World Footy News

The much anticipated Tribute Game has been won by Victoria by 17 points before nearly 70,000 fans at the MCG. The one-off match was close all night but never really rose to great heights, with the Big V pulling away in the last quarter.

The Dream Team burst out of the blocks and their potent forward line looked like it would be too classy to control. But just as the Dreamers had awesome forwards, Victoria always looked to have an advantage in the midfield, and when the away side lost Daniel Kerr for the match with a lower leg injury, the balance swung even further. Slowly but surely the home team exerted their dominance around the packs. Josh Fraser and Troy Simmons performed better than expected against Dean Cox and Jamie Charman in ruck (why didn't coach Mark Williams select either of his acclaimed ruckmen?). Ironically it was South Australian Adam Goodes (controversially deemed a Victorian despite stating otherwise) who took control of the second quarter, winning a lot of the ball and nullifying the Dream Team's ruck dominance by being third man up at the ruck contests around the ground.

From that point on Victoria looked the better team, pushing out to a comfortable lead. Matthew Scarlett outclassed Geelong team-mate Cam Mooney (while at times other star forwards like Matthew Pavlich sat on the bench or were used elsewhere). Scarlett's run and other quick Vic clearances unsettled their opponent's defence. Brendan Fevola was proving more than a handful, ultimately kicking 5.2 and being awarded the Aylett medal as best on ground, while down the other end Lance Franklin was dangerous but somewhat wasteful with 4.5. Jonathan Brown was a steady contributor all game, but fellow Victorian superstar Chris Judd was quiet. Just as it looked like a match winning margin would be gained, the Victorians seemed to ease off, letting the Dreamers back in, with Andrew McLeod adding his rebound to the silky display already put on by Peter Burgoyne.

Early in the last the Dream Team themselves were on the verge of putting the game away, leading by 2 goals and on top, before the Vics rallied again. A dodgy free kick to captain Jonathan Brown on the goal line, a goal paid which appeared touched by the Dream Team, an arm chopping free when the umpires had disregarded that rule all night, and a mark to Brown that initially came off defender Ben Rutten's hand, and suddenly Victoria had banged on four goals, and finally 7 for the quarter. That's not to suggest a bias by the umpires, although the selection of an all-Victorian set of field umpires had been publicly questioned outside of Victoria and so expect it will be again on talkback radio during the coming week. A couple of poor shots on goal by the Dream Team then blew any chance they had of clawing back the lead, and a class goal to Steve Johnson from the boundary left the final gap at 17 points.

So what does it all mean? The players seemed keen for the match to be played, and a solid crowd of 70,000 turned up. Perhaps only in Aussie Rules can we be slightly disappointed by those sort of numbers, but bear in mind that size patronage will happen quite a few times this year in Melbourne, so for such a special match, a lot of fans stayed away.

The match also demonstrated that a stacked forward line is not much use if the midfield is getting beaten - perhaps validating the umpire's preference for on-ballers when handing out Brownlow Medal votes.

Disappointingly there were no real breath-taking moments. Putting the best players on the field together was hoped to bring out a new level, but the downside of players not knowing each other's games seemed to outweigh that.

In terms of pressure, one player commented that it was a fairly open match, indicative of the players not going as hard as they normally do. It always had the feeling of an exhibition game, with smiles on the players' faces during the match when away from the contest - not that intense battle seen in state of origin's glory days of the 1980s. When Victoria was in trouble they dug a little deeper to win for their state, but the Dream Team never really matched that passion. No doubt the players wanted to win, but there was no sense of history or state pride in a hybrid side. Just as the Allies concept was never fully embraced in state of origin, so too the Dream Team, wearing all white (previously reserved for umpires) didn't really demonstrate that the concept should have much longevity.

Despite some players calling for a return of true state of origin the bottom line would seem to be that the Tribute Match was a nice one off, but the Dream Team should remain as just that, a once off. Until the players and public are strongly enough demanding true state of origin, with players representing their state, not just one state getting that honour, then representative footy is unlikely to return any time soon. Perhaps if Victoria had been soundly beaten or we saw a match for the ages then the state versus state cause might have been advanced, but that isn't how it turned out.

As a side note the Australian broadcaster Channel Ten trialled "new" technology, with cameras on the goal posts, goal umpires, interchange bench and even on one field umpire's shoulder. The use of goal umpire cameras has been used for nearly a decade by the ABC in covering the SANFL, only occasionally adding much of worth to the coverage, and that seemed to be the case in this match - good try, but rarely an enhancement to the viewing experience. This was especially so with garbled audio and footage bouncing around.

All in all the event was a nice idea that was reasonably successful for its purpose, but didn't really ignite as a game to warrant a repeat. Perhaps that's sour grapes from somewhat following the losing team, but the fact that the mostly Victorian crowd felt the need to start up the Mexican wave in the last quarter suggests they weren't on the edge of their seats. As another writer put it "largely the teams playing keepings-off, and the crowd was rarely stirred". On with the real season and we wait for the return of true origin in the distant future, or perhaps Australia versus the World, if our international footy dreams come true.

Victoria 21.11 (137)
Dream Team 18.12 (120)