Dreams of 200-plus dashed but the Swans still impress

Mick Malthouse has got the sack. Chris Judd, Bryce Gibbs and Marc Murphy are out. I’m dreaming of two hundred-plus, a Buddy Franklin bag of thirteen, and 40-odd disposals for Luke Parker.

The clock strikes 5pm and I hightail it from the office so I can get home in time to IQ the game. You see with two young kids and a missus who was once mad about her Eagles, I don’t see many live games.

ABC 720 has snippets of a stirring interview with Mick, I care very little. He jumped at the chance to take over from Brett Ratten, of a team that showed promise, yet his best was beyond him and so was Carlton’s. Enjoy retirement Mick, and don’t come out of it.

As I pull in to the driveway the fire is burning, one less job to do and some hope of watching it live. After a cuddle with wife and kids I ask what’s for dinner. “Cheese toasties or leftover roast”. You beauty, the odds are getting better.

Game time looms quicker than I realise and it’s 2-0 to Carlton with 16:50 left on the clock in the first. I’m quick to grab the remote and rewind it back to the start, pausing it for a delayed start.

I sneak a look at the score another 10 minutes later and Buddy has three! Only 10 to go.

Finally these toasties are ready and I have convinced the family that we should all bunk down to watch the game. My four-year-old has a great left foot already. My five-year-old has started Auskick and is showing promise. He is a Swans fan like his old man. The other one doesn’t fully understand yet and says he wants to follow the Eagles like his mum, poor kid.

It’s Indigenous Round, my favourite round of the year. I have much respect for our Indigineous people, their culture and their Dreaming. I have admiration for the achievements of those players who have made it in the AFL. I see Franklin, Lewis Jetta, Adam Goodes and Chris Yarran and I think, well done.

Most of the first half is spent trying to get the kids to settle but I see enough of the game to realise my hopes of seeing the Swans crack the 200 are dashed. We just haven’t hit the scoreboard enough. The. Blues have rallied for a change and although they still look awful, they are doing enough to make a game of it.

When the wife says she has found a movie, Shrek I think, for the kids to watch then I breathe a sigh of relief.

A short time later it happens.

Goodes celebrates a goal with the tribal dance he learnt from the Under-16s Boomerangs. I rise from my seat and applaud. Yeah, he directed it at the Carlton cheer squad.

When you kick a goal, even in club footy, you generally gravitate either to your own fans for a rev up or you look for a flock of opposing fans to drum home your goal. Goodes wouldn’t win an episode of Dancing With The Stars on that portrayal, but he would have won the hearts of all those boys from the Boomerangs.

I’m thinking “Is this controversial?”. Not at all. As with everything Adam Goodes has ever done, he is either criticised or applauded. Two years ago in the same round he singled out a person in the crowd who called him an ape.

He was awarded Australian of the Year, an acknowledgement of his contribution to the GO Foundation and achievements in the AFL, which was met with mixed feelings. His on-field performances and particularly his staging for free kicks have also drawn distaste.

Time will tell what this one brings but boy didn’t Eddie McGuire jump at the opportunity to beat it up. A quick check of social media and everyone is already talking it up. I thought it was brilliant and my social media posts reflect that with the tag “one country, one mob”.

The game runs its course and my hopes of a Buddy bag of thirteen or two hundred-plus are now a distant memory. It wasn’t the best effort by the boys. They really should have won by a lot more but a galant effort by Carlton prevented a blow out.

I could see John ‘Horse’ Longmire was frustrated at times. Daniel Robinson was promising, Sam Reid is just improving each week. Goodes contributed just how you would expect as he does so in this round every year. Jetta is becoming a solid contributor.

Richo interviews the great man at the end and if his comments weren’t enough to hush the ‘Face of Fox Footy’ and his panel, then I don’t know what would. It’s another win to the Bloods and thankfully the focus has been taking off the Hawks’ poor kicking of last week.