DAVE: Good morning boys. Quick question before we get into things this week. Marcus, how have your sleeping patterns been since the start of the Olympics?
MARCUS: Not great. The 9now app is pretty bloody dangerous, the way it’s so easy to jump between every Olympic event. Having a TV in my room; I’m in for a rough couple of weeks.
JONTY: I woke up at 4am on Sunday, with four hours sleep, to watch the swimming finals, and then woke up at 5.30 this morning (Monday) to watch some replays from overnight. It’ll be that way for the next couple of weeks.
DAVE: It’s been an exciting start; the Parisian people have really taken it on board.
JONTY: They have, and I think I’ve watched nine sports already.
MARCUS: I’m already fatiguing. I set the alarm for 4am this morning to watch the second half of the Matildas, but went straight back to sleep.
DAVE: Well, you missed a good one there Marcus, they came back from 2-5 down to win it 6-5 in the 90th minute. Jonty, kick us off with your best action from the weekend.
JONTY: I’ve gone with Devon Meadows brothers Liam and Nathan Drew, who both kicked goals on Saturday playing in defence. They’re hugely popular, but don’t kick many goals obviously, and their teammates absolutely swarmed them. Liam kicked the first goal of the match, his first since 2021 and 57 games between goals. Nathan then kicked the second goal of his 55-game senior career, the last coming 38 games ago. The Drew boys gave the Panthers a reason to smile on an otherwise difficult day against Edi-Asp.
DAVE: Jonty, my perception all year has been that Devon Meadows is the best team in MPFNL Division Two; but is my faith misguided. Are they that good?
JONTY: I would say that Edi-Asp has now come into premiership favourites but, on a dry day, who knows. A lot of people at Devon Meadows are still confident they can beat Edi-Asp comfortably on a dry day, and also on a bigger ground. They’ve played Edi-Asp at Edi-Asp, which is a tiny ground, and then got dragged down in the wet.
DAVE: That’s good news; the Panthers are still right in it.
JONTY: I’m still comfortable they’ll win the premiership.
DAVE: Marcus, your best action mate?
MARCUS: On a day when scoring was particularly difficult at Gembrook-Cockatoo, a man I really enjoy watching play footy – Josh Tilly – scored two goals in a minute in the third quarter that effectively put the contest against Mt Evelyn to bed. He was resting full-forward; took a nice mark on the lead for his first, then got a good handball from Myles Wareham, then turned onto his right foot as cleanly as you like to slot it through the big sticks. It belied the slippery conditions and was by far the best piece of skill at Gembrook on Saturday.
DAVE: Boys, there’s no other way to put it…I stuffed up on Saturday. My daughter was playing at Healesville at 10.45am, and I got back in plenty of time to head to Nar Nar Goon to watch the Goon and Tooradin-Dalmore. But there was a problem. I had left all of our coaching notes in my backpack at Healesville, so had to jump back in the car and make the two-hour return trip. I’m still spewing, because I missed a bloody good game of footy. Anyway, back to best action. Abbey McKenzie is the smallest player on the Pakenham Women’s team, and she took down the tallest girl on the Healesville list with a brilliant tackle on Saturday. The problem is she copped an accidental elbow to the head and a huge egg had developed by the time the game had finished. She was feeling fine; but was disappointed about the egg, because she had a first date on Saturday night. Well played on Saturday Abb’s…and I hope everything went well on your date. Even if it didn’t; you’ve still won my best action!
OLYMPICS
DAVE: Hey boys, well done last week on the effort you put in to our 12-page Paris Olympics Lift-Out; it was a great read and you both did an outstanding job. Marcus, you’re our basketball expert; tell us about the Boomers win over Spain, and I’ve also added Kayaking to your portfolio this week.
MARCUS: The highlight of the Kayaking is obviously Jess Fox, who solidified her place as one of Australia’s greatest Olympians with back-to-back gold medals. Heading into the Olympics, there’s no doubt that the highest expectation was on Jess and Ariarne Titmus in swimming, and when the pressure was at its absolute peak, when they needed to deliver, they just dominated the field and make it abundantly clear who the best in the world is at their chosen arts. Fox finished 1.45 seconds faster than the next best competitor, but had to sit and watch as seven athletes tried to break her time.
JONTY: Sorry to cut you off Marcus, but her two biggest rivals copped 50-second penalties, so they completely choked, and she didn’t, so you make a very good point.
MARCUS: Thanks Jonty. From a basketball perspective that was a win (against Spain) that the Boomers needed to pocket because that was probably the easiest game they’ll have. I liked the fact that it was the ‘Josh Giddey and Jock Landale Show’, who will carry this team for the next decade through to Brisbane. Joe Ingles played two minutes, (Matt) Dellavedova played nine, Patty Mills scored 19 points but I didn’t feel like he was overly influential on the contest, so there wasn’t the reliance on the older brigade. No Duop Reath was a surprise, because I think he’s the second best big man on the roster, behind Landale. They dominated some key statistics, but it’s only going to get harder from here for the Boomers.
DAVE: Jonty, give us a rundown of the swimming and hockey so far mate.
