life: it goes on
Thursday 5 July 2012
Robert Frost once said “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on”. These words would have been ringing in the ears of the Demons’ brains trust after our loss against the Lions on Sunday. No Clark, No Jamar, No Jones, No Davey, No Green, No LJ, No Bartram, our rising star nomination from last week down and out virtually in the first minute of the game…. Are you kidding me!!??? Flash, Green, LJ and Bratram have been out for a while but to lose our number 1 forward, our leading ruckman, our best player this year by a street and a young gun who has been in some great form this year was a cruel blow to the mighty Dees and whilst you will not hear any excuses coming from the lips of Mark Neeld it really was little surprise we didn’t come away with the chocolates up at the Gabba.
But like the Black Knight’s fighting response to King Arthur in Monty Python’s Holy Grail – “Look you’ve got no arms left”…..’It’s only a flesh wound” the boys did put up a valiant effort. Amazingly (given the final score) we actually had more inside 50s and more contested possessions than the Lions – a very pleasing result on a day when little else went right. The fact that we failed to convert our inside 50s into scores is a reflection of the huge hole left by Clark. And our lack of spread leading us to be smashed in uncontested possessions was not helped by being one man down early in the hot and humid conditions in Brisbane.
However there were some solid performances from our boys on Sunday and here are some of them:
- Colin Sylvia has started to put together some solid form and with 21 possessions, 7 marks, 5 tackles and a goal he is starting to get back to the player that we all have all so badly missed.
- I keep ‘hounding’ Howe and on Sunday he was arguably our best player. In almost identical stats to Sylvia he also picked up 21 disposals coupled with 7 marks and capped off a solid day with a goal. In a year where some players have stood up and taken their game to a new level Jeremy Howe would undoubtedly be at the top of this list.
- Stefan Martin heralded a welcome return to the senior side with a solid game. 21 disposals and 20 hit outs was a sound performance from the big man.
- Others that warrant a mention include Sam Blease with 2 goals and I also liked the game from Jack Trengove.
This week it is the Tigers. With a rivaly that stretches almost as far back as the game itself, these games are always big – regardless of their respective ladder positions – and this will be no exception. Hopefully we will see the return of some of our key players this week but regardless it is another fantastic opportunity for our developing side to show what they’ve got on the big stage. Let’s hope for some luck on the injury front and sit back and enjoy what is bound to be a fantastic contest.
Go Dees
Darren Spence
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