Life and footy at play
THERE is nothing worse than being that person on the receiving end of an “I told you so”.
Adam Treloar would have been feeling all sorts of emotions on Saturday night after the Western Bulldogs’ epic one-point semi-final victory against Brisbane.
On the surface he would have done his best to celebrate with his teammates, but deep down he’d have known he’d just played one of the worst games of his career.
And even more frustrating for him, he just provided ammunition to many at his former club who have been secretly hoping the move to the Dogs wasn’t a success.
Collingwood told Treloar when it forced him out of the door because of a salary-cap squeeze that it questioned whether mentally he could handle being separated from his partner and baby daughter for the 2021 season.
It was messy from the Pies and they rightly got cooked for it, but those concerns were put on the table as a factor for his exit.
Treloar’s fiancee, Kim Ravaillion, and 18-month-old daughter, Georgie, have been in Queensland this year as she resurrected her netball career.
The couple were determined to make the long-distance relationship work, but a serious early-season ankle injury, combined with Covid-19 border restrictions, have made it harder than even Treloar could have imagined.
On Saturday night he looked distracted, disinterested, confused, sad and helpless in the biggest game he’d played for his new club.
His 10 possessions were his lowest total since the eighth game of his career in round 12, 2012.
Ironically, on the same night in Brisbane, Ravaillion was across town collecting the MVP award for the Queensland Firebirds.
Her return to netball had been a stunning success and she admitted it had been tougher on Treloar.
“Obviously for Adam it’s a lot harder for him being away from his daughter and it’s just an emotional rollercoaster for him,” Ravaillion told RSN.
“I guess he’s lucky he has the distraction of footy but even in football you can have a good game or a bad game and that affects you. So he has got to deal with life and footy at the same time.”
The optimistic view for the Bulldogs is it’s a oneoff. In the previous week’s elimination final against Essendon Treloar stood up with 28 disposals.
With the prospect of skipper Marcus Bontempelli’s knee injury forcing him to spend less time in the midfield in the preliminary final against Port Adelaide, the stage will be presented to Treloar to make his mark – and silence the doubters.