Was at the Elimination Final in 2003 v the Dockers at Subi when he helped turn the match just before half-time after a slow start and Hirdy firing him up.
Frustrating waste of talent he was.
Kicked 2 goals in the 3rd that near enough sealed the game, one on his left boot and one on his right. If I recall, freo were coming hard in the 3rd and that killed their momentum and we were home from there.
Yeah I remember that game - was about the last final we won (sad face emoji)
Didn’t Rioli kick a miracle goal from the boundary that night too trickled across the line like he had it on string
Although I never really understood that term cos if he had it on a string he’d pull the ball back towards him …?
Yep, same pocket where Hirdy miracle goal bounced from and then went through.
Farkin ell you guys are rough!
Not everyone with the physical attributes to play footy has the mindset to take it to the limit. Just because you have one, does not mean you have been gifted with the other. Go figure - people hanging ■■■■ on these guys don’t have either hahahahaha
Him and Rioli would have to be the most naturally talented guys we have had in the last 20 years. Such a shame that neither had the application to make it and have long AFL careers.
Was at the Elimination Final in 2003 v the Dockers at Subi when he helped turn the match just before half-time after a slow start and Hirdy firing him up.
Frustrating waste of talent he was.
Kicked 2 goals in the 3rd that near enough sealed the game, one on his left boot and one on his right. If I recall, freo were coming hard in the 3rd and that killed their momentum and we were home from there.
Correct rossoneri.
Just went back and looked at that game again this morning and he did kick those goals on either foot as you described just before three qtr time.
He was unsighted though in the first half until he gave away a 50 mtr penalty for gobbing off to the umpire, which resulted in a Dockers goal just before halftime which prompted Hirdy to have words to him.
Funnily enough too there was an umpire that night umpiring whom I rated as one of the most competent that I’d seen since Glenn James in the eighties, Matthew James.
I remember Matthew James as having a bit of a shaky start to his umpiring career but became an exceptional umpire until he quietly disappeared unfortunately. And in light of recent discussions on umpiring on here it was a shame that guys of his calibre are no longer around.
He seemed to have a certain rapport with the players and gave clear and concise explainations for his decisions which the players would seem to accept, which in turn allowed for the game to progress quickly and flow after a stop in play.
I believe the umpires are now viewed as the enemy within the playing fraternity which has created an us-against-them mentality in which I think has been to a severe detriment to the game.
Sorry for derailing my post here but just my thoughts on one reason that umpiring is the way it is today.
It fair dinkum guts me to think of the sort of midfield we could have had in the mid-2000s had the cards fallen differently. Imagine a midfield with a fit Rioli, an uninjured Winderlich, a healthy Rama, and a Cupido with his head in the game. And hell, add a Jobe who had a breakout year a bit earlier to that mix. And this is all when Hird, Lucas, Lloyd, and Fletch are still playing top-quality footy.
It fair dinkum guts me to think of the sort of midfield we could have had in the mid-2000s had the cards fallen differently. Imagine a midfield with a fit Rioli, an uninjured Winderlich, a healthy Rama, and a Cupido with his head in the game. And hell, add a Jobe who had a breakout year a bit earlier to that mix. And this is all when Hird, Lucas, Lloyd, and Fletch are still playing top-quality footy.
Sigh.
Yup, would have been a very different decade. But that’s the way the chips fall sometimes. It takes the reverse to create a winning ‘dynasty’.