By Lippy the Lion
Overcast, still and cool conditions welcomed Coburg for their round 11 clash against North Melbourne at Arden Street. There is no gasometer backdrop on the outer side these days, Melbourne’s fetish for apartments and aversion to all things ‘gas’ doing away with that monolithic structure.
By the way, back in the day, there was also a greyhound track encircling the oval, betting facilities behind the city-end goals, and hungry dishlickers and punters every Thursday night in the shadow of the gasometer.
Anyway, the game! It was an opportunity for the Burgers to win 2 in a row, and one away from home, after last week’s impressive victory over Casey. Two changes due to injury, Grant and Thompson coming in for McKenzie and Liam Podhajski.
A feeling-out period ensued for the first 5 minutes of the opening quarter until Flea Weightman won a free kick and duly goaled. Importantly, we were on the board early. It was clear that the midfield battles would be crucial in the contest. Grant was getting his hand to the ball in the ruck, but North were winning the clearances.
North’s tall timber took 3 strong marks in succession over the length of the ground, and they slotted their first major from the goal square. North continued to press our defence, but the Lions were holding up manfully. Beasley, Corigliano and Toohey in particular.
Bromell then roved cleverly off a forward pocket thrown-in and snapped truly. North continued to mark strongly up forward but were wasteful in front of the big sticks. Inevitably, they went end to end to convert. Low scoring, nip and tuck, high contest.
D’Intinosante was tackling furiously, and the Flea was a pest to the North defence. His spoil allowed Dammersmith to convert, and regain the lead for Coburg at the first break, 18-16.
Coach Cassidy-McNamara highlighted ‘PHYSICALITY’ at the huddle, and implored the players to prove our brand.
In the opening 5 minutes of the second stanza, the teams played kick to kick. The Lions were bombing away up forward for no result, I thought maybe we had to go in quicker and lower. Sometimes a quick scrubber is better than a lobbed aerial contest, especially when you’re conceding height and weight.
It was a war of attrition, and at 10 minutes the ball was stuck in our forward line which, I suppose, is better than being stuck in theirs. No goals had been scored by either side in the first 15 minutes of the quarter.
On a rare forward entry, North snapped out of a scrimmage to regain the lead, and as if by some kind of magic, the tide of possessions swung North’s way. The new ‘quick whistle’ interpretation for holding the ball gave them another goal, we were 10 points down, and needed to get on the board.
Another strong mark up forward stretched the Roo’s lead to 17 points at the main break, 37-20. It was a poor Coburg quarter, we needed to get more first use out of the middle.
They kicked the opener of the second half, and trouble loomed for the Lions. Finally Dammersmith got on the end of a quick kick to goal, and then Trudgeon benefitted from a Roo getting a footy caught in his pouch. It was back to 11 points, we were back in the game.
North then kicked a couple, one from a free 100 metres off the play. To be honest, the opposition could have iced the game at this point, but for inaccurate kicking.
Gillard was tackled high, and converted for a badly needed goal, but it was a 27 point deficit at the last break. 65-38, a huge challenge.
The coach didn’t see it that way at the final huddle. The message was that it wasn’t insurmountable, especially if we didn’t panic with the ball.
After 7 minutes of to and fro, Davin Cameron won a free and goaled. JD then goaled, and it was back to 14 points. Was it possible?
Toohey had moved into the midfield, and was winning clearances and using the ball to advantage. He then snapped his first goal for the club. The margin was 9 points, the Roos appeared to be in a hopping panic, and we were presented with chances we didn’t take. Our last 3 scores were ‘gettable’ points.
The siren sounded at 26.50, it seemed mysterious, and early, the previous 3 quarters had gone roughly 30 minutes. I’m not saying we would have won, but the Lions were savaging the Roos in the end. Who knows, it’s another tough lesson for leaving stuff in the shed.
Sad eyes, tired faces, sore bodies, and the mission to win 2 on trot and to win away from Piranha Park was unsuccessful. We need to double down for our home clash against Southport Sharks next Sunday at midday.
Winning is not just something that is handed to you on a platter, earning it, and wanting it, makes the reward so much better. Win!
