Blues winners in Waite lucky dip

Melbourne's Jack Grimes was sent to hospital after hurting his shoulder again in this tackle by Brock McLean.

Jarrad Waite takes a diving chest mark in front of Tom McDonald. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

JARRAD Waite's return to AFL footy had a bit of everything.

It had party tricks, frustration, strong marks, carelessness, goals, bad luck and love _ from the Carlton faithful of course.

And that was just in the first quarter.

Waite has long been seen as the key plank in any likely Carlton raid on a first premiership since 1995.

Whether that reputation is justified or whether it's just been enhanced throughout the 97 career games he has missed because of injury remains to be seen.

But today was just about getting back in to the fold for the first time since Round 23 last year after battling a calf injury.

You wonder what he thought when he lined up at centre half-forward on Tom McDonald who was leading the "reverse Coleman'' at the start of the round.

You also wonder if he was expecting any more physical attention than a couple of meek bumps from Rohan Bail.

Blues v Demons stats and SuperCoach points at LivehQ

First came the frustration.

The ball bounced by him on the MCC Members' wing when the crowd was poised to cheer about two minutes in.

It then went through his hands on the other wing a minute later.

Next was the bad luck.

Chris Yarran streamed out of defence, took a couple of bounces, and seem destined to give the 30-year-old his first touch.

Except the normally precise Yarran's kick missed him by a mile.

He buttered up 30 seconds later for a cheeky handball from former skipper Chris Judd, but Judd slammed it on the boot instead.

That led to the carelessness. Or was it stupidity? Whatever you want.

Michael Jamison delivers him one laces out, but McDonald did well to spoil the ball out of bounds.

Waite gave a frustrated shove to James Strauss, which led to a Melbourne free kick.

He then appeared to brush McDonald's head with his own.

It was probably not with enough force to constitute a reportable offence, but it was enough to send Twitter in to meltdown and enough for the host broadcaster to replay the incident a few times.

Either way, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do five minutes in to your first game in about eight months.

Soon came the party tricks.

Waite took a bouncing ball 50m out from goal and was tackled by Dean Terlich, but somehow managed - as he was lying on the ground - to kick a short pass to Jeff Garlett who ran in for a banana goal, the game's first.

Garlett got around him.

It was trademark Waite at the 15min mark when, after making a long lead to the flank, took a strong mark out in front of his eyes.

He then turned around and speared a pass to Eddie Betts who goaled.

It wasn't long before he snagged one for himself.

Andrew Walker snapped a ball inside 50m and, as the man in front, Waite marked in the pocket.

He kicked truly and the comeback was complete.

He got big applause and every Blue in the vicinity of the forward line got to him.

Waite was looking dangerous, looking mobile - if not slightly short of a gallop - and, having moved back to the goalsquare, was then opposed by Dees defender James Frawley for the rest of the quarter.

A return of 2.2, 14 possessions and 10 marks in a routine win is a tick.

Building on that next week - assuming he doesn't land himself in hot water with the match review panel for the McDonald head brush - against St Kilda is the key for him.

And staying fit for the rest of the season is key for the Blues' assault on September.
 

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Blues winners in Waite lucky dip

Dengan url

http://pelitainformasi.blogspot.com/2013/05/blues-winners-in-waite-lucky-dip.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Blues winners in Waite lucky dip

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Blues winners in Waite lucky dip

sebagai sumbernya