Round 12.5 - Go on - Blame Injuries for Mediocrity

Well the Crows won Ugly - mainly courtesy of Laids putting 22 players in the defensive 50 for most of the game - but not as ugly as my golf. ooof. Hmmm. Yes, as bad as the Paaaah were (who would have thought?), you can take that and times by 2 - actually you can divide by 3 - and you'll be around the mark.

Lets give you a hint. First hole - Par 3. Feeling a little stiff through the shoulders. Pull it left. Tree provides a little challenge. Chip over the green into the water. Drop out, chip up on - long putt misses. WIPE. Hmm. Next. Par 4. Pull it left. Chip it into some trees/water. New ball. Chip, stuff up. Wipe. Hmmm. Next. Par 3. Pull it left through trees. Someone steals my ball. Wipe.

I think you get the picture. Actually those were possibly the highlight of the round for me - because after 3 holes I had only missed one putt and that was from 20 foot. *sighs* OK I know I had only had one putt at that stage, but as bad as those three holes were, they were really a bit like the first 3 quarters for the Hawks today. There was still hope my friends *sighs* and it only seems like 10 hours ago that someone was telling me how rubbish the Lions were, yet here we are, the Lions sit 4th on the ladder while the Hawks sit on the edge of the 8, ready to drop like a sack.

"Injuries!" they'll cry (because that's what Hawks supporters do - Cry), but lets see... the Lions had to travel to the Land of Two Heads, lost a Selwood in the first 13 minutes of the game, lost Clark in the 3rd quarter, and were already missing their entire backline against the supposedly oh so amazing Twin Towers. Aye, the Hawks are the luckiest Premiers since ... well... pretty much anyone. Fatboy Franklin and Ugly n Roughead are yesterdays hero's. They are the equivalent of Right Said Fred - a duo who gave us a one hit wonder with no lasting influence but allowed them to tell us just how sexy they were. The biggest disappointment for me is that Crawf didn't stick around for a year of failure. But nothings perfect.

Up in Darwin the Doggies had a night off ie they played the Paaaah. And of course it couldn't be that the Paaaaaaaah are just no good? Noooo of course not... Injuries. "...probably we've got too many (our our best players) sitting on the sidelines."

Oh Choco, were you saying that about the Hawks when you beat them? I can't remember you saying "Yeah, we beat the Hawks but they had a lot of players missing so it doesn't really count." NO - you said it was probably the best win ever by the club. Sword of Damacles. Clown. Of course last week I said it would be an absolute smashing and I wasn't disappointed. Overrated by themselves to the extreme, the Paaah are a bunch of downhill skiers. They get themselves up for two games a year (inferiority complex) and then get all wahey when they beat the might of the Eagles or Dees. Or the Hawks who are playing like chumps. Choco is no doubt currently negotiating with the Tigers as he runs the team into the ground and expects cash from the SANFL, and an AFL bailout.

Speaking of Tigers and over rated wins. The Tigers - resplendent with Mr Squiggle as the caretaker coach - beat the Eagles. Wow, he must be good on a chalk board eh? The Herald Sun actually said the Tigers looked better under Rawlings. Apparently Rawlings engineered the win. What an engineer. He can beat a team at home that has only won 3 games all year, 7 from their last 34, and hasn't won a single game interstate from it's last 17 attempts. BRILLIANT! GOLD! SIGN HIM UP! Actually, maybe he can swap with Choco and they can both celebrate wins against teams at the bottom of the table.

The Blues took on the Sinners and apparently were a little unlucky to lose - injuries again causing some mayhem. Is there a team that loses that doesn't blame injuries? "OOOOH WE HAD AN INJURY, WE ARE SO RUCKIN UNLUCKY!". Judging from Laidley's response to the Crows loss, no. "One man down again. i think we've played 12 games and finished 10 of them with 21 men." *SLAP* oh i'm sorry Dean, did I break your concentration? Get over it, move on. All teams get injuries during games. Admittedly Juddy looked like an extra from William Hartnell era Doctor Who, as his skull served as a midpoint for streaming blood, and admittedly without Juddy the Blues are a bunch of not quite good enoughs. But that is the difference between a good team (ie Geelong), and a team that won't make it (ie the Blues). The Sinners now have a club record 12 wins in a row and sit on top of the table. Nice. Who knows, they may be the real deal, but we'll have to wait until Round 14 before we know, and my money is on the Catters.

Round 12.5.1 coming soon...