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Not many will join me in feeling any kind of sympathy for Ross Lyon – he’s not the kind of fellow who seems to attract much. Still, I’ll give it a crack.
Six marches into September as a senior coach, and all Lyon has to show for it is the admirable courage of his battered foot soldiers and a solitary drawn grand final.
Unlike many, I’m a massive fan of Ross-ball. I like its grisliness. I like how opposition teams look foolish when a Lyon-coached side squeezes then squeezes some more.
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I also love the buy-in of his players. His is a footballing cult. You sign on knowing any movement away from the plan will leave you looking elsewhere for a gallop.
The discipline he inspires is extraordinary. Workers thrive. Downhill skiers play in the magoos before being nudged out the door.
There’s something fiercely honest about it.
There’s also a toll. The weekly grind of elite AFL is tough enough. Under Lyon it’s amplified.
Soft tissue eventually fails when you’re asked to run harder for longer. Bones will be broken when selfless collisions are prescribed.
I was hopeful for Fremantle leading into last weeks final against Sydney. They gave it a fair and brave shake.
The efforts of Alex Silvagni and particularly Garrick Ibbotson – both 2014 fringe players of whom enormous things were asked – were quite something. Silvagni’s numbers belied his workrate. Ibbotson’s effort was precise and calm. If the umpires didn’t decide to award Lance Franklin his own rulebook – for whatever reason holding the ball and/or incorrect disposal aren’t things that often apply to the Swans spearhead – their work as part of an understrength back six would have been even more exceptional.
But just as it was when Ross nearly took the Saints all the way, an emphasis on stopping at the expense of going eventually saw his charges fall short.
Occasionally the Dockers slipped out the back of the Swans on the turnover, but a good side won’t let that happen often enough to let Freo kick a winning score.
It places a huge strain on taking early opportunities and nailing all the gettables. Sometimes Lyon sides do this against exceptional opposition. But when it’s counted, when the heat has been truly on, they have a habit of falling short.
In the 2009 grand final – after an all-but-flawless season – Lyon’s Saints wasted opportunities that will haunt the club for a long time.
In a sense the same script played out in last year’s decider. The Dockers blew chances, especially early, on the biggest stage. If they’d taken what they should have it was game on.
Everything needed to go the Dockers’ way last Saturday. Despite their best efforts, they didn’t. Now, with Hayden Ballantyne a likely goner, this week they have to do more with even less.
And they confront a Port Adelaide side that couldn’t be more confident.
The Port back half and midfield wave-running that so dazzled us in the first half of the season was back on display last Sunday. Plenty of us had forgotten how awesome it could be.
How will Freo combat that dash? Will they go toe-to-toe, or stodge things up in the hope that they’ll prevail at the death? Can Silvagni et al do it all again in defence? Can Pavlich play a big enough role up forward? If not, then who? Can the footsore Dockers actually go with an amped-up Port?
All of sudden it looks a real uphill task for the men in purple.
And what of North Melbourne after their enthralling, belief-dementing win? Who knows how Essendon have maintained the rage this year, but they have. Come what may, it will be to their eternal credit.
But on Saturday night, perhaps inevitably in a sense, North popped the bubble and ripped the Bombers to bits. And now the cock-a-hoop Kangas take on a Geelong side that looks a little torn and frayed (to borrow from the Rolling Stones).
Just as many of us expected Essendon’s dramatic season to eventually go to jelly, it’s hard not to ponder whether after resisting so gamely, Geelong’s glory days have finally entered time on.
This week the Cats are sans two key ruck options. Steve Johnson is touch and go. Allen Christensen is unlikely. Steven Motlop looked sore. For all the talk of Geelong’s new wave, only two – Mitch Duncan and Cameron Guthrie – feature in the Cats’ top ten disposal gatherers.
I’m not convinced it’s the case, but I do often quietly wonder if wins racked up at Kardinia Park have added an illusory element to Geelong’s ladder position in recent campaigns. Have the Cats’ fine elder statesmen been good enough to carry Geelong a step beyond their actual worth? Is the game now up?
All these questions…
The bottom line is that I can’t recall a better opportunity for teams outside the four to take the next step and claim a preliminary final spot.
We all know history isn’t on their side. But eventually, new history is always written.
The last team to be ousted in straight sets was the West Coast Eagles in 2007 – Port pipped them by three points in a qualifier, and the Pies scrambled to beat the Eagles after extra time a week later.
Interestingly the Eagles battled manfully without Ben Cousins and Chris Judd in that game. Even if the odds are stacked against surprises, battered bodies and absent stars can make a difference.
There are a lot of both at Fremantle and Geelong as we head into the weekend that whittles six to just four.
Is this the year preliminary finals take on a new look? Can’t wait to find out.
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