The winner’s list; where every footy fan wants their team to be. After a 35-day winless drought we were finally back on it after a 19-point triumph over the sinking Saints.
On an overcast and dewy night at AAMI Stadium we played three good quarters of footy, still a full match of consistent play continues to evade us, where some inexperienced faces stepped up to the Saints’ superstars.
As most Crows fans are now aware half our side on the field against St.Kilda played with less than 20 games of AFL football under their belts.
I’m talking about Phil Davis, Ricky Henderson, Sam Jacobs, Matthew Jaensch, Brodie Martin, Shaun McKernan, Brodie Smith, Luke Thompson and Matthew Wright.
So far in their careers, despite their inexperience, we’ve seen the potential of Davis, Henderson, Jaensch and Martin. In our win on the weekend it was the other five who I started to get seriously excited about.
In just two games we’ve seen an obvious difference in what Sam Jacobs can bring to our side. ‘Sauce,’ as he’s been labelled thanks to his strawberry blond hair, adds another dimension as a mobile ruckman who provides plenty around the ground.
He also gives his fair share in the air. On Saturday night he brought his hand to the ball 33 times in what was a significant boost for our midfield and didn’t it show?
Another new face to our ruck brigade has been Shaun McKernan. Despite standing slightly shorter than your average ruckman, McKernan has impressed both in the centre of the ground and in the forward line. Not only does he have reliable hands and a kick for goal he tackles with some real intensity.
There was one particular tackle he laid in the first half where he followed up from the centre bounce, wrapped his long arms right around his St. Kilda opponent, tumbled him into the turf and then made sure that the ball wasn’t going anywhere by weighing down the stranded Saint. Even from 50 metres away in the stands the entire crowd applauded his strapping effort.
One newcomer who has looked at home from the first minute he walked into the side is Brodie Smith. The 18 year old has some toe about him and alongside the other Brodie, Jaensch, Johncock and Petrenko that is some serious speed we could have sending the Sherrin forward.
With Phil Davis facing a long stint on the sideline with a sever shoulder injury Luke Thompson looks to be an easy replacement. Plucked from the rookie list our second ‘Thommo’ is just as poised as his injured counterpart and spoils just as strongly too.
The final of the five, Matthew Wright, is also a rookie list find and has shown some promising signs in his one and a half games. Most notably that superb snap shot at goal from the pocket that bounced neatly through the goal in the second quarter.
And it was just one highlight in what was a highlight heavy game.
I have to mention Taylor Walker’s jaw dropping goal he brought deep from his bag of many tricks. His effort was even enough to get a punter dancing on the dugout near our race. I have never seen celebrations like it at AAMI Stadium before.
Kurt Tippett and his refined goal kicking routine were also working wonders and now he’s even kicking check side goals from 50 out on the boundary line. Who would’ve thought!
Hopefully the big K-Tipp can keep finding the middle of the big sticks this weekend against the Demons at the MCG. It would be a massive boost to our confidence, players and supporters alike, to spend another week on the winner’s list.
