Disco’s Weekly
Round 10
In this edition we look at how the AFL has really stuffed up fixturing, with lowly ranked teams getting stand-alone primetime spots, while ignoring matchups which have real finals significance and/or games which have generated high public interest.
Leading on from the early rant, we will naturally segue to the hype surrounding Scott Pendlebury’s record-breaking game on the weekend, whilst at the other end of the scale, mention will be made of some the very talented kids coming through, as well as a look at the Dogs and Giants, and of course, we finish it all off with the fight for the Mirrorball Keyring, the only award dedicated to the ageing veterans of our great game.
Round 11 Fixture – What were they smoking?
Uncle Blind Freddie could have made a better go of fixturing Round 11 than the AFL think-tank.
Even in a totally dystopic-altered universe, there would have been no way known Richmond, Essendon, Port Adelaide and/or Carlton deserved to be given primetime fixturing, as there was nothing in the preseason to even suggest these teams would be nothing more than cannon fodder for the teams aspiring for some glory this year.
Are the AFL trying their darndest to give a free kick to that ignoble NRL spruiker, PV?
What were they thinking, and more importantly, what were they smoking?
Let’s start with the Dockers. No matter how good they are travelling, the AFL is reluctant to give them a standalone primetime billing spot. Yes, they are playing on Friday against a rejuvenated Saints outfit, in game that has implications for both teams, so who at the AFL diluted this match by having the seventeenth and eighteenth teams play each other at the same time?
No offence to either Richmond or Essendon, but the majority of the neutral supporters don’t give, in the eloquent words of Malcolm Blight, a rats toss bag about your matchup. Gotta love Blighty’s distinct elocution skills.
The AFL continues to be reluctant about featuring the Dockers in a primetime standalone clash, which is an absolute insult to the Wharfie Time, Purple Haze, Flagmantle, Flogmantle, Fremantle Dockers.
On Saturday afternoon at 4:15pm at GMHBA Stadium first plays third in a clash of the titans, while 20 minutes later Scott Pendlebury will run out onto the ground as he breaks the all-time record of games played when the Pies host the erratic Eagles at the MCG. As soon as both the twilight/afternoon games finish, the AFL then dishes up Port Adelaide versus Carlton as a standalone primetime Saturday night.
Rotten Tomatoes has already given the massive Power v Calton game a five rotten tomatoes out of five score, stating, “on paper, and in general, this game is a real stinker, and who in their right minds, when the fixture was being drafted, thought hey, let’s make Power and Blues primetime…”
Also, on The Mongrel Punt’s game review roster, as at the time of writing, no one has volunteered to review the Power and Blues clash, which is unusual. Literally, nobody other than the diehard fans of each club, has any interest in this game.
The AFL knew four weeks ago both the Power and the Blues were on the nose this year, and that the Cats and the Swans were in rarified form, and more importantly, Scott Pendlebury gave the AFL sufficient notice he would be breaking the games record this Saturday.
Given the AFL knew in advance about the log jam with the two twilight games, they have failed to be flexible enough to just shuffle the games around a bit to create enough separation between the two stand out games.
I am going to be harsh; the AFL has been derelict in their duty by not promoting all that is good about this game, especially at the high end of the ladder. Fremantle are again buried by a match that should have never been given Friday status, while the Cats, Swans and the Pies are entitled to be aggrieved with the AFL’s lack of flexibility to promote the best of our great game.
Scott Pendlebury
Just in case you haven’t heard, Scott Pendlebury will break Boomer Harvey’s all-time games played record at the MCG this Saturday, against an Eagles team which has suddenly found a smidge of form.
There are critics and sceptics out there who have accused Collingwood of orchestrating Pendles’ record breaking game so it is played at the MCG and against a team who the Pies should easily account for, and while they are probably correct, I prefer to ignore the politics and concentrate on the player who first debuted in Round 10 2006.
Pendles deserves his time in the sun. Or in this case, unde rthe bright lights of the MCG in front of a packed house.
Just backtracking half a metre, the Pies aren’t exactly flying at the moment, and while they should account for the Eagles, they better not take them for granted as West Coast have already shown this season, they can cause an upset or three.
Back to Pendles with the golden number 10 on his back.
Pendlebury is a two-time Premiership player, a six-time member of the All-Australian team, a winner of five Copeland Trophies, and a former Captain of the Pies.
By any measurement Scott Pendlebury is not only a walk up start for Hall of Fame honours when he final retires, he is also a lock to be inducted to Legendary status some time thereafter.
