© Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: David Mariuz/AAP
Sport loves a good cliche. Often laughable and always trite, they are also steeped in truth. It is why a player from any walk of life can stare down the barrel of a camera and say with unflinching candour that although he came to play and gave 110%, the other team just wanted it more. But of all the cliches sport is prone to proliferate, one stands alone as a beacon of luminous self-evidence: it's a game of two halves.
It's a game of two halves. It is a game . of two halves. Say it out loud and have a good think about those seven words. Mind-numbingly prosaic and brilliantly blatant all at once. But it is not just a refresher in rudimentary mathematics for cerebrally challenged sportsfolk; it is also a reminder that one half of dominance does not always cut the mustard, and that one poor half does not necessarily mean it is goodnight, nurse.
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Onlookers at Adelaide Oval and Metricon Stadium during round 14 of the AFL season might have been excused for hearing the fat lady warming her tonsils prior to the half-time siren. Firstly, on Thursday night, Hawthorn managed to turn a 36-point lead at the main break into a 16-point defeat against Essendon. And then the following night on the Gold Coast, Western Bulldogs contrived to cough up a six-goal lead at quarter-time in their 11-point loss to Geelong.
There have been bigger turnarounds in the history of VFL/AFL football, and ones more significant in terms of what is at stake. For jaw-dropping astonishment, neither of these games comes close to Essendon's 171-159 triumph over North Melbourne in 2001 - after the Bombers had trailed by 69 points 10 minutes into the second quarter. And it is doubtful any Hawthorn or Bulldogs player will be scarred in the way Adelaide players were when in the 1993 preliminary final they led Essendon by seven goals at half-time, only to lose by 11 points and blow a shot at the title. Rumour has it some former Crows players still retreat to the foetal position, thumb in mouth, at the mere mention of that harrowing September day at the MCG.
© Photograph: David Mariuz/AAPEssendon's Joe Daniher, a player of two halves if there ever was one.
But for the vanquished, any defeat prised from the jaws of victory is still galling. Doing apparently enough to safeguard victory ahead of time only to go under is painful for fans and yet another reason for coaches to wonder if they picked the right career path. Over to Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson for some introspection, and a cliche or two: "It was a tale of two halves. We dominated the game in the first half [but] we didn't capitalise on some of those opportunities. We just had one of those nights."
For every loser, there must be a winner. Privately, much of the time they will be as shocked as the beaten brigade to have produced a half of garbage only to come away with the four points. Publicly, victory was always in sight. After delighting in his response to being asked what he had said at half-time - "I didn't say anything!" - Essendon boss John Worsfold confirmed coach-in-waiting Ben Rutten told players to back themselves. "There was some structural stuff that we adjusted, but most of it was instructional," Worsfold said. "The bulk of it was: believe in what we've been working on, believe in the way we want to play. Forget about the first half, we can't do anything about that." In footy speak, control the controllables.
A key factor in Essendon's turnaround was the return of injury-plagued Joe Daniher, a player of two halves if ever there was one. Seldom can a player look like a world beater and an amateur footballer in the one afternoon. In his first game for 467 days and just 13th since his All-Australian year in 2017, the Daniher that would walk into any team's starting line-up was on full display, kicking three goals and taking a game-high 10 marks - nine in the second half. "You very quickly remember how good a player he is. It's good for Joe, it's good for us, it's good for footy," Worsfold said.
At Metricon, Geelong equalled their second-biggest comeback from a quarter-time deficit to stun the Bulldogs and keep their premiership hopes alive. After kicking six goals to zip in the first term, the Dogs lost Laitham Vandermeer and Easton Wood to injury before half-time and with it all momentum. "We need to approach the win with a good, healthy level of humility," Cats coach Chris Scott said. "It's rarely the case that it's all your brilliance. It often takes a bit of luck and a few things to go your way. Unfortunately for them, a few things went against them." Post-game, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge cut a forlorn figure. When pressed on the reasons for defeat, apart from the loss of two key players, his answer was as curt as it was disconsolate: "Well, that's one of them."
And that's footy. At the end of the day, winners are grinners and losers can please themselves. But both parties move on. One game at a time.
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