Not quite, Trimster. Round 10, 2000 Port had a crowd of 19,511 against Geelong.

I'd love to agree with you on Ross Lyon, Havencheese, but the jury is still out. He certainly got off to a good start by identifying the weaknesses in the list (no ruckmen, no forward line pressure, no pace in the midfield, no goals from the midfield) and attempted to do something about it.

There have been times this season when we have looked impressive – first quarter against Sydney (and then he was outcoached by his mentor), first quarter against the Western Bulldogs (then he was outcoached by someone with far more experience), first half against Essendon (who were significantly understrength). However, we haven't played a single game where we've looked decent for 4 quarters.

We did have "a damn fine list" in 2004 but the retirements of Aaron Hamill and Aussie Jones, the declining powers of Fraser Gehrig and Luke Ball and some disastrous recruiting (giving up a first round draft pick for Fergus Watt who was delisted after playing 1 game) have hit hard.

Daniel Kerr to accept 4 weeks!

Bit bloody stiff to get that sentence, especially compared to the record of those cheap shot Carr brothers.

Round 7
Richmond 107 St Kilda 110
Crowd 40,585

Normally, I would approach a game against Richmond with great confidence – this was the 11th time in a row we’ve beaten them. Last night was different, though, because of St Kilda’s poor form, Richmond’s recent run of impressive results and their pace as well as the inspired form lately of 33 year old Matthew Richardson.

Fraser Gehrig was back for St Kilda after missing 2 games and, by all accounts, having a stinker in the reserves last week. He usually plays well against Richmond – 5 goals in both games last year and, a couple of years ago, that unforgettable 10 goal performance against them at the G. However, given that Richmond have a fair bit of run in their side, I wasn’t convinced that bringing back Frase was the right move. My concerns were greatly increased as I entered the ground and saw the news on the big screen:

St Kilda late change – out M.Hudghton (our best defender) in R.Clarke (a disaster waiting to happen).

I’m still not entirely sure how we won this game which turned out to be a minor classic with the lead changing hands 13 times and no team ever more than 3 goals ahead. Richmond had far more inside 50s (54-40), their ruckman, Troy Simmonds, was outstanding and they absolutely slaughtered us out of the centre. Richmond won the clearances 42-26. My abiding memory of the game is watching Richmond players steam out of the middle with the ball, pursued by leaden footed St Kilda players, before unleashing the ball into the forward line.

Stephen Milne, who was to be the key player of the night, opened the scoring as St Kilda went in at the first quarter 3 points up. The second quarter was awful. We were run off the ground as Richmond moved 11 points clear. At half time, the mood amongst the “travelling support” (this, bizarrely, was an away game at our home ground) was black. “Clarke needs to get on the first plane back to fucking Darwin” opined one Saints fan – a comment which nearly started a fight. Gehrig and Ross Lyon were the other hot topics. Gehrig had been shockingly bad failing to make the distance from a set shot 35m out. He managed to get a goal in the third quarter. St Kilda actually looked pretty good for a while in the third term as we moved 18 points clear but it didn’t last and Richmond led by a point entering the last quarter. The real story of the third quarter ,though, were the 2 injuries to Xavier Clarke (hamstring) and, much more importantly, Nick Riewoldt (knee).

In quarter 4, with just a few minutes left, Stephen Milne kicked his 7th goal of the night (Matthew Richardson got 5 at the other end) to put St Kilda ahead by 110-105. We then had an incredible finish to the match. First, Nathan Brown dribbled a shot against the post. 110-106. Then, with a minute to go, Kelvin Moore took a mark 30m out, right in front of goal and it looked like game over. It was at the Richmond end and, as soon as the kick left his boot, the Richmond fans were on their feet celebrating. Hilariously, it thumped off the post and the St Kilda end erupted. I can only assume the Richmond supporters had taken it for granted that he would score and didn’t bother paying a lot of attention to the kick itself. From the resultant kick in, the ball ended up in the hands of Raphael Clarke and, inevitably, we turned it over. A massive kick was launched forward and, just as the siren went, Jack Riewoldt (Nick’s cousin) marked on the 50m line. Once again, the Richmond support went crazy. Jack Riewoldt is a teenager with a beautiful kick for goal. The bloke on my left turned his back; my son, to my right, was shaking; I had my head in my hands. Riewoldt went for a drop punt and fell short. He should have gone for a torpedo.

In terms of quality, this might not have been a great match. In terms of excitement and tension it was bloody brilliant.

