A typical Saturday afternoon activity in Melbourne is to head into the city to watch the football. I found myself partaking in this Victorian pastime as I made the journey to Melbourne to watch the Crows take on Richmond for Round 11.
A cool and cloudy Melbourne greeted me upon arrival at Tullamarine Airport midway through Saturday morning. Having collected my luggage, I hopped on the shuttle bus to the city, while persistently checking the time to ensure an early arrival at the MCG to secure a good seat for the game. The bus driver joked around with a handful of Crows supporters on the bus. Apparently a one-eyed Bulldogs fan, he sounded as if he held a slight angst against ‘interstate’ teams. Nonetheless, he tipped the Crows by five.
After checking in at the hotel, I whipped out my Crows guernsey, grabbed my flag and banner and quickly walked across the road to the tram stop. A swift glance at the time revealed I was running on schedule.
Tram 75 travelled down Melbourne’s iconic Flinders St before reaching the MCG just near the Hilton Hotel. Ticket windows were already open but thankfully there wasn’t a huge line at Gate 3. I soon found out that general admission seating was only available on level three at this area, so again I checked the time and found I could just make it around to the Ponsford Stand in time for the gates to open.
Due to some light drizzle, most people decided to sit undercover but I found some great seats just on the 50 metre line and about ten rows from the fence. There was a lot of blue, red and yellow around me, which was a comforting feeling, while down the other end of the ground black and yellow reigned supreme.
As time passed before the game I flipped through the AFL Record and met up with some friends. A final glance at the clock and it was just about game time, with both teams making their way onto the ground.
The Crows got off to a pleasing start with Bernie Vince and Scott Thompson both scoring from free kicks within the first 10 minutes of play. Richmond soon kicked into gear and kicked a bagful of unanswered goals.
Thompson got the Crows back on the board with a goal during time on and was followed by a very clever snap from Richard Douglas and a goal from Kurt Tippett after a free kick in front of goal.
Thankfully the Crows woke up from their mid quarter snooze and were able to be within five points of Richmond at quarter time.
The second quarter left a lot to be desired. Proving to be a popular figure among AFL fans, Richmond’s Matthew Richardson, kicked the opening two goals. The Crows appeared to be lacking forward line efficiency, with the ball appearing to enter the attacking 50 before coming right out again.
Jason Porplyzia was able to mark for a set shot at the Punt Rd end and Thompson chipped in for his third with kick from the pocket.
I was starting to feel a little worried as Richmond were playing better football and held a slight lead at half time. Something just didn’t sit right with how the Crows were playing, but whatever coach Neil Craig said at halftime, he sure got them firing!
The Crows kicked an impressive eight goals during the third quarter. Vince, Porplyzia and Thompson all added a further goal to their tally and Chris Knights nabbed his first, but the quarter belonged to Luke Jericho.
It’s fair to say Jericho has received some mixed reviews from the Crows faithful, but with a four goal third term, I’m sure most were impressed. His most specky goals were scored right in the goal square. Luckily the Crows were attacking down my end of the ground and I had a great view of all the action.
Twice in a row he managed to get a foot to ball right on the goal line and it was almost a third time but the ball hit the post. It was a very exciting and uplifting quarter in which the Crows amassed a 26-point lead at the final break.
The last quarter was a lot of fun although having battled off a cold all week I started to find my voice giving way. Phrases were kept to low tones such as ‘Balll!’ and any cheering, such as a ‘Woo hoo!’ after a goal resulted in me waving my flag with my mouth opened and nothing coming out.
Nonetheless, highlights of the term included two more goals to Thompson, two to Tyson Edwards and another to Jericho, Porplyzia and Vince. Nathan Bassett also made an appearance on the highlights reel with a strong ‘don’t argue’ on a Richmond player before he spun around and disposed of the ball. The greatest highlight was of course the Crows pulling off a 50-point victory.
As the final siren sounded I had made my way down to the fence to cheer on a great victory. I was lucky enough to receive a high five from Ivan Maric, Nathan van Berlo and Robert Shirley as they made their way around the fence to thank the crowd.
Later in the evening I went to the Hawthorn and Essendon game at the Dome. I had the pleasure of walking past Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin’s dad and also seeing the man himself kick nine goals. He’s got to be due for a quiet game, right?
The rest of my long weekend was spent mainly at the football as I also attended Western Bulldogs v St. Kilda and Melbourne v Collingwood. I proudly wore my Crows guernsey to all games, despite receiving a lot of friendly jibes that I was at the wrong game and one fellow on Monday even went as far to ask whether I was disorientated or not. It was all tongue-in-cheek though as most people seemed pretty impressed with the Crows win.
Finally back in Adelaide I can now look forward to Saturday night’s blockbuster against Hawthorn. Not being the biggest fan of Hawthorn - given the Crows’ loss to them this year and the Elimination Final last year - I’m searching for a satisfying win on Saturday night.
