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The last three Saturday games of Round 1 – if you believe the odds – were all upsets, continuing the theme set on Friday night and early Saturday afternoon.
In fact in some respects only Richmond’s win over Carlton on Thursday night the only game stuck to the script.
Adelaide, tipped by many to be a real chance in 2019, were beaten by 32 points by the supposedly sliding Hawks, who scored 12 goals and 15 behinds. That was exactly the same total scored by Port Adelaide against the Demons on Saturday, albeit by only 26 points.
In the AFL top 100 goalscorers race, Eddie Betts opened up a two-goal break on his two chasers, the goalless Jarryd Roughead and the injured Josh Kennedy. All three players set out to run down top-40 goalscorer Melbourne’s Norm Smith. Seven more goals are still required.
Roughead was not the only goalless key forward in the game, with Taylor Walker also failing to find the big sticks. Although seven places outside the top 100 all-time AFL goal kickers, Walker is the heir apparent and needs only six goals to make the cut.
The weekend games of Collingwood and Sydney added another chapter to the tale of the twins. Bruce Reid, a solid contributor for Footscray between 1977 and 1982, was considered surplus to requirements by coach Ian ‘Bluey’ Hampshire after playing 86 games for the Bulldogs. He moved on to Carlton and played another 33 serviceable games over the next three years but, as he failed to play 100 games at a single club, the Bulldogs were not able to claim his twin sons under the father-son rule. As a result, Sam was selected by Sydney and Ben by Collingwood.
Sam Reid scored two goals for Sydney on Saturday to take his total to 128 goals and join the elite top 50 goalscorers at the club. He now shares equal 49th position with the famous Roy Cazaly, immortalised in Mike Brady’s Up There Cazaly football anthem. He also has played enough games for the Swans (122) to be comfortably inside the top 100 in 94th position.
Meanwhile, twin brother Ben battles fitness and form to make either top 100 list at the Magpies. Although he has played more games than Sam (142), he is still three games and 24 goals away from qualifying. Considering he is still injured and outside the Magpies best 22, he is no certainty to make either list. My earlier article about Frank Murphy may have been pessimistic.
Meanwhile, Isaac ‘Super Grab’ Heeney, with two goals for Sydney, zoomed up the lower reaches of the Swans top 100 goal kickers, passing Silvio Foschini, Leon Higgins and Bill Strang, who was born 136 years ago and stopped playing 106 years ago, and joining Robert Dean, Bobby Allison and Don Keyter in 86th position on 81 goals.
Three goals ahead of him is teammate Tom Papley, who left behind Craig Braddy and joined ex-Magpie Paul Williams in equal 82nd position.
Champion John Blakey’s son Nick started his career with the Swans with a goal with his first kick in AFL football, watched by his proud dad.
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