Men’s M1E v Essendon (R15)
As we were told before the game at the Fortress on Saturday afternoon, this would be a six- point game. No-one actually asked what that meant, but we could tell from Lachie’s tone that it meant it was important.
The game was played hard from the start, with a couple of Kew shots narrowly missing the goals in as many minutes. Unfortunately this was to set the tone for most of the game, with dozens of Kew shots at goal not affecting the score. In fact it was overheard that the posts played a better game than their goalie, but that is no excuse. Just ask Clance.
 The umpires played a great game for Essendon also, allowing an obviously false goal, and with more than one yellow cards flashed around, the most memorable for Cuz after he courageously leapt into the air to swat the ball from one of the Bombers’ many right-side flicks down the ground. Apparently the rule has been around for a number of years that it is illegal to raise the stick above the shoulder, but no-one told Cuz.
 Down the other end, the defence successfully defended 17 penalty corners, and numerous other attacks, but had a few lapses in concentration (just ask Clance) which allowed the Bombers to slot a couple of goals. Fitzy played a great game once again, with the highlight a diving left-handed save headed for the top of goal. In fact it was good that he was there, because Cuz wasn’t about to raise his stick above his shoulder again… even though it is legal to do it with a shot at goal…
With three on the bench it was good to have some rotation, especially Pat who took himself off for a spell after kicking the ball three times in quick succession, and Hillsy, Drew, Charlie and Seeka running themselves silly. The Cleeve Brothers worked a couple of moves together, and we look forward to the return of Jim so the Allens can do the same. Dabner showed great restraint from getting lippy especially after Tunga was tripped and the ump interpreted it as a dive!
The end result was 2-2, (one each to Simon Cleave and Charlie Mac) and the six-point game became a one-pointer, but Lachie, even with all his inspirational speech prowess, didn’t realise it until 2 hours after the final whistle.
The real winner on the day was the Esky, not only making a return appearance, but turning quite a profit, especially because of the yellow card decision.
