finally a good footy weekend

finally i have a double reason to cheer after the weekend with claremont and freo both notching impressive wins.

my (once) mighty tigers have kept alive our hopes of avoiding the wooden spoon as we're only a game behind east perth but ahead of them on percentage so only have to win one more game than they do for the rest of the year. i've been barracking for claremont for 27 years and in this time we've not finished bottom so it would be great if we could avoid it this year. what made the win on the weekend even more meritorious was that it was over a side that was in the top 4 at their home ground and without browne, mackenzie or wilkes who were all playing for their afl sides.

the freo game was a strange affair. i watched most of the first quarter through my fingers and certainly had my head in my hands at quarter time. we were simply woeful. thankfully harvs performed some magic at the first break and a completely different side came out for the rest of the game. suddenly the boys were attacking the bloke with the ball and forcing errors. this is something the good sides do each week whilst we've been playing a game where we simply run alongside the ball carrier and hope that our psychic powers will make him trip over and drop the ball. strangely our approach thus far hasn't worked. the final 3 quarters were the sort of football i expect from an afl side and if we can continue that level of intensity i'd expect us to win a lot more games.

i was also really happy with the games of some of the younger brigade. ibbotson and mayne played the same way they have all year.. bloody hard. each week they seem more at ease playing in the premier competition and are really showing a great deal of potential. also showing really good signs were browne and o'brien who were both very hard at the ball. o'brien is a player i was hoping to see a lot more of this year as i believe he provides great value for the team in his willingness to get under the packs and do the hard work that we used to rely on troy cook and shaun mcmanus for. speaking of mcmanus; he was fantastic. i'm sure he'd be the first to admit that he's not overly blessed with silky skills but he makes up for any skill shortfall with an excess of heart. his retirement in imminent and i'll really miss him.