I loved this moment. Griffiths is about to take the mark and his defender is already beaten. This game, footy, is ballet with a ball combined with the hardness of boxing, sprinting and endurance running. Griffiths’ seemingly effortless mark in the first quarter, for his second goal was a result of routine, practice, structure. Matisse should have painted this scene.
It was during the second quarter that the flashing, shifting, swirling, singing advertisements on the fences started to really grate. And moreover, the commentators weren’t saying anything about them; as if it was all perfectly good, perfectly natural for the crowd, viewers to be distracted by so much visual pollution just as X, Y or Z is lining up for a shot at goal. So, why stop at having just one Kluger advertisement on the Southern Wing? There’s so much more space for advertisements.
This is a drawing of Mr.Grigg on the left; sure, he is a bit sturdier in real life; thicker legs and thicker arms, but, I’ve taken a liking to the way he runs. Steady and balanced, weaving a gentle arc across the MCG turf, looking for a leading forward.
Cometti: ‘That was an important kick, not because it would have been his first goal, but because his team needed it.’ This could have been the moment the Tiges threw in the towel collectively and said, ‘it’s not our night; luck isn’t going our way.’ But, instead, the team moved as one stating that their game would have nothing to do with luck – only skill, desire and poise.
This map was drawn after the fact; after the result was known and the Opening Round Glory was still sinking in. This was a mature win, a game that was winnable and was won. As Dugald has said on Twitter, it will mean nothing if it can’t be backed up again (and again and again). On another day, there would have been fewer red triangles signalling goals and the circles for marks would have been the opposition’s marks. Those goals in the second quarter were great because Grigg’s, Lloyd’s and Jack’s were all scored from unmissable positions. The fans were celebrating as they went through. Most things that McIntosh did I tried to map; the map is McIntosh heavy.
Chris says
“Gordon seals it. Grigg seals it again”. I love this.
I agree completely about the flashing hoardings. Combined with our local broadcaster moving to showing ads after every goal (which is unbearable when one team has a run-on) I think I might be wtaching more footy on the radio this season.
Andy Fuller says
Hey Chris,
Thanks for your comment. I started to regret having subscribed to the AFL overseas service, but, often times it is too difficult to watch or listen live. I find something magical in radio commentary on sport, and too often the tv commentators aren’t great. I would love to be able to listen to a full radio replay. 🙂
(I’ll be watching live on Saturday morning; 5:45am start)
Andy