We welcomed Old Haileybury to the Brunswick Street Oval for a pair of Men’s games, the latter a twilight commencing at 4.30. I might add ‘welcome’ is probably too nice a word, football can be like war at times. Again, the Two’s were comfortable victors, but relaxed and on the back foot too much in the second half. Importantly, Lowrie and Lazzaro got through their comeback games in fine fettle. Lowrie from auditions in Europe for a burgeoning film career, Lazzaro from a season-long injury. I anticipate that both will return to the Seniors sooner rather than later.

Sean Laidlaw and Deasey came in for Minahan and Tauber. There was a threatening sky, a chilly wind and a dark complexion prior to the first bounce. The ominous weather never really delivered what it threatened, but Haileybury certainly did. Our tackling was on, but the problem was that the opposition was all over us, a well drilled and talented outfit, many with higher level experience. And we didn’t take what chances came our way, breaking down at half forward regularly. It was 32–5 around 5pm at the first huddle.

Ligris was defiant in defence. At one point in one passage of play, he found targets and received four times from back pocket to half forward. He was showing the way but lacked widespread support. Laidlaw was a noteworthy exception, returning with wrecking ball mentality. Borland finally got our first goal at the 11-minute mark of the second, but centre bounce clearances were posing a real problem. At least it looked that way. They continued to score, and it was all pretty much one way traffic. McKay marked and goaled, then Toohey bombed one to the tram line end. It was a dark 73­–27 at half time.

I can’t say much about the second half. When I returned to my seat in the grandstand, I was reminded of a Dylan line, ‘getting dark, too dark to see’. With most of the play on the city side of the ground, eyes on the wane, your correspondent was not able to provide much insight into the vagaries of the game. Other than that Haileybury continued their dominance, while we continued to bring effort to the table. It wasn’t enough however. We were down 70 points at the final change, and it was 133–54 around midnight when the game finished. At least it seemed like midnight. Maybe twilight games are better suited to an early-season autumn time slot.

We need to move on to next week. A week at a time as they say. Old Carey awaits us at Bulleen in a must-win scenario next Saturday at the normal time slot, and hopefully if other results go our way, we can put ourselves into strong contention for a finals shot. Put simply, we must win.

Guy Gorilla

Image: Phyllis Quealy