Somehow, I’d figured this for a 1.40pm start, so when we heard the roar of the crowd while walking from the motorcycle park, overlooking the historic brick pit, I wondered if we’d slipped through a wormhole in the space-time continuum. We could see the scoreboard through a gap in the stand and, crikey, Monaros up four goals to zip!

Truth is, I’d had some trepidation about this match. St Kilda has been playing some good football, thrashing the living daylights out of Essendon a week earlier, and are in a similar spot on the bellcurve, a young, developing team with the ability to switch on a goal-scoring frenzy.

Settled in our preferred position – we’d considered sitting with the cheer squad, but the shade covers them too soon – the first thing I noticed was that we were holding steady in ruck contests. It ain’t something to expect every week, but it was good for the heart. The next thing to notice was St Kilda’s deplorable skill and decisions. They were all over the shop, even Nick. Consequently, they didn’t kick a goal until 13 minutes into the second.

Sainters, oh bless ‘em, it was great to sit amongst oppo fans who were ready to have a yell about umpires and the cluelessness of their team and swap comments with ‘em.

“You shoulda stayed in Footscray, Ryan!”
“He couldn’t live at the beach if he had.”
“Haha, there’s a beach in Melbourne.”
“Not one like Tamarama.”

And so on. I love the spirit of a crowd. We were mightily struck by Lobb’s setshot approach, it’s weirder than Josh WC Kennedy’s of a year or two back.  

Allthesame, Lobb and Downie were getting the job done. It can be too easy to miss whichever of our many midfielders is working hard, they’re all young and fast, but the young big ‘uns deserve credit, they’ve big shoes to fill.

Halftime and Perky Girl sallied forth for a mocha. T’would be a long time before she returned. I was thinking about Saints’ turnaround against Footscray and the likelihood of it happening again. That’s part of young teams, they can turn it on for 20 or 30 minutes and play exhilarating football and then it can flip back oh so quickly.

Whatever they did in the rooms at halftime worked. The Saints were quick and sharp from the getgo, nailed a goal three minutes in, another two in quick succession and the 40 point lead had shrunk alarmingly. The rest of the third was an arm wrestle, a glacial ruck swarming from one contest to the next.

The Monaros got the ball into the forward line oh too rarely, for no effect. I had plenty of time to make comments to Perky Girl like “This is too much like the club rugby game on telly yesterday. You should’ve seen footy in the ‘90s.”

Then I spilled mocha on my notepad and lost some scintillating insights.  

It could’ve been close in the last term. A goal to Toby, then a goal to Josh five minutes later. Then JC kicked his fifth for the day and I figured we’d hang on now. St Kilda had kicked six all day and weren’t likely to kick another four in fifteen minutes. Cam and Zac got the leather through the big sticks and man, that was all she wrote.

In the end, not bad, not bad at all. Mumford ain’t a footballer you could replace in a week, but Downie did the work and made a contest. We ain’t gonna win a flag this year, so the more minutes in AFL for the youngsters, the better. Buntine did a great job in the absence of our two key backmen, that’ll only make us Monaros a better team.

Oh, how our crosstown rivals must wish for the likes of Matt B to take the load off their geriatric backline! We’ll win a flag before they do.

GWS are a work in progress. We’re in the eight this week and most of our remaining matches are against teams below us on the ladder.  Compared to St Kilda, we’re a young team but one that has already been together for several years. It’s unique, I’m sure Leon knows what a brilliant opportunity he and the players have in their grasp.

A finals match is a realistic aim. The top four will likely remain so, a final against any of the next four is one we could approach with confidence.

Quote of the week goes to Patto, on his first game back from a knee reco: "Everything just leaves your mind and you're back at peace again out there on the field."


Earl O’Neill was born in Sydney, grew up around Bankstown and was the only kid in his class to know that there were two drawn Grand Finals in 1977. His preferred seat is about 10-15 rows back on the right half-forward flank at the northern end of Spotless Stadium. He also proposes to change the name of the GIANTS to the Monaros.

More GWS stories, and other fan-writing can be found on the GIANTS page at www.footyalmanac.com.au