One Saturday afternoon at
Princes Park, back at a time when all games are played on Saturday afternoon,
Neale Daniher steals a certain Carlton win by kicking four goals in the final
quarter. I am horrified.
In the era of Tim Watson and
Roger Merrett Essendon win a long string of games against the Blues. When the
Blues finally break through, we string together a similarly improbable winning sequence,
including a couple without our brightest stars against insurmountable odds. They
are the sweetest victories.
The sweetest of all for Carlton
supporters, and the most devastating for our arch-enemy, is the 1999
preliminary final. Essendon are dead-set certainties, the best team of the year
by far. Carlton get away to a good start and lead by 24 points at half-time
although having less scoring shots.
Nine minutes after half-time
Essendon take the lead and move away as expected, but Carlton hang tough. I
know nothing of this because I’m running a polling booth in the 1999 Victorian
election. Jeff Kennett is considered a shoo-in to be returned as state premier.
It’s three-quarter time when I finally turn on the radio.
The polling booth is now all
but empty. I delegate all duties to my staff. Carlton are 17 points down into
the last quarter but kick the next four goals. Essendon attack relentlessly and
desperately for the last ten minutes but Anthony Koutoufides plays the quarter
of his life and the Blues hang on by one point.
The other odds-on favourite
goes down as well, beaten by a point, although it takes weeks of negotiations
before Kennett is dismissed. That Saturday is one of the great days of my life.
This afternoon the Blues pummel
the Bombers by 96 points. I watch on television, strangely unmoved. Essendon
are so abjectly out of form that the game has no meaning. A shame.
Rock on.
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