Friday night in Australia is early morning here in the States, so the Friday Footy package comes on at 4 a.m. here in Idaho...it's not that we're psychic and can predict the outcomes a day in advance! Needless to say, though, we had predicted Collingwood to move to 5-1, but instead it's Geelong defeating the Crows 100-59 with a blitzkrieg of a first half: five goals in the first ten minutes to lead 30-1, leading 70 to 10 just before halftime. Collingwood crept back into the match in the second half, closing within 23 before three goals in two minutes for the Cats put the game out of reach.
Two points of note: One is in this article the game score is linked to, and that's the curious and inexplicable fact that since round 14 of last year (a span of fifteen straight games), whatever team played Carlton has LOST their game the next week. Collingwood won by 75 over the Blues last week and were five point favorites last night...but the Blues jinx got them! In fact, looking at the schedule, it seems very likely to continue for another few games, at least until round 10, when Sydney follows up a game against Carlton with a visit to the Gold Coast, where they'll undoubtedly be massive favorites against the currently 1-4 Suns...
The second note is one of the best examples of coachspeak you'll ever hear, in the main article on afl.com.au. After the game, Collingwood head coach Nathan Buckley was asked about the game - the game, you understand, where his team had a five goal deficit before the fans had sat down from the concession stand, and where they scored one goal to eleven for Geelong with a few minutes to go in the half...
"At the 10-minute mark of the game we're five goals down, so that's not the way that we wanted to begin," Buckley said.
"We spoke about starting well but we didn't get there. All credit to the Cats..."
SO, coach..."That's not the way you wanted to begin"? Down five goals right away? No, we wouldn't THINK so... "We spoke about starting well but we didn't get there"... No? Down 70-10 isn't starting well? Huh... Glad you told us! Never would have guessed it.
(To his infinite credit, however, as almost every AFL coach and player does, he owned up to the failures of the team, and undoubtedly began addressing the issues immediately. After all, what else are you going to say after a defeat like that? So, did we win? No? Well, we're planning to appeal...)
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