Round Five: Battle of the Basketcases Part Two

Well, clearly Freo and Richmond took severe umbrage at my insinuation last week that they were basketcases beyond repair, as both came out in Round 5 as teams transformed and recorded their opening wins for 2009 in very convincing fashion. Almost grounds enough to abort part two of the basketcase report - almost, but not quite. I still don't think either team is going to play finals this year, or next, most likely, which will mean that Terry Wallace and Mark Harvey will be joining the long, long list of coaches to have been shown the Punt Road and Subiaco Oval doors. And after dodgy recruiting, most pundits tend to agree that dodgy coach selection has played a significant role in the continual lack of improvement from the Dockers and Tigers. So in part two of Battle of the Basketcases, let's look at where they've gone wrong.

Since Fremantle's entry into the AFL in 1995, they have resisted the temptation to go with a recycled or "proven" coach and have commendably pursued a policy of giving young blood a go. So far this policy has unearthed one semi-decent coach out of the four and a half they've tried, that man being Chris Connolly who got the Dockers to their only two finals series to date. Freo's inaugural coach, Gerard Neesham, had what can fairly be described as a less than celebrity profile east of the Nullabor when he and the Dockers kicked off in 1995. Four years later Neesham's time was up without any substantial result, but to be honest not too many would have been expecting any higher. After all, West Coast's first coach was Ron Alexander who few would remember now, but the Eagles eventually got off the ground, why not the Dockers? Freo's coach number two was Damien Drum who came very highly recommended from his time as assistant coach at Sydney, in fact Collingwood made a huge play for Drum's services and were deeply wounded when he elected to coach Freo instead. However Drum proved to be anything but a success for the Dockers, who plummeted to the bottom of the ladder under his stewardship. The two parted company in mid-2001 after arguably the single ugliest and low standard game of AFL ever between Freo and the Swans (although this year's Round 4 match between North and Essendon is probably also a contender). In the post-match interview Drum, whose Dockers had lost, gave the immortal quote- "Look, skill is only one element of the game! I thought it was a fantastic struggle between two really desperate sides!". Drum was replaced briefly by ex-skipper Ben Allan, before Connolly got the side to the 2003 and 2006 finals series. It looked for a while as though the Dockers were belatedly on the road to reward, but alas, success proved fleeting and Connolly jumped ship midway through 2007 when it became clear that 2006's promise had been an illusion. His assistant Mark Harvey, a hugely experienced assistant coach who had previously served at Essendon under the great Kevin Sheedy, took over but up to this point the purple curse would seem to have descended upon him as deeply as it has upon all who have dared take on the Fremantle coaching mantle.

Like Fremantle, in their quest for their first premiership since 1980 Richmond have been prepared to give young coaching blood a go (Jeff Gieschen, Danny Frawley). They've also, however, gone with favourite sons (Francis Bourke, Kevin Bartlett), ex-premiership coaches from other clubs (Allan Jeans, Robert Walls), ex-premiership coaches from their own club (Tony Jewell), recycled coaches with strong records at lowly sides (John Northey, Terry Wallace), and single-season wonders lost in the distant memory that is the 1980s (Mike Patterson, Paul Sproule). Thus far, only Northey and Frawley have gotten the Tigers into a finals series. It would take too long to detail the records of the others, suffice it to say that finishing ninth at Tigerland has been about as good as it has gotten. They're still an outside chance of doing that this year, but it probably won't be enough to save Wallace.

But as I said at the start, it was a rare good weekend for both Freo and Richmond in Round 5. With the Anzac Day bugles still ringing in the air, the Dockers stunned the Swans by leaping out to a first quarter lead that Sydney proved unable to chase down. A bitterly disappointing result for the Swans to mark their courageous skipper Brett Kirk's 200th, but a deeply welcome win for Fremantle. No less welcome was Richmond's maiden win for 09 over the increasingly hapless North Melbourne, the Tigers held out the Roo's pressure for a half before jumping away in the second half.

Notable in Round 5 were a number of pitifully low scores, with three teams failing to get over 40 points. Two sides, Port Adelaide and Brisbane, failed even to reach their opponent's quarter time score. St Kilda and Geelong were the respective opposition, and both provided strong evidence to suggest that it is going to be a Saints-Cats playoff come September. St Kilda launched a first half blitzkrieg against the Power, putting on ten goals to one and effectively burying the teal mob. Port are proving to be the most schizophrenic side in the comp this year, following up a brilliant away win over the reigning premiers with a white flag effort the following week. Down at Kardinia Park, Geelong's Gary Ablett Jr backed up his amazing 46 possession effort of the previous week with a comparatively disappointing 42 touches against the Lions as Geelong leapt away to an effortless 93 point victory. Testing times for the rookie Brisbane coach Michael Voss.

The other pitifully low score was by Melbourne against Adelaide, with the Dees able to kick only a single goal in the first three quarters and just four for the game. This match was also memorable for the spectacle of the MCG containing less than 15,000 people, the day after 85,000 had crammed in. A 4.40pm starting time on a freezing Sunday afternoon can't have helped- who would have thought that people might be a bit reluctant to venture out that late for a game between two pretty ordinary sides? Adelaide proved the less worse of the two sides on the day, all attendees should have been awarded some kind of bravery medal for sitting through what can't have been an enjoyable experience.

In other matches, Carlton and Hawthorn leapt back to winning form with wins over the Western Bulldogs and West Coast respectively. The Blues dedicated their win, and their entire 2009 season, to their ailing ex-President (now in all ways ex) Richard Pratt, credited with saving the club through his massive influx of (possibly dodgy) cardboard-related funds. The Blues fans were filled with joy by the performances of their parade of number one draft picks, all of whom performed beautifully on the day. The Dogs are back with the pack though after a brilliant start to 09, and they face the rampant Saints in Round 6. For the Hawks, Tasmania has proved a happy hunting ground in recent years and it proved so once again as they were able to run over the Eagles in the last quarter for a much-needed win.

But in all honesty, Round 5 2009 will be forever remembered for just one game- the Anzac Day match between Collingwood and Essendon. Amazingly we're up to the 15th incarnation of this particular fixture - where has that time gone? The first of these encounters, in 1995, produced a heartstopping draw in front of 95,000 heartstopped supporters. Since that auspicious opening, it's fair to say that the quality of subsequent encounters has been a mixed bag. I should know, I've sat through four of them and Essendon have lost the lot! But this year's battle lived up to all of the pre-match hype. Without wanting to descend into over the top hyperbole, I will simply say that this match was by far the best of 2009 so far, if not of all time. It was won on the absolute last kick of the game by a kid in his fourth match ever, after all had seemed lost just minutes before. It featured a herculean performance by another youngster thrust into the spotlight after a disastrous injury felled a champion in the opening moments. And it made Collingwood cheersquad president "Joffa" look like an absolute dill for donning his gold "Game Over" jacket prematurely - yes, the Bombers won. Can't really describe all that happened in the 2009 Anzac Day match, would recommend purchasing the DVD to savour in years to come. The winning goal was kicked by young Zaharakis, featured in the Wrap in Round 2; best on ground was Paddy Ryder, who proved once and for all that he is not an Irish jockey, but a very fine footballer. The tragic injury was to Bombers ruckman and 2008 best and fairest winner David Hille, who is going to be sorely missed. Indeed, Essendon may not win another game for the year. But at least we won this one!

So a very memorable Round 5 in a great many ways, let's hope Round 6 can prove equally rewarding. See you back here for next week's Wrap.