Yes, three blokes, originally from South Australia, took the gamble to go back home on Saturday and watch their favourite football team let slide a fabulous opportunity, losing to the Sydney Swans by 29 points.
Walking back into AAMI Stadium was like going back in time yet nothing had changed. It quickly dawned on me that the last time I was here was for the 2006 Preliminary Final against West Coast.
The time before that was my 10-year stint five rows from the front in Bay 115 as a South Australian member. Now being a Victorian, I could see why you wouldn’t want to come here as an interstate supporter.
The 19th Man are extremely parochial and have a very distinct character. I finally got to see the man with the long grey beard who appears on the TV every home game in real life and it took me ten minutes to work out why people were holding their beers with lids on them.
Although somewhat inconvenient, I loved the uniqueness of the closing gate to allow the players out of the change room and onto the ground; and it’s great to see that the concept of a fan-o-meter (now known as the 19th Man-o-meter) still remains and continues to get the crowd up and about.
Finishing second on the ladder had given me one leg to stand on leading up to Saturday’s game to talk up our legitimate chance in September.
All year I have suffered through that the reason we only finished where we are was because of such a soft draw. I simply turn around and say to my fellow Victorians, “Yeah but who has to travel interstate every second week!”
Having the two home finals is obviously the penultimate prize to give you every opportunity to be there on that last day in September. A loss on Saturday would probably mean a Semi-Final against Geelong - the second most in form team in the competition - and the most talked about dark horse in Melbourne.
An unlikely 16-point win to the Dockers means they now travel to Adelaide for a Friday night blockbuster. With Fremantle’s hectic schedule and Pavlich under an injury cloud, I believe we have a very good chance of winning.
If we get up this week, we go into the following week against Hawthorn with absolutely nothing to lose. A new coach, a stack of new young talent and a team that was near the bottom of the ladder in season 2011 can certainly hold their head up high if we bow out to Hawthorn in a Preliminary Final.
Joel Smith is the official Adelaide Crows commentator on http://app.playup.com. Follow him on Twitter @PlayUp_AdelCrow
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
