Micro Noises 184: Droughtbreakers
Palindromic Revenge
It's taken almost a quarter of a century, but the Adelaide Crows have finally exacted vengeance of sorts (albeit against a different team) for a loss inflicted on them way back in 1993. In that year's Second Semi-Final against Carlton, the Crows went down palindromically, losing 68-86 to the Blues. That was the last palindromic scoreline in a V/AFL final until last Friday at the Adelaide Oval, where the Crows easily accounted for GWS, winning 84-48 in a match that appropriately saw Adelaide's forwards do very well while the Giants season definitely took a step backwards.
A half-time score more than half a century in the making
Just how far backwards the Giants went was in evidence in the first half of that match against Adelaide. They scored only the one goal in the first quarter and failed to register one at all in the second, and by the long break their total was a measly 1.5, making it the lowest half-time score in a final since Collingwood's 1.0 in the 1960 Grand Final against Melbourne.
While there was a shower or two during last Friday night's game the ground conditions were very good and GWS could barely use that as an excuse, as perhaps the Magpies could have in 1960 when over half an inch of rain fell the night before and on the day of the Grand Final.
On a Cat-trick
Only 24 hours later, Geelong also failed to register in a major in a quarter in their qualifying final against Richmond. Unlike the Giants, who went goalless in the second term, the Cats did so in the first, meaning that they have now failed to bring up two flags in each of their last two first quarters in finals. They were down 0.5 to 7.2 at quarter time against Sydney in last year's Second Preliminary Final.
Geelong will be taking on the Swans again in a final tonight at the MCG, the same venue as last year's disastrous match. The Cats will be hoping lightning doesn't strike thrice this evening but with Sydney boasting a recent history of very strong first-term form, the team from Kardinia Park are facing the very real danger of registering the type of hat-trick they'd rather not have on their record books.
The drought is over and the omens keep raining down on the Tigers
5837 days after their last win in a final (against Carlton in 2001) Richmond have finally navigated out of a river created by 16 years of tears of sorrow, and into a stream of tears of joy, which flowed freely after their win over Geelong on Friday night.
But it wasn't only tears that flowed freely through the match. The omens for a Richmond flag, as they have all season, continued to rain down. Here are some of the ones we picked up on:
* Geelong's half-time score of 2.4 was their lowest in a final since the 1969 First Semi-Final. That match was also against Richmond and 1969 was a premiership year for the Tigers.
* The Tigers won 91-40, a scoreline seen only twice before in V/AFL matches. The first of those was in 1903, where Collingwood defeated Melbourne 13.13 to 5.10 as Richmond defeated Geelong last Friday. The Magpies went on to win the 1903 premiership. The second was a 91-40 win by Fitzroy over St Kilda in 1905, and 1905 was a Fitzroy premiership year.
* The win was Richmond's first in a Qualifying Final since 1980. The Tigers won the 1980 flag.
* Geelong's final score of 5.10.40 was its lowest against Richmond since 1921, when the Cats managed just 5.6.36. 1921 was a Richmond premiership season.
On the other hand...
While the omens for a Richmond premiership are many and varied, the news is not all good for Tiger fans. As buoyed as they would be as a result of last Friday night's win and the litany of historical signs pointing to a flag, another omen popped up on Saturday night that suggests the Yellow and Black Army could be heading for heartbreak on Grand Final day.
While the Port Adelaide versus West Coast match would appear to have little bearing on Richmond's fortunes in 2017, one of the Eagles registered a little stat that could be ominous. Jeremy McGovern played a great defensive game for West Coast, taking 15 marks, a feat matched only once before in V/AFL matches played on September 9th. Carlton's Charlie Davey took 15 marks on the date in 1933, a year which the Swans defeated Richmond in the Grand Final. And right now, a Swans-Tigers Grand Final in 2017 remains a real possibility.
Anagrammatical postcode of the week
As well as ending the 5837-day finals-win drought mentioned above, the Tigers also won for the first time against Geelong in 4122 days. And, from what we saw of the television coverage of the crowd after the win, we think it's not unfair to say that some sections of the Richmond throng - in particular some grown men in the Tiger Army - went completely crazy.
And perhaps that's understandable, given that 4122 is the postcode of MOUNT GRAVATT AND MANSFIELD, which together make an anagram of MADMAN ADULT TIGER FANS ON TV.
ZIP code of the week
In cricket news, India recently completed a dominant tour of Sri Lanka, winning every Test, One-Day International and T20 match against the home side. So it was fitting that only days after the country once known as Ceylon was humiliated, Essendon was also humiliated in its Elimination Final against Sydney. Why was it fitting? Because the Bombers lost 56-121, and 56121 is the ZIP code of a town in Minnesota called Ceylon.
Ridiculous footy anagram of the week
The SCG was the scene of a sad end to the great careers of Dons Jobe Watson and James Kelly last week, with Essendon copping that heavy defeat in their Elimination Final against Sydney. But the pair received a well-deserved send-off, with a jamboree-like atmosphere created as players from both sides lined up to pay tribute to the pair as they enjoyed one last walk from the ground.
It seems quite appropriate then, that JOBE WATSON AND/OR JAMES KELLY is an anagram of JAMBOREE: DONS ENJOY LAST WALK.
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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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