Dear Dan,
At the moment I think that I am taking greater comfort from the bigger picture. It's great to look at the ladder and see that we are in sixth, having won six in a row for the first time since 1999. That's the kind of happy thought any well-meaning north supporter can relate to. It's only when you start thinking about the sixth of those "wins" that it gets more complicated.
It started out like any normal day at the footy - and in some ways i guess it ended like a normal day at the footy - and all seemed well. There was a bit of a shaky start but we were always looking comfortable if only due to the fact that melbourne seemed more inept than i would have thought possible.
There were some lucky goals, there were some frees we should have had but didn't and they missed some shots as well as making continual errors. Of course, we were able to be entertained by their pre-historic duo - neanderthal jamar and cro-magnon neitz - which is always the best part of playing melbourne. unfortunately, we weren't seated near that crazy dee woman who wears one red and one blue glove and, for some not obvious reason, yells out "play it again, sam" at regular intervals.
the game itself was tedious, and even shagger's four-goal second quarter was oddly amateurish. despite our wasted third quarter dominance it seemed as though we were headed to a comfortable win. of course, a comfortable win is something that we, as north supporters, appear to have no acquaintance with. why, i ask you, why cannot there be the occasional crushing, the run away victory, the game so far beyond doubt that not even we could lose?
it feels like in most games we have got to some point that is 5 to 7 goals in front before the inevitable begins ... as you know i had enough and had to vacate my seat about halfway through the melbourne version of the inevitable due to extreme stress and frustration. unable to find a car to overturn and set alight i paced the standing room enclosure which was sparsely populated with a few north supporters who wore the expressions of people who had been trapped in front of some repeatedly painful episode of hey dad.
at this point i was engaged in frustrated conversation with one of our fellow roos who had been similarly driven to leave his seat in search of plastic explosives. by the time they were one goal behind i was resigned to the inevitability of our defeat - there appeared to be no way we could get the ball out of our backline, let alone win. in this state of zen calmness i started chatting with jane and stefanie (a two-week old new roo). not even corey jones' repeated errors or the surprise of brady rawlings missing an easy goal held any earthly meaning for me.
the final siren came and we had won. but had we? sure, we have the "four points" but could i sing the song? no.
i read with interest this morning that the team spends a lot of time practising what to do if they are behind in the last five minutes of a match and wondering whether this practise had some subtle psychological effect that leads the team to create the circumstances where this practise has some application.
can't we do more of that practise of being 15 goals up at the 20 minute mark of the last quarter, so a win can be enjoyed properly?
i don't think this is too much to ask.
Justin
13.5.07
Watching the football with my sister
Dear Justin,
Let me apologise for being so slow to reply. But what a fortnight it has been for North Melbourne! First a good win over Sydney, of which we were able to watch half together, followed by the defeat of Ess'tn - a less impressive performance, perhaps, but a more satisfying win. And we find ourselves in the eight, with Carlton and Melbourne in the next two rounds.
Suddenly we look like a decent side. Our midfield has a good combination of ball-getters - with Harris, Swallow, Simpson and Grima - and faster, skillful players like Wells and Harvey. Our no-name defence is looking ok, with Firrito and Gibbo doing the job, Pratty having fewer brain fades than previous years, Arch being Arch (I loved that 50 he gave away this week), and Smith coming in and looking a million dollars. And as for our forward line, people just keep bobbing up and doing to the job - Petrie, Brown, Grant, Boomer, Campbell and of course Edwards (more on him later).
I've had the chance these past two weeks to watch the footy with my sister Em. As you know, Em and I became fanatics together in the early to mid 90s, including going to training (when no one else in the world seemed to) and watching Denis coach the under 19s at Arden St. Watching with Em is a reminder of how much football has changed - for starters, Glenn Freeborn no longer wears 17, nor Mark Lisle 1. Also, she noticed how negatively we barracked, as if expecting to lose - whereas in the mid to late 90s we always thought we'd win. That's true, although if she'd lived through some of our last quarter fadeouts of late, she might change her style. And, without sounding like a 3AW talkback caller, footy is softer these days (Glenn Archer excepted).
Anyway, watching the footy on TV at home on Friday, we found a new favourite, wearing Darren Crocker's old number (As an aside, it's nice to have someone worthy of the jumper again - no offence to John Baird and that lumpy young forward... what was his name?). Although Edwards started slowly, once he got going he was very important... it's great to have someone who can mark the ball again. She started to call him 'Sticky', as in Sticky Fingers. I like it.
No doubt being at the game was great. After the Sydney game there was plenty of spontaneous singing of the club song, as there has been in previous years when we've beaten Essendon. No doubt the same thing happened on Friday.
Speak soon,
Dan
Let me apologise for being so slow to reply. But what a fortnight it has been for North Melbourne! First a good win over Sydney, of which we were able to watch half together, followed by the defeat of Ess'tn - a less impressive performance, perhaps, but a more satisfying win. And we find ourselves in the eight, with Carlton and Melbourne in the next two rounds.
Suddenly we look like a decent side. Our midfield has a good combination of ball-getters - with Harris, Swallow, Simpson and Grima - and faster, skillful players like Wells and Harvey. Our no-name defence is looking ok, with Firrito and Gibbo doing the job, Pratty having fewer brain fades than previous years, Arch being Arch (I loved that 50 he gave away this week), and Smith coming in and looking a million dollars. And as for our forward line, people just keep bobbing up and doing to the job - Petrie, Brown, Grant, Boomer, Campbell and of course Edwards (more on him later).
I've had the chance these past two weeks to watch the footy with my sister Em. As you know, Em and I became fanatics together in the early to mid 90s, including going to training (when no one else in the world seemed to) and watching Denis coach the under 19s at Arden St. Watching with Em is a reminder of how much football has changed - for starters, Glenn Freeborn no longer wears 17, nor Mark Lisle 1. Also, she noticed how negatively we barracked, as if expecting to lose - whereas in the mid to late 90s we always thought we'd win. That's true, although if she'd lived through some of our last quarter fadeouts of late, she might change her style. And, without sounding like a 3AW talkback caller, footy is softer these days (Glenn Archer excepted).
Anyway, watching the footy on TV at home on Friday, we found a new favourite, wearing Darren Crocker's old number (As an aside, it's nice to have someone worthy of the jumper again - no offence to John Baird and that lumpy young forward... what was his name?). Although Edwards started slowly, once he got going he was very important... it's great to have someone who can mark the ball again. She started to call him 'Sticky', as in Sticky Fingers. I like it.
No doubt being at the game was great. After the Sydney game there was plenty of spontaneous singing of the club song, as there has been in previous years when we've beaten Essendon. No doubt the same thing happened on Friday.
Speak soon,
Dan
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