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According to Greek and Roman mythology, Aeolus was the God of winds and Venus the Goddess of spring. But sure as hell, there was absolutely nothing mythological about these two deities last Saturday when they conspired to produce dreadful meteorological conditions at Sportscover Arena (and elsewhere) for the B Section preliminary final.
But Old Trinity is nothing if not magnaminous and by 4.30 pm or thereabouts, all was forgiven, for one reason or an other!
Despite record early September heat and a howling gale, even by headquarters’ standards, Old Trinity powered its way to a very comprehensive 71 point victory against losing second semi-finalist St Kevins and, after a 12 month sabbatical, returns to the premier section of the Victorian Amateur Football Association in 2010.
Old Trinity led from beginning to end and, just as it did several weeks ago against Uni Blacks, played some classical ‘into the wind’ footy especially in Q4. But more about that later.
One of the things that will never change in footy is the interminable pre-match conjecture about how many goals the wind (read ‘gale’ in this case) is worth and on this occasion estimates varied from six to eight. Whatever, Old Trinity had it in Q1 but squandered a few opportunities early on and a few people outside the fence were getting a bit anxious 15 minutes in when it had scored only 3 goals. St Kevins, who had been defending perilously close to the line in the ‘dead’ south eastern pocket, started slewing numerous kicks out on the full, some under pressure, others not. Old Trinity finally took stock and used the resultant free kicks to redirect its line of attack and two goals in time-on were godsends. By quarter’s end Old Trinity had kicked 7 goals 5 behinds to zip and St Kevins had barely ventured forward.
Q2, so the consensus held, would give a true indication of the extent of the gale providing Aeolus didn’t do something perverse and presuming, of course, both sides were of similar ability. It didn’t, he didn’t and they weren’t! Although
outscored by 5 goals to 2, Old Trinity were still 30 points up at the long break and proved on several occasions that the adverse conditions were not insurmountable.
In current footy-speak, the next 30 plus minutes would break or make this game. As in Q1 Old Trinity attacked constantly but sprayed one shot after another, mainly from the south eastern pocket (dam those left-footers of the playing variety, not the ‘other’). And with ten minutes left, the anxiety levels were again on the rise. Thankfully Old Trinity finally got its radar working with a couple of quick goals before time-on and one on the siren, courtesy of a St Kevins short kick-out. A three quarter time differential of 43 points was a pretty comfortable cushion but, in the circumstances, was it enough? (Phil Krakouer said it was plenty!!)
Q4 proved the sceptics wrong in no time flat as Old Trinity turned this game completely upside down. Was this another conspiracy by Aeolus and Venus? Old Trinity had at least ten shots on goal for 4 goals 4 behinds and for the first time all day, nothing was scored up the attacking end! A few people thought Old Trinity was looking a bit tired in Q3 but that was nothing compared to St Kevins in Q4 who were run to an absolute stand-still.
The starkest measure of Old Trinity’s dominance was the 6 goals 6 behinds it scored into the gale in quarters two and four vis-a-vis St Kevins entire score of 6 goals 7 behinds.
As in all team sports, there is no shortage of opinions when it comes to better players. Some thought Tom Healy was BOG, whilst others opted variously for Brent Walsh, Matt Jessop, Tom Eckersley, Andy Cultrera, Brendan Iezzi and Tim Chivers. And not without surprise, 96.5 Inner FM chose Andrew Ramsden. And it should be noted yet again that the most productive quinella in amateur footy, numbers 12 and 23, paid another fairly useful dividend of 10 goals making it 137 for the season so far - what odds 150? Everything else aside, what was beyond any contention whatsoever was yet another supreme team effort. In other words, just like the under 10s, "all played well’.
If, as they say, cricket is a game of inches (or millimetres for those born after 1966) what is footy? With four rounds to go, Old Trinity was in fifth spot, one game out of the four. It beat top side, Old Melburnians, by 8 points in a fantastic game at Junction Oval but has anyone considered what might have been if OMs, who were three points down, hadn’t hit the post with two minutes to go. Sure, if your aunty had whiskers she’d be your uncle, but who in all honesty could or would have predicted what was to follow.
The two titans of B Section, historically speaking, play each other in this Saturday’s grand final at Sportscover Arena. From memory Old Melburnians have won a record six B Section premierships, one more than Old Trinity. So if perchance you booked a table some time ago for the Underwood Stakes at Caulfield, give it a miss because this will be a very special contest between long-time confreres.
And above all else, whatever the outcome, be gracious and enjoy the day! Hopefully, on this occasion, Aeolus will be nowhere to be seen.
Postcript
God willing, your correspondent will be back for his final curtain call next week but he is known for being somewhat wayward in grand final week and beyond, so don’t punt your house on it!
Cheers.
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