You wouldn't call it a exhibition of how to annihilate a team of schoolboys but Fremantle got the job done in their own unique way. Chasing 4 points and a return to percentage credibility, Fremantle had the Giants rolled by quarter time with a 6 goals to none opening term. They lost the plot in front of goals in the second term, kicking 13 behinds (still goals to the Giants) before straightening up in the second half to win by 95 points, sadly conceding not 1 but 5 goals in the second half. Pav kicked a lazy 7, Michael Walters kicked a couple and set up half a dozen more and it looks like Hayden Ballantyne won't be having kids after an accident downstairs that has his teammates now calling him Hayden 'One' Ballantyne.
On a cold winter's day, there is no greater feeling than heading outside, grabbing the biggest stick you can find, walking up to a baby seal and clubbing it over the head until it's dead. Sure, some will tell you about the thrill of the hunt or the challenge of matching your wits against another creature but, at the end of the day, you just can't beat smushing a defenceless creature to death with a blunt object. Which brings us to Fremantle v Greater Western Sydney.
The worst team in the league had headed over to Perth with their second best 22. Some of them could shave, a few of them could hire a car, most thought of Ice T as an actor. The crowd came to see blood. Not just blood but also the squishy stuff that comes out of things that get smushed really badly. They came with some trepidation though. The new coach is the sort of bloke who, sitting on 98 before stumps in a game of cricket, would block even then juiciest of deliveries from the most part time of part time spinners and sort the century out the next morning. So there was a bit of concern he'd have some kooky plan about learning structures or experimenting with a new type of super flood.
Nup.
20 seconds in and Pav was slotting through a goal from the goal square. A minute later and Clancee Pearce was drilling one from 40.
Ross Lyon looked from his stats sheet to the scorebaord and saw they had two goals in less than two minutes. 'Crikey!' he said 'Two goals up? I'm going for a sandwich'. And he headed out to run the gauntlet of the Subi Snack van. ...Read More