If I said this was a strange game, would it be inaccurate?
I mean, it felt strange – as though I was watching a game that neither deserved to win, yet somehow, neither deserved to lose. It was a game that felt over, but it wasn’t. It felt like it was being played in 35 degree heat, but it wasn’t.
We’re going to hear a lot about “expected scores” over the next 24 hours, as coaches, analysts, and bozos on the internet wax lyrical about how Melbourne should have won.
Yes, yes… we all get. You kick the goals you’re supposed to whilst having more scoring shots, you’re probably going to win. And when you miss some of those shots, you lose.
It’s not a new thing, despite how you dress it up. It’s a “bad kicking is bad football” mantra repackaged with a fancy name. It’s what could have happened, perhaps should have happened… but didn’t. Losing teams latch onto it.
The thing I don’t get is that one miss, one thing going wrong, and the complexion of a game can change. One goal switched to a point means that the ensuing shots don’t occur. The game doesn’t play out the same way.
Anyway… I’ll stop yelling at a cloud and get on with it.
The Saints deserve credit, here. I doubt they’ll get it, because everyone will be caught up with the “bad kicking is…” narrative, but they punished the Dees several times on the rebound, going coast to coast with precision to turn what worked for Melbourne last weekend into the thing that brought them undone this week. And that was some pretty astute coaching from Ross Lyon, for the record.
What do I mean by that?
Well, I’m happy to tell you, but I’ll do it in the review from this one.
Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Good, Bad, and Ugly from the St Kilda win in Alice Springs.
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