AFL Round 15
At the MCG:
Carlton 2.8 5.9 8.12 12.15.87
St. Kilda 2.4 9.7 14.9 18.11.119
Bit of a last-quarter wobble from the Saints but they triumphed in this eight-pointer. The Bluies have produced some storming second-half and (especially) last-quarter efforts recently but perhaps they've swallowed the hype - if they'd bothered to try as hard in the first three terms, or kick a bit straighter, the result might've been different. Still, this was the Stainers' third straight win and maybe they can mount a late-season charge. In selection Chris Judd was back from concussion for the Bluies, at the expense of Setanta O'hAilpin. The Saints had Lenny Hayes return from his hamstring injury, Charlie Gardiner made way.
A win for the Bluesers would've seen them replace the Stains in the eight and Carton were fired-up early, engaging in some handbags and playing-on with every opportunity. They scored the opening goal, Brendan Fevola slapping down a throw-in for small man Eddie Betts to gather and snap through (Commetti: "Betts can iron his pants in a toaster"). Saint man Nick Riewoldt's first shot hooked poorly for a point, to jeers from the Bloo fans. It was the Blooze scoring points early, a rushed one followed by a goal for Bryce Gibbs, thanks to a 50m penalty against James Gwilt whose main function was to give away frees and 50m penalties. Bluies by 12 points. Junior Saint David Armitage managed an appalling miss, although he'd run 25m without a bounce prior to it. Fevola kicked a coupla points including a soccer-effort when he'd ample opportunity to pick the ball up. The Saints began to work into it, Riewoldt won a hard ball and Jason Gram kicked long into the pocket for Nick Dal Santo to mark. Gram ran on to receive Dal Santo's handpass and blast it through from point-blank. A bit later the Sainters won the ball in a defensive battle and Leigh Montagna ran clear, he kicked for Riewoldt to mark on a lead and manage a rare, straight punt for a goal. The Bluies' lead was cut to 2 points, they responded a bit but contrived to miss shots. A point from Heath Scotland was followed by an accurate snap from Jordan Russell, but it was touched off-the-boot. Russell proceeded to shank a set shot from 20m as the Bluies crawled to a 6-point lead, late-on Sinkilda's Lenny Hayes managed to hit the post with a set shot from 20m out, no angle. Blues by 4 points at the first change. The second term saw the Saints continue their stuttering momentum, with Justin Koschitzke enjoying a run in the ruck and their on-ballers going well. The match-ups of Gram, Sean Dempster and Andrew McQualter on Blooze Judd, Nick Stevens and Marc Murphy respectively were working well for the Saints. But Fevola was the early story, after Stainer Sam Gilbert marked in defence Fevola and his man Max Hudghton tangled, Fev grabbed Hudghton by the throat and Gilbert was awarded a 50m penalty. Riewoldt marked Gilbert's kick and his shot was marked on the goal-line by Koschitzke, who popped it through. Fev trudged to the bench. A memo to him: when you're in contract negotiations, you're supposed to show your best qualities. Shortly Montagna roved a throw-in and handballed to Rob Harvey, he chipped a pass for lurking Stephen Milne to mark and convert. At the restart Bloo Bryce Gibbs fell over, allowing his man Luke Ball to gather and lob a clever handpass to running Gram, another to Clint Jones who stabbed it through from 15m and the Saints led by 14 points, having scored five unanswered goals. Brad Fisher marked within range for the Bluesers but missed awfully, handily Gram was uncertain from the kick-in and Fisher smothered Gram's kick, gathered and stabbed it through - the 7-point play. Fevola was back on and his first 'effort' was to drop a mark and then hurl Hudghton to the ground, but play was allowed to proceed and a lengthy scramble finished with Cameron Cloke being tackled over-the-shoulder by Gwilt. Cloke free-kicked a goal and the Sainter lead was back to 2 points. The Stainers replied quickly, a secondary ball-up had Steven King tap to Hayes, he stabbed a pass to Riewoldt who marked and converted. Soon leading Fevola had some love as he was both shoved in the back by Hudghton and smacked in the head by oncoming Ball. Fev thumped his free home from 50m and the Sainter lead was again reduced to 2 points. But they surged in the final minutes of the half, opening a handy break. It started with a mystery, off-ball free-kick to Milne which confused the Bluie players who scattered in all directions. Milne kicked quickly to Harvey in plenty of space, 'Banger' played-on and slotted. A bit later Riewoldt produced another poor set shot which trickled out of bounds, but some volleyball from the throw-in saw Hayes emerge with the pill and snap a major. From a later throw-in Judd was penalized for 'bawl', to his disgust, and the Sherrin went into the pocket where Sam Fisher lobbed it high across the goals, Milne had slipped out the back to mark, play on and snap it through. The Saints led by a handy 21 points and almost immediately it would've been 27 if Riewoldt hadn't missed weakly again. Still, 22 points at half-time was a useful lead.
The Bluebaggers had a decent crack to start the third term but piled up the behinds, Betts raced into an open goal but postered and Cloke missed a shot. Sure enough the Saints punished 'em, Bloo backman Bret Thornton fumbled and fell over, allowing Sainter Armitage to snap a goal. Riewoldt marked on a tight angle and missed as Koschitzke limped off – but he was okay. Rebounding Dempster had a coupla bounces and passed to wide-leading Riewoldt, he centred a pass for Jason Blake to mark and convert. Another five-goal run from the Saints, straddling half-time, and they led by 33 points now. The Blues were struggling badly midfield but managed a pair of goals, Gibbs lobbed a hospital pass to Stephen Browne in the corridor who was clattered while marking by mad Gwilt. A 50m penalty and Browne majored. A minute later Brad Fisher executed a superb pick-up at pace, in traffic, and launched a quick snap which took a handy bounce for a goal - we thought. The replay showed the lucky 'bounce' was the ball hitting the base of the post. But despite Sainter protests the goal ump raised the twin calicoes and Sinkilda's lead was back to 21 points. Milne missed following a terrific one-handed mark and a long Thornton effort drifted wide, then the Sainters moved clear again. Harvey chipped a free-kick for McQualter to hold a tough grab in traffic, McQualter goaled with a good kick. At the subsequent centre-bounce Koschitzke was clattered by Kreuzer, Kosi's free went wide to Montagna who drove it in, excellent full-pace roving from Dal Santo and Milne resulted in a goal to the latter. Clumsy Waite was reported for striking Clint Jones, it's a big stretch to say it was deliberate. The free to Jones led to a goal though, Milne did very well to rove the contest, slip outta trouble and snap it home. Milney's fourth goal had Sinkilda a healthy 39 points ahead. The Bluies got one late, Fevola with a free-kick against Hudghton again. The Stainers led by 33 points at the last change but had to face the powerful Bloo final-term comeback. Judd led it almost single-handed, Kade Simpson managed to get a kick or two as well. The Saints helped 'em with some heavy flooding, ensuring the ball was locked in the Bluesers' attack for the first ten minutes of the term. Five minutes in all they had to show was shinned point from Kreuzer, but the pressure told eventually. Carrazzo's poor kick was scooped clear of a pack by Kreuzer, Betts conjured a miraculous left-foot banana from a ridiculous angle through for full points. Got the crowd going. A minute later Betts snapped another goal, roving a throw-in, then Judd ran clear from the restart and kicked long, Fevola clutched a strong grab in front of Hudghton and booted truly. The Blues were just 14 points down. The Stains hung tough for a bit until Waite was awarded a dubious free-kick, ducking into a tackle from Harvey which was deemed too high. Waite goaled and the Bluesers were only 7 points down now. But Judd's big effort had exhausted him and the Saints steadied. The Waite free was squared-up by a similar ducking/high free to junior Saint Robert Eddy, he passed to Dal Santo leading into the pocket, another short kick allowed Koschitzke to mark and convert. The Blues tidied the next Saint attack but Waite's very poor kick to Russell put the latter under pressure, Russell was tackled and threw the ball away. Sam Fisher's free was marked by the point-post by Koschitzke, his head was cut in the process and Riewoldt took the kick, snapping it through. Dal Santo punted the Saints forward again, Cloke fumbled a mark and Montagna dived bravely into a pack to force the ball loose, Armitage dribbled a goal. The Saints led by 25 points and the Bluies kinda gave up, typified by Fevola's fairly weak effort to reach Waite's similarly wayward pass. Milne snapped a late goal, showing a fair bit of hungriness to ignore handball options after he fumbled a bounce. But who can blame him. Opportunities to kick five goals against the Blooze should be taken. After the siren Fevola was unusually chummy with the Sainter players. The Saints need a spearhead . . .
