West Coast Eagles versus Fremantle Dockers - Derby XXXI

Today I was lucky enough to have been invited to watch Derby XXXI between the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers. Was a bit lucky to make it nearly on time as there were no trains running on the Armadale line as there was a body of someone who had died at the Carlisle station still on the tracks underneath a white blanket. Not sure what the story is because I can't find anything on the news. Police everywhere and TransPerth had to put replacement buses on. I don't think that I've ever been on such a crowded bus before. The game included a Captain's Club Luncheon in the Bill Walker Room prior to the match. There were guest speakers, a raffle and some nice food. Must have been some 300 people in for the lunch. Speakers included Michael Thompson, Sam Butler, Glen Jakovich, Andrew Strijk and Ian "Serge" Miller.

Took our seats after lunch and we were only six rows back from the fence on the northern wing. Not a bad spot really although we were in the Eagles Members area. Not that that stopped quite a few Dockers supporters getting in. I'd never attended a Derby match before so it was a bit of a buzz.

Good game for the first one and a half quarters then Freo dominated. After that is was a great game. I'd tipped the Dockers to win and was very pleased to see them playing to their potential. There were some big hits during the game and you could hear the bodies of men smacking together. I think that I got a few decent photos as well.

WCE vs Freo Dockers Photo Album on Facebook.

Swine Flu - It's Not That Contagious

Last I heard there has only been one confirmed case of swine flu in Western Australia. Sometimes it's not so bad to be isolated. But the guy who contracted the virus shared a plane with the Fremantle Football Club and they were very concerned that the players might have caught the virus. This would lead to an upheaval in the AFL fixtures for the year if they were unable to field a team for a week or two whilst players were quarantined.

They needn't have worried. If you've seen the Dockers form of late they can't as much catch a football so what hope have they got of catching a virus?

Dockers vs North Melbourne Rd 12 2008

One of the guys that we do a lot of business with had three tickets for the football to offer us. It was for an AFL match between the Fremantle Dockers and the North Melbourne Kangaroos. The Dockers had recently set a record of losing five matches in a row when leading at three quarter time. The put an end to the nonsense last weekend when trailing from half time to lose the match against the Brisbane Lions.

It was a lovely day. Spent the morning at work and went with Martin from work and Jose from site met us there later. Nice seats in the Dockers members' area not far from the action. I could tell that it would be a good day for the Dockers when I saw Shaun McManus only 20 minutes before bouncedown in a suit. If he wasn't going to play I thought that they were in with a chance.




In the end the Dockers were far too strong for a decidedly, and unusually, soft North Melbourne. Considering that the coach of the Kangaroos is from Perth and loves to beat the locals the inept performance, following a gutsy close loss to the reigning premiers last weekend, was inexplicable and unexpected. I had tipped the Dockers to win however. Great afternoon.

Dockers vs North Melbourne photo album on Facebook.