Micro Noises 91: Four fine footballers
Four fine 279-ers
Sad news for Chris Judd this week, with the dual Brownlow Medallist announcing his retirement after rupturing an ACL in what turned out to be his last AFL match against Adelaide last Saturday. Judd's career ends on 279 games, and he becomes the fourth VFL/AFL player to end his time on that total. The other three are Alex Jesaulenko (Carlton and St Kilda), Brisbane's Matthew Lappin and former Tiger Matthew Knights.
That is certainly a fine foursome of footballers and it would be no easy task to rank them in order, based on talent, impact on the game and individual and team achievements. Nevertheless, Micro Noises took to Twitter and Facebook to ask people to do exactly that. The answers were varied but the trend as they rolled in was the formation of two distinct groups, with 'Jezza' and Judd finishing well clear of Knights and Lappin. When the final votes were tallied, Jesaulenko just pipped Judd into the number one spot, with Lappin a distant third and Knights finishing in fourth place not far behind.
We'd welcome your input. Add your rankings and thoughts in the Comments section below.
100 years old! Ken you believe it?
A wonderful milestone was reached by ex Melbourne and Hawthorn player Ken Feltscheer this week. The former Fuchsia and Maybloom turned 100 years old on Tuesday. Ken is one of very few VFL/AFL players to have made it to the 'ton', with Newton Chandler, Harry Selover, Bill Campbell, Archie Richardson and Roy Allen among the very few others to have reached the mark. In an interview with the Age's Peter Hanlon this week, the still very sharp Feltscheer opined that Dustin Fletcher should retire "and let a younger player have a go". Fletcher, of course, no doubt disagrees, and is very keen to play on. All of which makes it rather ironic that KEN FELTSCHEER is an anagram of FLETCHER'S KEEN.
Seventh heaven compared to 27th hell
We spoke in our last edition of the Sydney Swans kicking accurately to record a score of 19.8 against Carlton in round nine. Last Saturday night Geelong made it two weeks in a row for that score, bringing up 19.8.122 against Essendon. It was the third time in history the Cats have notched up 19.8, and their accuracy was far the better of the Dons', who could do no better than a score of 7.11.
But the Bombers inaccuracy on Saturday was nothing compared to that of Geelong's opposition the first time the Cats kicked 19.8. In round six, 1928, while the Pivitonians were busy accurately kicking 19 majors from 27 scoring shots at Corio Oval, their opponents Fitzroy, found the big sticks only twice from no less than 29 attempts, finishing with a final score of 2.27!
2.27 represents the most inaccurate performance in history of a VFL/AFL team kicking two or more goals, and the fifth most inaccurate for any team that has had 10 or more scoring shots. (The list of most inaccurate performances can be found here.) So, as bad as the Dons might feel about their poor showing against Geelong, their return of 7.11 was at least far more accurate than Fitzroy's 2.27 recorded 87 years ago.
First among unequals
Two more score-pairing gaps were filled in round 10, with the two matches at Docklands both giving us first time VFL/AFL combinations. Geelong's win over Essendon was the inaugural appearance of 122 v 53, while Hawthorn's victory over the Saints saw 132 v 69 come up for the first time.
The Marginal Medal
With Carlton recording it's second loss in five rounds by that margin, 9 points has now come up five times in season 2015, cementing its lead in the Marginal Medal. Second place holder 10 points also came up again in round 10, as part of North's close win over West Coast. That margin has come up four times, once more than 69, 53 and 27. With 90 games completed this year, we've still only had five matches decided by less than a goal.
Score Wars
No movement on the Score Wars leaderboard this week. 78 remains the most common score of the year, having come up seven times, twice more than 105 and 68. 78 appears to have taken away all the action from its nearest neighbour, 79 this year. Along with 71, 79 is the only final score between 50 and 100 that has not been seen in season 2015.
Question of the Week
Congratulations to former St Kilda player Neil Roberts, who was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame last week. Roberts has always been known to his mates as 'Coco' but, now that he's almost reached the ripe old age of 82, would it be more appropriate these days to refer to him as 'Coco Pops'?
ZIP Code of the week
In a rather Scrooge-like performance, Hawthorn allowed St Kilda to score only 10 goals at Docklands last Sunday. The match ended with the Saints eventually losing 69-132. Suitably, 69132 is the ZIP code of Dickens.
Postcode of the week
If you're going to be 4.4 at quarter time and 5.4 at half time, then the best month to do that is surely in June. North Melbourne were exactly that at the first two breaks last Sunday (June 7th) and appropriately, 4454 is the postcode of Injune.
Ridiculous footy anagram of the week
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Congratulations to TOBY MCLEAN, who made his AFL debut for the Western Bulldogs last Saturday night. McLean (right) came on in the third quarter as the substitute for the Dogs and showed skill and poise in his time on the field. But what we like most about him is his nice tidy hair. It helps lend an extra air of professionalism to him, and makes him a fitting anagram of NEATLY COMB.
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
Richard Wallace 22 June 2015
Andrew Gigacz 22 June 2015
Thanks Richard. I had Jezza, Judd, Lappin and Knights as my order.
Adam Cardosi 24 June 2015
The first two are true champions of the game. The next two were both outstanding players, and both underrated.
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