No stand-out for the Saints but Lenny Hayes (25 touches, a goal) worked hard as usual and Nick Riewoldt (12 marks, 23 disposals, 3.3) was the typical marking machine across half-forward. Justin Koschitzke's (14 touches, 9 marks, 2 goals) turn in the ruck was handy and Steven King (12 possies, 23 hit-outs) was good too, at their feet Nick Dal Santo (20 possies) was good, as was Jason Gram (25 disposals, a goal) who won enough of the ball himself despite Judd gradually escaping him. Stephen Milne (17 touches, 4 marks, 5 goals) did some damage in attack and ol' Rob Harvey (19 handlings, a goal) battled away to some effect. Max Hudghton could be satisfied with his game on Fevola, ditto Sean Dempster on Stevens and Andrew McQualter on Murphy. David Armitage kicked 2 goals. Skipper Chris Judd (30 disposals) battled manfully for the Bluies and Bryce Gibbs (28 touches, 8 marks, a goal) did very well against Luke Ball. Heath Scotland (28 possies) won a bit of the ball and seems to have decided he's an 'enforcer'. Kade Simpson (20 disposals) helped ignite the late comeback and Bret Thornton (20 touches, 8 marks) played pretty well in defence. Beyond them you're hard-pressed to find a Bloo winner. Eddie Betts (11 touches, 3 marks) bagged 3 goals, Fevola also kicked 3 and Brad Fisher scored 2 goals. Brett Ratten rued the inaccurate start. "You get your run at the game and, if you don't hurt the opposition, then you pay a price," he said. "I thought clearances, we were well on top first quarter, tackles were about the same, and we had more of the footy. But we missed some really easy shots and to St Kilda's credit they really got on top of us." He was asked about the finals, of course. "I think there'll be some funny results over the next seven weeks between teams. Teams that aren't expected to win will win. You're never out of it until it's over." Ratten went on to castigate Fevola over the second-quarter incident and suggest Kreuzer may be 'rested'. Ross Lyon was also asked about finals. "There are seven games to go and all (this win) means is that we've won and we get an opportunity to control our own destiny, that's really what it means. We have got a really formidable opposition in Hawthorn next week and they are a measuring stick at the moment so we will see where we are at. The group really enjoyed being at the MCG tonight in front of a big crowd, it was really pleasing for the players and the club that we have got ourselves in that position . . . Look, we have got a lot of hard work in front of us. No-one is getting ahead of themselves there . . . We are in the business of winning so when you are not winning, it is not fantastic to be around a league football club. But the leadership and the coaches and the playing group continued to work hard and we put our shoulder to the grindstone and turned it slowly."
At the MCG:
Collingwood 2.5 7.8 10.11 15.16.106
Adelaide 4.2 8.5 8.7 11.8.74
Rule a line through the Camrys, if you hadn't already. Their only useful forwards, Brett 'Birdman' Burton and Jason Porplyzia went down injured during the game, Burton with serious, season-ending knee damage. Porplyzia (dislocated shoulder) departed early and once Burton left, midway through the third quarter, confidence visibly drained from the poor old Cows. The Pies rolled over 'em and, with the Swans losing the next day, drew within a win of the top four. Paul Medhurst was at his show-pony best, flying for big grabs, trying to kick miracle goals and generally being a very annoying lair, after spending the first half staging for free kicks. That's good though, as you can never have enough reasons to hate Collywood. The Pies elected to leave fit-again Josh Fraser in the VFL and retain Bryan and Wood as the ruck duo, overall there was no change to the side which beat the Swans. The Camrys had ruckman Jonathan Griffin return and called up midfielder Bryce Campbell, they replaced Brent Reilly (knee) and Nick Gill, dropped for not kicking goals against the Cats. Tough standard.
A cold, grey day at headquarters, with the surface damp and slippery. A very July footy day in Melbourne. The Cows were good early, running slickly from defence. They had a goal within 90 seconds, Nathan Van Berlo roving a throw-in and snapping truly. Burton spilled a coupla marking chances before big Kurt Tippett converted from a free-kick against manhandling Wakelin. Poise Davis and Medhurst missed shots, then Burton held onto a grab against opponent Nick Maxwell and punted a major, to have the Camrys ahead by 16 points. Chris Bryan got the Maggies on the board, with a strong grab of Heath Shaw's kick. But the Camrys lost Porplyzia at this point, hurting his shoulder as he lunged to tackle Harry O'Brien. Burton postered, at the other end Travis Cloke also hit the woodwork. Cloke marked the resulting kick-in but missed again, the Camrys were forced to rush a behind after they messed up the next kick-in as well. "The Crows are employing a half man-on-man half zone," burbled commentator Tony Shaw. How did he fail as a coach? The crowd always earn the Pies a few free kicks when they're at home to interstate opposition, Camry Michael Doughty was very harshly done for 'bawl' and from the free Dale 'Daisy' Thomas spilled a mark on-the-lead, but recovered and had a shot across the goals. Handily Rhyce Shaw lurked into the opposite pocket to mark, play-on and hook a major. The Camrys led by 2 points. But their flooded defence and rebound running was working well, Tippett missed awfully before Bernie Vince slipped a coupla tackles and handballed to Rob Shirley, he jabbed a short pass for Ivan Maric to mark and punt truly. Cloke failed to make the distance from 50m after the siren and the visitors led by 9 points at the first break. That lead grew in the second Mario, following some tight, sloppy opening minutes. Confronted by the Cows' flood, the Pies chipped the ball tediously side-to-side until Medhurst's telegraphed kick was intercepted by Van Berlo, he raced clear and centered a pass to leading Burton, a handball over the top and Scott Stevens had a goal-square tap-through. The Camrys moved further ahead with the next two goals, both from clear free-kicks to Burton against Nick Maxwell. Pie fans tell me Maxwell will be their next captain. Didn't know they were so hard-up. The Cressidas led by 28 points now and Maxwell was replaced by Harry O'Brien as Burton's man. Tarkyn Lockyer hacked the Pies into attack from the next centre-bounce and Thomas did very well to gather and handball into the path of running Ben Johnson, who collected the ball and punted a sausage. Soon Medhurst marked in the goal-square, played on and produced an over-the-shoulder snap into the post, producing much mirth at our place. It added to his compendium of hilarious pratfalls, dotted throughout the first half. But the Poise were improving, Rhyce Shaw playing a blinder on-the-ball. Didak tumbled a kick forward from a throw-in and Medhurst held a with-the-flight mark, of course he played-on and steered a terrific kick through from the boundary for a goal. I probably deserved that. Rhyce Shaw punted the Pies forward from the restart, Leon Davis gathered and slipped a handpass to Cloke whose dribbly-kick rolled through for full points. The Corollas' lead was cut to 10 points but they won the next centre-clearance, Burton roved Tippett's contest and rolled a right-foot grubber for a goal. The momentum was with the Maggies though, Thomas snapped a great goal from wide on the flank and a few minutes later Burton's under-pressure handpass caused a turnover, Maxwell marked at half-forward and handballed to Dane Swan, from his kick John Anthony held a good grab as Camry Rutten ran straight under the ball, for some reason. Anthony majored and the Pies were only 3 points behind at the long break.
A very slow start to an ordinary third korter. For ten minutes the ball was dragged between the half-back lines due to some terrible delivery from both sides. Eventually Pie Lockyer held a gutsy back-pedalling mark 60m out and kicked to the top o'the-square, Anthony was awarded a somewhat doubtful pack-mark and he converted, putting the Scragpies in front for the first time, by 2 points. A few minutes later Burton did his knee, attempting a sudden pull-up and change of direction it buckled and poor Birdman had to be stretchered off. The effect on the Camrys was immediate, their attacking instincts disappeared and were replaced by lots of uncertain keepings-off maneuvers and way too much handball, to blokes standing still normally. The Poise scored a few points as the Camrys defended scrappily and in numbers, Rhyce Shaw mis-hit an attempted running banana and sprayed the ball back towards half-forward. O'Brien rode Graham 'Stiffy' Johncock for a great grab, but his subsequent kick missed the target and rolled out-of-bounds. Finally, Medhurst lifted the Pies. Scott Pendlebury kicked long and Medhurst clutched a great one-handed mark in the goal-square, holding off Stevens with his other arm. Medhurst popped it through and moment later he booted another goal, with a big leap and grab also in the goal-mouth, this time Cloke and Scott Burns had combined to create the chance. Confidence up, Medhurst played-on and hooked it through. Camry Scott Thompson missed a left-foot snap from the boundary and Nathan Bock, shifted forward, spayed a shot on-the-full. He missed the behind post by 30m. The Pies led by 16 points at the last change and it seemed very likely they'd win. It took four bounces to get play happening in the last term, from the fourth Rhyce Shaw kicked the Pies into attack, Medhurst roved Cloke's effort and handballed to Didak whose low shot bounced through for a goal. Shortly the Pies won the ball from a scrappy battle for possession in their forward-pocket, Cloke jabbed a short kick to lurking Medhurst in the goal-square and the midget show-pony bagged another. No 'Steak Knives' today as Tony Shaw learned Medhurst's nickname for the first time in this game and used it relentlessly. Medhurst proceeded to hit the post from 50m and miss from a mark on-the-lead. "More like a butter knife there, haw haw!" guffawed Shawry. Jeezus. Collywood led by 30 points now, and the Camrys broke their lengthy goal-drought when Pie Shane O'Bree was tackled firmly by Campbell and handballed to Camry Tyson Edwards, he passed for Richard Douglas to mark and kick a goal. Hurrah! The Poise replied presently, Marty Clarke had some slow bounces before passing to leading Anthony, Clarke ran on to receive a pass back from Anthony and punt a long sausage roll. Burns kicked the Maggies into attack from the restart and the ubiquitous Medhurst nudged Nathan Bassett under the ball to mark and kick yet another major. Pies by 36 points, Addleaid scored a goal from the next centre-bounce as Simon Goodwin kicked long and tough work from Vince allowed busy Chris Knights to dob one. Waiting for the siren now as Cameron Wood kicked a goal for the Poise following a mark over the much smaller Johncock, Douglas kicked the final goal for the Cows after roving to Tippett.