Wasn't there another complaint about 10 missing seconds of play, or something? This seems to be the new fad this season....

Is anyone in Melbourne actually getting excited by next week's Victoria vs All Stars game, MA? Not much interest in it here. Ex-Crows' coach Graham Cornes has been complaining about it in the media for weeks, saying it is a waste of time and an insult to the other states.... urging everyone to ignore it and watch our SANFL heritage round instead. Must say I agree with him...

trimster wrote:

QUOTE:

Is anyone in Melbourne actually getting excited by next week's Victoria vs All Stars game, MA?

Only Mr Enthusiasm himself, Kevin Sheedy. No-one else gives a stuff. Much of the marketing of the game has centred on Jonathon Brown, the best Victorian playing interstate, who is captaining the Vics. Unfortunately, he missed Brisbane's game against Geelong yesterday as did Gary Ablett and Simon Black. Add on the injuries to Nick Riewoldt and Luke Hodge and that's a lot of big names missing.

Melbourne Arab wrote:

QUOTE:
they might get a victory in Round 7 at home to another crisis club - Fremantle.

Melbourne produced one of the all time great comebacks today to beat Fremantle. I had a gut feeling they would win so why didn't I tip them? Fremantle do this to me every bloody time.

Last night, the AFL staged a match between Victoria and the rest of the country (The Dream Team) as part of the 150 year celebrations. Although the crowd was a very respectable 69,000, it was 10-15k below expectation. I only watched the first half before switching to the Rangers-Dundee United farce but it was enough to confirm that this game didn’t matter. We saw players laughing and joking with the opposition instead of the usual macho posturing and we had live interviews with coaches being conducted while goals were being kicked. They clearly didn’t care. Contrast that with the footage of the coaches box that we see in an AFL game – four letter words being mouthed, telephones being ripped out and flung across the room, etc.

I can’t wait for the real stuff to return on Friday especially as it’s one of the season highlights – St Kilda v Collingwood.

Everyone seemed so genuinely pleased with themselves after this little promotional excercise for Victorian Football, that you almost feel sorry for them not having any real international competition to get excited about....

Despite the pleas to repeat it, I guarantee everyone will have forgotten all about this match in a few months' time...

I think Andrew Demetriou knows he's had a lucky escape. The crowd was (just) big enough to justify the event (although there are reports that thousands of free tickets were handed out) and the game was (just) entertaining enough to keep people interested. Nevertheless, the lack of intensity from the players and the near silence from the crowd coupled with an embarrassing outbreak of Mexican waves 5 minutes from the end, when the result was still in the balance, ensures there won't be a repeat of this for some time.

And what about poor old rugby league? Their Centenary Test at the weekend only pulled in 34,000 - and that was a bona fide, competitive international.

Round 8
St Kilda 94 Collingwood 103
Crowd 48,417

No surprise that this was such a close game given the similarities between the two teams. Both sides have midfields lacking pace; both sides have a giant, immobile, past it, full forward; both sides now sit on 4 wins, 4 losses; both sides are massively overrated in the media; both sides can’t hope for anything better than scraping into the top 8.

The crowd of 48,417 was officially a sell out despite the Telstra Dome capacity being 55,000. We arrived late because of traffic, missing the first 3 goals. There were thousands of people on the concourse outside the ground as the tannoy announced that all tickets, including standing room only, were sold. I heard after the game, on talkback radio, that hundreds of people were turned away despite the 6,500 empty seats in the stadium. One caller rang up to say that he spent $5,000 a year for his Millennium Club seat and if he chose not to attend that was his right. Obviously true, but so much for this being the people’s game. The greed of Telstra Dome management, and that of the MCC across town, prevent thousands of people from seeing games every season.

St Kilda went into this game without Nick Riewoldt and, given the narrow margin of defeat, that was probably decisive. The 4 power forwards who played in this game had a collective nightmare: for St Kilda, Fraser Gehrig and Justin Koschitzke amassed just 15 touches and 2 goals between them; for Collingwood, Anthony Rocca and Travis Cloke had a combined 20 possessions but just 1 goal.

If St Kilda were lucky to beat Richmond 2 weeks ago, we were unlucky to lose this. Given the terrible performances of the big men upfront, it was Collingwood’s small forwards, notably Alan Didak, who made the difference.

St Kilda’s midfield, widely criticised after the Richmond game, dominated. Luke Ball played his best game since 2005, Lenny Hayes continued his excellent form and Robert Harvey and Nick Dal Santo were both better than in recent games.

