DAVE: Welcome back boys to another big week in sport, we’ve got the Ashes to talk about, the Matildas, and our usual LTS topic as well. We’ve delayed some things a bit this week, to fit the big Monday night sports in…
MARCUS: What…so you haven’t delayed it for my five-a-side soccer (Monday) tonight?
DAVE: Not quite mate, when I said soccer earlier I was talking about the women’s World Cup.
MARCUS: Yeah, well forget about Sam Kerr, because my calf’s a bit sore as well.
JONTY: Geez, a third big sports star with sore calves in Australia. (Dave and Marcus look blankly at Jonty).
MARCUS: Me, Sam Kerr and who else?
JONTY: Nathan Lyon…you lads forget very quick.
DAVE: Alright boys let’s begin with our usual starting point, the best action from the weekend…Marcus we’ll start with you.
MARCUS: This wasn’t something that I saw live, but watching the footage yesterday it was pretty impressive. Nashua Wood from Rowville channelled his inner Jamie Elliott against South Croydon, who kicked the ball out on the full with 20 seconds left on the clock. Wood was in the Elliott forward pocket, took his time, strolled in and nailed the set shot to win the game by five points. A point would have got them the draw, but what a win. The goal-umpire hadn’t even got back to the middle of the goal-square to put his fingers up, that’s how close the siren was. As a Bombers man, it gave me flashbacks to Elliott’s goal up against the fence last year…same goal, same circumstances.
DAVE: Rowville seem to be having a bit of luck recently with close finishes. How’s that playing out?
MARCUS: South Croydon is in the relegation battle, so it was game they probably expected to win by a bit more, but it keeps them second and in the hunt to finish top two and a chance to go straight through to the grand final if they win in the qualifying final…so it was pretty big.
DAVE: Marcus, sorry to bring this up mate, but the best action from your weekend has to be the miscommunication between you and your hair-dresser…what happened there, it’s a bit shorter than usual?
MARCUS: Yeah, so I asked for a number two on the back, sides and top, and leave a bit at the front, but the hairdresser forgot to leave the bit at the front – I got the number-two buzz cut all over.
JONTY: And you never told her about it either, just paid your money and moved on?
MARCUS: Correct, I was sweating bullets already and was too much of a pussy to mention it.
DAVE: Took your medicine and moved on. Jonty, your best action please?
JONTY: Mine comes from the APS grand final between Haileybury and Caulfield at Haileybury’s Berwick campus on Saturday. Charlie Harrop, the captain of Haileybury, has a shot from 30, with three minutes left, and misses, and the resultant kick-out goes out of bounds on the full…but about 60 to 65 out. Mitch Kirkwood-Scott then slots it from the Jamie Elliott pocket and puts Haileybury in front for the first time since the first quarter and completes the comeback. And do either of you remember the Jimmy Bartel point after the siren, against Hawthorn (boys nod), well Jack Wilson did a very similar thing for Hampton Park on Saturday. The Redbacks were down by 13 points at the 24-minute mark of the last quarter, they drew level at 76-each, and then Wilson wins a free-kick and kicks a point after the siren to win it.
DAVE: Nathan Gardiner from Cora Lynn gets my gong this week…
JONTY: He’s on track for one hundred…
DAVE: Exactly right young man, he kicked his second bag of 12 on the weekend against Garfield and now has 85 goals for the year. Marcus won’t like this, because he likes us to pick a particular moment, but kicking 12 goals is a pretty special treat.
JONTY: Who do they play heading home?
DAVE: Phillip Island, Warragul Industrials and Kooweerup, then at least one final. So we’re on Nathan Gardiner watch boys…100 goals would be huge and they celebrate pretty well down at Cora Lynn. And my second piece of action comes from Jake Bowd from Beaconsfield. He and his teammate Josh Mounter crashed a pack, with the four players all on the ground, but the two Beacy boys got up first, Mounter handballed to Bowd who kicked a ripper on the run. The start to that game against Montrose was incredible…six goals from both teams in nine minutes. Montrose is a good outfit and got the better of Beaconsfield – but Mick Fogarty will still get them to finals and I think they can do some damage when they get there.
UNDERDOGS
DAVE: Let’s do a straw poll boys, Jonty, how many tips did you get on the weekend?
JONTY: One….St Kilda.
MARCUS: Three.
DAVE: Alright boys, with upsets on our mind, who are the teams that could cause an upset in the competitions that you cover over the next two months or so?
JONTY: I’ll give you a non-local team, then a local team. In Southern Div 1, it’s Port Melbourne; they’re very hit and miss, but have a lot of experience through the midfield and have brought in Josh Caddy and Billy Smedts who are both ex-AFL footballers. They’ve beaten Cranbourne, they’ve beaten Dingley, but are very inconsistent. They play Cranbourne again this week, so this will tell us a better story. Locally, Cranbourne just play a really good brand of finals football, they’re three games behind Cheltenham but I like them in finals. Hampton Park matches up really well in Southern Div 2 with likely finals opponent Highett, and I’m going to give you a Div 4 side as well. Dandenong, their injury list has cleared, they’ve beaten second and third, lost narrowly to top on the weekend, they’re a definite smokey in that competition as well.
