By Lachlan Mitchell
LACHLAN: Alright team, it’s great to be back in the saddle for my third Let’s Talk Sport, which is the end of a trilogy. One of my favourite trilogies is Back to the Future.
TYLER: Great film.
LACHLAN: Tell me about it, but in the film they travel back-in-time in the DeLorean. What I want to know is if our local cricketing teams had a time-machine and could go back in time what they would change.
Dave I’ll start with you.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
DAVE: Talking about Back To The Future, I was sitting in a bloke’s house about two weeks ago and he collects memorabilia from the film, he reckons he’s got half-a-million dollars’ worth of merchandise.
LACHLAN: Pakenham Local?
DAVE: I can’t say, it’s an undisclosed location, but let’s get it back to sport. Let’s go back in time in the local league. I have got a bit of weird one, bit of a quirky one.
Kooweerup got knocked out in the preliminary finals stage on Saturday, and one of the reasons was their batting throughout the year never got tested.
What I mean by that is that they would normally bowl first and roll a team for 120. The two openers would knock off 90 odd, but the batting line-up would not get tested throughout the season.
Come finals time it hurt them, from round’s two to six the opposition won the toss and elected to bat first, Kooweerup would roll them and then win one or two down. And when they roll them that means no batting practise for the middle to lower order.
I think if Kooweerup could wind back the clock they would win the toss and bat first and get use to batting out 40 overs.
And Pakenham had a slow start to the year, losing their first three, that put them way behind and they had to win nine out of ten to make finals. You need to have luck to win games of cricket but they would be wishing they had a faster start. They used up all their luck and then lost a close-one against Cardinia.
LACHLAN: Tyler I’ll throw it over to you.
TYLER: I’ve got a couple, In Lachlan’s last Let’s Talk Sport you asked me coming into finals would you change anything.
And I said if you haven’t had your number six bat you might throw them up the order to give them an opportunity to bat .Because they need to be ready to have a hit.
But my moments are one that featured prominently in my turf one review last week. I don’t think Kyle Hardy will take on Jackson Sketcher next year. He will drop it on the leg-side I don’t think he will take on Sketcher again after being run out last week.
Another one a few years ago in the Outer-East grand final Nathan Foote went to full-back to play on Harry Money, and I think Narre Warren would be hoping they made that move about two years ago.
They might have won that grand final cause he kept Harry Money to one goal and they won the game and Foote was man-of the match.
DAVE: Nathan Foote is off to Kilcunda Bass this year I think.
TYLER: Well there you go, good player and Stingrays best and fairest a few years ago.
DAVE: What about you Lachlan.
LACHLAN: For me it’s all about batting collapses, we saw way to many teams falling for meagre totals. Narre Warren was dismissed for 19. Heinz Southern District was 3/6 and it’s been a feature all season long.
I spoke to Triyan De Silva who has played premier cricket and he said the most important asset you have is your wicket. Games are won or lost because of your wicket and playing your role in the side to ensure you’re there at the end to steer your side home to victory.
DAVE: Talking about playing your role. Talking about that Kooweerup was going along beautifully and lost 7/29. Taking about valuing your wicket…they were bowled out with 10 balls to go.
LACHLAN: Alright moving forward a long way now gents. Footy season is back and should be better than ever. Local footy is back after a few Covid interrupted seasons. What I want to know is at the half-way point, around round 12, give me the biggest headline. Tyler I’ll start with you.
FORTUNE TELLER’S
TYLER: Narre Warren won’t have lost and the headline will be Can They Be Beaten. And the answer is probably no. They are going to come home in a canter, they have a good side and they look really good. I think Noble Park will be in the hunt as well, another team that I cover. But I don’t think Narre would have tasted defeat by round 12.
DAVE: Very good.
LACHLAN: What about yourself Dave.
DAVE: I think in the West-Gippsland Football Netball Competition the big headline will be that Warragul industrials will be the biggest improver this year.
