Micro Noises 176: Hurrah for Zurhaar!
Getting ahead with zeds
A long, long time ago, way back in September 2012, in just our 13th edition of Micro Noises, we celebrated the debut that season of Dayne Zorko. Now in his sixth season, Zorko has gone on to justify our joy by becoming one of the premier players in the game. But the truth is, the real reason we were excited about Zorko's debut was because it brought us one step closer to completing a full team of "Zs".
Zorko became the 21st V/AFL player to have a surname beginning with Z, leaving us one short of a full team of 22 players. At the time we named a side containing all 21 players, and gave Footscray's Zeno Tzatzaris and honorary red vest as the 22nd player.
Having a first name starting with Z and a surname that contains two Zs and sounds like it starts with a Z, Tzatzaris filled the 'sub' role admirably but, as we know, substitute players are now a thing of the past so the time has come to relieve Zeno of his post. And fortunately, North Melbourne has come to the party and provided us with a player to take on the role. Welcome to the 'Z Squad' Cameron Zurhaar, who debuted for the Kangaroos on Saturday against Port Adelaide on Saturday. Here, then, is the first genuine V/AFL Z squad of 22 players:
B: | Ty Zantuck (Rich, Ess) | Mark Zanotti (WCo, Bris,Fitz) | Dennis Zanoni (Geel) | |
HB: | Dennis Zeunert (Carl) | Noel Zunnerberg (Fitz) | Trevor Zeltner (Foots) | |
C: | Shane Zantuck (NM, SM, Melb) | Eric Zschech (Rich) | Jack Zimmerman (Foots) | |
HF: | Dayne Zorko (Bris) | Peter Zychla (Geel) | Jack Ziebell (NM) | |
F: | Harold Zucker (Haw) | Jack Zander¹ (Haw) | Owen Zinko (Melb) | |
R: | Murray Zeuschner (Foots) | David Zaharakis (Ess) | Bruno Zorzi (Fitz) | |
Int: | Cyril Zimmer (Fitz) | Michael Zemski (Haw) | Charles Zinnick (Ess, Foots) | Cameron Zurhaar (NM) |
A zed head start
Zurhaar's arrival on the scene takes the percentage of players in V/AFL history to have surname beginning with Z up to a dizzying 0.18%, but the AFL's women have got the men well covered in the Z department. With Emma Zielke debuting for Brisbane in the inaugural AFLW season, she has given the Zs a head start on the men.
The VFL was not graced with a Z player until its 22nd season, with Charlie Zimmer playing his one and only game for Fitzroy in 1918. It seems rather fitting that Zielke has become the first Z player in the AFLW as a Brisbane player, given that the Brisbane Lions evolved from Zimmer's old club. As one of 214 players to have taken the field in the 2017 AFLW season, Zielke has seen the AFLW's percentage of Z players skyrocket to 0.47%, leaving the men well behind.
Leading the way without kicking a goal
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Round 17 was bookended by goal-less first quarters, with St Kilda failing to kick a major in the opening term against Richmond on Friday night and Fremantle doing the same in the round's last match, the Western Derby in Perth. For the Saints, it was their first such quarter in 2017, while for the Dockers, the third time this year that they've failed to bring up the 'twin calicos' in a term.
But Fremantle need not feel embarrassed by its efforts. There are two sides who have had more than three goal-less quarters. Hawthorn has had four, including two in the one match. Back in round 11, the Hawks went the entire first half of their match against Port Adelaide without scoring a goal.
The Hawks are only run a poor second, though, when it comes to the goal-less quarter ladder. Way out in front are the reigning premiers the Western Bulldogs. The Dogs' extremely patchy 2017 form has seen them fail to bring up two flags in six quarters so far this year.
All but two sides have had at least one scoreless quarter this year, with Geelong and GWS the only ones to have escaped the ignominy of going through a term in which the goal umpire hasn't raised the twin fingers.
Score Wars - Back to the 80s
The 2017 edition of Score Wars is very much an 80s affair so far - with a dash of 90 thrown in. The seven most common final scores of the season can all be found between 80 and 90. 86 remains the leader having come up nine times, 80, 81, 82 and 90 have all been seen eight times, and 89 and 88 have made seven appearances.
Of the other scores in the 80s, 85 has come up six times 87 and 83 have come up on four occasions, while 84 is dragging the chain, having come up only thrice. Outside the 81-90 bracket, the only scores to have come up six times or more are 75, which has made seven appearances, and 97 and 96, which have each been recorded six times.
The Marginal Medal
Meanwhile the race for the Marginal Medal is a red-hot affair, with Geelong's heart-stopping win over Hawthorn, giving 3 points the outright lead. It has now been the margin in seven matches, this year, one more than 2 points, with 1 point, 13 points, 19 points and 31 points each appearing five times. The only margin under 30 not to make an appearance so far in 2017 is 21 points.
Postcode of the week
St Kilda might well be sponsored by a dairy product, with the Dare iced coffee logo appearing on its jumpers, but that didn't appear to help the Saints last Friday night as they put in a very flat performance against Essendon. This fact was rather neatly reflected by the fact that the Bombers kicked 2, 4, 7 and 4 against them over the game's four quarters, and that 2474 is the postcode of Dairy Flat.
Ridiculous footy anagrams of the week
Some football players are so influential that whether a match will be won or lost seems to depend almost entirely their inclusion or otherwise in the team. So impressive was LEWIS YOUNG in his debut for the Western Bulldogs last Sunday, we already have the feeling that he might well become one of those players. And to back that up, he's an anagram of WIN/LOSE GUY.
Meanwhile St Kilda will introduce an new player of its own against Sydney on Saturday night, and the Saints might well have timed ROWAN MARSHALL'S DEBUT perfectly. It's an anagram of DRUM ROLL... BEAT SWANS! HA!
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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