Player of the year: Henry Hore. He did some nice things. More impressively, he managed to escape this hellhole.
Under 21 player of the year: The Cliff Hussey Memorial Trophy goes to no one. Not one young enough player got anywhere near enough senior game time for me to award a prize this year.
Goal of the year: Harrison Sawyer. That goal against the Bergers at Jack Edwards. It fell on his head/shoulders/neck/back, and barely made it across the line. It was shit. It was glorious.
Best performance: I think Gully away. We actually looked good. We actually went on the front foot.
Best away game: Oakleigh away. Every away game sucked, but they were our toughest opponents, and we didn't lose, so let's go with that.
Call of the year: Shouty Mike making the passionate claim after the penalty shootout win against Oakleigh that I should apologise to Esteban Quintas for my being appalled by Quintas' ultra-defensive style. Make of that what you will.
Chant of the year: "We're gonna win nil-nil." It's apt. Apt!
Best pre-match/after match dinner location: The days of comparatively exotic cheap eats are seemingly behind us. I blame covid, and other semi-affiliated lifestyle changes. So the default winner in another bastard of a year was the social club's calamari salad. Was it pricey? Yes. Was it worth the price? Probably not. Was it easily a few notches above being merely edible? Yes. That's good enough in times like these.
Friends we lost along the way: Griff. If you're out there buddy, I hope you're well.
Barely related to anything stupidity highlight of the year: Winning not one, but two penalty shootouts, on route to a glorified pre-season pseudo-testimonial game for players that weren't even here for that long really, that's going to keep the club afloat for at least a few more months.
I can hardly remember which South experiences were 2021. Nice job keeping on top of the mess of a year.
ReplyDeleteI did wonder recently where Griff had got to.
ReplyDeleteA forgettable season with very few highlights apart from somehow qualifying for the FFA Cup Round of 32.
ReplyDeleteLook ... the season started off well. Results are everything, and before Sawyer got injured (together with Schroen's aborted comeback due to a shit tackle from Avondale) we were doing very well. It proved to be a bit of a mirage, but still ....
DeleteThe Avondale match was the end of the road for us, Schroen injured, Gerrie missing a penalty and incredibly being phased out of the team from that moment, Sawyer out long term.
DeleteEsteban going into even more ultra defensive modes with weird team selections and tactics, he would often make early double substitions essentially highlighting that his picked teams were wrong.
I think ultimately the opposition coaches worked out that he was a one trick pony abd by mid season he was easy to coach against. Nowadays this gets you rewarded with a new contract.