They finished just outside the top six last year, picked up some big name recruits, I think they will go in and Garfield will come out.
I think the headline will be something like ‘Dust is on the rise’ something like that. Also I think the evenness of the competition in West Gippsland. I think it’s shaping up to be a really even competition.
The bottom teams will be possibly Dalyston, Garfield, but I don’t think they will be belted by 100 points.
I am also looking forward to seeing the Eastern Football League with Berwick in Premier and Beaconsfield in Division One.
I think Tyler mentioned a few weeks ago in Let’s Talk Sport about a possible flip around with Berwick going down and Beaconsfield going up. I don’t think that’s going to happen.
TYLER: (Laughs) I honestly thought I’d got away with that unscathed and you’ve brought that up.
DAVE: (Laughs)
TYLER: I said Narre would be undefeated, are the ROC/Officer netball team going to go undefeated this year…50-0 last year.
LACHLAN: ROC netball club or Floyd Mayweather?
DAVE: They fight like a boxer, but I must admit my homework on the Officer/ROC netball club isn’t been up to scratch this year, but let me do some homework and watch this space.
LACHLAN: Can you smell what the ROC is cooking.
Anyway moving on, my headline is Doveton is out of place in Division Two. They are going to dominate bringing in a host of new names including a new playing coach and players. There is a sense of enthusiasm and energy at the Doves and hopefully this time next year we are talking about them being back in Division One where they belong.
EYE CATCHING
LACHLAN: Onto our final topic now. Footy is back in Melbourne, the glue that binds this state together is back after Covid interruptions. From a blockbuster round one, what caught your eye? Dave kick us off.
DAVE: Melbourne’s looked good on Wednesday night, with no sign of a premiership hangover. Apart from the Dees, the Geelong/Essendon game also raised eyebrows a little bit. Geelong is a proven team and Essendon have been getting hyped up.
I think they might be a little over-hyped in my opinion. But maybe they needed a kick in the backside to bring things back down to earth.
As a Collingwood supporter it was good to see young Patrick Lipinski playing well in his first game in the black and white, running through the midfield. And, after an early error, gifting St. Kilda a goal, Nick Daicos was a ball magnet racking up possessions.
LACHLAN: what about you Tyler.
TYLER: You have a nerve to even be here, you barrack from Melbourne (laughs) that’s what caught my eye and ear.
LACHLAN: What a weekend for Tom Morris.
TYLER: One Pat Lipinski caught my eye, he will be the steal of the year. If you watched any VFL last year you will know he had 40 touches and a goal every game.
But I loved watching Carlton on Thursday night. Docherty’s goal was amazing and even Paddy Cripps, what a brunt of a man, with the half-ripped shirt he looked like the Hulk.
DAVE: How good was he in the last quarter when the game was on the line, he was an absolute bull in the midfield?
LACHLAN: We’re just going to avoid the eight 50-metre penalties in the last quarter.
TYLER: Richmond got dominated in the centre clearances; I guess that’s what happens when you have a captain who is not in the best 22.
LACHLAN: Stiff call by Tyler. (laughs)
DAVE: What about you Lachlan.
LACHLAN: For me it was the youth Hayes, Martin, Horne-Francis, I thought he was good for North.
Tyler: Rachelle?
LACHLAN: He was brilliant with five snags, even Patrick Naish for the Eagles looked good moving across from the Tigers. But the funny thing is Martin and Hayes didn’t have a home three weeks ago. Are we letting talent slip through?
TYLER: I think the draft is getting better Daicos, Horne-Francis, they just come in and make an impact from the first bounce.
LACHLAN: Yeah, it’s hard to say why we are waiting for the 11th hour to pick up players.
DAVE: But how good was it to see crowds back at the footy. How did these guys play without fans? Even when they kicked a goal the way they lifted, hearing the crowd, was amazing.
LACHLAN: Good to be moving back into normalcy and let hope it continues.
