Sarrey wonders what it’s like to live next to a swamp...
The turning point of Showdown 30 came halfway through the second quarter, with the Crows leading by five goals. Port’s Trengrove and the Crows’ Tex Walker vied for a fifty-fifty ball on the wing. Trengrove committed his body without fear, grabbed the ball, bounced off Tex and raced away. Port got an easy one and thereafter outscored the Crows twelve goals to two.
I mention this incident not to bag Walker, who, despite what dozens of Facebookers said on Saturday night, will be a star within a couple of years. I mention it to suggest that Port wanted the ball more than the Crows, which is why we lost. Trengrove and Walker are similar ages and similar builds (Walker is probably heavier and Trengrove a little taller). They are two young bulls out to prove their worth to the footballing world. Yet in this encounter there was almost no contest.
It wasn’t just Walker. Time and again on Saturday night, Port won the fifty-fifties. With the exception of Tippett, who was brilliant in the air (albeit a little dodgy in disposal), the Crows were out-marked all night. Often our lads were so far out of the contest they wouldn’t’ve reached the incoming ball with a broom-handle. They were swept aside on the ground, in the centre, around the flanks and in the goal square. Not to put too fine a point on it, they were pantsed.
It’s probably true, as Craigy said, that the team cannot sustain an effort for four quarters at the moment because of its abundance of youngsters, many of whom are doing little more than trying to survive. Arguably, too, some of the more senior players, such as Vince, Douglas and Johncock, haven’t got their A-grade games going yet. It’s also true that, as for last year, injury has taken a massive toll - by my count the team is missing seven first-choice players. One of the keys to success in the AFL is durability; the Crows appear to lack this key.
But these were not the only reasons for the debacle on Saturday night.
Port has a youthful team, too. In the last couple of years they have played a great deal of ordinary, even horrible, footy, yet they have been inspired in against the Crows. Why? Do Showdowns mean more to Port than they do to the Crows?
Hemmed in against a swamp, Port has probably always had a backs-to-the-wall sort of attitude. No doubt it is instilled in all those who make their home at Alberton. “We live by the Creed,” they are taught. “It’s us against the rest.” Geographically the Port is only a few kilometres from the city. Psychologically it’s in a massive bunker on the far side of a demilitarised zone (a.k.a. Woodville).
I believe, therefore, that Port players bring more passion to Showdowns because victory against the Crows justifies their club’s existence and hence their own. “We are more than a mosquito-infested huddle on the fringe of the city,” is the statement they are trying to make. To their credit, they made it impressively on Saturday night.
But Crows’ supporters are as passionate and as strong as any in the AFL. We will not lose heart or hope, and we will not crumble in adversity. Some of us will rage against the coach, although that’s not my thing. Some of us will curse and scream and punch holes in walls (although mine is brick). There will be a questioning of Plan B, although it’s a B-grade question. There will be weeping, and a gnashing of teeth.
But while blood still flows in our hearts we will stay true. And one day the players will match our passion.
Sarrey’s first novel, Prohibited Zone, featuring a fictional ex-Crows player, is now available at Wakefield Press and will soon be in bookstores.
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