I was seriously contemplating going to this game, but then I remembered I had a prior commitment. As there was no TV coverage of the game in Melbourne, I am forced to guess a little bit as to how it panned out, but from all reports the final score is a pretty fair reflection of the way it went. It almost makes me glad I didn't go.

From the press reports I have seen, the only positive for Freo was that Shane Parker had a good night, playing against Nathan Buckley. Not only did he keep Buckley quiet, but he was also a goal scorer for Freo. Apart from that, there wasn't much to be taken from the game. The likes of Haselby and Pavlich were apprently no worse than the rest of the team, but whether or not that is a positive is open to debate. Despite the suggestions in the press that this was a real thrashing for Freo, the stats suggest they were possibly not that far off. They managed to go inside 47 times, as opposed to Collingwood's 48, so it looks like the difference between the two teams was really their effectiveness in front of goals.

In the negative column, both Modra and Fletcher were injured during the game, though they are apparently expected to be right for the start of the regular season. Also disappointing were the reports that Freo were basically disinterested in the game. Last week the most heartening feature of the game was not that the team won, but that most of the players played as if their lives, or at least their careers depended on it.

As Damian Drum reportedly said (Emma Quayle's article Magpies sink tardy Dockers at http://www.realfooty.com.au)

"You feel like doing a bit of a Malcolm Blight and spilling your guts, but I don't think that achieves much. It's a demoralising result, because we didn't scrap with them as well as we should have. We won't beat anybody if we have passengers. Two or three passengers is going to be too many for us in some respects. Today we probably had eight to 10 passengers; it's just not good enough."

Final Score : Collingwood 13.14-92 defeated Fremantle 3.11-29

© 2000 timnfromoz timnfromoz@hotmail.com

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