Brett Peake is expected to don a pink bunny rabbit suit some time before the end of the season and star in an ad for Energizer batteries. Like George Grljusich talking about handicapping at the races, he just keeps going and going and going. Another with the Energizer Bunny virus is Byron Schammer, he's spent the summer making himself look like a pocket version of Grinder, just a ball of muscle wrapped in a purple jumper, and looks set to square the ledger in the blokes that hurt him v blokes he hurts department over the coming months. Paul "Chops" Haselby has been renamed Paul "Veal" Haslbey, adopting the waif look for 2006 and putting one hand on the Brownlow medal very early in the season. Looking almost but not quite spritely he covered plenty of ground and will dish out a few footy lessons to the Eagles midfield in a few days time. Another player bucking the bulking up trend but still fitter than buggery is Paul Medhurst who's back to the sort of shape that saw him taking screamers every couple of minutes and kicking goals at will. He even managed to sneak in a specky in the scratch match, much to the delight of the Freo supporters who'd turned out. Medhursts partner in crime, Jeff "Everywhere" Farmer was also looking very dangerous. Not happy just to settle into a forward pocket he was running all over the ground like a young Andrew Wills. He wasn't quite literally jumping out of his skin (although one bloke, who drinking from a although drinking what he told me was Fanta from a paper bag and struggling to stay upright, swore that he actually saw Jeff's skeleton sell Matthew Carr the dummy) but he was coming as close as a man could without his organs falling all over the ground and getting crap all over them. Looking like he could have grown to 222 centimetres, a mobile Aaron Sandilands rucked well and pulled down plenty of marks (as well as a pelican that got too close, a piece of the Subiaco light tower and the Channel 7 chopper). He and Jlo dominated in the centre against Michael Warren who obviously lost a bet with the selection committee over the summer. There was some relief for Warren though, he got dragged and Sandilands took his jumper (again not literally or it would be more of a midriff top) and got the ball going the other way, giving the likes of Cook and the Schammer a chance to get a go at getting the ball. Graham Polak continued to covertly push for a role in the midfield, playing at both ends of the ground. He kicked a couple of goals and took some marks but didn't look like knocking Pavlich out of the centre half forward position any time soon. He'll also struggle to take the full forward spot off Luke McPharlin who now has people wondering whether Steve Malaxos under estimated him predicting only 80 goals for the season. Forgotten heroes Roger Hayden and Robbie Haddrill were sights for sore eyes. Hayden didn't see much action when he got his chance gave the crowd a taste of his class and Robbie Haddrill had locked himself in a full back for, well, as long as he wants until he twinged a hamstring, looking likely to miss the opening pre-season match.. The Dockers will be in action next on Sunday 26th of February when they follow in the footsteps of the Sydney Swans and give the Eagles another taste of the bitterness of defeat in the opening Round of the NAB Cup. Keep an eye on dockerland in the next few days for details on how to get your very own Leo Barry mask to help stick it up the Eagles.
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