Elimination Final: Carlton 18.8 (116) d Richmond 14.12 (96)

It’s so disappointing to go down the same track three times against Carlton this year. Pulled the first one out of the fire, but R21 and again yesterday the deja vu was … just very painful.

I get to one game a year at most – my heart goes out to the diehards who are there home and away, rain or shine. Multiply my angst by 100 and that’s how they would be feeling. The cheer squad banner was so beautiful – the G full to the brim with happy nervous Tigers. If nothing else Richmond can say we were part of a magnificent footy occasion.

11-year old Marcus (who had never seen a Tiger final) fled in tears when Judd tore us apart in the 3rd quarter. He knows in his guts that this Tiger team don’t have it in them to reverse momentum like that. Until we mature into a team that just doesn’t give up 5 and 6 goal runs, we are going to have these heartbreaking games.

Oh, so Dusty has mates in jail? Cool. Never would have guessed. I hope someone gave him an ultimatum on the spot about that disgraceful goal celebration. I was hoping Benny Gale had a direct line to the bench and would say to him “You have just taken $100,000 off what we are prepared to pay next year. You are a liability and if you are someone else’s problem next season we can live with that. You have taken the privilege of playing in a final and used it as a soapbox to show off your worst influences”.

Some guys who have been huge for us this year really came up short yesterday when the tide turned, and I count coach Dimma among them. He was squarely out-coached and I listened in vain to his post-match for an acknowledgement of that. It was all statspeak. He would have been shattered and not at his best, I’ll allow him that. But he didn’t concede what was obvious – Judd got off the chain and won 3 or 4 or 5 centre breaks on the trot. Losing Conca was a factor I guess.
It’s amazing that we had the rub of the green with the umpies, had the same number of scoring shots yet got flogged. Long before Carlton hit the front they had our measure. What was the rationale for Riewoldt AND Edwards going to defence in the 3rd quarter?

I am sorry I am feeling a bit negative at the moment. I will maybe start looking at the positives out of the season during the week. It’s been a very long wait, and although we have talented young players our club has never been good at backing up a good season (at least since the Whitlam years anyway).

RICHMOND   3.5   10.7  12.10  14.12  (96)                  

CARLTON     2.3    6.5  12.7  18.8 (116)

Lost wallet emotions

I had such a foul day, due to misplacing my wallet. It's only about two years since I last lost it completely and had to do the full replacement shemozzle. Today while it was missing I was feeling pretty ill.

I picked up Marcus from school and couldn't really think about anything else but finding it. I did a thorough search of the obvious places, then the possible places. Before moving on to the really unlikely places (socks drawer, parsnip patch, doghouse) I tried just using my brain.

I was so frustrated at losing something important again (lost my keys last week), I actually thought about seeking out a frontal lobotomy - it might just do the trick. Once that feeling passed, I managed to summon up a memory of the last time I had it. It was actually at half-time in the soccer match described below. I drove up to the soccer field on the off chance it might just be sitting on the bench where we changed. Nope.

I rang lost and found at the cop shop - they didn't have it. So I did a Sherlock Holmes - put on some music, sat with my eyes closed and thunk. It took about 20 minutes, but it worked! In mind I started going through all the things that had been in the bag with the wallet, things that I also had not seen since. I probably got them all out at the same time. These included a big white water bottle - a much easier thing to spot than a slim black wallet.

In a few seconds I had found the bottle on a bedside table - and there, under a big flat packet of bandages, was the wallet. I had just pulled all that stuff out of the bag together. I have been lecturing myself on mindfulness, and thinking about what I am doing while I do it - obviously haven't achieved it yet.

Once I had found the wallet through sheer mindpower I swung into a euphoric state, going to the crazy extent of buying a bottle of wine and some fancy juice for the kids when we weren't even expecting company. Quite the loon.