A weekly column taking a look at the lighter side of football.
Most cricket grand finals coincided with the opening round of the AFL season,but one competition decider played in the last week of February has been the subject of discussion at Melbourne over the past few weeks.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin bowls in the grand final between Melbourne University and STC South Camberwell.Chris Mirabella/ Eastern Cricket Association
The grand final involved the Demons’ senior coach,Simon Goodwin – a former co-captain of the South Australian under 19s team – playing at Princes Park for STC South Camberwell against Melbourne University in an Eastern Suburbs veterans competition.
After much talk over the summer about the performance of the Australian cricket team inside the Demons’ football department,a few of Goodwin’s colleagues were on hand to watch his team win the toss and bat on a slightly damp wicket.
Could he match his thoughts on what needed to happen in India with the whites on himself?
Given Goodwin had made two solid scores in the 20s in his previous two digs,there was a level of confidence. But alas,he was knocked over for two as his team compiled a below-par 141.
Caroline Wilson says there's a "ticking time bomb" at Essendon that's about to reach breaking point.
Not to worry. He has some vicious left-arm mediums,albeit off a slightly reduced run up,to cause panic among the opposition.
Unfortunately,catches win matches,and we are reliably told that,despite Goodwin hanging on to one catch,some of his teammates – perhaps overcome by the occasion – couldn’t catch a cold. Goodwin managed 0-25 off four playing alongside another Melbourne favourite Andrew Leoncelli as the total was overhauled.
The competitive juices were running,but the game was played in good spirit,with Snap Shot rapt to see a senior coach switching off in the middle of a cricket ground over summer.
Goodwin has three AFL flags – two as a player and one as coach – but Snap Shot suspects that losing the Eastern Cricket Association’s Veterans Division 1 grand final when they had the opposition 2-14 chasing 141 will stick in the 46-year-old’s craw for some time.
Ben Brown off the short run
Speaking of run-ups,Melbourne forward Ben Brown – who shares the same hairstyle as his coach in 2023 – showed on Saturday night against the Bulldogs he might be better off adopting a Malcolm Marshall run-up to kick goals rather than the Michael Holding approach he takes for set shots.
Snap Shot noticed Brown’s four goals came from short run-ups,with two goals in general play,each off one step,one goal from two steps,as he played on,and a banana goal from the boundary that limited his approach to 10 steps because he was restricted by the fence.
Later,Brown had a regulation set shot in the final quarter and took 26 steps but his kick ended up falling short.
Ben Brown kicked four goals on Saturday night coming off the short runGetty
Brown told Snap Shot in the pre-season that he was sticking with his routine,developed between 2010-2013 when playing for Werribee. Given he’s snared 346 goals from 163 games,who are we to argue with this logic!
“It’s good for me in a way because it gives me plenty of time to calm down,get the heart-rate down and get in the zone,and I know I have done it a thousand times before,so it gives me comfort,” Brown said.
No issue with that but Snap Shot thinks a minimalist Brown would be a great reinvention in 2023,no locks,small run up. The round-one evidence is in. How about it?
On the coach’s whiteboard
Before you go,here are ...
The eight ways the ladder would have changed if each of the draws Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt has played in throughout his career was sent into extra time (a rule Snap Shot thinks should be implemented) and the Tigers lost. The Tiger veteran has now played in more draws than any other player in AFL history,but what would have happened if the Tigers lost them all? Let’s consider the consequences:
- 2008 v Western Bulldogs. No change.
- 2009 v North Melbourne. No change.
- 2011 v St Kilda. No change.
- 2012 v Port Adelaide. No change.
- 2020 v Collingwood. Magpies would have finished above Western Bulldogs and the elimination finals would have been St Kilda v Collingwood,West Coast v Western Bulldogs
- 2021 v Hawthorn. No change.
- 2022 v Fremantle. Dockers would have made top four at Collingwood’s expense.
- 2023 v Carlton. Who knows what is ahead!
They said
“Let’s be honest,I would not be standing here right now if everything was perfect.” –Essendon coach Brad Scott on 3AW before coaching the Bombers for the first time
But they forgot to say
“Let’s be honest,I would not be standing here right now if one board member had got his way.”
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