
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