IN ANCIENT Greek times Nemesis was the goddess who dished out divine punishment. She especially frowned upon excessive pride. Through her agent, West Coast, she has tried (and succeeded in recent years) to punish the Crows for being the pride of South Australia. Well, my message to her is this; find someone else to torment. The game is up. Our nemesis is no longer. (Further to this ancient history lesson, Nemesis also had good evasive skills – better than Gary Ablett Jnr by all accounts. When pursued amorously by Zeus she took on various non-human forms to avoid his advances. Where can I get some of that?)
I hope she was watching on Saturday afternoon. What a glorious spectacle from start to finish - two and a half hours of pure, unadulterated joy. Other clubs can have their 100-point victories. Ours was a morale-boosting, nemesis-busting win with a bit of percentage thrown in for good measure. It signalled the end of Adelaide’s five-game losing streak against West Coast. And, for those who like to see a record or two drop-punted into oblivion, it was the club’s biggest winning margin and highest score against the Eagles. Not a bad return for a day’s work.
As loathe as I am to trot out banal clichés, they have a habit of slipping through every now and then. For those who have a strong aversion to them please look away now. The signs were good early. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Simon Goodwin was in everything, racking up disposals and leading by example. It had all makings of a day out for the captain and his team.
As is so often the case, the run started from the half-back line. If I wasn’t watching football I could have sworn I was front row at the opening night of Madame Butterfly, it was so beautiful to watch. “He’s brought his own ball, Johncock”, Tony Shaw declared midway through the opening term. Well, his nickname is Stiffy. What would you expect, Tony? By quarter time the lead was a handy 27 points and by the half it had stretched to 37.
The sight of Kurt Tippett going down with a knee injury towards the end of the third quarter sent a wave of terror through every Crows fan. Not Kurt, our 201cm gun who can do it all – ruck, mark and kick goals. The room went quiet. You could hear a pin drop. Actually that’s a bit melodramatic. I had the kettle on and the cafes on the street were bustling, but my heart was in my mouth. Well, it would have been if I wasn’t scoffing antioxidants in the form of dark chocolate. Tippett returned for a bit of kick-to-kick at three-quarter time, allaying most of our fears.
The last quarter was superb. Goody went on to score seven in a stunning captain’s knock and the Crows proved for the second consecutive week they do have the scoring power to be a force in 2008.
This brings me to next week – rivalry round and a Sunday outing against Port Adelaide. The Crows have won six of the past seven derbies. On this occasion Nemesis is most welcome at AAMI Stadium.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
