OH yes, Bryan Strauchan will play in the White Whitten Legends game this season.

Round 13
St Kilda 65 Fremantle 57
Crowd 22,440

When this fixture was scheduled for the prestige Friday night slot, it probably made some sense. According to the bookies, both teams would be top 4 and the recent history of matches between these two is incident packed:

2005 – “Whispers in the sky.” In the days leading up to the game in Perth, St Kilda coach Grant Thomas was fined $20k for criticising the standard of AFL umpiring. The umpires took their revenge by awarding Fremantle a string of soft free kicks inside 50 resulting in 5 goals and not giving St Kilda a single free kick in range of goal. On the plane after the game, a journalist heard one umpire say to another “now I know what it feels like to have a win.” The remark was also heard by Collingwood president Eddie McGuire who had been commentating on the game. A day later, he claimed he hadn’t heard anything presumably after a call from AFL HQ. The AFL took no action. The bastards.

2006 – Sirengate. With Fremantle 1 point ahead in Launceston, the siren sounds but the umpires don’t hear it. St Kilda kick a point for a draw. Three days later, the AFL take away St Kilda’s 2 points and hand them to Freo. The bastards. St Kilda miss the top 4 by 2 points.

2007 – Jeff Farmer v Steven Baker. An off the ball incident sees Freo’s Farmer lying on the ground and St Kilda’s Baker scurrying away from the scene. The umpires see nothing, the tv cameras don’t capture it but there is 1 witness – a totally unbiased member of Freo’s coaching staff. Despite having no-one to back up his statement and Farmer writing to the AFL to say there was nothing to it, the AFL tribunal suspends Baker for 7 games. The bastards.

Before last night, the 2 teams had won 7 of 24 games between them and the lack of interest in the match led to the smallest St Kilda home crowd for 5 years.

There was one point of interest, however. When the teams were announced, 2 big names had been dropped for St Kilda – Steven Milne and Nick Dal Santo. Milne, with 27 goals, is the leading goalkicker this season. However, 7 of those were in 1 game and many of the rest were soft goals in meaningless final quarters when the game was lost. If Milne has laid a tackle this season, I missed it. Nowadays, small forwards are being measured on their tackling as much as their scoring and Milne just can’t do it. Dal Santo is one of St Kilda’s genuine elite players but has had a disappointing season and is perceived by many as soft. He does appear to be more interested in posing topless in the papers and keeping his hair in place rather than working as hard as Lenny Hayes or Luke Ball. Is this a kick up the arse or could he be trade bait later this year?

Coming into the side were 3 debutants - Robert Eddy and Jarryd Allen (the 40th and 59th picks in the 2006 draft)and Ben McEvoy (pick 9 in 2007). There was a lot of interest in McEvoy, St Kilda’s highest pick in recent times in the best draft since 2001. All 3 had reasonable, if unspectacular, debuts but it was their mere presence that was revealing. In the last 3 years, St Kilda have fielded fewer new players than any other club – just 8, compared to Brisbane’s 26. To go from 8 in 3 years to 3 in 1 night illustrates how desperate things have become.

As always, the first quarter went well. It featured one of the most remarkable individual performances of the season as Lenny Hayes single handedly took control of the game with 11 kicks, 5 handballs, 1 goal, 1 behind and 2 tackles. Then, he did his hamstring. If there is 1 player St Kilda can’t afford to be without, it’s Lenny Hayes. He played just one quarter of the match and still ended up as one of St Kilda’s top 10 possession getters. St Kilda led 39-12 but after Hayes went off, Fremantle fought back. Matthew Pavlich kicked 4 by half time and St Kilda’s 7 point lead was clearly not going to be enough.

When Fremantle went ahead early in the third quarter, we all sensed it was game over; but this is Fremantle we’re talking about. They’re the club every footy tipper hates and, sure enough, they blew it. St Kilda fought back to lead by 11 at three quarter time and managed to hold on.

Despite the welcome win, this was a dire, ultra defensive game. Fremantle flooded back on masse early on. St Kilda did likewise in the final quarter. Neither side had a clue how to deal with the defensive tactics. St Kilda’s chipping backwards and sideways in the last few minutes, grimly hanging on, had boos ringing round the ground though if all out attack had resulted in Fremantle breaking free and winning the game, the booing would have been a lot louder.

Listening to SEN’s talkback show driving home, the host Mark Fine (a St Kilda fan) simply said:”we got the 4 points, a few young kids got a win under the belts but that was not football. At least not the kind of football I want to watch.”

I don’t know how long Lenny Hayes will be out for but we’ll lose every game he misses.

Buddy Love wrote:

QUOTE:
OH yes, Bryan Strauchan will play in the White Whitten Legends game this season.

Here's his goal from last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCjSXctSxk

Last night, the 2006 Premiers played the 2007 Premiers:

West Coast 47 Geelong 182

West Coast's biggest ever defeat at Subiaco. The bottom 3 in the ladder now reads:

14 Fremantle (2006 Preliminary Finalists)
15 West Coast (2006 Premiers, 2007 Semi Finalists)
16 Melbourne (2006 Semi Finalists)

It's a struggle to keep up with the pace of change in this competition.

