Then Che Cockatoo Collins dribbled one through, when by rights he should have been flattened by Luke Darcy, and her voice began to soar.
By half time, at which stage the game was effectively over as a contest you could have heard our fat friend singing from anywhere in the west of Melbourne, and quite probably all the way over there in Port Adelaide too.
We were beaten all over the ground and we looked tired.
Port played like demons and we played like The Demons, who we face next week in a game that means nothing as far as the finals is concerned.
Sure mathematically we could still make it but our blokes look tired, they look dispirited and they look in need of a break.
Luke Darcy can’t keep rucking for four quarters forever. Chris Grant can’t continue to be the only target up forward. Westy can’t be the only bloke at the bottom of packs and we need another midfielder besides Johnno, who can take a grab overhead.
We may well have those players coming through in the form of the host promising youngsters we’ve seen this year but we don’t have them yet and that’s why we will all be taking an early bath this season.
Our use of the ball late in the first quarter, and our ability to set up opportunities for our forwards was promising, but our shooting for goal once again let us down. Nevertheless at the first break we were definitely still in the game.
Murphy and Liberatore in particular had been useful as had been Alvey and Brown but after that things went down hill very quickly and we went into the rooms at half time having kicked only 3.9.
After that we went virtually goal for goal with Port for the remainder of the match but by that stage it didn’t matter. Nathan Eagleton kicked 3 goals in the second half but it was a case of too little too late as Port simply had to dob the odd one here and there (which they managed with aplomb) to maintain, and even increase, their lead.
Our usual ball getters, West, Brown and latterly Alvey still found a lot of the pill but as a team we didn’t really know what to do with it. We handballed far too much, and consequently gained very little ground even though we racked up the possessions.
Port on the other hand took advantage of even the slightest mistake in these long strings of handballs, turning the ball over and kicking it long to the outstretched arms of Tredrea and Co who marked absolutely everything. If you’d thrown an exam paper out on to the ground Tredrea would have marked that too – no extra charge.
If not for the occasional piece of brilliance from Johnno who, even though he didn’t see a lot of the ball (especially after he was concussed in the third quarter) still kicked three, this would have been our worst defeat of the season; our 78-point loss to the Bombers takes that honour by a solitary behind.
Terry Wallace has hinted that several players have been playing for their futures in recent weeks. This result should have settled the issue for many of them, and we may hear the fat lady singing once again as they bow out of the game next week.
If that’s the case then we should be there to bid them farewell on Sunday at Doglands for although they have broken our hearts at times this year they’ve given us much to be very grateful for over the past five seasons or so.
