Micro Noises 175: More draw lore
A moment that was 96 years in the making
No sooner had the Giants played in their first ever drawn match against Geelong (as we discussed last week) than they went down to York Park in Launceston and played in another one! Given that there have been only 156 drawn matches in 121 V/AFL seasons - an average of just 1.3 per year - to get two draws in two weeks involving any two teams is rare. To get two in a row involving the same team is 'hen's teeth' territory.
In fact, only twice before in all of those seasons has it happened, and the last time was way back in 1921, all of 96 years ago. In that season Carlton had a draw with Fitzroy in round four, and the Blues followed up with another tie against South Melbourne at the Lake Oval a week later. Carlton went onto make that season's Grand Final, going down to Richmond, which had won the flag in 1920. For omen hunters, that could indicate either a Tigers Grand Final win over GWS this year (as the double-draw side in 1921 lost to the Grand Final Richmond), or another Bulldogs' premiership (because in 1921 Richmond was the reigning premier).
For Carlton fans of the time, those consecutive draws perhaps didn't seem much of novelty, because their team had done it all before a decade earlier. In 1911, the Blues managed to draw the matches in both of their opening rounds, against Essendon, and then South Melbourne again. The Blues also made the finals that season, before being knocked out in a semi final (against Essendon). So the events of 1911 and 1921 appear to suggest that, while the Giants are guaranteed to play finals in 2017, they have no chance of actually winning the premiership.
The last shall be... nearly first
GWS's double has seen it make a remarkable transformation in the space of just one week. At 7pm on Saturday July 1, the Giants were at the bottom of 'draw ladder', based on draws as a percentage of games played. By 7pm on Saturday July 8, they were second on the 20-team table, having played in two draws in the space of seven days. The Giants have now drawn two of their 127 matches. Had they achieved the double a week earlier, they would have been equal top with the long defunct University, which ended two of its 126 matches level with the opposition.
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The 'more draw scores'
Saturday's draw (the first ever between two teams beginning with G) was the second of the 156 to finish with a scoreline of 97-97, one which had only come up for the first time in the 154th match two years ago. While there are 19 draw scorelines that have come up exactly twice, there are also quite a few that have come up more than that. The leader of the draw pack is 79. While the first match to finish 79-79 didn't come up until 1933, that pairing has been making up for lost time ever since, and it has now been seen seven times, most recently in 2011.
Not far behind are 66 and 76, with six matches each having finished with teams locked at 66-66 and 76-76. Five drawn matches have literally been 50-50 affairs. In fact five of the first 63 draws ended with teams locked on 50, but we haven't seen one since the fifth one came up in 1952. 75 and 83 have also featured in five draws each, while there are four scores that have come up four times, and 12 that have been seen thrice.
Of the 19 scores that have come up exactly twice, two came in succession. The 101st and 102nd draws (in 1979 and 1980) were 128-128 affairs, while the 105th (1982) and 106th (1985) each finished with scores tied at 113-113. In each of those cases the combination had never come up before and hasn't been seen since.
DRAWS | FINAL SCORE |
7 | 79 |
6 | 76, 66 |
5 | 83, 75, 50 |
4 | 90, 85, 78, 70, 56 |
3 | 109, 98, 88, 87, 77, 71, 69, 68, 62, 61 |
2 | 128, 125, 118, 116, 113, 100, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 74, 64, 63, 54, 45, 44, 43, 35 |
1 | 132, 130, 126, 124, 123, 111, 110, 107, 106, 105, 103, 101, 99, 91, 84, 81, 73, 72, 65, 60, 57, 52, 51, 49, 48, 46, 42, 41, 39, 36, 30, 28 |
A final four about the draw
- 132 is the highest score registered in a drawn match, with Essendon and Carlton finishing level on that total in 1993.
- The lowest draw score is 28, recorded in the second ever draw in 1898.
- The longest draw drought lasted nearly four years, with no matches tied from the time Fitzroy and Hawthorn drew in round 4, 1939 until North Melbourne and St Kilda finished level in 1943.
- 1921 was the 'drawingest' V/AFL season ever, with five drawn matches recorded, while 1914, 1935, 1944 and 1977 each saw four.
Postcode of the week
Sydney trailed Gold Coast 4.3 to 5.2 at quarter time in its match at the SCG on Saturday, but coach John Longmire reminded his Swans at the first break that perseverance from them would ultimately bring success. And he was reassured of being right when he looked up 4352 on his Australia Post app while heading back to the coach's box and saw that it was the postcode of Perseverance.
Ridiculous footy anagrams of the week
When you cast your round 16 footy tips last week, did you consider the possibility that the Giants could end a match drawn again, as they had a week earlier against Geelong? If you did, well done! Perhaps you were inspired after you spotted GWS skipper Callan Ward and subconsciously realised that GIANTS' CAPTAIN WARD is anagram of CAST TIP: DRAWN AGAIN.
Fremantle's newest player Ryan Nyhuis made one of the more memorable debuts of recent times at Docklands last Sunday. The Docker kicked four goals, including the last two of the match, to give his side a thrilling four-point win. One can imagine Nyhuis's family and friends listening to the events unfold on the radio, and perhaps those only half listening asking how the team went and how many goals Ryan had kicked when they heard the final siren. We'd certainly like to think so, anyway, given that FREO'S NEWIE RYAN NYHUIS is an anagram of how that post-game conversation might have gone:
"SIREN, EH? WIN?"
"YES."
"ANY?"
"FOUR!"
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.
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