The most thankless task in sport?
JONTY: Guys, another big sports weekend. Obviously the finals time peaked for me this weekend with the grand finals and you guys, yours are just around the corner. I’m going to talk about some of the under-the-radar storylines in these Premierships, but first I’ll start with you guys – what are some under-the-radar storylines that might not get the main coverage but are interesting nonetheless? I’ll start with you, Marcus.
STORIES
MARCUS: We have Buckley Ridges vs. Springvale South in Turf 1, a standout game so I’m really looking forward to this one. I’m looking at Springvale South’s top orders. Ryan Quirk broke his foot so he won’t be available, he’s the leading run scorer in the competition, a massive loss, and outside of him between Mitch Forsyth, Cam Forsyth, Jordie Wyatt and Jackson Skecher, their top 5 outside of Ryan Quirk, they’ve made five 50s after Christmas. Jordan McKenzie replaces Quirk and has been in really good form in the reserves and they’re happy with what he’s bringing. He looked okay on Saturday but that’s one thing I’ll watch out for as the top order goes.
DAVE: Very good analysis from you Marcus. Not bad for a guy who didn’t pick it up until after Christmas.
JONTY: He nods in humble approval.
MARCUS: I learned from the best.
Jonty: Nagel?
Dave Nagel! wow what happened to dave Ralphsmith, I think the underlying story for this week’s CCCA Grand Final – Kooweerup v Cardinia – is the return of Michael Giles to Kooweerup. He’s a favorite son, four-time Premiership player, Premiership captain but left in difficult conditions and it took a while for him to come back. Now he is on the verge of guiding them to a Premiership in his first year as captain. I spoke to him on Sunday after the game and when I asked him what it would mean for him, he got emotional. His return really means a lot to him and I think that’s a big part of the story and has stayed under the radar this year.
JONTY: I’ve gone more along the lines of some players who have been impressive but have been overshadowed at my clubs. Noman Khan is one for dandy west, captain Anthony Brannan really singled him out, he’s been at the club for several years, worked his way up from thirds to second and now firsts in the E class. Not only that, he’s opened bowling for the past few weeks and bowled well along with Nuwan Kulasekara, who is obviously the main storyline. For Beaconsfield, Jesse Busacca hasn’t done much all year but Mark Cooper and others from Beaconsfield really stressed that his knock in the end was essentially winning the Premier League. The foundation was laid, but someone had yet to come out and capitalize, which they did twice in the finals. Also Mitch Tielen, we’ve seen how he’s developed and the club trust him more and more as a top spinner and he’s shown why. Three big wickets at the weekend.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES AND DIFFICULTIES IN LOCAL SPORTS
JONTY: Moving on to the next subject, from a world perspective, Australia just got beaten 2-1 by India. A missed opportunity? We see these Aussies as probably the best squad to have been there in well over a decade, so I’ll leave it to you. Would you like to take a look at the most difficult task in local sport and compare it to beating India in India or take the route of missed opportunity? I’ll start with you Dave.
DAVE: The equivalent of beating India on the spot in India is beating Tooradin at Tooradin, and has been for years, but Kooweerup seems to be doing it consistently. I don’t know what it is… maybe they’re just one hell of a cricket team!
JONTY: Is Tooradin a similarly sized floor to Kooweerup?
DAVE: (bluntly) no, couldn’t be any other way. (Marcus laughs uncontrollably)
MARCUS: I’m looking at a missed opportunity: I’ve talked about Lucas Ligt a few times. He finished the season with 832 runs. Last game of the season Devon Meadows was pretty sure he would be up front, they were going to play bottom ranked Gembrook, I think there’s a chance he hit 168 and the 1000 run -Limit would have broken if they had played.
DAVE: Jonty, I’ll applaud that… that’s brilliant of Marcus.
MARCUS: Gembrook had to give up the game so he didn’t get an opportunity, but in a game where the stakes weren’t high for either side I felt it was a real disappointment and a missed opportunity.
DAVE: And if you look at his notes, Marcus, there’s probably a real chance that that could have happened. I know there’s someone out there going to do 168 runs, but it’s not beyond their ability. Jonty, push on ya buddy ’cause this is great.
JONTY: That’s standout, but I think that’s just as standout, but it doesn’t jump off the page that much.
BOYS IN UNISON: We’ll judge, champion!
JONTY: Beat Casey at Casey – no one can do that!
DAVE: But that’s only because they’re a good team.
JONTY: It’s more than that, you think of Casey, it’s always cold, wet, rainy, it suits Casey’s way of playing. Look at individuals. What do guys who have been steadfast through the years thrive on, Jimmy Munro, Mitch White: these very conditions.
DAVE: If India isn’t good and you go there, they’re still hard to beat while picking a Premiership team because that’s why they’re hard to beat…
JONTY: However, I think it’s the other way around in a lot of ways. Success is based on dominance at home rather than an outstanding team that plays well at home. Think of the unique conditions of Casey Fields and the unique conditions of India, there’s a correlation…well, one is wet, one is hot.
MARCUS: (laughs) so the complete opposite?
DAVE: For me the comparison to India in India is a team just outside the top 5 in footy or cricket…but it’s always hard to go there and beat them.
JONTY: They said tooradin in tooradin…which you also said were one of the best teams in the competition! I do the same!
DAVE: I go back a few years…
JONTY: Interjections: Yes, Dave, we know that
DAVE: (ignoring the heckling): Casey was always easybeats at Casey Fields so I don’t think it’s the venue, I think it’s the team but nice that you have a super young guy.
JONTY: Yes, thank you very much for winning the participation prize!
WICKET GUARDIAN
JONTY: We’re going to continue and I’m really looking forward to that because I’ve seen a lot of good performances with the gloves over the past few weeks. There are two goalies that I would like to highlight that are the best glove men in the competition. Dave, you first.
DAVE: It’s coincidental that you mention “gatekeeper” because yesterday I stopped in Cardinia on my way home from Tooradin and the first person I spoke to was Luke Turner, the current President of Cardinia. He was a stunning wicket-keeper in his day, small, lumbering, Rod Marsh in looks and a great man behind the stumps… I loved watching his glove work. Right now I’d say Kooweerup’s Chris Bright, he goes to the stumps for a pace-dominated attack, he can dictate how a batsman has to hit. Rob Elston was team of the year this season, he’s 42 years old or so and every time you watch him he’s so balanced and comes at the right time. The ball melts into his gloves.
JONTY: Marcus, you had a really good moment from a keeper over the weekend. So enlighten us there.
MARCUS: Paul Hill for Springvale South hosted a wicket-keeping masterclass on Saturday. He took two regular catches from the Searns and gave Hallam Kalora Park coach Matthew Cox a legside stumping from Jackson Skechers midsteps. It was so clean that when the bails were taken Cox barely knew what had happened and then he took a hook from Skecher while standing up to the stumps and he took one from Blade Baxter. I spoke to Blade Baxter and asked him what impact Hill has and he said he’s a complete game changer: He’ll tell the bowlers when he’s going to keep up with the stumps and that totally throws the batters out. Their footwork is slipping and they don’t know what’s going on and he’s one of the best people to have by your side.
DAVE: Speaking of goalies, Ben Parrot kept up against a mid-stride with the stumps on Sunday and Chris Bright, who we were just talking about, batted. Parrott made a great catch up to the stumps but unfortunately the referee didn’t approve. Even if you are a good goalkeeper and you are capable of it, you are not always in control of whether or not you can influence a game.
MARCUS: One thing that Blade also talked about is, “Staying is one of those thankless things in sports. When a keeper is playing well you don’t really notice it, but when he makes a mistake you can hit him hard, that’s just one of those things.
JONTY: You can see that in India at the moment with Alex Carey. His hitting wasn’t great and that was highlighted, but his actual stance was tremendous. We didn’t notice him. I don’t think he really caught a catch from what I’ve seen and he would have kept up with the stumps at least 75 per cent of the time with the amount of spin we’re bowling which is so different from Australia.
MARCUS: And he really fought in Sri Lanka too, so he’s come a long way in eight months: glory be to him.
JONTY: A keeper would never win the Allan Border Medal or the Allan Wookey Medal or the Gartside because they don’t get noticed.
DAVE: Are you the defenders of the Brownlow?
JONTY: Yes, they are 100 percent. My goalies of note are Dyl Diacono and Matt Collett. Diacono opens up batting too, but he’s so neat with the gloves, looks several notches up and had the game-changing moment over the weekend. You can head over to my Turf 3 review to read about it, but a stumble that came from being over alert and another great catch. He can also keep up with the closers, as can Matt Collett. He does it a lot with Tim Fathers, has done it on a little up and down in the semifinals, has made some catch-ups to the stumps and has a really good goaltender-bowler relationship with Peter Sweeney. He did a lot of stumping for Sweeney, including in this semifinal. Dave, before we go, you have a few other ungrateful people to give credit to.
DAVE: Thanks Jonty, I just want to say hello to the volunteers from our local bowling and golf clubs who send in their entries each week. An Des Leigh (Pakenham Bowls), John Moore (Cardinia Waters Bowls), Damian Brick (Garfield Bowls), John Rich (Berwick Bowls), Jodie Mays (Lang Lang Golf), Terry Webster (Garfield Golf) and Glenn Robinson and Sharon Rippon (Drouin Golf), Thank you for your continued support.
JONTY: Well said Dave…see you next week.