MARCUS: In Outer East I’ve gone with Mt Evelyn. They were the first team to beat Wandin this year and did it at Wandin’s home ground. They’ve got arguably the best full-back in the comp in Ashley Gibbons, they’ve got big bodies, and they’re a team you would not want to play on a small deck in September. I’ve got them sneaking into fifth on the ladder and I think they can cause some damage.
DAVE: Jonty, who do you think my choice for the upset is?
JONTY: The Dusties!
DAVE: Correct weight. They had a huge win over Phillip Island on Saturday and they seem to be getting healthier and more confident by the week. The Dusties are the big ones, but the exciting thing in West Gippsland is that all six finalists are playing good footy at the moment. The Dusties are my pick to pull off a surprise but we’re in for a belter of a finals series.
WORD ASSOCIATION
BUDDY
DAVE: Alright boys, three big things have happened in sport over the last couple of days. Buddy retired, the Matildas qualified for the next round of the World Cup and the Ashes has come to an end, finishing two-all. Jonty, if I say the words Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin…what springs to mind?
JONTY: Unique, an X-factor up forward capable of constantly delivering match-winning moments.
DAVE: Marcus, I’m a bit scared to ask you because when you think of Buddy you think of him constantly tearing your Bombers a new one.
MARCUS: The nasty person in me gets some satisfaction that his career finished by being subbed-off against Essendon, but seriously his combination of size, speed, his field kicking…it’s going to be a long time before we see anything like him again. He’s an absolute champion, but the sceptic in me wonders if this is the last we’ll see of him, and whether or not there could be a backflip in 12 months’ time.
DAVE: Do you want to see him in an Essendon jumper?
MARCUS: No, that’s not it…it just feels like he has a little bit more to give and potentially a change of heart.
DAVE: As a Collingwood man my memories of Buddy are the dribble kick he kicked against the Pies in the 2011 preliminary final, what a classic, and the day he jumped over a couple of blokes in the centre of the ground and kicked an 80-metre goal. The skill of the first goal, the power of the second…that sums him up I reckon. Luckily Luke Ball kicked a late one and the Pies survived the prelim, but Buddy, we salute you, a champion of our great game.
MARCUS: That dribble kick against the Pies is so underrated. He executed perfectly after having a quiet night. He’s a superstar.
MATILDAS
DAVE: When I say Matildas what do you think Marcus?
MARCUS: That my five-a-side soccer team was equally impressive on Monday, winning 5-3.
DAVE: Impressive.
MARCUS: The result itself (4-0) provides overwhelming relief, it would have been an absolute disaster as the host nation to see the Matildas crash and burn the way they could have. It’s exciting to have a team in a soccer tournament that looks like they could do something special.
DAVE: And talking about Buddy in his prime, we’ve progressed with the female soccer version of Buddy sitting on the sidelines. Sam Kerr could make all the difference. Jonty, your thoughts on the World Cup?
JONTY: My immediate word association is Mackenzie Arnold in goals. She made a couple of clutch saves in the second half which helped us hold on. The ability of the Matildas to perform under so much pressure is a good sign going in to the tail-end of the tournament. It was good to see others stand up, which we didn’t see in the opening two games.
DAVE: I watched it as closely as I’ve ever watched soccer last night, and learned a bit about the players. Caitlin Foord is an absolute gun, Katrina Gorry is as tough as they come, and Mary Fowler has a real touch of class. I’m just so glad they won, because it would have been a disaster if they didn’t. Who knows where the momentum might take them.
THE ASHES
DAVE: The Ashes…your take Jonty?
JONTY: It’s amazing, when you think you can’t squeeze any more drama into it, Ben Stokes goes and drops a catch mid-celebration and causes even more drama. It’s the best series I’ve seen in my lifetime, with all four results within 50 runs or three wickets, which is quite extraordinary. 2-2 is a fair result in the end, but we failed to capitalise in the last test due to our inability to hold catches and no-one being able to go on to a big score.
MARCUS: Stokes reviewing a catch that he dropped is one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen. It was just bizarre, what mode of dismissal was he aiming for when he knows he’s dropped the catch? A great series, I couldn’t take me eyes off it, and it’s going to be interesting to see what we look like next time we head over there. Without Khawaja, Warner, Smith, Lyon, a couple of the bowlers, it could be a new-look Aussie team next time around.
DAVE: I agree boys, a great series and we saw some great cricket. On Monday night, watching Chris Woakes running in, at the top of his game, was exciting cricket to watch. Australia’s inability to capitalise on good starts cost us the series win I reckon.
JONTY: Stuart Broad’s spell was incredible at the end…well played to him too.
DAVE: The two villains for Australia over the years, Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow, combine for the last two wickets…this series had great storylines right to the very end.
Well done boys, we’ll talk next week!
