reflections on the derby

it may have been a game that didn't reach any great heights but a come from behind win when few people gave us a chance before the game was fantastic. i found it interesting that a lot of the dockers players who weren't playing in the game were sitting in the grandstand with the supporters. it's one of those nice touches that freo tend to do pretty well. i couldn't imagine the pretentious e-girls asking their players to sit with the ordinary folk in the outer. 

it ended up being a game of two halves (yes, i know that's a terrible cliche but it fits here). in the first half we played the style of footy we'd played in the first 4 rounds of the season ie. lots of misdirected handballs under pressure, delaying playing on until all options were covered, applying virtually no pressure on the opposition. and, of course, the result was the weagles dominated play. in the second half we played as we did last week against sydney ie. long direct play and intensity at the ball and the opposition ball carriers. and, of course, the result was we dominated play and outscored the e-girls by 6 goals after half time. it seems as though the key to freo at the moment is to keep it simple and play on with long direct play. hopefully harvs can keep the boys focused and the results will come.

as for the stars, i said before the game that if we won i'd expect hasleby to win the glendinning medal and he did. he's having an awesome season and is showing just how much we missed him last year. it's a tragedy that we won't get to see hase and palmer working together until next season. still, we have the joy of watching stephen hill this season as he just gets better every week. some of his play in the derby was simply stunning. he looks like being one of those rare players that is worth the ticket price alone. the other player who's been an absolute highlight so far this season is garrick ibbotson. he played some very good footy last year but so far this season has taken it to another level. 

i was pretty disheartened after the st kilda match but that's turned around. i still don't expect us to make the finals this year but as long as the boys keep putting in gutsy efforts as they have done in the past two matches i'll be happy. i'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.