Playing as a genuine rover, Rhyce Shaw (32 disposals, a goal) was very good and it's a bit difficult to ignore Paul Medhurst, with 5.5 from 19 touches and 10 marks. Other Pies were serviceable rather than brilliant, Harry O'Brien (18 possies, 5 marks) and runnin' Marty Clarke (21 handlings, 8 marks, a goal) were good in defence, Travis Cloke (11 marks, 19 disposals, a goal) got a lot of the ball but most of it outside the attacking 50m, John Anthony (7 marks, 7 kicks, 2 goals) was a handy 'traditional' spearhead. Your usual suspects, Scotts Burns and Pendlebury, Heath Shaw, Alan Didak and Leon Davis all had 20+ touches. Very few worth noting for the Camrys, apart from busy Chris Knights (37 disposals, a goal). Scott Thompson (36 possessions) and veteran Tyson Edwards (27 handlings) tried hard with limited impact, Nathan Van Berlo (26 possies, a goal) was alright and when he was on the ground, Brett Burton (13 touches, 5 marks, 4 goals) looked dangerous. Nathan Bock (28 disposals, 11 marks) won a fair bit of the ball, Richard Douglas kicked 2 goals. "I thought our start was really good," Camry coach Craig said. "We set ourselves to start really well, after the Geelong game . . . and I thought they were pretty good for the first quarter and a half. We lost our nerve a bit, we need to acknowledge Collingwood lifted. There was nothing in it at half time and it was a pretty poor second half. There was a momentum shift halfway through the second quarter (before Burton was hurt), that would be a better assessment of that. Irrespective of the two injuries that we had, we need to understand that we were pretty poor." What about the injuries, Neil? "How are our group going to handle [losing Burton and Porplyzia]? We need to keep strong, we need to keep resilient and we need to keep playing and pushing ourselves, so we can actually play finals football. The next seven weeks are going to be really important. All of the sides we play against are either in the eight or will be fighting for the eight and we're no different, so we continue to fight and we'll fight really hard to get in there," Craig said. Malthouse empathised with the Camrys' injuries and called for an expanded interchange bench, again. On the game, he said "We had a lot of blokes that were particularly sore and cramping from last week. I reckon last week's game on that ground really took it out of them. We had seven days to get over it, which was fortunate. That ground out there was still tacky and slightly damp, but not to the extent where it sucked it out of you. To actually push through, we had to rotate more quickly than we needed to. We had one bloke who ran on and got a cramp before he got to his opponent. The pleasing part was under that sort of pressure, they were able to stand up, come back from what appeared to be a substantial lead in today's football, and turn it around."
At Kardinia Park:
Geelong 4.2 7.7 13.10 18.10.118
Fremantle 2.1 2.4 5.7 6.8.44
Main talking-point from this game was Dokka Dean Solomon's nasty flying elbow to the face of Cameron Ling, which fractured Ling's cheekbone. After the game Solomon followed a recent trend and publicly apologized to Ling and the Cats, but it was as bad as Hall's punch on Staker and Solly's certain suspension should go close to ending his season. A rolled ankle for Gary Ablett was the other noteworthy occurrence as the Cats completed an otherwise perfunctory thrashing of the Dockulaters. The Solomon/Ling incident could be seen as part of the Shockers' overall plan to put 'physical pressure' on (i.e. knuckle) the Pu55ies, but it really didn't work. A Mark Harvey team resorting to thuggery, how 'bout that? Last week Fremantle veteran Peter Bell announced his immediate retirement. A relentlessly-running, goal-kicking rover, the articulate Bell's always been a source of fascination for the meedya due to his Korean mum and training as a solicitor. Bell played 286 games in total and won a club best-and-fairest for the Kangaroos in their 1999 premiership year, no mean feat, amongst four B&Fs in total and was twice an All-Australian. At the start of this season he and Freo were criticized for allowing Bell to move to Geraldton and train once-a-week, recently Bell moved back to Perth and folks thought that was a sign he'd play next year. But apparently not. Some have wondered what'll happen to the bell-ringer at Subiaco. As Bell's retirement was immediate he was out of the Freo side here, along with Roger Hayden and Ryley Dunn (hamstrings both) and dropped Josh Head. Luke McPharlin and Michael Johnson returned from injury, Jeff Farmer from club suspension and Andrew Browne was called up. The Cats called up Harry Taylor to replace James Kelly (calf).
Freo engaged in some knuckle early. Ryan Crowley roughed up Ablett, Josh Carr harassed Jimmy Bartel and Jeff 'Wiz' Farmer rammed his elbow into Joel Selwood's ribs. Since the game Freo have suggested it wasn't one-way traffic, that the Cats dished out plenty of unsociable football themselves. The umps saw it that way too; of the 26 frees awarded in the first quarter, Freo got 19 of 'em. In terms of playing tactics, Freo flooded a lot. The Pu55ies strung together half-a-dozen handballs to clear the opening bounce, as last week, but there was no score in the game for about 7 minutes. 'Twas a point each before Freo scored the first goal, Cat Andrew Mackie was casual gathering a kick-in and was tackled by his man Matty Pavlich. Mackie put the ball on the ground, that's 'bawl' and Pav free-kicked a major. The Katz responded quickly, a good mark by Max Rooke set it up, he handballed to Ling whose long kick was marked with-the-flight by Paul Chapman, play-on, goal. Ling was clobbered by Solomon shortly, after giving a handball off Solly ran in and smashed Ling's face with his elbow. Bad as Barry Hall on Staker, worse in a way as Ling'll be out for a few weeks with a fractured cheekbone. Solomon wasn't made an 'offer' by the match review panel, it'll be straight to the tribunal. More slog before Dokka Chris Mayne booted a goal, set up by Michael Johnson's rebound and Pavlich's pass. Freo led by 6 points, Crowley gave Ablett a round-arm whack from behind and has since been offered a week suspension by the panel. Tom Lonergan got the Katz got going late, Brad Ottens tapped a ball-up to Joel Corey, he handballed to Matty Scarlett, a kick and Lonergan won a free for arm-chopping, he goaled. Lonergan missed a shot before kicking another major, Matty Stokes dived in to a pack and shovelled a handpass out to create the chance. Corey Enright majored with the aid of a 50m penalty and Jahlong led by 13 points at the first break. The second term was pretty tedious with Dockulaters flooding again, plenty of points early before Cat Travis Varcoe booted a goal with a superb pick-up at pace and long, hooked kick. A few minutes later Enright's smart switching kick found Stokes alone on the flank, he passed for leading Ablett to mark and convert. More misses, Freo's flooding and general lack of run from the back preventing them from scoring. Ablett's day ended soon and Crowley was involved, benignly as Ablett trod on the Freo man's foot and twisted his own ankle. Late in the term Mooney held a back-pedalling grab close-in and dished a handball for Bartel to dribble it through, the Cats led by 33 points at the long rest.
The Cats settled the issue, if it needed settling, with a four-goal blast to start the third term. Ottens, starting at full-forward, kicked the first two with a close-in grab and another on-the-lead; fellow ruckman Mark Blake delivered the pass for the latter. Blake won the next centre-bounce tap, Varcoe gathered skillfully and handballed to Bartel, his kick dropped for Mooney to hold a diving grab and convert. Lonergan majored from a good grab and the Catters led by 58 points. They might've taken the foot off at this point, as the Dokkas began to score. A point or two to begin with, before Farmer's long kick was marked alone by Chris Tarrant and Taz majored. Cat David Wojcinski used a 50m penalty to find Enright, he played-on, swapped handballs with Varcoe and slotted. Shocker David Mundy paddled and battled to win the ball before handpassing to Tarrant, the Tazman snapped truly and Freo had another goal. A Mackie pass set up Selwood for a mark and sausage, a bit later Pavlich held a good grab and kicked long, Farmer roved the pack and handballed for Brett Peake to bag a goal. The Pu55ies were still 51 points ahead at the last change. A fairly desultory last term, although Catter fans were happy early when unpopular Solomon was caught in a 'chicken-wing' tackle by Lonergan and dropped the ball. It was right in front of the Hickey Stand and the sticks, Lonergan punted an easy goal. Tarrant kicked his third a bit later but nothing much happened for a while before the Cats rattled a few through in time-on, from Bartel, a good one from Chapman, Ottens and Stokes.
The Cats had another great game from the remarkably mature Joel Selwood (35 disposals, a goal), with Corey Enright (37 touches, 11 marks, 2 goals) and Joel Corey (35 possessions) all continuing good recent form. Jimmy Bartel (32 handlings, 8 marks, 2 goals) is also coming good at the business end of the season and backmen Matthew Scarlett (23 disposals, 8 marks) and Tom Harley (19 touches, 9 marks) did as they pleased to a fair extent (Mackie was on Pavlich). Tom Lonergan (16 touches, 9 marks, 4 goals) had another rewarding outing, Brad Ottens kicked 3 goals and Chapman 2 goals. Lethargic Freo had few winners, juniors Garrick Ibbotson (16 disposals) and Rhys Palmer (22 handlings) battled hard again and rebound man Michael Johnson () was alright. Ryan Crowley (21 touches, 6 marks) and Dean Solomon (19 possies) played alright too. Tarrant took 9 marks and bagged 3 goals. Harvey talked about the remainder of the season and who'll be around next year, sort-of. "You don't like to talk about that (delistings) now, but the guidance is what you do in the next seven weeks, and that forms your opinion about how many changes you either do or you don't make. I want to see who wants to be successful as a player, and who wants to do something about the season that we've found ourselves in. What's been forced upon us is to play players before perhaps they're ready, and therefore that puts more pressure on senior guys who do play . . . I've asked more from those guys, and today there's some of the senior players that needed to lift, and to help the younger players through these situations." Bomber Thompson addressed the thuggery. "I think by the end of the game you'd look back and say 'well our boys were really professional'. We played football and that's what we intended to do and I think we achieved that." What'd he think of the opposition? "Well they just played the way they wanted to play . . . I'm the coach of Geelong so all I can worry about is the behaviour of our boys," he said. He did criticize the umpires (mildly) for the lop-sided first-korter free-kick count. Surely there was reason behind it though, Bomber? "Us? No we weren't overzealous because we don't play that way. Anyone who's watched us play over a long period [would know] we try not to talk to the umpires, we try not to talk to the opposition, we don't unsettle players from the opposition side, we just play footy. So whatever happened today wasn't about Geelong."
