TYLER: We are back for another week of Let’s Talk Sport, it seems the turn rolls around very quickly. First off, finals on the weekend..
FINALS CRICKET
I love finals, there’s always a moment. Where were you Dave and what were your finals moments on the weekend?
DAVE: There was two key moments in the game I went to, which was Tooradin v Kooweerup down at Westernport Oval.
Tooradin has been batting very well at the top of the order and Kooweerup has a spinner – Matt Bright – the only bowler in the competition to have taken more than 10 wickets at an economy of under three.
TYLER: Great stat!
DAVE: They (the Gulls) were 0/11 off four overs, Bright was controlling the game like he normally does, then Tooradin captain Cal O’Hare, two balls in a row, hit him for a six over mid on then backed away and hit a three over point…the whole game just relaxed, two balls, nine runs, you could see and feel the pressure ease. Bright went on to get 1/25 off eight overs, so still bowled well, but those two balls just changed the whole complexion of the game.
In the second innings, Kooweerup just batted slow, Kallan Braid-Ball, the premier fast bowler in the competition bowled really tight and Russ Lehman just bowled his usual tight self. Koowee 3/27 after 10 – game over.
TYLER: Russ Lehman might come up a bit later… Lachie where were you on Saturday and what was the key moment?
LACHIE: I was at the Endeavour Hills and St. Bernards OC game in VSDCA. Endeavour Hills had St. Bernards 4/60, with a couple of early wickets to Sasith (Wijebandara), they (St. Bernards) crawled to 172. Endeavour Hills batting, then lost a wicket in first ball of the innings.
TYLER: Oh a platinum, opening batters nightmare!
LACHIE: Yep…Tyrell Panditharatne was gone first ball of the innings. Dilshan came in and copped an ABSOLUTE howler, caught behind. Umpire howler is my moment, but Endeavour Hills fell apart from there. I think they needed 50 off the last 10. A bloke from St. Bernards named Smilie, he was smiling I can tell you that much…
TYLER: (Ignores terrible pun) Aaron Smilie, he is a good player.
DAVE: Is he any relation to, Liz?
*deafening silence in the room*
DAVE: She was a famous Australian tennis player, she did adverts for Extra chewing gum…
LACHIE: Right…
TYLER: Thanks for that Dave (laughs)
DAVE: The older people that will read Let’s Talk Sport will know what I am talking about, gee the blank looks on your faces right now.
TYLER: Think we might move on to mine, what do you think?
I went to Narre South v Springvale South in the DDCA and I tell you what, lucky I wasn’t late because I might’ve missed it!
My moment is something the readers will read plenty about in my Turf 1 review deeper in the paper, was Jackson Sketcher’s direct hit run out to dismiss Narre South skipper and best bat, Kyle Hardy. It set up the play, changed the game, and was absolute scenes too.
DAVE: The game I didn’t go to on the weekend was Pakenham v Cardinia. Pakenham has been a free-scoring team all year and Cardinia has been a bit out of form…but pressure, Cardinia was back to its best.
TYLER: It goes one of two ways I think, Dave. Sometimes you see players use that nervous energy and play some shots and they race away, or sometimes they go into their shells and don’t score.
On to our next topic, there is a big sporting season starting on Wednesday…
AFL FIRST BOUNCE
Dees v Dogs tonight, we will go around the table again. Dave, can you tell me a few things: who you go for, how your team will go this year, premier predictor, and an outside Brownlow smokey? I don’t want this Marcus Bontempelli prediction, I want them $60 plus in the odds.
DAVE: $60?!
TYLER: Ollie Wines was $81 at this point last year so just get it done.
DAVE: Alright, I am a long-suffering Collingwood supporter. When I was five years old my aunty would take me to Victoria Park and we had a reserved seat behind the goals. The Magpies have been in my blood ever since.
I don’t think we will do very well this year, I think we have a fair few young blokes coming in, I think we will be that 11-13 range maybe.
The new coach, rapt with the appointment of Craig McCrae and the support group he has brought in, we are moving forward with a fresh look.
TYLER: Premiers?
DAVE: Melbourne won last year, but their three best players – Gawn, Petracca and Oliver – they were the only three players not to miss a game of footy, so let’s see how they go if they get some injuries and need to show a bit of resilience. I expect the Tiges to bounce back, but don’t think they will win the flag, I will go with local boys Cody Weightman and Adam Treloar to bounce back off the heart-ache of last year and win the flag with the Dogs.
And… my Brownlow, I know you said last week…
TYLER: Don’t you take him!
