DAVE: Hello boys, and what another massive weekend in sport. We had something special take place on the weekend with Amith Eranda from Emerald making 307 on Saturday. He whacked 20 sixes and 27 fours, and it got me thinking. Marcus, tell us a time when you’ve just shook your head and gone WOW watching sport.
WOW MOMENTS
MARCUS: Look, if I have to go back to our five-a-side soccer grand final I will.
DAVE: (Laughs) C’mon mate…you have to move on.
MARCUS: The first thing that came to mind when you raised this topic was the final of the WNCL on the weekend, did you happen to catch it?
JONTY: Yes, yes, yes, five wickets in an over – it was ridiculous.
MARCUS: Dave, for your benefit, South Australia needed four runs off the last over with five wickets in hand, and the final over from Sarah Coyte went like this: wicket (bowled), single, wicket (stumped), wicket (deflected run-out from the bowler onto the stumps), wicket (LBW) and a run-out off the last ball, so Tasmania got home by two runs to win the title.
DAVE: You’re telling me they lost five for one in the last over.
MARCUS: Yep, you have to watch the last over to believe it. 307, yes, wow, but this was just as unbelievable. A genuine wow moment!
DAVE: So what were your thoughts Marcus when you saw a 307 pop up in your comp?
MARCUS: (Pause…rolls eyes) It’s pretty hard to believe isn’t it; it must have felt like a dream where he was just middling everything and right in the zone.
DAVE: Normally when you see something like that you think straight to Park Oval, or the background at Nar Nar Goon – where it’s 33 metres to the boundary in one spot – but this was on Chandler Reserve, a proper footy and cricket ground.
MARCUS: Correct, incredible, and I also want to touch on Ben Stokes at Headingley in 2019. I remember watching that in the early hours of the morning when he started lapping Josh Hazlewood for six, it was one of the best things I’ve ever seen.
DAVE: Nathan Lyon, the missed run-out.
MARCUS: And the LBW…it was absolutely Salmon Trout but they’d just wasted their last referral.
DAVE: Jonty – your wow moments mate?
JONTY: I could easily talk about all of Collingwood’s close finishes from last year for hours Dave, because when you reflect on that it was pretty ridiculous. But one thing that stands out from a local perspective is the speech of Cranbourne coach Steve O’Brien at three-quarter time in last year’s grand final. I think it will stay with me forever. It wasn’t your Alastair Clarkson “if it bleeds we can kill it” speech, but it was just the way he rhythmically put the message to his players to believe. I knew after that speech that Cranbourne was on track for a famous upset victory and that’s how it panned out. I know it’s a local coach inspiring his team, but it sits with me as a wow moment because it had such a huge impact.
DAVE: Jonty, how tight did you have your cap tightened up at the DDCA awards day yesterday? It was Leigh Matthews who went with the “bleeds we can kill it speech”…not Clarko.
JONTY: True, but Clarko likes to tell a story…that was my point.
DAVE: Boys, I’m going to do it again and go back to a time before you blokes were born. Jonty’s still a baby, but what year were you born Marcus?
MARCUS: 1997.
DAVE: What a coincidence, because my wow moment goes back to the same year. A 21-year-old Tiger Woods comes out and wins the US Masters by 12 shots, and the whole world was like “who is this kid.” He dominated the golfing world for the next 15 years before his off-course activities caught up with him – and those revelations were a wow moment themselves! And from a local point, I remember Jess Mathers from Kooweerup taking 9/49 off 28 overs, including 11 maidens, in a grand final against Pakenham.
JONTY: Wow!
DAVE: Exactly mate…wow…but the build up to the big day was equally impressive. Round 11 – 4/17, round 12 – 5/42, round 13 – 6/35, round 14 – 4/62, then he takes 4/62 in the semi and 9/49 in the big dance. He took 5/50 off 25 overs the year before as well. He basically guided his team to back-to-back flags. That run through the back-half of 2017/18 netted him 32 wickets in six games at an average of 8.5.
MARCUS: Big-game player.
DAVE: Exactly Marcus – that is the reputation he has built.
JONTY: Ryan Hendy for Doveton took a lot of bags this year as well.
MARCUS: Do you get a commission every time Ryan Hendy’s name gets mentioned Jonty?
JONTY: It’s like Marc Holt. Ryan Hendy in cricket season and Marc Holt during football, but now they’ve both retired.
DAVE: They had some good run-ins on the footy field those two…both very feisty characters.
JONTY: Hendy wasn’t really mentioned at all, until Marcus came on board.
DAVE: He’s blaming you for all the Hendy talk Marcus.
MARCUS: That’s funny from Jonty – because I don’t even know the bloke.
DAVE: Righto you two. Let’s just all be amazed at the 307 from Eranda and move on to the next topic.
SPORTING HEARTBREAK
DAVE: Marcus, you had to feel for Parkmore on Saturday, they needed a win to not get relegated from DDCA Turf 1 but just couldn’t take the final wicket. How gut-wrenching was that for them and what other moment can you recall that has been unimaginably cruel in sport?
