Fremantle v Fremantle. Some call it the Derby they play in Heaven, other, more cynical types, a glorified training session with some WAFL players thrown in. Either way, it's to footy supporters what the first glimpse of the Christmas star was to the three wise men - a sign that you can spend the next 7 months dodging work.
Despite a good hit out to clear out the summer cobwebs, unfortunately, the game itself will be over shadowed by the events which followed later that night. Those at the game will have seen the crazy look in Matthew Pavlich's eye. He was on a rampage. Running wherever he wanted, stealing the ball from people, knocking invalid defenders to the ground and generally running amok. But he couldn't stop when the final siren sounded. He continued to run amok in downtown Subiaco as his rampage carried on throughout the night. He was climbing buildings, tipping over cars, some reports from a taxi driver who spoke to a bloke who spoke to Howard Sattler suggested that he may have even eaten people. In the end the only thing that was able to stop him were the half dozen elephant tranquilizers Chris Connolly shot at him and the offer of double figure odds on himself for the Brownlow.
But it would be a shame just to focus on the negatives of the match when there were so many positives to look at. For example, Paul "Chops" Haselby has been renamed Paul "Veal" Haselby, adopting the waif look for 2007 and putting one hand on the Brownlow medal very early in the season. Looking almost, but not quite spritely, he covered plenty of ground in his half a game (he had to get up early the next day to get to the auctions) and will dish out a few footy lessons to the Eagles midfield in a few days time (if they show up).
Aaron Sandilands still stands at 211cm but he was walking even taller. Confident, strong and surprisingly nimble, he rucked like Pavlich rampaged, swatting planes out of the sky. Not content with just dominating the centre, he threw the odd quick sprint to the goal square into his repertoire, took some marks in the forward line and troubled the scorers.
Despite coming up against the best ruckman in the AFL and being a few weeks away from his scheduled start to the season, Justin Longmuir didn't show any signs that he might not have a big season ahead of him. He moved well, ran hard but probably wished he was taking on a lightweight like Dean Cox instead of 7 foot ogre.
Another player who was struggling with his opponent was Robbie Haddrill. Unfortunately he was in the dunny when they were picking out match ups and was stuck playing on Rampaging Matthew Pavlich. 'Tried hard' and 'better for the run' are the sort of descriptions which best sum up his game but he did have one clear and very important win over Pavlich, unlike most of Haddrill's opponents in the past 2 years Pav wasn't able to send him off with a season ending injury.
One bloke who tried his best to make sure his opponent went off the ground with a season ending injury was Dean Solomon. As part of his duties as 'Henry' the track pony, Solomon is expected to play in the forward line with Chris Tarrant (who didn't play). As many a Fremantle defender found out, Henry's job will be to rub out as many of the opposition defenders as possible. Not having the luxury of being great mates with any of his team yet, Solomon took the opportunity to bury half a dozen or so of the Freo players and send a message to the rest of the competition - pack you brown undies when you travel to Perth.
There were plenty of good performers who didn't quite have the crowd salivating with anticipation but still looked geed up for a big 2007. Peter Bell and Josh Carr cruised around picking their moments and getting some run into their legs. Shane Parker refused to concede that he might be easing himself out of the sport. James Walker recovered from a Solo-nami and could make his way back into the side this season. Brett Peake burnt blokes off, ran as fast as he could and, if they can find a tape measure long enough, is expected to be offered the contract to measure the Great Wall of China. Steven Dodd was pretty good despite having to take it easy on the sledging, luckily they played him on Gilmore so he didn't have to hold back completely.
None of the newly drafted types were on show but a few young players to keep an eye on over the season will be Garrick Ibbotson who didn't star but caught many an eye with his pace and ball skills, and middle aged rookie Andrew Browne who looks to have the whole clearance concept well and truly under control.
The Dockers will be in action next on Sunday 25th of February when they take on former premiership side West Coast in the opening Round of the NAB Cup.
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