At Docklands:
Essendon 8.3 12.6 17.9 24.11.155
Brisbane 4.0 8.4 14.8 18.10.118
Fourth straight win for the Dons has them talking even more about finals now. Still don't think they can make it, but not as certain. Matty Knights's team has earned praise for being 'more accountable' in recent weeks, they let 18 goals through here but in kicking 24 we can see who was the less-accountable side. Brisbun appeared to be cruising into the eight a coupla weeks ago but they've put in two ordinary games in Melbourne to un-impress the experts. With only three more games at the Gabba, and one of them against the Bulldogs, they need to improve the away form. The Bomma side here welcomed Henry Slattery back from the cheekbone broken by Brendan Fevola a couple of weeks ago, Jay Neagle also returned at the expense of promising junior David Myers (stress-fractured foot) and dropped battler Ricky Dyson. Brisbun were without in-form backman Joel Macdonald (ankle) and they dropped James Polkinghorne and Justin Sherman, but Travis Johnstone returned along with Cheynee Stiller and ruckman Matthew Leuenberger.
Defending was more of a concept than a practice in this game, a centre-clearance or stoppage win automatically resulted in a goal. Essadun had a great start, powered by their ruckman David Hille and the literally unbelievable roving effort of Andrew Welsh. In the Dons' defence Paddy Ryder started well on Jonathan Brown. Mark McVeigh booted the opening goal thanks to a soft free-kick, the Lyin's replied in stereotypical style. Brown led wide to mark on the forward flank and kicked towards Dan Bradshaw, who shook off Fletcher and held a diving grab. Bradshaw majored. But the Dons were very good at turning attack into points, Scott Lucas slotted a free-kick from the pocket and a minute later Angus Monfries's very good gather and handpass allowed Jobe Watson to wobble a left-footed sausage. Hille tapped to Jay Nash at the restart and Monfries again won a hard ball and handballed to set up a goal, Neagle snapping truly after Jason Laycock threw the ball to him. Laycock marked on a long lead but mongrelled a behind to have the Bommers 20 points ahead. The Lyin's had barely touched the ball to this stage but they got going a bit now, beefy junior Tom Collier received Michael Rischitelli's handball and broke a couple of tackles to boot a goal. Collier is a little too keen on his tackle-busting ability, which got him into trouble as often as not. The Dons won the ball from the next centre-bounce and Leroy Jetta booted terrific goal, gathering the high-bouncing ball, sprinting in a wide arc away from Jed Adcock and steering a great kick home from 40m. Simon Black replied with a free-kicked major for the Lyin's, clouted high by Slattery. The Dons scored in turn as Ryder out-marked Brown and initiated a quick rebound, Andrew Lovett passed to Brent Stanton on the 50m line and Stanton walloped it through. The ball does carry a long way with the roof closed. McVeigh and Laycock missed shots before Adam McPhee's long kick allowed Lucas to mark behind his man Joel Patfull, Lucas banana-ed it through. At the restart Lyin' Troy Selwood fell on Jetta's head, Jetta handballed his free to Nash who thumped anuge punt for a goal. The Dons led by 33 points now, but the Brians got one back late as casual Don Lovett-Murray was run down by Rhan Hooper, Anthony Corrie gathered the ball and passed for leading Brown to mark and convert. Dons by 27 points at the first break. Brisbun made inroads in the early second term as Black and Rischitelli began to win the ball, bringing their big forwards into play. Bradshaw kicked an early major, bullocking Fletcher aside with an impressive show of strength to mark Brown's kick. Jared Brennan missed a running shot and a Brown snap hit the post before Mitch Clark out-marked Matty Lloyd on the wing and punted long, Johnstone roved Brown's contest and slotted it through from the pocket. The Essadun lead was down to 13 points, but they won the next centre-break thanks to an 'advantage' call and Slattery to kicked long, out-of-position Lucas enjoyed some fortune as the ball found him and he snapped truly. The Lyin's closed the gap again as Bradshaw led up into the centre to take a grab, he kicked long and Brown was awarded a soft fee-kick for holding against Ryder. Brown majored, Dons by 13 points. Essadun lifted a bit, Lyin' backmen rushed a coupla behinds and an on-target McVeigh shot was touched through by Patfull. A bit later Charman punched a ball-up forward for Brisbun, Johnstone gathered and passed to leading Bradshaw, he marked and converted and the Dons led by 10 points. They rallied late though as Hille returned to the ruck, he won the following centre-clearance and Sam Lonergan passed for leading Lloyd to mark and boot a major. The Lyin's suffered a setback as Brown copped charging Laycock's knee right in his hip, Brown limped through the remainder of the evening. The umps waited until all the Lyin' defenders had stopped before calling advantage for Monfries to play-on and set up a point-blank goal for Jetta. Welsh won the following centre-clearance and Hille trapped the ball cleverly, handballed to Lucas whose snap was smothered but Lucas collected the rebound and had another go, it tumbled through the big sticks. Dons by 26 points at half-time.
The Lisbon Brians again drew close in the third term, in fact they grabbed the lead. They scored five unanswered goals from the start of the stanza, Bradshaw leading out to mark Johnstone's pass and kick the first. A bit later Stiller lobbed a high kick in and roving Johnstone fired a very good handpass to Brown, another to Brennan set up a point-blank slot. Adcock had a free to clear the restart and passed to Brown, his shot dropped short but Black punted a very easy roving goal. Poor defending from the Dons as Brisbun cut the margin to 8 points. Lonergan and Lyin' Tim Notting missed shots but Fletcher's kick-in from the latter was well-marked by Stiller, he passed to unattended Brown for another Lisbon major. The Lyin's scrambled and forced the Sherrin forward from the restart and Rischitelli's wobbly kick eluded a clutch of players to bounce through for a goal, the Lyin's led by 4 points. The Bombouts rallied impressively. Watson's strong tackle on a dithering Luke Power forced the Lyin' man into a wild handpass, Jetta gathered it and bagged a sausage to put the Dons in front again. A bit later Lovett's skilful pick-up and kick sent the ball towards Lloyd in the pocket, he gathered, wheeled and sent a right-foot dribbler through the big sticks. Consecutive centre-clearances resulted in Stanton creating goals for Lonergan, who'd been off the ground after a whack to his bonce. Both Lonergan goals were from marks of Stanton passes, the second aided by a 50m penalty against frustrated Selwood. Lovett-Murray ran afield, exchanged passes with Stanton and kicked for Monfries to mark in the pocket. Monfries hooked it home and the Dons led by 27 points, with five straight goals of their own. There were momentum shifts, and another came late as good play from Lyin' Corrie got the ball to Selwood, he passed for a mark and goal to Brown. Lyin's Black and Bradshaw both missed very kickable late shots, to leave the Dons 19 points ahead at the final change. Brisbun couldn't get any closer. Lucas missed an early final-Mario chance from a soft free but a moment later Lucas goaled, after marking a Kyle Reimers pass. Soon Rischitelli hacked a kick forward from a ball-up and it flopped into Brown's arms, he converted and the Lyin's were 20 points down again. McVeigh thumped a terrific running goal when it appeared he was about to collapse from exhaustion. Bradshaw missed before Lloyd majored for Essadun with a ridiculous 50m penalty, barely brushed by Notting after he marked in the centre. The Dons led by a healthy 31 points now but commentator Michael Voss, showing his Lyin' roots, was adamant another momentum shift would give Brisbun a chance. There was a shift of sorts as Brennan moved forward, he kicked the next two goals. The first was from a strong pack-mark of Bradshaw's shot, for the next Brennan played in-front to mark Black's flat, dying punt. But as players tired it was easy enough to score goals at both ends. A poor effort from Selwood conceded a free to Lucas, he kicked to Lloyd in the pocket who banana-ed a left-foot major, Lucas-style. Notting cleared the restart for the Lyin's and Brennan marked again, a good grab, and converted. Hooper raced clear of the next centre-bounce but got the speed-wobbles and his shot slewed out-on-the-full. A goal would've cut Essadun's lead to 14 points, so Brisbun's last shred of a chance disappeared then. Bomma Stanton majored with the aid of a weak 50m penalty against Stiller, then a good, long run from Lonergan allowed McVeigh to pass to Laycock's lead and he marked and majored. Stanton marked and goaled after the final siren to give the Dons an emphatic 37-point win.
