Round 6, 2007

How many times is this bloke going to fill the hole in our defense without recognition? While many of our opponents have 3 or 4 guys flooding into the hole, Heath Scotland is not only backing back to assist our defense pretty much on his own but is also our key playmaker running forward. After yet another great game for the Blues, Mike & Dan tried to contact Scotland, and after being given Cameron Cloke’s mobile number instead only hours after his shoulder injury, upsetting the big fella even more, finally spent a few minutes with Heath.

You’ve won Mike and Dan's POTW was for your brave efforts in running back into packs for the Blues. How does it feel to win such a prestigious award? Not sure … is that an internet thingy is it? Mike & Dan will be sure to contact our publicist to ensure that the standing of this award is made known to the footy world. Mental note – hire a publicist.

The team combined to cover Reiwoldt very well on Friday night, and Jarrad Waite did an excellent job. Do you feel like the backline is becoming settled with the addition of Waite and o'hAilpin? We’ve been trying to stay as settled as possible back there, with the same back 6. The idea is to adapt to each other’s styles and learn to play well as a unit.

What happened after we got close in the third quarter? Did the Saints step up a gear, did we start to tire, or a combination of both? That was an exciting run for us then, we were getting it in quicker, and I know we were all excited with scoring those goals in a row. As you’ve probably seen, we are a momentum side, and we can get a few goals together pretty quickly. I know I felt it was exciting to watch.

But the Saints settled, they slowed down the tempo abit and got their hands on it first.

Tell us about being a momentum side? It works against us too – we can’t seem to stop someone else’s momentum… Well you’ve seen how well we can play, through the NAB cup, and some of the games earlier in the year. But it has worked against us too, and it’s something we’ve got to address. Our opponents can sometimes get 3 or 4 in a row – it’s about controlling the game. We are young, yes, but we’re also raw in terms of experience, and sometimes we don’t play to our strengths. At the moment we get a bit gung-ho and play at 100 miles an hour, but we have to learn to lock that in and keep possession.

How much of a factor were the two six day breaks in a row? I don’t want to make a big deal out of that, it’s more the games we played – first a tough game in heavy conditions versus the Eagles and the big effort against Brisbane, where we spent a lot of energy. Also 2 games at the Dome can take it out of you.

You come up against your old team on Saturday. Are you still close to the playing group at Collingwood? Obviously I had 5 years with Collingwood, and have still got some mates down there. I haven’t spoken to them this week. Look, it’s an exciting game this one, I know at least I look up each year’s fixture to see when it’s on.

I know Cameron was excited about this game – the big crowd, the long history, Carlton’s wins over Collingwood in Grand Finals…it all builds the excitement.

Having played with both clubs, is one of them more passionate than the other about Carlton v Collingwood fixtures? How does the mood compare? Very similar, of course we both like to beat each other, but in recent years Carlton haven’t been drawing the crowds like in the past. At Collingwood you would have the 80,000 Anzac Day crowd each year. At Carlton we haven’t had the really big crowds for a while so this game is one of our biggest.

Have the Pies surprised you this year? Not really, they work very well together. You know the old saying about a Champion Team and a Team of Champions, well, they work well together and it shows in their performances. They were pretty stiff to lose in both of their games too…

You're in the leadership group off the field and definitely one of the leaders on the field, with the high number of players under 25 that Carlton has. Is it something you are conscious of, to encourage and advise the younger players or is it a case of trying to lead my example? Definitely – I’m learning week by week but this is my first year in the leadership group. I know I’m a senior player but I still feel pretty young. There’s only a few of us in the top group, 26, 27 and above, and a lot at 18 and 19 – I’m mindful of my position in the team and am comfy as long as I can get a regular game.

Your kicking on both sides of your body is excellent. Is that something you developed as a youngster, or did you really work on it when you started to play league football? As a young fella my Step-Dad and brother really got me into kicking with both feet. My favourite player as a kid – I was a Doggies man – was Doug Hawkins who could do it, Leon Cameron who was great off his right but a natural left footer. I still love getting it and practicing both sides, but on set shots I’m still on the right as I can get more distance that way.