DAVE: (laughs) I have three, Sam Walsh, Hugh McCluggage…
TYLER: NO!
DAVE: Lachie Whitfield, I like the way he plays footy. Happy with those, Tyler?
TYLER: Very happy with two, not happy you have hijacked my McCluggage prediction, Lachie can you back it up?
LACHIE: I am a Richmond supporter, went to the two grand finals, missed the 2020 one, cheers Anastacia… that’s the Queensland premier.
DAVE and TYLER: (In unison) Yeah we’re aware of who she is…thanks mate.
DAVE: Unlike my Liz Smilie call before, you didn’t have to elaborate Lachie.
LACHIE: I think Richmond will finish between fourth and seventh, we will be real good or real average.
TYLER: How is finishing seventh average?
LACHIE: I don’t think we will be as good as people think, bit of a reshuffle, Josh Gibcus is playing well, Noah Balta is the new swingman.
Will be interesting to see Dusty come back with not only his injury, but with the loss of his father in the off-season.
TYLER: Premiers and Brownlow smokey?
LACHIE: Brisbane, they’ve had a couple of chances, it’s now or never for them. And Max Gawn for the Brownlow, would be good to see the big men get recognised.
DAVE: I want to hear what you have to say about your West Coast Eagles, Tyler?
TYLER: We are in serious trouble!
DAVE: Run through the injury list?
TYLER: We don’t have enough time. Brad Sheppard is the big one for me, retired during the off-season through concussion, I felt he was very underrated.
It is probably time Tim Kelly stepped up, sold the farm for him, so time he delivers, so Eagles will suck, I think the Dogs will win the flag and Hugh McCluggage was MY Brownlow prediction, after I told you if he fixed his goal-kicking he will be a sniff.
DAVE: I had money on him last year to win it so I was a big fan of McCluggage anyway….he’s a star!
Okay, final topic…
DUAL SPORT ATHLETES
Weird time of the year that we have to do a lot of work that creeps into the paper over time with footy previews.
Footy rolls straight after cricket and you don’t get a chance to breathe, but the real people that don’t get a chance to breathe is the dual-sport players in the local area… most of them would be training four nights a week at this stage if they are footy/cricketers.
Dave, who is yours?
DAVE: The obvious one is Russ Lehman, he has played footy for a few different clubs: Catani, Pakenham and Longwarry. He has won league medals in both sports, cricket and footy, which would be pretty rare I would’ve thought.
Another one is Pakenham’s Chris Smith, great cricketer, he played in Pakenham’s 2009 footy premiership, he was rated really highly as a footballer as well.
I have an unusual one too for you Tyler… the Bright boys down at Kooweerup… Chris Bright – gun bat…Matt Bright – best spinner in the comp – both very, very good dart players. Maybe Matt Bright’s accuracy with his off-spinners might have something to do with the 180s he has thrown over the years!
LACHIE: Lance Baptist, plays his cricket at Coomoora, footy at Springvale, made over 400 runs this year at 30, bit of a big bodied midfielder and kicks a couple.
TYLER: Well for me it seems if you play Turf 1 at Springvale South you are just a freak footballer. The Quirk’s are from there, Kyle Martin – think he has won a best and fairest before – (tough firmly in cheek), and Jackson Sketcher as we mentioned.
There was one a couple years ago when I was covering the draft, Blake Kuipers from the Dandenong Stingrays was a freak volley-baller. We are known for them in Australia, Ash Barty, Alex Carey..
DAVE: Elysse Perry!
TYLER: That’s what happens Dave – not for us – but you start at the grass-roots being good at both and just roll through to the big time.
LACHIE: If anyone has ever heard of the name Deion Sanders, he played for the Atlanta Falcons and Braves, he played NFL and MLB in the space of 24 hours, good doco on it called Deion’s Double Play.
DAVE: Can I hijack this segment for one second?
TYLER: Of course.
DAVE: Wednesday night, the game is on, I want a visual of how you two will be enjoying the first game of the season?
TYLER: As an AFL Member I will be level 2 on the wing, row one, thank you very much Dave!
DAVE: Oh! (laughs)
LACHIE: I would love to be there, but I will be glued to the TV, it will be good to see a packed MCG.
DAVE: Boys, mine will be a can of beer in my right hand…
LACHIE: Brand?
DAVE: Probably a Great Northern, I have sort of softened a bit at my old age… I will have my phone in my left hand, beer in the right, putting my Sportsbet multi’s on 10 minutes before the game.
TYLER: Lot’s of gambling talk, please gamble responsibly, readers!
