Micro Noises 163: Hawks soar no more
An unwanted anniversary present
Hawthorn this week has 'celebrated' an anniversary they would surely rather not have remembered. By losing by a big margin to Gold Coast on Sunday, the Hawks plummeted to 18th on the ladder, the lowest rung on which they've ever perched. The last time Hawthorn occupied bottom place on the ladder was just on 10 years ago, when there were only 16 teams in the AFL.
The Hawks found themselves last after the opening round of 2007, sent to the depths on that occasion by another team from Queensland, the Brisbane Lions. On the bright side for Hawthorn fans, things didn't turn out too badly after that. The Hawks recovered to make the finals that year and then went all the way in 2008 to win the premiership.
Freo's the way to go
So now that we've established that Hawthorn's going to win next year's flag, it's time to move onto the more pressing question of the 2017 premiership. Although the Adelaide Crows currently head the ladder, in recent editions of Micro Noises we've flagged a lot of omens that suggest this could be Richmond's year. And with the Tigers 3-0 after three rounds, they are indeed looking good.
But we've found another, perhaps more definitive omen that suggests another side might salute this year. A look back at what followed the only year, other than 2016, that the Bulldogs have won a premiership (1954) reveals that the Dogs won their first two matches of 1955, only to fall in round three. In 2017 they've done exactly the same.
The side that beat the Dogs in round three in 1955 - Melbourne - then went on to win that year's premiership to kick off an era of unparalleled dominance which saw the Demons win five flags in six years, and six in 10. That's great news for Freo coach Ross Lyon - unless he loses his job in the next few weeks - because it is his Dockers who have emulated Melbourne's round three feat of knocking off the reigning premiers. So get your money on the Dockers to win this year's premiership - and a whole lot more in the decade to come.
Bevo's weakness uncovered
Given that the Bulldogs have hardly put a foot wrong since Luke Beveridge took over as coach prior to the 2015 season, it's a bit of a surprise that the lowly Dockers are the only team to have beaten them since last July. Not only that, but they've done it twice, and have kept the Dogs to a solitary behind in each of the last quarters of those games.
Has Freo's coach Ross Lyon finally uncovered Bevo's weakness? Maybe - but if he's going to continue to explore it, he might need to have a word to those who put together the AFL's fixture. It seems that the weakness is based on what round it is. Since has Beveridge become coach, the Bulldogs have lost all three of their round 3 matches, and both of their round 23 games, last year's round 23 fixture being the Dogs' only other loss of the last nine months, also against Fremantle.
In good news for GWS, the Dogs have also never won under Beveridge in the sixth round. The Giants will play them in round 6 this year. History reveals that Beveridge's real strengths are rounds 1, 2, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19 and 21. The Bulldogs have not lost in those rounds since he took over.
That spells bad news for North Melbourne, who have a round 4 encounter with the Bulldogs this week in the first-ever match to be played on Good Friday. Incidentally, for those wondering why those two sides were awarded the match on this day, it's because Hot (Daniel) Cross Buns are eaten on Kerry Good Friday.
1 versus 100
Last week we suggested that 1 versus 100 was Eddie McGuire's favourite part of Micro Noises. If it wasn't then, it surely is now after Ed's Magpies pipped Sydney by the narrowest of margins last Friday night. The result means we've now had two games this season decided by 1 point, as against one with a margin of 100 or more. Could this season be the first season 2006 that we get more 1-point games that 100-point blowouts? We can only hope.
The Marginal Medal
Collingwood's win on Friday takes 1 point into equal leadership in the quest for the 2017 Marginal Medal. It's been a margin twice this year, as have 19, 42 and 43 points.
Fun facts from round three
Round three was a bumper one for fun facts. Here are but a few of them:
* Congratulations - and maybe a telegram from the Queen - are in order for the number 76, on the occasion of its 400th appearance as a final score in a V/AFL match. It came up twice on the weekend, it's 399th appearance courtesy of Richmond's 11.10 against West Coast and the 400th from Brisbane, which also kicked 11.10 in its loss to Essendon on Sunday.
* Hawthorn, Sydney and North Melbourne find themselves in the unenviable position of having 0-3 records. It is the first time in V/AFL history that three finalists from the previous season have started the year with three losses in a row.
* Gold Coast's effort in defeating Hawthorn last Sunday after being thrashed by GWS only a week earlier came across as pretty special - and the records back that up. The Suns' losing margin against the Giants was 102 points, and their winning margin against the Hawks was 86. That's a 188-point one-week positive form reversal, which represents the 12th-biggest such turnaround in V/AFL history. The record such reversal is an amazing 235 points, recorded by Hawthorn in 1992. The Hawks lost by 75 points to St Kilda in round 19, 1992, than walloped Essendon by 160 points the following week.
* Having at one stage in the final term been an incredibly accurate 17.2, Geelong finished up with a final score of 20.6.126 against Melbourne last Saturday. While a final score of 17.2 would have been a V/AFL first, 20.6 is still a rare combination of goals and behinds. In fact, it was only the ninth time a team has registered the score. Geelong was the first team to kick 20.6, back in 1931. And just in case our earlier omen of a Fremantle flag was too farfetched for you, perhaps this score can provide you with a more realistic one. The Cats won the flag in 1931 - the only other year in which they've kicked 20.6 - defeating Richmond in the Grand Final.
Postcode of the week
Fremantle went into last Saturday night's match against the Western Bulldogs at very long odds but by quarter time, when the Dockers led 4.4 to 1.3, it was plain their chances of victory were much better than most thought. Reflecting this, 4413 is very fittingly the postcode of Chances Plain.
Ridiculous footy anagram of the week
We happened upon an old footy fan this week and asked him what he thought about the AFL's idea of playing games for premiership points on Good Friday. His considered response was, "GOOD FRIDAY GAMES? IT'S COOL." When we pressed him further, asking him who his favourite team was and how the decision affected him personally, he gave an enthusiastic answer which was, incredibly, an anagram of his first comment: "IDEAL! I'M FOOTSCRAY - GO DOGS!"
Micro Noises is Andrew Gigacz's regular, quirky look at all things footy. The name Micro Noises is an anagram of Enrico Misso, who played one game for St Kilda in 1985. He remains the only Enrico and the only Misso to have played footy at the highest level.
Comments
This article does not contain any comments.
Login to leave a comment.