MARCUS: I really feel for Gav Lehman’s side, they lost by three runs the week before against Narre South, then this weekend was against Springvale South, the top side. They had them 9/95, defending 135, but Yoshan Kumara steered the ship. As far as heartbreak goes, my mind goes straight to New Zealand and the World Cup final of 2019. I think Jimmy Neesham’s tweet straight after the game summed it up perfectly, he said “Kids, don’t take up sport, take up baking or something. Die at 60 really fat and happy.” Neesham batted with Martin Guptill in the super-over when they finished level, but lost on a countback on boundaries, which is still one of the most extraordinary rule interpretations you could ever think of. And being an Essendon supporter, I still can’t watch Gary Rohan kick the goal after the siren against Essendon in 2017. That hurts…it was heartbreaking…and I’ll leave it at that.
JONTY: I still turn away when Dom Sheed kicks the goal after the siren in the 2018 grand final to sink the Pies.
DAVE: I didn’t realise this topic was going to be so distressing, that’s made me really upset Jonty.
MARCUS: Change the name this week Dave to Let’s Talk Therapy!
DAVE: (Laughs) We will have to if this keeps up.
JONTY: And when you say cruel Dave, injuries are cruel. I still remember where I was when Alex Johnson did his seventh ACL was it, when he was playing for Sydney, that was cruel and ended his career for good. In general, when someone keeps coming back, keeps persisting, but it keeps being taken away from them…that’s pretty cruel and a heartbreaking part of sport.
DAVE: That’s sad and cruel at the same time mate. (It’s nearly time for tissues for Dave).
I’ve got a few boys that I’ll touch on briefly. I don’t like Geelong, but that was the definition of heartbreak when Nick Davis kicked four goals to sink the Cats in the 2005 semi-final. I think that spurred the Cats on to something special and a great run of success.
JONTY: Hang on; they’re still on that run. Are you saying that Nick Davis is the reason that Geelong is the ageless bottle of wine that we see today?
DAVE: I sure am mate…”Bloody Nick Davis”, that’s what Billy Brownless likes to call him, ignited the hunger in the Cats that is still there today.
MARCUS: “I see it but I don’t believe it.”
DAVE: Spot on, Huddo nailed his call that night. And boys, I’m not a big soccer fan but I was absolutely heartbroken when Australia lost to Italy in the round of 16 at the 2006 World Cup. Lucas Neill hung his leg out slightly; Fabio Grosso dived over it, the Italians hit a penalty with the last kick of the match and the Aussies are heading home. I was at a mate’s house that night – he had just moved in -and he threw his stubby at the wall. He had to get a plasterer in to fix the wall a week after moving in. And then there’s poor Tom Jones from Pakenham in the 2016/17 cricket grand final. He comes in at number-11, Pakenham is chasing Kooweerup’s 113 and Tom gets his castle knocked over with the score at 108. It wasn’t his fault, but the poor kid was heartbroken.
WOOKEY MEDAL
DAVE: The Wookey Medal presentation on Sunday, how was it Marcus?
MARCUS: Well there was one main take away from it, and that was the fashion choice of someone.
DAVE: Who are we talking about?
MARCUS: Look, I don’t want to name names, but he shares the DDCA reporting duties with me and his head sits alongside mine on this page…but without a cap. He wore one to the presentation on Sunday.
DAVE: No…dressed nicely but with a cap on.
MARCUS: That’s it.
DAVE: There’s another wow moment. Was the day a success?
JONTY: Very funny Marcus, but not as funny as the comedian who broke the day up nicely. It was good to see Turf 3 recognised with the inaugural Turf 3 Medal, in the same way that Turf 1 and Turf 2 have been recognised over the years.
DAVE: Give us a recap (get it boys…re…cap) of how the counts unfolded. Turf 1?
MARCUS: Ryan Quirk led early, but even he didn’t expect to poll late, and the consistency of Jeevan Mendis – with both bat and ball – told the story in the end. He survived a late challenge from Leigh Booth, who came into his own late, but Jeevan was a deserving winner.
DAVE: Jonty, Turf 2 and 3?
JONTY: Turf 2 was a little bit less thrilling. Going into the final round we knew that Pete Sweeney from Cranbourne was going to win it, holding off Tyler Clark and Mark Cooper from Beaconsfield who both finished top five despite taking votes off each other. And in Turf 3, Nuwan Kulasekara was a very deserving, but highly predictable winner.
BEST AUSSIE TEAM
DAVE: Just a quick one to finish off boys. The Australian women’s cricket team won their sixth T20 World Cup on Sunday night…Who rivals them as our best national sporting team?
JONTY: Off the top of my head no-one, our Rugby League team hardly ever loses but don’t have much competition.
MARCUS: It’s a fair point Dave, because you actually remember their losses, like something’s gone wrong for that to happen. I think it’s very hard at this point in time to think of a side that even comes close. The men’s team from 20 years ago maybe…but no team in the current era.
DAVE: Ash Gardner wins Player of the Tournament, Beth Mooney Player of the Match, and that’s without mentioning names like Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Megan Schutt…they’re pretty bloody special aren’t they!
Nice way to finish off boys…we’ll talk next week.
