After the debacle that was the Richmond game two weeks ago, Fremantle went into this game as rank outsiders. The betting sites were offering odds close enough to 5:1 against a Freo victory, and I certainly wasn't inclined to take them up on the offer.

Right from the first bounce, Chris Connolly pulled a surprise on most of us, by starting McPharlin at full-forward. Melbourne responded to the shock by winning the ball out of the centre, and Neitz had his first goal on the board before a minute was up. It wasn't looking too goo, but fortunately it didn't last long before Freo had a goal on the board too - to Jeff Farmer. Melbourne got out to a couple of goals ahead, including one to Neitz after he had flattened Parker that led to Shane having quite an animated conversation with the umpire. Either Shane is getting more vocal in his old age, or he is turning into a grumpy old man.

And then the McPharlin experminet paid dividends. Goald to McPharlin, then Medhurst put the Dockers in front. Then McPharlin took an absolute screamer and scored another one. Melbourne interrupted to score some goals, so it wasn't a complete procession, but the Dockers forward line was firing so I was happy. In the end there were 12 goals scored in the first quarter, including 4 to McPharlin, 3 to Neitz and 2 to Farmer.

The second quarter started the way the first had ended. Hasleby goaled. McPharlin scored his 5th. Freo kicked away to a 5 goal or so lead, and the clouds darkened enough for the lights to come on. It was hard to see what could go wrong. And then Neitz took a mark and cannoned into Longmuir as he did so, and Longmuir hobbled off the ground. The umpire took the ball off for reasons that weren't apparent to me at the time. Yes, Longmuir got hurt, but that didn't mean it was a free. Apparently Neitz had given Shane's jumpre a tug as he went past him to get to the ball, and that was the cause for the free.

Anyway, with Longmuir off the ground, Jeff White started to come into the game. Without Sandilands in the squad, Freo were forced to resort to using third gamer Michael Johnson in the ruck. All of a sudden, Freo struggled to get first use of the ball in the centre. Longmuir hadn't been dominating the ruck, but he was coming closer to breaking even with White, and a few goals had been created by the Freo midfield winning the ball from the center and getting it into the forward line. Melbourne locked the ball into their forward line, and after three goes at it, Ben Holland scored himself a goal. By half time Freo were still three goals up, but I was worried that the momentum had swung against us.

The thrid quarter started the way the second had ended. Longmuir was still off the ground, though he has jogged (or at least ambled) across the ground at half time, and Johnson was still getting beaten in the ruck. To be fair, he did look to be helpful playing as a super-sized rover in the centre, but he just wasn't competing enough against White. LOng muir came back about midway through the quarter and played the rest of the game contesting the center bounce and then hiding out at full forward the rest of the time. Meanwhile, Melbourne gradually worked their way to the front of the game, eventually getting out to an 11 point lead. To their credit, Freo fought back, and were 7 points up at three-quarter time.

The last quarter started the way I wanted it to, given that Freo were kicking to the end I was sitting at. Farmer took a mark right on the goal line, but for some reason was put on a hugely tight angle. He kicked the goal anyway, for his 5th. I had a brief scare after McPharlin collided with an opponent and left the ground holding his face. He was back on within 5 or 10 minutes, but it was a worry. Farmer kicked two more, and then passed one off to Haselby, and Freo were out to a 26 point lead.

Just when Freo seemed to have the game wrapped up, and the Melbourne faithful were making their way out of the ground, Melbourne started to get back into it. They were pretty ably assisted in this endeavour by the umpires, who had given Freo a good run up until that point. First there was a free kick paid against Medhurst for pushing his opponent out in a marking contest. To be honest, I thought that was a free, but then I think Medhurst gives away frees in almost all his marking contests, and they seldom get paid. Medhurst tossed the ball back to his opponent, and it went straight to him, but the umpire deemed that he had put too much loop on the throw, so paid 50 against him. Fortunately the umpire realised his error, and the 50 was quite a short one. The nightmare wasn't over for Medders though. Soon after that, Neitz marked on the 50, and was going back to shoot on goals. Meanwhile, Medhurst was getting dragged. The umpire deemend that Medhurst ran too close to Neitz's line on his way off, and paid another 50 against him, which turned a possible goal into a certainty. In the end, Melbourne got to within 8 points before Bell was able to settle things down, and the game ended, fittingly, with Bell scoring a goal after the siren to make the margin 14 points.

This was one of the most enjoyable games of footy that I have been to, and not just because Freo won the game. The fact that there were 42 goals scored, and that they were pretty evenly split between the two teams had a lot to do with it.

McPharlin at full forward certainly worked, and I think it helped bring Farmer into the game more too, but realistically, McPharlin scored 4 goals in a single burst, and then struggled to add to that tally for the rest of the game. His kicking for goals from more than 35m out is a worry too. And Farmer's effort was a "special" because he was playing his old team.

Final Score : Fremantle 22.11-143 beat Melbourne 20.9-129

© 2005 timnfromoz timnfromoz@hotmail.com

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