Can't quite believe it but career plodder Andrew Welsh (33 disposals) was extraordinarily effective as a rover, beating Simon Black. Black apologists pointed to their man's injuries. Ruckman David Hille (20 touches, 14 hit-outs) was also very good for the Bommers and running man Brent Stanton (32 disposals, 12 marks, 3 goals) improved as the game went on, Mark McVeigh (29 touches, 2 goals) also worked very hard. Big forwards Scott Lucas (5 marks, 10 kicks, 5 goals) and Matthew Lloyd (17 possessions, 9 marks, 4 goals) did their bit and Leroy Jetta (10 disposals, 3 goals) is improving nicely. Angus Monfries (21 handlings, 7 marks, a goal) did some handy work again as a small forward and runnin' half-back Nathan Lovett-Murray (24 disposals, 8 marks) was handy, could show a bit more urgency. Sam Lonergan (17 possies) bagged 2 goals. Travis Johnstone (26 disposals, a goal) inspired Brisbun's better patches, with Jared Brennan (22 touches, 8 marks, 4 goals) also useful. Daniel Bradshaw (11 marks, 11 kicks, 4 goals) did well and Jonathan Brown (8 marks, 15 disposals, 5 goals) overcame Ryder and his corked hip. Anthony Corrie (15 touches) is a very good player, needs to get the ball more, and Michael Rischitelli (24 touches, 7 marks, a goal) wasn't bad. Simon Black kicked 2 goals, but he and Power were subdued and the Lyin's had passengers besides. Leigh Matthews said "Our defensive mechanisms, we were sort of disappointed about tonight . . . the ability to stop the opposition scoring was clearly poor tonight although they did take their chances. Whoever was getting the ball was scoring. They (Bummers) were fantastic. They kicked 24.6 off the boot . . . every time they went forward they were having a shot and most times they were kicking goals. When we got a bit of control of the footy, we were doing the same thing so it was a bit of an exhibition game really in terms of scoring . . . It's (a top four spot) not out of range but realistically we've lost a couple of games to teams that aren't probably going to be in the final eight, so I don't know why anyone should be getting too focused on the top four." Indeed. Knights tried to stay on-message amongst finals talk. "We are playing better footy but we still have 10 or 12 out (eh?) and we are right on the edge in regards to depth and we wouldn't want to lose two or three players . . . Teams can come off not playing well to playing really good football. If you looked at us a month ago, who would have said we would string four wins together, but we didn't think we were going to lose those consecutive games either . . . I can't focus on (reaching the finals). I can focus on developing guys like Kyle Reimers and Jay Neagle."
At Football Park:
Port Adelaide 4.3 5.7 9.11 10.14.74
North Melbourne 4.6 6.10 7.13 10.16.76
I'd never thought of 'My Name Is Earl' as a documentary, but for Port fans it probably is. Karma came to bite Warren Tredrea in the ar5e here, as he missed a kick to win the game with 30s remaining. Remember Port smashing the Ruse in last year's prelim final? Take a bow Tredders! Ah well. It's usually Daniel Motlop's job to miss a match-deciding shot, but he'd actually kicked one a minute earlier. Norf's fighting win kept their finals hopes alive as the field from 6th downwards is bunching up. In team selection here the Power had Chad Cornes and Jacob Surjan return, replacing injured Robbie Gray (ankle) and dropped junior Paul Stewart. Nathan Lonie played his 100th game, in about his ninth season. The Ruse made several changes after their poor loss to the Saints, three weeks after Dean Laidley said Shannon Grant would never be dropped, he was dropped for getting lagered at a golf day. Technically, Grant was under club suspension. Corey Jones was also dropped, for form reasons, along with juniors Matt Riggio and Alan Obst. In came Scott McMahon, returning from injury, plus a bunch of juniors given chances including Ben Ross, Blake Grima and first-game ruckman Todd Goldstein, from the Oakleigh Chargers.
Port started with the aid of a breeze but didn't really capitalize. A bit of action early as Port's Greg Bentley goaled from a mark, Adam Simpson replied for Norf thanks to a clangered Port kick-in. They did a bit of that. Port cleared the restart with a complicated move and Daniel Motlop led up for a grab, he centered quickly for Brett Ebert to hold an uncontested grab and convert. The Powder by 6 points, a few behinds each before Roo man Daniel Pratt won a ruck contest on the wing and the ball went via Lindsay Thomas to lurking Scott McMahon, he played-on and slotted. The Flowers won the ball from the subsequent centre-bounce and Danyle Pearce sent the pill wide to running Lonie, who thumped one of them idiomatic running goals. Shortly Shaun Burgoyne led to up mark Pearce's pass on the 50m line and lob one over the top to Adam Thomson, he converted and Port led by 12 points. A bit later Norf answered, new ruckman Todd Goldstein tapped perfectly for Drew Petrie to gather and poke it through. A flurry of behinds including an awful miss from Roo Campbell, then deep into time-on Nathan Thompson converted a free-kick and Norf led by 3 points at the first change. The Ruse were playing the better footy, with more contributors, and with the wind they threatened to kick clear in the early second. Brent 'Boomer' Harvey's long, five-bounce run from half-back to half-forward ended with a handball to McMahon, who snapped truly. Young Ben Ross's terrific handball sent Pratt running inside 50m, Pratt thumped a long goal and the Kangers led by 16 points. But they kinda got stuck there as Port held the game up a bit. David Rodan and Kane Cornes, Port's best on the night, combined to set up a mark and major for Justin Westhoff. That was in the 14th minute and again the term petered out with a string of points from both sides. Ebert became angry when it appeared Roo hard-man Pratt eye-gouged him, the match review panel agreed with Ebert and Pratt's been offered a two-game suspension. The Ruse 9 points ahead at the long rest.
Port did a bit better in the third term, the breeze at their backs again. Kanga Thomas missed some early shots before Powerman Shaun Burgoyne majored from a point-blank free-kick. He was struggling with a knee problem, though. Lonie and Thomas yet again missed for their respective sides before Lonie thundered another long, left-foot sausage, found by Pearce's centering pass. That put Port ahead again, by 3 points. Good work from Norf in their forward-line allowed Sam Power to set up a mark and goal for Daniel Wells and the Ruse led once more, but Ebert came to the party for Port with consecutive goals. The first was a very good, long kick after receiving Lonie's looping handball, the next from a strong grab and excellent shot from distance. "He should know where those goals are, he grew up just behind them," exclaimed Port-loving commentator Dwayne Russell as the Powder led by 9 points, increased to 10 at the final change by Tredrea's miss. The Kangaz were coming home with the wind and pulled a goal back early, Michael Firrito charged down Nick Lower's kick from defence, Thompson collected the rebound and handballed to impressive Ross, who snapped it home. Players tired and the night dew was making things slippery. Burgoyne'd limped off for Port, as had Damon White with a hamstring strain. Not that his absence made any difference. A coupla behinds each before Roo Josh Gibson's long kick from defence found David Hale marking wide on the flank, Chad Cornes arrived fractionally late and slapped the ball outta Hale's hands - a 50m penalty and Hale had an easy conversion from 20m, it put Norf 2 points ahead. Brady Rawlings missed after marking but soon Ross drove a long kick in and Thomas roved the pack to snap a spectacular mid-air major, the Ruse led by 9 points in time-on. They appeared set but a fumble by big Thompson in the centre - what was he doing there? - allowed Rodan to scoop up the pill, run clear and kick towards Motlop's lead. The ball was going over Motlop's head but Firrito gave Motlop heavy shove in the back anyway, a clear free and 'ice cool' Motlop converted. Ruse by 3 points and a coupla minutes later Port attacked again, Gibson walloped a panicky kick clear but straight to Lonie, 50m out on the flank. Should've had a go himself, but Lonie elected to pass to Tredrea in to pocket, 15m out but on a tough angle. Tredders tried a left-foot hook, it missed to the near side. Daniel Harris marked the kick-in and that was it. Bow down Tredders!
Challenged by the coach, Roo rover Daniel Harris (25 disposals, 6 marks) responded with a very good game and old hands Brent Harvey (28 touches) and Adam Simpson (29 handlings, a goal) were very good too. Backman Daniel Pratt (28 possies, 10 marks, a goal) did a decent job, although yet another suspension for something pretty stupid won't please Laidley. Pratt was the victim of eye-gouging in the pre-season, from Farmer. Or was that last year? Anyway. Second ruck Drew Petrie (18 disposals, 8 marks, a goal) was handy and youngsters Ben Ross (21 touches, a goal) and Todd Goldstein (13 hit-outs, 4 disposals) impressive, Ross dubbed 'The New Boomer'. Steady. Laidley demanded a Rising Star nomination for Gavin Urquhart (18 possessions). Scott McMahon kicked 2 goals. Port's better men were David Rodan (26 disposals) and Kane Cornes (30 possessions), along with pack-battler Dom Cassisi (22 touches, with 17 handballs). Ruckman Dean Brogan (18 possies, 5 marks, 21 hit-outs) and running Danyle Pearce (20 disposals) were okay and defender Troy Chaplin (17 touches, 5 marks) did a good job on Thompson. Brett Ebert fired spasmodically to kick 3 goals, Nathan Lonie (22 disposals, 8 marks) booted them 2 long majors. Mark William rued a series of disposal errors. "It was another gut-wrenching result, there's no doubt about it," Williams said. "We fought it out and if you look at all the stats we've been trying to turn around; we beat them in tackles and beat them in hard-ball gets. They are a contested side and to do that was outstanding. North has beaten the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn and we know they are a pretty proud club. They play pretty hard footy and we kept in there all night. We like to think we can keep fighting on and, if you have to lose, you'd rather lose like that than get smashed and give up . . . I know for a fact that some of our blunders were shocking. We handballed a ball and they would snap a goal, or we would handball or kick-out straight to them. There were just some blunders you'd hate to think cost you the game but, in the end, they do. Everyone is disappointed, but we've got seven weeks to go and we'll battle on." Laidley said "I'm just really pleased. It's been a big couple of weeks. The boys never gave in, and that's what we've spoken about. We've reset ourselves and reset sail and we've got probably the win that we've needed. It was a pretty young side that we brought over. I was a bit concerned that they may run out of legs, but Rossy - and this is a credit to our strength and conditioning staff - was able to run out the game really well. Gavin Urquhart for the games he's played he's been outstanding for us. Surely this week he's got to get the Rising Star after his last three performances. Surely to God? He's been exceptional for us." Karma for Tredrea, Dean? "I've got to say, you beat your opponent, you don't humiliate them. And perhaps that (the miss) was karma. I'm not too sure - it's a good headline."