Pendlebury is the AFL’s version of Keith Richards, well apart from the sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, in that he never seems to age, and his capacity to keep on playing baffles us mere mortals.
While the AFL and the media have possibly gone overboard with everything Scott Pendlebury this week (and for the past month), his record certainly transcends the game, and it may just stand the test of time eternal.
As the accolades continue to pour in for Scott, let’s have Squizzy Taylor at some the more bizarre platitudes recognising the efforts of Mr 433 games;
Boomer Harvey, “Well done Scott for equalling my record, but it is with a sad heart I hand the mantle over to you as the numero uno. It wasn’t that long ago I was told nobody would ever break my record, but alas, here we are… well done”,
The Greater City of Geelong, “Well played Scott, but could you have at least once travelled down the highway to play at out beautiful stadium? Enclosed is a free train ticket to Geelong..”
Tourism Tasmania, “Hi Scott, we don’t really know you as we haven’t had the chance to make your acquaintance, and you don’t seem to know us, which is a shame, but we understand you are contractually bound to the mainland. We have heard the stories about your mythical status in the game, and while it would have been great to show you everything that is great about the apple isle, we still say congratulations. Also, we enclose a free ticket for the Spirit of Tasmania, just in case you want to check us out one day soon..”
The Dalai Lama, “Scott, your deeds of letting your actions speak louder than mere words ever could have reached the lower slopes of the Himalayans and touched me. I would personally like to extend my acknowledgements to you on your humility and great success. Also, enclosed is a free ticket to Dharamshala in Northern India, as it would be a pleasure to have a cup of tea with you and discuss the meaning of football..”
Donald J Trump. “Hi Scotty, I have heard great things about being you, great big beautiful things, a bit like my great big beautiful Ballroom and also I have been told you have an incredible IQ, not as good as mine though as I get tested every second week, and the first question is always so easy, about a hippo, an elephant, a shark and seal and not many people get that right.. anyway, well done Steele.”
Keith Richards, “I hear you are still going strong Pendles even though you are well past the retirement age. Keep em’ guessing about when you’ll retire and then don’t retire at all Legend. We will outrun and outlive them all,,”
All the buzz and hoopla about Pendles will be over come 7:00pm on Saturday night, and by the time we all go to bed on Saturday night, the media buffoons will have found another story to set the agenda for next weeks hysteria. (I would so like to give a history lesson on the meaning of hysteria and how it was treated by the French in the late 1700’s, but I fear the Punt’s account would be locked out for a 30-day period if I did.)
Chapeau Scott Pendlebury, you’ve had one hell of a career.
From the Anointed Legend to the Legends in Waiting
All hail King Scott, long live the King!
Anybody who has ever read Shakespeare would be aware that as soon one is anointed as the King, the underlings will be coming directly for him, and in a nice piece of symmetry over the weekend, the two Reid’s from Western Australia came of age, with mouth watering performances to not only show how good they will be a year or two, but also how good they are right now.
While Murphy Reid is a year behind Harley Reid in terms of age and games played, he plays with the maturity of a player in their mid 20’s with at least 100 games under his belt, whereas Harley Reid is more in the Ben Cousins or Dusty Martin mould of being an excitement machine who can change a game in ten minutes.
Both Reids stood out on the weekend and gave their salivating fans a real glimpse into not only the future, but the right here and now.
Willem Duursma, another West Coast number one draft pick, is categorically going to be a star in the mould of Chris Judd. I am yet to see him have a bad game, even when the Eagles are getting belted, he still busts a gut, which is impressive. Duursma is already being seen as a leader within his team’s setup, and it would be fair to say he is the captain in waiting once Elliot Yeo hangs up his boots.
Imagine this scenario for a moment, Harley and Willem leading the Eagles in years to come reminiscent of how Cousins and Judd once dominated the footballing landscape.
Carlton unleashed a kid on the weekend called Jack Ison, and while I would not dare to even suggest after one game, he is going to be a champion, however, he is like many other players who on debut who show they are made of the right stuff.
Purely being made of the right stuff is no guarantee to success, but it is a good starting point if the kid is willing to do what it takes to be an AFL star.
It will be interesting to see where Ison and players like him are in a few seasons time.
Western Bulldogs and Greater Western Sydney
Far too many times just as I am ready to wax lyrical about the Doggies they fall back into the mire of mediocrity, breaking the hearts of their loyal and passionate fanbase in the process. As a neutral observer it must frustrating to try and follow the Dogs with any great certainty from one week to the next, so I can only imagine the emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows their faithful go through each week.
