Votes and notes this week by Corbo, our guest northern beef industry correspondent
Well Tigers, There are three things I need to disclose before I awards The Benny Votes this week, as guest northern beef industry correspondent.
- I am now a fully blown Hammerphile. Megan is obviously a shrewd judge of livestock.
- Catfish are supposed to be monogamous, but I’m not convinced
- The steers I keep out in the Clarence River Valley are an uneconomical ruse for me to to get out to my cabin and listen to the Tigers on the wireless. And eat catfish.
Things were going well. The senate was non-hostile when I’d tabled the “I’m going out to the Clarence to check the steers” Bill. I’d caught a mating pair of catfish for tea. As well as allegedly monogamous, catfish rival bower birds as the most OCD animal in the kingdom. A pebble out of place in their neat white ring on the river bed, and they are visibly upset. They are a little like Alex Rance I suppose.
I’d ‘tuned’ in the wireless. The Clarence is a broad, deep valley. Bound by the Great Divide and the Richmond range. So my wireless coverage of the game was a pulsing mixture of football, and Indonesian radio. It was thrillingly, almost unlistenable. It seemed to swing more to the footy spectrum when Tigers surged forward and more to an Indonesian weather report when Freo had the ball.
The moon was full. And the Red Gums loomed and threatened like Ben Griffiths.
A dingo howled ‘yellow and black’
I could gather from the broadcast that Indo were in from some nasty weather, and Freo are tanking. But that’s not to take anything away from the Tigers.
5 Trent Cotchin
4 Dusty
3 Sheds
2 Hammertime
1 Jack
I could apologise to 5 or 6 blokes for leaving them out of the votes, but that would be like apologising to a widowed catfish.
All is well.
– Corbo
The Benny
23: Riewoldt
16: Cotchin
14: Martin
11: Rance, Houli
9: Hampson
8: Miles
6: Lloyd, Deledio
5: Lambert, Castagna, Griffiths
3: Townsend, Short, C. Ellis, Edwards
2: Rioli
1: B. Ellis
Blair Hartley Appreciation Award
11: Houli
9: Hampson
8: Miles
3: Townsend
Anthony Banik Best First Year Player
5: Castagna
3: Short
2: Rioli
Joel Bowden's Golden Left Boot
11: Houli
Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal
5: Castagna
3: Short
Next week’s votes will be cast by representatives of the ORCS, to be confirmed.
Chris says
Good votes, prompt votes. Catfish talk a big game about being ‘monogamous’ but once they get a few drinks into them – all bets are off, believe me.
It’s all sweet when you’re winning we know that, but the way we are winning and the players who are coming to the fore – its a strong endorsement of the club’s faith in Hardwick. Steve Morris has now played 3 very strong games on end and they may have already reinstated his cardboard cutout in the Tiger Superstore. Hammer is, as you say, rucking extremely well and maybe that confidence is bring out hidden facets of his game like his marking and the don’t-argue.
I am positive that Dusty has conducted a DA clinic over summer because that we must be leading the league in that stat at the minute.
I had resisted looking down the track at our draw but Dorro was pretty convincing on radio last night when he said he saw us only dropping one between here and and the first game after the bye.
andy says
“And the Red Gums loomed and threatened like Ben Griffiths.” What a sentence.
I’m happy to see Morris playing well. I like his straight kicks and his improved handballing.
A relief that he seems to be okay after the head-clash near the end of the game. The game was won but he was still going hard; little more could be asked from the team and supporters.
I’m thinking Grigg has been playing well: I also left him out of my votes a couple of weeks ago, perhaps when he had played a better game. Apologies to him.
A wonderfully boring game. Great to see the players hold firm throughout.
Joe Crawford says
Regarding Hammer
Now he is our #1 ruck he seems to have made a conscious decision to ‘have a dip’ and make the position his. I wonder if he has also been told that no matter what ‘you will be our #1 ruck so play like it’. His previous stints in the team have been very brief and fruitless but perhaps, and current evidence seems to support this, a decent run at it, and backing from the coaching staff and selectors, could be the making of him – I certainly hope so.
Just a thought…
Could Hammer’s improvement allow a fit Ivan to return to the team as a centre-half back? He is tall, he can run, he can mark, he’s cool under pressure and his kicking is good. May not be the quickest off the mark but he has plenty of other attributes.
Chris says
I’d love Ivvy back, but I think against a lot of CHFs he would blow up pretty quickly. He’s 4 years younger than Nick Riewoldt but can you imagine him trying to play on him?
I agree Hampson seems to have a huge dose of self-belief. I have actually been impressed with his pure ruckwork since the first bounce this year. But watching him kick for goal has taken at least a week off my lifespan.