You've made yourself at home playing off half-back in a creative role, do you prefer playing there or on-ball and out of the centre? I’m comfy at half back but still love to get into the midfield. I get in there as much as I can. Wing / Half – forward…anywhere. I remember Sheedy used to have this thing about versatility and that’s what I’ve aimed to be. As long as I’m getting games and representing the Navy Blue I don’t care.

Your original junior team was Darley in the Riddell league in western Victoria. Can you tell us a bit about your junior football career and your rise through the ranks to be an AFL footballer? It’s a great little junior sports Club and small town, near Bacchus Marsh about 45 minutes west of Melbourne. They used to have a similar jumper to Carlton, but black and a DFC, but have recently switched to Collingwood colours. There’s been afew other AFL players out there, Jamie Elliott…Soapy Vallence…

Here's your chance to pay out on some of your teammates. Anyone who pays too much attention to their personal grooming, or who think they are a hit with the ladies, or who are just plain annoying? Geez…where do I start? I can’t get stuck into Nick Stevens at the moment, as he’s injured, and Lance always gets away scot free, but he’s the Captain…You’ve got me stumped with that one. I can’t think of anything… how about you just make something up about someone and put it down to me…don’t go too harsh, OK?

Scotland’s role in the leadership group is not just a title; he’s one of our main ball-winners and extractors out there at the moment. He win’s the prestigious Mike & Dan internet thingy for Round 6, 2007.

Mike & Dan would like to apologise for calling Cameron Cloke accidentally on what must have been a pretty rough day for the fella. Given Cameron’s win of our award in Round 4, you can bet he’d at least know of it’s existence!

It is not often, Digs and Bluebelles, that your correspondent is baffled by science. That day came during the great drought for the Carlton Footy Club in the 1950s when we could not secure a flag for love nor money. In 1956, perhaps the unluckiest year in the club’s history, a new Greek kid joined my class at Carlton Primary.

His name was Pythagoras and he had this thing about triangles. While all the other kids began a game of marbles at playtime by drawing a circle in the dirt, he would start with a triangle – often obtuse, sometimes isosceles but more often than not a right-angled triangle with a near-perfect 90 degree corner which he drew with a set square.

Pythagoras had this theory about the sum of the square roots of the other two sides being equal to the square root of the hypotenuse. It was all Greek to us at the time but it obviously worked for him and he cleaned up all the marbles in Elgin Street.

Anyhow, Carlton had a shocking start to the 1956 season until we came up against Collingwood in round five. The new Greek boy had by now joined with us Jewish, Irish and the Italian kids in the Carlton Cheer Squad and we gave the Magpies a severe toweling by 42 points at the Coliseum. I still don’t know how he did it.

We play Collingwood again at the G on Saturday and my old friend Pythagoras is once again working out how to triangulate them. Keen observers of Friday night’s game (on May the fourth) would have noticed that the new clash strip includes dark navy blue right-angled triangles on each leg of the white shorts. These bizarre “Brazilian” shorts give our players the appearance of having developed penguin tails but I suspect there is serious science at work here.

This brings me to the beautiful set of numbers that you find in team sports. A soccer team has 11 players; and an Aussie Rules team has 22 – counting the four players coming on and off the bench. Does this mean that soccer players are twice as good as Aussie Rules players?

Multiplying 11 by 2 brings us to the tricky world of irrational numbers. Two is an irrational number because it doesn’t have a square root. In mathematics, an irrational number is any real number that is not a rational number. Pythagoras, who grew up to be a professional gambler, always had a lot of problems with irrational numbers.

Waitey, whose father played many terrific games against Collingwood, gets the gold yamulka with silvers going to Scotto, T-bird, Big Red, Carraz and Tex. Carna Blues! TERRY MAHER