I accept there has been some major injuries outs for the boys from the kennel, but during a course of a season most clubs will deal with injuries and it is a test the depth of their list.
Sadly, on exposed form the Dogs list doesn’t run very deep at all, and their cause isn’t helped by the club’s unhealthy co-dependency reliance on Marcus Bontempelli. If the Bont even has an okay game, the rest of the team fold like a house of cards.
Over the course of the weekend, we at the Punt have our own little chat group whereby we discuss games as they occur and at times questions arise which spark great debate.
The major question asked over the weekend was about why the Giants haven’t had greater success with their star-studded team?
It is a damn good question, and while it might be easy to quote the old maxim, they are a team of champion players, but they are not champion team, it is not the only reason the Giants are still only considered as an off-Broadway team.
Trying to find relevancy in the middle of the NRL’s heartland is a continuous battle for the club which should not be underestimated, especially when you couple this with playing before very poor crowds. Hawthorn and Melbourne pulled a crowd of 62,000 over the weekend, and it must damage the Giants players’ egos that the best they can hope for at Homebush is 12 to 15,000 diehards and the opposing teams cheer squad.
For the past couple of years, the Giants have soldiered on manfully making the finals, with some success, however, even when they are up and about it appears they still don’t attract more supporters.
Watching the Giants against the Eagles yesterday, it looked obvious after the second quarter Harley Reid blitz they were going to get beat. I am not suggesting they didn’t try, rather they looked spent when the Eagles challenged and apart from a good ten minutes in the third quarter, there was nothing left in the tank.
While the Giants seem be in for an ordinary season, they still must fight the same fights for relevancy as they did when they were winning, and it must wear the players down.
Certain clubs cannot afford the luxury of totally bottoming out, and the Giants are one club which needs to keep winning just for their very survival.
Sydney fans are very fickle, and they will only jump onboard when a team is playing in the upper echelons of the competitions, and then depart faster than rats on the Titanic when things turn sour.
Disco’s Over 30’s Casey’s Nightclub Award
This award is for the players proving there is life after 30 in the AFL and it is theoretically sponsored by the once legendary nightclub located in the Glenferrie Station arcade, Caseys Over 30’s Nightclub. On any given Wednesday or Saturday night the more mature singles of Melbourne would pack the joint to the rafters. The smell of cheap aftershave was truly overbearing.
There are many players in the AFL thirty years of age or older performing gallantly and as such The Mongrel Punt have introduced this award specifically for the elderly citizens of the competition who will be competing for The Mirror Ball Keyring.
Similar in style to the Coaches Votes, the voting system for this cherished award is the top ten elderly citizens of each round will be ranked with ten being the maximum and one being the minimum.
Votes for Round 10
10 Jack Macrae (St K)
9 Tim Kelly (WC)
8 Patrick Cripps (Carl)
7 Tom Stewart (Gee)
6 Jack Sinclair (St K)
5 Brodie Grundy (Syd)
4 Elliott Yeo (WC)
3 Max Gawn (Melb)
2 Jack Steele (Melb)
1 Tom Atkins (Geel)
Leader Board
35 Brodie Grundy (Syd)
24 Jack Gunston (Haw)
20 Lachie Neale (Bris)
17 Luke Parker (NM)
16 Zach Merrett (Ess)
15 Jack Steele (Melb) Marcus Bontempelli (WB) Max Gawn (Melb)
14 Scott Pendlebury (Coll) Jack Sinclair (St K)
11 Jarman Impey (Haw)
10 Jeremy Cameron (Gee) Christian Petracca (GC) Lachie Whitfield (GWS) Jack Macrae (St K)
9 Toby Greene (GWS) Taylor Walker (Ade) Luke Ryan (Freo) Dayne Zorko (Bris) Tim Kelly (WC)
8 Bradley Hill (St K) Patrick Cripps (Carl)
7 Jack Cripps (Coll) Ollie Wines (PA) Ryan Lester (Bris) Tom Stewart (Gee)
6 Alex Pearce (Freo) Brayden Maynard (Coll)
5 James Sicily (Haw) Callum Wilkie (St K) Tom Aitkins (Gee)
4 Jake Melksham (Melb) Alex Neal-Bullen (Ade) Elliott Yoe (WC)
3 Jake Lloyd (Syd)
1 Nic Newman (Car)
In previous weeks votes had been given to Harris Andrews, however he does not turn 30 till December, and the same applies to Peter Wright who doesn’t turn 30 until September.
Fin
Have a great week and may your team win.
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