The first quarter, as always seems to be the case now, was St Kilda’s best – 6 goals from an amazing 21 inside 50s (we only had 40 in the whole game against Richmond). By half time, though, we were 4 points down and the game remained in the balance right to the end. In the last couple of minutes, we should have won it – Hayes, inexplicably, missing an open goal and Stephen Milne missing a set shot he should have nailed.

The big story, though, is Fraser Gehrig. The post match comments of coach Ross Lyon seem to suggest another retirement could happen as early as this week:

"It's a concern, clearly it's a concern," Lyon said.
"He'll be disappointed. His body is not what it was, really. It's frightening what can happen in six months. He's a really proud competitor but his hands have been worrying him and he struggled to glove it a bit tonight.
"I feel I've given Fraser every opportunity over the last few weeks which really I didn't feel after the Geelong game that I'd done and it's important that's been done.
"So we'll assess his body and his mind but ultimately it's what's best for St Kilda.
"At 4-4, we've got some youth to come in. We need to put the measuring tape over a few guys.
That's my take on it."
Lyon said no one could question Gehrig's hunger to play, but conceded time may have caught up with him.
"He's a really hard trainer but, I mean, father-time catches up with you," he said.
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing but he was really keen (to play) and trained really well over summer."We'll respect Fraser, he's been a wonderful contributor to St Kilda. I'll sit down with him during the week but clearly it's an issue, it's on the agenda."

Koschitzke is also a massive concern. He’s a number 2 draft pick and won the AFL Rising Star Award in 2001. He’s now 25 and has not lived up to expectations. While Nick Riewoldt, who is the same age, has won 4 St Kilda Best and Fairests, 2 All Australian selections and is club captain, Kosi has only once made the top 10 in the Best and Fairest (a 9th place) and is now mostly remembered for a stunning 4 game burst of form in 2005 when he kicked 19 goals and picked up 11 Brownlow votes out of a possible 12. In 2007 and 2008, he’s had his best run without injury but his form has been mediocre at best.

As for Anthony Rocca, expect him to head off to the NFL to join his brother, Sav, at the end of the season.

Frustrating side to watch, St Kilda..... you can't make up your mind whether they are a good side who sometimes have crap days; or a crap side who sometimes manage a good day. There is not much between them and Collingwood and St Kilda could have won that game.

Hawthorn and Footscray seem to be in the best position to challenge Geelong at the moment- which must be pleasing to Victorian fans. Geelong haven't been winning by big margins lately, and are surely due for a loss.

Shame about Gehrig- reversing of retirement decisions rarely seem to turn out well. Tony Lockett flopped when he came back, but he had been out a whole year.... Gehrig only had the usual off-season break, didn't he? So what's his excuse.....?

One interesting attendance figure from the weekend's round: North Melbourne beating West Coast Eagles by a goal at the Gold Coast in front of a crowd of only 6,354! Such a figure may mean that the Roos were right not to re-locate there; or Gold Coast fans now hate them for not moving and stayed away to punish the club!

In AFL history, there have been 7 crowds below 5,000 - all of them Brisbane Bears games on the Gold Coast.

On the news on Monday night, there was a report saying only 1,000 tickets had been sold for the North Melbourne-West Coast game so the all time low attendance of 3,059 (Brisbane Bears v Footscray, 1992) was in real danger.

I think the terrible crowd was a reaction to North rejecting a move to the Gold Coast. They were getting 11 or 12,000 for games there last year.

The worry for the AFL is that North have 2 more Gold Coast games this season (St Kilda and Brisbane, which will at least draw a crowd) and are contracted to play there next year as well.

It's a safe bet North won't be forced to honour the 2009 contract. Expect "blockbusters" to be on the Gold Coast next year ie Collingwood v anybody.

Speaking of crowds in AFL expansion areas, what's happening in Sydney looks a lot more alarming than the poor crowd on the Gold Coast at the weekend.

Each year, Sydney play a number of games at ANZ Stadium which has a much bigger capacity than the SCG and, according to the AFL, attracts big numbers from the western suburbs. In 2007, the AFL reckon 40% of tickets for the ANZ Stadium games were sold in western suburb postcodes. However, look at the attendances in 2007 compared to this year:

2007:

West Coast 62,586
Collingwood 64,222
St Kilda 63,369

2008:

West Coast 44,235
Essendon 34,904
Collingwood, Geelong still to play

That's a drop so far in the average crowd of about 25,000!