An upset 23-point victory over an in form Fremantle was the icing on the cake.
Our famous number nine has built his long career on being reliable, consistent and durable. He’s gone about his business without a fuss and while he may not have a list of individual honours next to his name he is very highly regarded among the Crows faithful.
While some media outlets, I’m looking at you The Sunday Footy Show, questioned the validity of our performance by claiming that it took the retirement of Edwards for us to put together some great footy I saw the game unfold differently.
I saw a Crows team that I had seen for three quarters against St Kilda and in patches against Brisbane and Richmond. A team for the first time in a long time that may have just resembled our awesome outfit from 2009.
Our ball movement was nothing like what I witnessed against our round one 56-point loss to the Dockers. Instead of stop starting, looking for the safety of a sideways kick or dishing off one too many handballs we were confident, skilful and direct.
The ruck duo of Maric and Griffin battled admirably against Freo’s supersized Aaron Sandilands proving that we do our best work with Tippett in the goal score. At ground level Thompson, Mackay, Douglas, Goodwin and Dangerfield were getting their hands on the ball before their opponents and moving it quickly down to the likes of Walker and Tippett up forward.
Speaking of Taylor Walker, the naturally gifted footballer seems to have a knack for kicking a bag of goals against Fremantle booting a further four to bury the West Australians this weekend.
Every one had a touch of Walker pizzazz about them.
His first after dodging and jumping over a Docker, his second a snap around his shoulder, his third a monster 60 metre kick from the boundary line and his fourth from a sneaky mark in the goal square.
The 20 year old wasn’t the only young Crow to show signs of potential future stardom.
Phil Davis displayed eye-catching courage running forward with the flight of the ball in an incident where the biggest man in the league, Sandilands, slammed into him. It was a moment that football fans would appreciate and mums depreciate. Up until then he was doing an excellent job standing Matthew Pavlich who was barely sighted before half time.
Rory Sloane was another young man who impressed me. His ability to tackle and attack the ball is up there with the prowess of Dangerfield. If he can improve his disposal he has the potential to become quite the player.
Overall as a team I thought we were harder at it. Our hunger for the ball, which seemed so absent only a month ago, was well and truly back and most importantly maintained for a full four quarters. There was a fire burning in our bellies of belief and we were thriving on it.
Furthermore the comradeship the boys showed between each other and the passion on display for the fans continues to grow week by week. No longer do they look jaded and frustrated but now appear closer then ever.
We’re getting better with each round that passes and a feeling of pride is returning to the stands. A buzz of elation raced through the crowd when Porplyzia sprinted into an open forward line to kick the sealer in the fourth quarter. We were back!
Then the final siren sounded and reality hit that that was it. No more Tyson Edwards.
Our third win of the season payed great respect to ‘Zooma’ but it was built on more than just the occasion.
Thankfully for Tyson it was the end of an era that came to a close with the perfect final chapter.