Its a ridiculous turn around isn't it. Weren't West Coast top (or second) at this stage last season?

Obviously Cousins and Judd are great players but their departure can't be the only reason for West Coast's demise.

Freo's demise is odd, especially given that they 'strengthened' their team at the start of last season. Perhaps they were never that good anyway.

I see that the Crows have a tricky next 4 games which could jeopardise their chances of making the top 4 now - Geelong at AAMI, Collingwood at the 'G, Port in the Showdown (Port home game) and the Swans in Sydney.

They have some easier games to follow, but I imagine they will lose to Geelong, meaning a defeat to Sydney would probably mean that they can't make the top 4. Collingwood in Melbourne and the game against Port are certainly winnable, but won't be easy.

Yes, will be tough for the Crows, particularly as they will be without Andrew Macleod for the next few weeks.

Port are in disarray- their CEO John James has just resigned and they are heading to Darwin at the weekend to play Footscray without having done much preparation. Mark Williams says that he has given up hope of making the finals, but some players are still clinging to the hope of making it. I suppose that is a vindication of the top 8 finals system... that a team that is close to bottom and playing like rubbish can still cling to the hope of a spot in the Finals...

Early this morning, West Coast's Daniel Kerr was stung by a stingray at the club's recovery session at St Kilda beach following last night's defeat to Hawthorn at the MCG. He's apparently suffering excruciating pain but will be ok.

Amazingly, he's the second AFL player to have been stung at a beach recovery session this season - Jarrad Grant of the Western Bulldogs had the same misfortune at Port Melbourne a few months back.

Ouch! Hope he recovers - they could do without losing him for too long.

The interchange debate has flared up again! Saints effectively penalised with a 150m penalty having had 19 men on the ground for about 2 seconds. They lost a 4 point lead as a result. Fortunately, they haven't been put off, and are back with an 11 point lead with 6 minutes to play. Err... make that a 17 point lead! Go Saints!

I’d like to endorse the remark made by one of Channel Ten’s commentators at the end of tonight’s game on the Gold Coast – “what an amazing game of football.”

At quarter time, I was all for sacking Ross Lyon as coach as St Kilda recorded just 3 behinds in a truly pitiful performance. North Melbourne moved into a 36-3 lead early in the second quarter and the season was well and truly over. However, there was a bit of a revival and the 16 point deficit at three quarter time gave us a glimmer of hope.

The final quarter was glorious. North’s only goal was the interchange infringement fiasco Buddy Love mentions. This happened just after St Kilda had taken the lead for the first time. Ten’s commentators loved the controversy:

“that decision could shape the final 8.”

“it could be a season defining moment.”

“you can just sense the St Kilda players heads have dropped.”

Against all expectations, St Kilda rallied and the final quarter was a 6 goal to 1 slaughter. Nick Riewoldt was brilliant (it was noticeable that he got a big roar from the crowd every time he touched the ball. The locals, strongly backing St Kilda, obviously want him as their captain when they get into the AFL). St Kilda are back in the 8 with Carlton, currently 9th, up next.

I’ll let those wise men at Ten sum it up:

“this could be a watershed for St Kilda’s season.”

“I’ve never seen the St Kilda players so happy after a win.”

Bloody hell, Melbourne is a dangerous place. First stingrays, now this:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/afl-footballer-critical-after-hit-by-tram-20080629-2yme.html

Crikey. Trams, footy playes... you can't get any more Melbourne than that.

I said the Eagles wouldn't miss Judd and Cousins that much. Idiot. In their pomp they could pick 70 odd possessions between them, which make s afair impact on the game.

That said, the Eagles have been awful and injuries doesn't cut it as an excuse. John Worsfold, a really good guy, lost it last week on the radio. Never a good sign.

You wonder how much has had to change behind the scenes with the club under so much scrutiny after the Cousins fiasco.

Best now for the Eagles to finish bottom and get the last pure draft pick before the restrictions come in ahead of the expansion teams.

Freo must be grateful the Eagles are taking the heat. Another dire season with their supposedly top class list. If Pavlich ever gets injured they'll be relegated - and there is no relegation.

The 2 players who are being widely tipped to go 1 and 2 in this year's national draft are a WA based Fijian and a young kid from Perth so it might work out quite nicely for West Coast and Freo. Melbourne have reportedly got their eye on a Victorian based basketball player who has switched sports and is kicking goals for fun.

Speaking of Ben Cousins, he has joined Port Melbourne in the VFL with a view to nominating himself in the draft. His agent claims that one Melbourne club is seriously interested and several others have made enquiries.

Encouraging news re Graham Polak after the tram incident – he's out of the coma although it's too early to say if he'll ever play again. His head hit the tram with such force that the windscreen was shattered.

In just his third game back after assaulting West Coast's Brent Staker in Round 4, Barry Hall was at it again at the weekend this time striking (or "attempting to strike" as the AFL put it) Collingwood's Shane Wakelin on the face. Hall has been charged by the AFL but, more significantly, Sydney have suspended him indefinitely and ordered him to seek psychological help. Obviously, all the remorse and "I'm not a bad boy really" stuff from a few weeks ago was a lot of shite. He's a moronic thug and that's all there is to it.