[ad_1]
AFL commentator and three-time Lions flag winner Jonathan Brown has labelled GWS forward Harry Himmelberg as ‘selfish’ and said he could have cost his club a win following the Giants loss to St Kilda on Friday night.
GWS was piling on the pressure in the final quarter and had all the momentum and field position when young ruck Matt Flynn towered above the St Kilda defence to take a vital hanger.
He was in easy striking distance of kicking a goal that would have slashed the margin to just six points and put his side firmly in the match.
Instead, Himmelberg ran over and demanded the ball, then sent up a wild shank that missed by a mile and proved highly costly.
‘I hate this,’ Brown said of Himmelberg’s snap attempt on Fox Footy.
‘He’s run over to get the free kick. That is a critical time of the game and it would’ve put them within six points.
‘(Instead), you go over to him and you say to Flynn: “Suck up the moment, go back and kick the goal. Get us back within a kick and you never know.” Because the Giants were all over them at that stage.
‘I think this shows the mindset of some of the Giants’ players. I saw (Tim) Taranto a few times in that last quarter should’ve given the handball off to players in better positions to have a snap at goal. This is where their heads are at.’
Flynn hand passes to Himmelberg after taking a towering mark in the final quarter
Himmelberg then launches a shocker of a kick that missed by a mile and cost GWS dearly
Garry Lyon pointed out that Toby Greene, in his first game back from suspension for intentional contact with an umpire, was also in Flynn’s ear in the passage of play.
‘Boys, get out of the way. Let him go back and kick the goal and focus on it,’ Brown said.
‘That is just a dumb mistake and arguably it could’ve cost them the game.
‘It’s my pet hate, it riles me up.’
Former Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge was also unimpressed by Himmelberg.
‘I was shocked when I saw that… I reckon that would be one of the first things, if I was Leon Cameron, I would show on Monday when they do the review,’ Luke Hodge said on SEN Radio.
GWS Leon Cameron immediately gets on the phone to get a message to his players after Himmelberg’s brain explosion
He then storms out of the coach’s box, knowing the selfish act had likely cost them victory
The players won’t have to wait until Monday, furious coach Leon Cameron stormed out of his box following the incident and admitted he had already addressed the playing group about their ‘intelligence’.
‘We spoke to our group after the game and just our intelligence and reading the play in the third quarter cost us this game,’ he said.
‘A lot of indicators in terms of our contest, pressure and clearances are still all in good shape, but you’ve got to think your way through against good sides. We played a top-four side in St Kilda and you have to go the distance – and we didn’t.’
By contrast, St Kilda small forward Jack Higgins had a golden opportunity to snag his fifth goal of the night in the dying seconds after marking in easy striking distance of the sticks. Instead, he selflessly passed it to Brad Crouch to seal the result.
It came after Higgins copped criticism from St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt for not passing to an open Jade Gresham in the Saints’ only loss so far this season against Collingwood in round one. Higgins said he had learned his lesson and admitted copping heat from club icon Riewoldt had fired him up.
‘I learnt a lot after Round 1. I didn’t give that one off to Gresh, which I should have,’ he said.
‘I obviously got potted by you (Riewoldt) and David King … and that drove me even more. It’s not that I like it when people bag me but it gave me a lot of strength to carry on and try and prove you guys wrong. Obviously at St Kilda, we try to play a really unselfish game.
‘Crouchy was running past me and I gave him the hands as I would expect anyone else to give it to me.’
Brown also paid credit to Higgins for his team-first actions.
‘We talk about unselfish play with Jack Higgins – he handballed it off (to Brad Crouch) and rightly so – but Flynn takes a mark 20-odd metres out from goal and he’s kicked beautifully all night. But this is just dumb by Harry Himmelberg’.
[ad_2]
Source link
Have something to say? Leave a comment: