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TimN's View on the Fremantle Dockers - St Kilda Game

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I guess its a bit of a misnomer for me to be writing a match review for a game that I didn't get to see any of this game, and my comments can only be based on the ABC radio coverage of the last quarter, along with the stuff written about it in the papers and on the Internet. I had been hoping for a bit better, given that the new multimedia conglomerate is now broadcasting the AFL, but so far there has not been any free to air coverage of Freo games (including the pre-season games) here in Melbourne, and, apart from a practice match against Brisbane at Victoria Park a few weeks back, there won't be any games played here until Round 9 or so. All in all, I have been feeling starved of my Freo fix.

My confidence in the team coming into this game was pretty low. The new coach, and Freo's pre-season form had produced a fair amount of confidence at the club, and most of the pundits were tipping that we would do much better than last year. On the other hand, the one game that counted, last week, had been a pretty convincing loss to one of the teams that the same pundits had rated as much worse than us. I had no real qualms about tipping against Freo before the game, but there are times when its good to be wrong.

In a lot of ways, this game was a replay of the first win against Hawthorn last season. Fremantle started so slowly that you could be forgiven for thinking they hadn't arrived yet, before at least slowing the momentum against them in the second quarter, and then clawing right back into the game in the second half.

Fremantle managed just 1 point in the first quarter, but luckily St Kilda didn't manage to open up an unbeatable lead. The second quarter must have been better, because Freo managed more scoring shots, but they were horribly inaccurate, and St Kilda continued to extend their lead. In the thirs quarter Justin Longmuir finally found his kicking boots, and followed his 5 straight behinds with a couple of goals to get Freo within 2 goals by three quarter time.

The last goal of the game was one of the few highlights I actually have has the opportunity to see. Cunningham marked on or just outside the 50 after a quick clearance from the centre. Despite the doubts of the commentators, and a fair number of his team-mates, he went back and kicked the goal easily. After that there was just enough time for St Kilda to kick the ball to Stewie Loewe, who dropped the mark, and then it was all over.

In the end Freo seem to have been very lucky to get over the line, and come away with the win. Still, its much better to have a win on the board after two rounds, rather than having to wait until Round 18 to experience that winning feeling.

Final Score : Fremantle 10.16-76 beat St Kilda 11.7-73.

© 2002 timnfromoz timnfromoz@hotmail.com


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