At the MCG:
Hawthorn 3.4 9.9 10.13 15.16.106
Sydney 2.4 4.6 8.9 10.15.75
Rugged, physical game between two genuine contenders, well maybe the Swans aren't but they're honest. Despite another comically inept goal-shooting effort from Lance 'Buddy' Franklin (4.7 plus three on-the-fulls) the Hawks' multi-pronged attack, pressure and composure, especially in the first half, saw them to their first victory over the Bloods since 2004, a run of 6 games. The Swans were ragged and rattled in the first two quarters, they were better after half-time but couldn't convert. The shadow of Barry Hall, who also has a good record against Horforn, hung over the game. Hall was officially suspended one game for clouting Wakelin last week but the Swans took the odd measure of handing Bazza an indefinite club suspension, on the advice of their psychologist. Hall had issues and "wasn't in a fit mental state to be playing", the shrink reckoned. Hall wasn't too happy being labelled a psycho by his own club. "I must remain proactive throughout this confusing time," Hall said in his newspaper column. As a few journos pointed out, the whole thing was most un-Swans-like. The Bloods did have Adam Goodes back from suspension and called up Nick Smith to replace Nick Malceski (calf strain). The Hawks had Brad Sewell return from having his tonsils out amongst other ailments, ruckman Simon Taylor and Travis Tuck also returned to replace Jordan Lewis (thigh strain), Tim Clarke (ankle) and suspended ruckman Brent Renouf. Shane Crawford hurt his 'good' knee in the win over the Weegs and will require nursing to the season's end, according to Horforn.
The Hawks 'did a Sydney' and exerted plenty of tackling pressure on the Swans, who seemed panicked and made a lot of disposal errors early. A typical, determined effort from Cyril Rioli allowed him to set up the first goal, with a short pass to Mark Williams who majored. Swan Jarred Moore committed the first of many poor misses for them. There were a few minor blues, too. Simon Taylor majored for the Hawks thanks to a rucking free on the half-back line and two 50m penalties, the first for a Swan running through the mark, the next one . . . well, it wasn't clear. But Taylor had a very easy shot, he converted and the Awks led by 11 points. The Swans continued to burn chances, Amon Buchanan missed woefully from 25m following a good, juggled grab and Darren Jolly was also off-target from a mark about 30m out, not good enough. It wasn't one-way, Rioli drilled a running shot into the post. The Swans got a break, Mick O'Loughlin fired a great handball from a throw-in and running Goodes kicked a terrific running banana-goal. Jolly won the ball at the restart and handballed to Goodes, he kicked long and O'Loughlin was awarded a free for Croad's hefty shove. O'Loughlin goaled and the Swans were in front, by 2 points. A bit later Tadhg Kennelly's day appeared over as he dislocated a shoulder, but it popped back in (with help from the trainers) and Kennelly kept playing. He did the same thing later. It can't be good for him. Buchanan missed another set-shot prior to a Hawk goal, Sinney defender Paul Bevan over-ran the pill and Hawk Michael Osborne soccered it forward, Franklin gathered, finessed around opponent Lewis Roberts-Thomson and dribbled it through. Misses from Jarryd Roughead and Osborne left the Hawks exactly a goal up at the first break. The early second term was all about Buddy. He missed after marking Campbell's pass, then had another chance a minute later after Sam Mitchell did very well to win the ball midfield. Franklin collected Birchall's kick in the pocket and Roberts-Thomson did the right thing in forcing Franklin onto his (non-preferred) right side, but Buddy used his speed to get right 'round the Swan man, run into the goals and slam it through. Mitchell cleared the restart for Horforn and Franklin led out for another grab, but missed. That was it for 'LRT' and Craig Bolton was switched on to Franklin. Channel Seven's man on the boundary told us Bolton was not exactly thrilled by his new assignment. Hawk Mark Williams free-kicked a goal, a harsh decision against Marty Mattner for what appeared a perfectly decent spoil, and the Hawks led by 21 points. Their very good midfield pressure was creating a wealth of chances for Franklin et al. At the next centre-bounce Goodes lined-up Xavier Ellis with a flying elbow, but missed. He doesn't learn. Henry Playfair held a good grab but behind-ed with the Bloods' first shot for the korter, at the other end Franklin won a fortunate free but shanked his shot awfully on-the-full, from 30m. Swan leader Brett 'Captain' Kirk belted a kick clear from a defensive ball-up but Hawk Clint Young read it, marked smartly, ran on and thumped a superb goal from 50m. The Swans ground forward and forced five consecutive ball-ups inside their attacking 50. Eventually Kieran Jack won a free, 20m out but the goose missed again. The Hawks moved smoothly downfield from the kick-in, Young's centering kick was shocker but pressure won the ball back for the Orcs and Williams drilled a terrific running sausage. The Hawks led by 31 points now and it seemed a much bigger lead was coming. If only they'd stop giving the ball to Franklin, who now kicked another point. The Swans had a break when Ryan O'Keefe was awarded a very doubtful two-grab mark, replays confirmed the first grab was all Campbell Brown's and the Orc defender gave the ump a mouthful, conceding a 50m penalty. At last an unmissable shot for the Swans and O'Keefe goaled. The Hawks replied quickly after the Swans fumbled under pressure, Osborne handballed for Hodge to slot a running major. Horforn led by 33 points now. More umpiring help for the Bloods as Playfair was awarded a doubtful free for hands-in-the-back, he majored. But the Horcs answered smartly, Croad attacked a loose ball and sent it to Osborne, he kicked long and Campbell roved himself to handpass for a point-blank Roughead major. At the next centre-bounce Buchanan came steaming in and absolutely flattened Hodge, slamming his shoulder into the Hawk's head. Been offered 4 weeks. Hodge was okay and the Hawks led by 33 points at half-time.
A more composed, determined Siddey emerged for the second half, slowing the tempo of the game and using the ball a helluva lot better than the first two stanzas. A cagey few minutes with a coupla rushed Hawk behinds preceded a typical Swan goal. Steady, chipped passes got the ball to O'Keefe on the wing, then another to O'Loughlin, he kicked to Buchanan wide on the 50m line who stabbed a pass infield for Jarrad McVeigh to clutch solidly under pressure. McVeigh goaled. Bevan missed after marking and Spida Everitt didn't make the distance with a shot from 30m, to great mirth from the Hawk supporters. But the Swans were going well now, a quick rebound move saw O'Keefe kick long and Nick Smith held a with-the-flight grab, the Swan junior bagged his career-first sausage and the Hawk lead was reduced to 22 points. At the following centre-bounce Hawk Tuck won a free for in-the-back, he handballed to Mitchell who kicked long and Franklin lurked behind the pack to collect the ball and doggedly poke it through while being tackled. Soon Franklin was back to more typical form, hooking horribly on-the-full following a decent grab. He and Goodes participated in some handbags. Kennelly dislocated his shoulder for the second time at this point. Siddey won the pill from a ball-up and Craig Bird handballed to O'Keefe, who screwed a great over-the-shoulder snap for full points. A bit later O'Keefe was involved again, winning the ball toughly and kicking to Buchanan who held a good grab under some pressure. Buchanan majored and the Swans were 16 points down at the final break. The Hawks got their running game going again in the final term. Kirk missed an early chance and Franklin couldn't hold a goal-square grab with a huge leap, kneeing Swan ruckman Jolly in the head. That's a big jump. Buddy proceeded to kick a couple more points but the opportunities were flowing again. Roughead was paid a mark over Ted Richards, as with the earlier O'Keefe mark it seemed Richards had first grab at it but the decision was reasonable and Roughead goaled, the Hawks led by 23 points. The Swans hung in there, a fumble from Orc Rick Ladson allowed Everitt to lob a kick forward and ol' O'Loughlin soared for a big grab over Brown, Mick copped a finger in the eye on the way down and Buchanan took the kick, he converted. The Swannies were still there, 16 points down. But the Horks kicked clear now. Hodge received the ball from a throw-in and speared a very good pass to leading Williams, he converted. O'Loughlin postered with a tight-angle shot. Swans Moore and Goodes messed up a rebound under pressure, Mitchell gathered and kicked long and Siddey rover Craig Bird found himself out-numbered three-to-one. Roughead took the easy grab and majored. Horks won the next centre-clearance, Cyril Rioli intercepted a wayward Sinny handpass and snapped a six-pointer. Brent Guerra held a very good grab in defence to stop a Swan thrust, the ball went to Sewell on the wing and he kicked long, Franklin reeled in a one-handed mark and popped it through, at last. The Hawks led by a decisive 39 points now. O'Loughlin kicked a late consolation goal.
