Melbourne lost Steven May early and his importance grew with each disputed mark Freo took, and there were many. With May on the team, it is unlikely that Rory Lobb, Matt Taberner (until he was also injured) and Griffin Logue (the defender sent to stop May) would quite harden the number of marks they made within 50 .
Tom McDonald was injured, Ben Brown was hit by Brennan Cox, Luke Jackson did little and Sam Weideman had to be sent to the defense late to help Jake Lever and Harrison Petty, who was limping with one leg.
Fremantle joined the running game in Melbourne. They were gaining their permits, but at first they did not take advantage of their first use, nor their elite foot speed. Only after the half did they return to the top with rhythm to the ball.
The Dockers are a good team with the ball, which was their problem in the last fortnight in slippery conditions where they did not have a plan B to play the territory game. On Saturday they changed their game, stretched Melbourne wide and made holes for them patiently until they could find an opening.
Ed Langdon’s absence was important here because Fremantle had that fast-paced race that the Goddesses couldn’t keep up with. Michael Frederick, Lachie Schultz and Michael Walters worried Melbourne, or Narrm, about these two rounds of Sir Doug Nicholls, at ground level with rhythm and cunning.
How easily can this game be repeated? It will not be copied with this exact template because you need the right players to do so. But most importantly, it proves that it can be done.
BLUE COP
One week ago, Jacob Weitering was so influential in shutting down Lance Franklin that he made Carlton feel both stable and vulnerable.
Weitering has been the best key defender of the game this year. However, after Liam Jones left, Carlton’s base block felt fragile. What if Weitering fell?
A week later and we have reached this point.
Jacob Weitering was harmed in the clash. Credit: Channel Seven
Fortunately, Weitering’s shoulder injury, while not as bad as it could be, would still mean that the Blues will look for alternatives for at least several weeks.
The industry conversation was that Carlton was looking at former North Melbourne defender Sam Durdin, who now plays Glenelg in the SANFL, in the mid-season draft. Durdin, 198 cm tall, was the Roos’ 16th pick in 2014.
THE WHITE MAN ALWAYS HAS THE RATION
Okay, neither white nor all men today, but the concept is the same.
AFL rules state the referees were right not to issue a 50-meter penalty on Friday night for Chad Warner’s celebratory kick after the siren was off the ball.
However, the rules of the AFL would also have marked the decision if the 50 had been paid.
This is the never-ending riddle of the AFL’s rules and why it creates the game’s own tragicomedy. The rules require that referees are never wrong or correct, depending on how you decide to look at it.
The wrong disposition of one referee is the knockout of another in the tackle. One referee’s push on the back is the good use of the body by another.
It is difficult to arbitrate but almost impossible to say that many decisions are wrong.
Referee Matt Stevic makes his call after the final siren. Credit: Seven
Friday night 50 was debatable, but I looked there as the whistle clearly went before the siren. A few years ago it would definitely have been paid because a few years ago players who kicked the ball after any whistle were paid routinely and punitively. Fortunately, this has been relaxed because it was unfairly punishing the players.
The argument for paying the 50 was the referee’s context for the rest of the match. It was a very interventionist game: there were 61 free throws during the night with little latitude. The high number of free throws is not bad – both teams scored more than 100 points and it was an attractive contest – but it was a game where the rules were strictly enforced.
What should have been more troubling for Richmond was not that he had missed two points, but that he had thrown four. They have been five goals ahead and lost. In the final quarter, he hit the ball hard: who was to play Luke Parker?
In the last term, Shai Bolton threw two last ones, Shane Edwards one and, most surprisingly, Dustin Martin fired a full kick. In this context, the Tigers should curse that they have not won the game, not gnashing their teeth because they have not tied it.
THEY ONLY SUPPORT
The Gold Coast in form play only three of the current top eight in their remaining games this season, facing off twice north and again on the west coast.
In contrast, the Western Bulldogs, who have just moved to Richmond in the eight percent, have seven games against the top eight teams, including Geelong twice.
Richmond only plays with four teams in the top eight. In the 17th round the Suns play.