JONTY: Ariarne not only won the 400-freestyle, but she also qualified fastest for the 200 – just ahead of Mollie O’Callaghan – so her ability to perform under pressure is remarkable. The other team that had a lot of pressure on heading into the meet was the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team. To go back-to-back-to-back-to-back, across four Olympics, and do it so comprehensively was absolutely outstanding. The men won silver in the relay; and also Elijah Winnington, who felt like he underachieved in Tokyo; to see him win silver was really positive as well. It’s been a great start for the Aussies in the pool.
DAVE: All the swimmers are saying that the swimming venue in Paris is the loudest they’ve ever heard; which probably adds to the pressure.
JONTY: It sure does. Winnington had the word ‘redemption’ tattooed on his body after Tokyo, so to deliver on that stage, under that pressure, was really impressive.
DAVE: And the hockey?.
JONTY: The Kookaburras started with a 1-0 win over Argentina, with our local boy Nathan Ephraums getting a late call up due to injury, but it was a really defensively orientated game from both teams. The way we scored our goal was absolutely sensational, right on the half-time break, so that was good. And the women’s team, the Hockeyroos, they did well to overcome a sluggish start against South Africa, who had plenty of opportunities to score in the first half. Both of our goalkeepers, Andrew Charter and Jocelyn Bartram, deserve a special shout-out for making plenty of important saves.
DAVE: I watched a bit of the Hockeyroos and our girl from Emerald, Amy Lawton, got plenty of praise from the commentators about the special talents that she possesses. They were raving about her speed and unbelievable skills with the ball at her feet. My highlight was staying up Saturday night to watch Grace Brown win cycling gold in the Women’s Time-Trial. My only concern was the commentary from the legendary Phil Liggett, who basically gave Grace the gold medal midway through the race. People who are fans of horse racing will know you never go the ‘early-crow’, but obviously Phil has never heard of that. The roads in Paris were slippery, riders were falling off everywhere, but Phil just kept on calling her the winner. Thankfully he got it right in the end…but I nearly threw my stubby at the TV in disgust. Grace smashed the field, clocking 39:38.24 for the 32.4 kilometres and won by a minute and a half.
JONTY: I agree with you about Liggett, but I remember Dennis Cometti saying that you always call Australians the winner in a photo finish, because if they get beat it will never get replayed anyway.
DAVE: It was great for Grace; just a humble kid from Camperdown who has gone on and beaten the world. She’s retiring at the end of the year so what a way to bow out.
JONTY: It felt like she didn’t get as much attention as the other gold medal winners; maybe she’s just not such a big name.
DAVE: I have thought about that Jonty; why does an Ariarne Titmus get top billing when there are other athletes winning exactly the same prize. Maybe it’s the Katie Ledecky factor, defeating an all-time great, I’m not sure.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO
JONTY: That’s a good segue into our last topic Dave; you’ve asked us what we are looking forward to over the next week.
DAVE: You do listen sometimes!
JONTY: Only sometimes, Dave. I’m looking forward to watching the women’s rugby sevens, who had a really strong start last night (Sunday). The women’s captain of the rugby sevens put it on the table before the Olympics, about the Matildas cutting through with the Aussie public, when the women’s rugby seven’s haven’t. The expectation of the women’s rugby sevens is that they have to podium, otherwise they’ve failed, but the Matildas have got nothing to show – medals, trophies – for their popularity over the last few years. She’s completely right with her point, so I’ll be cheering the rugby girls on with great pride.
DAVE: You’re right Jonty; apart from the cricket team, I could probably name more Matildas than any other national team right now. I only knew one player from the rugby sevens, Charlotte Caslick, leading into Paris; and that’s only because I saw her on the Back Page or some TV show like that. Let’s hope they’re all household names by the time this paper comes out.
MARCUS: I love Jonty’s point about the Matildas. They finished fourth in the World Cup and there were calls to build a statue, but if the Australian women’s cricket team loses a game it’s almost considered a national crisis…they’re that good. It’s a really strange aspect, how some medals are weighted more heavily than others. The Olympics take a backseat for me this week, because Saturday is the biggest day of the Outer East season. We’ve got the ‘relegation cup’ between Emerald and Gembrook-Cockatoo…
DAVE: A big arch-rivalry there.
MARCUS: Huge arch-rivals Dave, and then we’ve got a grand final rematch from last year between Wandin and Narre Warren and a local derby between Officer and Pakenham. The loser of Emerald and Gembrook-Cockatoo is probably going down to Division One next year, but both are coming off wins and fielding close to their strongest teams for the year. Wandin v Narre Warren speaks for itself; with Wandin smarting after the Magpies got the better of them by 38 points in round three. These two consistently play the best football in the competition, and their level of professionalism and commitment to their programs is through the roof; it will be a tremendous spectacle and there’s so much to play for.
DAVE: Righto…give me three words; your tips please Marcus?
MARCUS: Wandin, (long pause), Gembrook, Officer.
DAVE: Boys, I will not be missing another game of footy this week, even if I leave my wife behind at a footy; I’m not going back to get her until 5pm on Saturday. I’ll be at Nar Nar Goon this week to see if the Gooners can withstand the opening burst of the fast-starting Cora Lynn. How’s this; Cora Lynn has been 34 and 38 points in front of Tooradin and Inverloch over the last fortnight; so the Gooners need to be ready. I’ll be like a kid waiting for Christmas day this week; roll on 2pm Saturday please. Thanks for the chat boys; we’ll do it again next week.