Mark Williams (18 disposals, 8 marks, 4 goals) was probably the Hawks' best, by virtue of his efficiency. Lance Franklin also kicked 4 goals, and 7 points, and three on-the-fulls, from 8 marks and 21 disposals. The pair and Jarryd Roughead (13 touches, 5 marks, 3 goals) gave the Blood backmen plenty of headaches. Half-forward Michael Osborne (16 disposals, 5 marks) did some very good things, Luke Hodge (18 handlings, a goal) was handy midfield and Sam Mitchell (20 disposals) fought a terrific duel with Kirk. Running men Clint Young (13 touches, a goal) and Grant Birchall (15 possies) were decent. For the Swans, Adam Goodes (27 disposals, 7 marks, a goal) provided inspiration but he'll be suspended again soon at the current rate. Brett Kirk (29 touches) was great against Mitchell and Craig Bird (18 handlings) was decent. Amon Buchanan (14 touches, 8 marks, 2.3) was committed, but there's a gap to the rest. Darren Jolly (16 possies, 6 marks, 22 hit-outs) was good in the first half and Ryan O'Keefe (13 handlings, 5 marks, 2 goals) had a decent third quarter, Luke Ablett (on Sewell) and Leo Barry were okay. Mick O'Loughlin kicked 2 goals. "We had 44 inside 50s for 25 scoring shots, so in terms of our forward line we're very potent up there," Roos said, encompassing the 'Hall question' in his answer. "It's our inability to get it in often enough today. We tended to turn the ball over a fair bit through the middle of the ground. Once we got it in there . . . I mean that's a pretty good efficiency - 44 [times] in and 25 scoring shots - so we probably just need to give our forwards more opportunity than what we have been . . . We're playing better teams (now), you know that's obviously a big thing . . . playing the better teams in the competition so you get a better feel for where you're at as a team. We've showed that we can play with those teams but probably not for often enough. That's why those teams are on top of us on the ladder and they're playing better footy at the moment than what we are." The topic of wayward Franklin dominated Clarkson's press conference. "We have had a lot of people give us advice on (Franklin's kicking) and we've found the best thing is for him to keep to his natural rhythm," Clarkson said. "We are hopeful that over time he will continue to rehearse his work and he'll get a better return than what he did today. But he was still an enormously influential player on the ground and it would have been a greater margin if he had been able to convert some of those chances . . . We obviously want to finish as high as we can and we will if we continue to win more games than we lose in the last seven rounds but the key focus for us going in was to try and resurrect our poor form against this side over the past three years."
At Docklands:
Footscray 3.2 7.4 12.7 14.11.95
Melbourne 1.0 4.2 5.6 9.10.64
Slogging win for the Dogs, in the face of admirable Melbun pressure. Slowly, steadily, the Dees are improving. Only half-a-percent behind the Eagles now, with a chance to beat Freo next week, you'd think. The Bulldogs could be excused for having their minds on the game against Geelong next week, they did what they had to. In selection the Bulldogs called up junior wingman Jarrod Harbrow and defender Cameron Wight to replace Ryan Griffen, out for personal reasons, and spearhead Scott Welsh who withdrew with a sore back. Daniel Cross played his 100th game and was the subject of some media attention during the week, as a determined, self-made player. The Dees were without Brock McLean, whose ankle injury in the win over Brisbun was bad enough to end his season. Aaron Davey was under club suspension for lager-related mischief during the break and Jace Bode was dropped. Dee replacements were Daniel Bell, junior Cale Morton and tall forward Michael Newton. Jeff White stayed in the VFL.
Early goal for the Dogs, from a secondary ball-up Ben Hudson tapped to Adam Cooney, his quick, tumbling left-footer found Mitch Hahn for a mark and goal. But Cooney was stopped reasonably well thereon by new Dee tagger Lynden Dunn, while Cameron Bruce tried hard for the Demuns. The Dees had real trouble scoring though, and whistle-happy officials ensured a slow, stuttering game. Nathan Eagleton majored from a free, Dogs Harbrow and Boyd kicked points before Eagleton bagged another goal, created by a smart gather and pass from Robert Murphy. Dogs by 20 points and with 10 seconds remaining in the quarter Melbun got their first score, Dunn with a mystery free-kick. The Bullies pressed on into the second, Murphy marked on a lead and handballed inside to Lindsay Gilbee, from his long kick Will Minson seized an emphatic grab and converted. A few minutes later Jason Akermanis's quick kick into the 'square led to a free and easy major for Harbrow and the Bullpups led by 26 points. Chris Johnson got Melbun's second score, also a goal, with the aid of a 50m penalty. Even so, he still had to kick the ball 50m. The Dogs replied, 'Guido' Giansiracusa lobbed a hopeful pass towards Harbrow, he couldn't mark but handballed to Cooney, another to Cross and the 100-gamer goaled. The Pups' lead got out to 27 points before the Dees managed some attacking at last. Nathan Jones used an 'advantage' decision to find Simon Buckley in space, the Dee man ran inside 50 and slotted. Backman Colin Garland found Bruce on the wing with a long punt, Bruce drove a long kick towards leading Michael Newton who couldn't mark but handballed to Brad Green, he majored. The Dogs' lead was back to 14 points but Akermanis bagged the last goal of the half, Farren Ray's long run from defence saw him Kick to Josh Hill in the pocket, Hill handballed over-the-top to Aker who was tripped as he ran into goal but staggered on and poked it through. Bullies by 20 points at the long break.
Demun man Green bagged the first goal of the third, in the first minute and the Dees were still there, a not-huge 14 points behind. Minson replied presently for Footyscray, a sharp interchange from a throw-in ended with Eagleton punting long and Minson won a free for dropping a mark, apparently. He converted. Nuthin' but rushed behinds for the next ten minutes before two Giansiracusa goals opened a handy break. For the first Ray had a long run and shot which faded into the pocket, Giansiracusa gathered and handballed infield to Murphy, he shaped for a shot but instead handballed back to Giansiracusa who stabbed it through. A minute later Murphy's excellent gather on the half-volley and slick handpass created Guido's second major and the Pups led by 33 points. The Dees scored a coupla behinds prior to a brace of sausages from Akermanis. Aker collected Murphy's kick on the wing and drove a long punt towards Hahn, he marked and stabbed a short one to Cross who found Akermanis running by, so Cross gave the handball and Aker drilled it through. Good running from the old bloke. A minute later a tough effort from Andrejs Everitt led to Cross lobbing a pass for Akermanis to mark in front of Bell, he converted. The Dogs led by 43 points at the last change and the general impression given by all the players in the final stanza was they wanted to go home. 'The Age' described it as a quarter "that would not have been out of place lurching drunkenly in a dark nightclub corner." Eh? There were a few desultory behinds prior to Gilbee driving a kick-in to Cross in the centre, he handballed to Wight whose long punt was marked by Hahn, he goaled. The Dogs led by 49 points before the Deez bagged three straight majors in the face of general Bulldog apathy. Newton, who'd missed three shots, finally got on-target following a strong mark of Shane Valenti's kick (Commetti: "Valenti, built like a fire-hydrant which is a good thing, unless you're playing the Dogs."). Brad Miller then bagged consecutive majors, both from marks of Clint Bartram frees. Minson and Miller both kicked majors for their respective sides in the final minutes.
Ruck-rover Matthew Boyd (33 disposals, 6 marks), opposed to Nathan Jones, and milestone man Daniel Cross (25 touches, 6 marks, a goal) worked consistently hard for the Bulldogs. Ryan Hargrave (22 possessions, 10 marks) did a solid job at CHB and there was some effective running from back-flanker Lindsay Gilbee (27 disposals) and juniors Josh Hill (21 touches, 5 marks) and Jarrod Harbrow (15 handlings, a goal), both keen to hold their spots you'd think. Robert Murphy (15 possies, 6 marks) showed his skills and up forward Will Minson (5 kicks, 2 marks, 3 goals) and Jason Akermanis (20 disposals, 3 goals) did their jobs. Nathan Eagleton and Daniel Giansiracusa bagged 2 goals each. Cameron Bruce (38 disposals, 11 marks) led the Demuns and Lynden Dunn (15 touches, a goal) did a good job on Cooney. Winger Chris Johnson (24 possies, a goal) and backman Paul Wheatley (34 touches, 7 marks) continued their good recent form and chunky defender Stefan Martin (19 disposals, 4 marks) was alright. Brad Green (19 possies, 2 goals) wasn't bad either. Brad Miller kicked 3 goals, all in the last 15 minutes. Once again Dean Bailey wouldn't accept a good 'effort'. "[It's] disappointing, to be honest with you, we got off to a slow start. I thought our guys were competitive for really big chunks of the game and the fact that we finished off the last quarter well was a good sign. [The] guys just kept at it and at it and it's a good sign for the young players in the team. We didn't get the result, and that's what it's all about, but their effort to stick at it and stick at it in the last quarter was acceptable. The game's about winning and we didn't win today." 'Rocket' Eade wasn't happy either. "We certainly didn't play very well. I thought our pressure and intensity was pretty good. I thought we tackled hard and thought we chased, and that we harassed them OK," he said. "But our use of the ball and decision making and basic errors, dropping marks and missing handballs, was very uncharacteristic. It was very poor . . . Certainly as a professional team, first up after a break, we should have been a bit better than we were." Bad sign for next week? "I'm not too perturbed about the showing today," said Rocket. "There were a few individuals that I may be concerned about that were poor today, a few of the experienced guys. But I think, overall, the guys are looking forward to next week."
At Subiaco:
West Coast 3.2 4.4 7.9 11.9.75
Richmond 1.3 12.4 18.6 24.8.152
The Tiges should sell a few home games to the Waffle. Richmun recorded their second thumping win for the season at Sooby, although on both occasions the opposition wasn't up to much. Still, a 13-goal win without Richo is pretty decent. Like the protagonist of 'Khe Sahn', the Weegs are going nowhere and they're in a hurry. They are attempting to rebuild, I suppose, and tanking is the first step. But the sheer lack of effort would be galling for their supporters and sponsors. The coach doesn't seem too worried, because it's the plan. Last week was an eventful one for the Eegs, Michael Braun announced his intention to retire at the season's end, Michael Voss surprised everyone by accepting an assistant coaching job with the Eagles (starting next season) and there was a story Adam Selwood has a get-out clause in his contract should his team-mates get up to more drug-related shenanigans. Richmun's fortnight was dominated by the fate of Graham Polak, run down by a tram. He's recovering well, apparently, but still in hospital. In selection the Wiggles recalled Braun while Josh Kennedy, Brett Jones and David Wirrpanda returned from injury, out went Jaymie Graham, Brent Staker, Jamie McNamara and Will Schofield. The Tiges replaced Polak, Matty Richardson (hamstring) and the dropped Chris Hyde and Jake King with Jay Schulz, Luke McGuane, Shane Edwards and Daniel Connors for his first run this season.
