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When I was growing up, Saturday Night Slam Masters was one of my favourite games on the Super Nintendo. It was an arcade game built on the Hollywood Hogan flamboyant era of professional wrestling.
My mates and I would spend hours pitting El Stingray against Biff Slamkovich in titanic battles for pixel supremacy.
Friday afternoon would be filled with anticipation as I got on my bike and sped over to the video store with my two dollar-coins to check it out.
These days, Friday nights remind me of my days playing Saturday Night Slam Masters.
Friday nights are consistently the highest rating game, and teams get really grumpy when they don’t get a game scheduled in on the biggest stage. Ex-bossman Andrew Demitreou once called Friday night footy a reward for good performance. More often than not, it’s the best teams or the ones with the most compelling storylines that get the Friday, 7:20pm time slot, and more often than not the games deliver.
Last season, Friday night games were on average a goal closer in final margin, a few points higher-scoring, and saw more games as a share of the total decided by less than three kicks.
What’s this got to do with anything? Well, the guys at The Roar have green lit a trial of a new piece I’m calling Friday Night Forecast.
It’s really just a preview of Friday’s game, what’s on the line, and who’s going to win. No 90s video game wrestling, unfortunately. We’ll see how we go.
West Coast Eagles vs Carlton Blues
Two teams enter 0-1, one will leave 0-2. But both teams have more than a Round 2 record at stake.
Carlton were woeful against the Tigers last Thursday after quarter time, and it was in no small measure caused by the luckless Dale Thomas’ untimely shoulder dislocation.
Thomas lined up at half forward, and would have given the Blues the forward-of-centre spark they sorely lacked from the second quarter onwards. Clem Smith came on and was shuffled to a forward tagging role against Bachar Houli, and that was pretty much it. Houli and Alex Rance played a masterful game in the back half and didn’t give the Blues a chance.
Carlton’s midfield group was largely ineffectual, with a suddenly spry Chris Judd (21) and coming-into-his-prime Bryce Gibbs (26) the only two receiving pass marks.
All of a sudden, we’re talking about whether Mick Malthouse will be coaching the side come 2016, and debating whether Carlton are five or 10 years away from contending for a premiership. The fan-base is restless.
They’re up against another one of footy’s least-tolerant-of-mediocrity fan-bases in West Coast, who were overwhelmed by the Western Bulldogs last Saturday.
The Dogs managed to stick an incredible 94 tackles (West Coast laid 76 mind you), with two players cracking double digits. The pressure and intensity of the contest was amps more than anyone expected.
It was a 10-point contest, but it really should’ve been more: West Coast had just 17 scoring shots on 41 inside 50s, compared to 27 scoring shots on 58 inside 50s to their opponents.
It was Jeremy ‘Superman’ McGovern (12 marks and 26 disposals as the lone tall defender) who held up West Coast’s depleted defensive line and stopped what should’ve been a pantsing of the highest order. All of a sudden, the blowtorch has been applied to the Eagles paceless midfield group.
They have a chance to respond this week against another of the slower sides in the competition – expect them to do so.
Not comfortably mind you: neither side really screams high-powered offence in the way the top handful do. Sure, West Coast have Josh Kennedy and Mark LeCras, but when your midfield can’t deliver effectively it’s not a real advantage.
Expect a low-scoring, high-possession affair – West Coast and Carlton were two of the six sides that didn’t crack 200 kicks last weekend, while West Coast was the only side that had a negative kick-handball differential.
West Coast by 15 points.
That’s my Friday Night Forecast. What’s yours?