The Tiges started okay but didn't capitalise going forward, committing a stream of turnovers too. Dean 'Big' Cox is one of the few Eagles still trying, he brought about the first goal with a tap out the back from a throw-in, Mark LeCras gathered and banana-snapped it through. The Tiges won the ball and did some running but Connors, Schulz and Jordan McMahon all missed shots and an uncertain start got worse for Tigger fans as Brett Deledio twisted a knee and limped off. The Tiges managed a goal eventually, similar to the Eegs' as Troy 'Snake' Simmonds won the ball from a throw-in and Nathan Brown snapped a sausage roll. Tiges by a point but the Weegs snaggled a coupla late goals. Ryan Davis's two-bounce run outta defence and long kick saw Ben McKinley win a free, he converted. Weeg skipper Darren Glass held a strong defensive mark and the agget went to McKinley on the wing, he played-on and punted long for Quinten Lynch to hold an uncontested grab and convert. The Eegs led by 11 points at the first break. But Richmun blew the game apart with 11 goals in the second stanza. They won every contested ball; ran free unhindered from contests; and profited from every chancey pass. The Weegs were a disgrace, really, spectators. Jack Riewoldt was heavily involved for the Tiges, he set up the first goal with a smart kick for Schulz to mark strongly and convert. Nathan Foley sped clear of a pack and stabbed a pass to leading Riewoldt who marked on the 50m line. Adam Hunter wouldn't retreat on the mark so Riewoldt had a 50m penalty, he majored and the Tiges led by a point. A minute later Riewoldt marked again and hacked a wobbly torpedo forward, Shane Tuck played in front to mark and bag one. He and Foley were winning a stack of it. Joel Bowden was ploughed into the turf at the restart and dished his free to Kane Johnson, a long punt and Riewoldt hauled down a goal-square grab, he popped it through. The Weegs attacked for the first time in the term, McKinley had a free but his shot was touched through. The Big Cats rolled on, Matt White roved a throw-in and tumbled a kick into space, Edwards collected and passed for Brown to mark and convert. Brett Jones's tackle was so weak even Bowden could shrug it, he kicked for leading ex-Weeg Mitch Morton to mark, play-on and hook it through. Good tacklin' won the Tiges the ball, Newman punted long and all-alone Cleve Hughes marked in the goal-square for another. Tiges by 31 points now. The Weevils won the next centre-clearance - Cox dominated hit-outs - and McKinley kicked a point for 'em. But a minute later McKinley booted a goal, after Tigger Tuck was wrongly penalized for a throw - it was a quick over-head handpass, but legitimate nonetheless. Tuck's vividly expressed opinion cost him a 50m penalty and McKinley lobbed it through. The Weegs trailed by a reasonable 24 points at this stage, but Toigs romped away. Dean Polo held a good grab in defence, ran clear and passed to leading Richard Tambling, who played-on, sold a dummy as he wheeled and speared a sausage. Deledio jogged back on and was immediately set-upon by Glass. But it didn't matter, a Tige centre-clearance ensued and Trent Cotchin's pass found leading Morton for another six-pointer, White sped clear of the following restart and chipped the ball to Deledio, who thumped his kick 55m for a goal and tore off the knee-strapping. Huzzah! Riewoldt held a strong grab in front of Hunter and booted the final goal of the term, the Tiges led by a hefty 48 points at orange-time.
The Weevils made some sort of effort to start the third term and bagged the first goal, Ashley Hansen scooped up Lynch's poor pass and tumbled a kick forward, McKinley seized a tough goal-square grab and majored. But Foley sped clear of the subsequent restart, had a couple of bounces and handballed to Riewoldt who punted it through. It took two bounces and a free to Cotchin to get the game going again, the Tige kid passed wide to Riewoldt, he kicked to Morton in the pocket, handball to Brown, goal. Good battling from Bowden soon created another (it's not boring you, is it?), he passed to Morton again in the pocket. As the ball arrived so did Weeg man Daniel Kerr, late, and he decided to clobber roving Tige Matt White. It'll be three weeks out for Kerr. In the meantime Morton was given a 50m penalty for that, he lobbed it through. The Tiges led by 61 points after those three quick snags. The Weegs shifted David Wirrpanda forward, to replace injured LeCras. Wirrpanda responded with a goal, a good kick from the flank after marking Tim Houlihan's pass. But another long, speedy Foley run brought the rapid Tiger reply, 'Axel' received Cotchin's handpass behind the centre-circle and raced away with three bounces before Kernahan-ing it through. The Eegs scored a coupla points and from the kick-in of one Tige McMahon clangered straight to Brad Ebert; he kicked to McKinley who handballed for a major to Andrew Embley. White battled to create an ugly goal for Cotchin, scrambled through from close range. Eegs Kerr and Hansen missed shots before Edwards snapped a top roving goal for the Tiges, they led by 63 points at the last change. Weegirl Hansen punted the first goal of the last stanza, following a good grab. The Tiges got the next two, noice play by Schulz, Newman and Riewoldt set up a point-blank poke-through for Brown. White marked and punted a deserved goal and the Tiggers led by 71 points. Wirrpanda gave the Weegs' last bit of alleged fight with consecutive goals from free-kicks, the first a deliberate out-of-bounds against Newman. Charity indeed. As it's the Tour de Frog and Bastille Day (er, yesterday) the Tiges offered 'pas de cadeaux'. Deledio, Johnson, Cotchin and Riewoldt kicked four of the last five goals (Steven Armstrong bagged one for the Weegs) to end the slaughter.
Gratifying for the Tiges were the goals from Jack Riewoldt in Richo's absence, 5 of 'em to complement his 8 marks and 17 disposals. Nathan Foley (24 disposals, a goal) and Shane Tuck (30 handlings, 6 marks, a goal) thrashed the Weeg rovers and Kane Johnson (26 touches, 12 marks, a goal) was pretty good too. Nathan Brown (24 touches, 4 goals) was handy in attack and Jay Schulz (16 possies, 11 marks, a goal) ventured far and wide from defence. Jordan McMahon managed 33 disposals and some of them went to team-mates. Mitch Morton kicked 3 goals, Trent Cotchin (25 disposals) and Brett Deledio kicked 2 each. Weeg man Dean Cox (23 possessions, 11 marks, 43 hit-outs) battled away and forwards Ben McKinley (5 marks, 10 disposals, 3 goals) and David Wirrpanda (16 disposals, 7 marks, 3 goals) were very efficient with limited supply. Andrew Embley (24 possies, a goal) was alright and Dan Kerr and Tim Houlihan (20 disposals each) were modest. Worsfold's post-game comments started reasonably before drifting onto the same old tack. "We got absolutely towelled up in every aspect of the game in that second quarter and didn't really put up any fight at all," Worsfold said. "Today I feel as though, yeah, we're probably further back than what maybe I expected, it might take a bit longer but I'm still very confident we can get there. It might just be an extra season that we need to get more games into some of the younger players before they're really at the level." Plough reckoned they did it for Polak. "From our point of view we're a family, as a group, and Graham certainly is a part of that family . . . We spoke before the game and just said we had some pretty important people back at home that would be watching in, and we were just really hopeful that we could do the right thing by Graham . . . We'd been OK in that area (clearances) for most of the game, but really at times it was having more youth in there and giving them the opportunity, I suppose, of having their head and to be able to go after it. At one stage in there we had Shane Edwards and Trent Cotchin along with Nathan Foley, and it was legitimately quick and they were really hunting after the footy. It was pretty exciting to see that. We had a fair bit of trust and faith in our playing group today. We were vastly younger than the opposition. The pleasing aspect I think for our supporters (was) they got a real glimpse of what might be a fairly strong midfield for the future."
Ladder after Round 15
Pts. % Next Week
Geelong 56 152.0 Footscray (Kardinia Park, Saturday)
Footscray 54 134.1 Geelong (Kardinia Park, Saturday)
Hawthorn 52 130.0 St. Kilda (Docklands, Sat. night)
Sydney 38 125.3 Carlton (Docklands, Sunday)
Collingwood 36 120.7 North Melbourne (Docklands, Fri. night)
Adelaide 32 106.0 Port Adelaide (Football Park, Sunday)
Brisbane 32 103.1 West Coast (Gabba, Sat. night)
St. Kilda 32 99.8 Hawthorn (Docklands, Sat. night)
------------------------------------------------
North Melbourne 30 94.4 Collingwood (Docklands, Fri. night)
Carlton 28 93.7 Sydney (Docklands, Sunday)
Richmond 26 96.5 Essendon (MCG, Saturday)
Essendon 24 82.1 Richmond (MCG, Saturday)
Port Adelaide 16 92.0 Adelaide (Football Park, Sunday)
Fremantle 8 85.9 Melbourne (Subiaco, Sunday)
West Coast 8 65.0 Brisbane (Gabba, Sat. night)
Melbourne 8 64.6 Fremantle (Subiaco, Sunday)
Cheers, Tim.
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