AFL Round 19
At the MCG:
Melbourne 0.0 1.3 2.6 5.11.41
Geelong 8.5 12.7 19.10 24.13.157
About half-way through Commetti suggested this game, designed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first game of footy, would be decided by 150 points. The Cats didn't quite get there but they strolled to anuge victory anyway in their quest to match Essadun's 2001 season. Melbun had actually played pretty well against the Dons last week and the launch of their 'Debt Demolition' campaign last Wednesday netted the club $2 million, so things were looking up. Best just forget this result and move on. Four forced changes to the Demun side here, Daniel Bell and Colin Garland (hamstrings both), Aaron Davey (foot) and the unlucky Mark Jamar (er, injured) replaced by Nathan Jones, backman Nathan 'The Cougar' Carroll, James Frawley and Jeff White. The Jahlong side was in fact stronger with the return of Gary Ablett Jnr. and Shannon Byrnes was given a chance, they replaced Darren Milburn who was suspended a week for his slam-tackle on Tiger Edwards, while Travis Varcoe was unlucky to be dropped.
A reflection on the Cats' vast superiority was their maintenance of the regular high-possession, play-on style despite wet, windy conditions at the 'G. It was raining as they started and the Katz had the advantage of a breeze. The Deez found themselves under a lot of pressure whenever they had the ball and always coughed it up within a disposal or two, rarely advancing beyond the centre. It took nearly five minutes for the Katz to open the scoring, Ryan Gamble marked Steve Johnson's pass and handballed inboard for running Joel Selwood to boot a goal. Not for the last time the Dees punted aimlessly forward and Cat Corey Enright marked alone, the ball went to Cameron Ling on the wing and he was allowed to run inside 50m and punt an easy sausage - very poor by the Deez. Then Gamble lined up but stabbed a short pass for Mark Blake to mark and convert. Eleven minutes gone so the Dees were holding 'em up a bit, but the Katz got rolling now. A standard move came as Max Rooke collected a throw-in and centered a pass to Matty Scarlett, handball to running Enright whose kick was marked with-the-flight by Tom Lonergan, he majored. A minute later Cameron Mooney nudged Warnock under the ball to mark, play-on and find Andrew Mackie in oceans of space for an easy goal. Cats by 30 points, 5.0 to 0.0. Ablett showed he was fit again by busting a coupla tackles, but he missed from the boundary to score the Cats' first behind. Dee Paul Wheatley gathered the weakly hit kick-in on-the-bounce and was crunched by James Kelly, but Mackie's subsequent snap hit the post. No mind, a moment later Wheatley, faced with no options, lobbed a speculative kick to Paul Johnson and two Cats. Easy spoil and gather for Enright, he handballed to running Johnson who kicked to Mackie on 50m, play-on and goal. Jimmy Bartel and Lonergan missed before Blake and Kelly combined to win the pill from a throw-in and Brent Prismall booted a very long, breeze-assisted goal. A bit later Prismall repeated the dose, another long, running major, capping a chain of handballs. Melbun managed to prevent the Catters scoring in the final two minutes of the term, trailing by 53 points upon the siren. Demun coach Dean Bailey gave his lads a furious spray at the break. "He looks like Jack Nicholson when he's breaking down the door in The Shining," commented Commetti. The Demuns competed more for the contested ball and applied more defensive pressure, but it had no immediate effect as Pu55y Ryan Gamble postered with a set shot early in the second. A bit of a scrap ended with Enright kicking long and Lonergan was awarded a dubious mark close-in, he converted. Enright kicked a point to make it 61-0 before Melbun scored a point! Well, Cat Josh Hunt fumbled a handpass and rushed it through, but they all count. Naturally the Catters swept afield from the kick-in, Gamble doing well to win the ball and kick long to find Lonergan alone for a mark and goal. But the Dees hung tough for a few minutes, the Catters also having a bit of trouble against the wind. Melbun scored a second behind prior to a flurry of late scoring, Dee backman Matthew Whelan was caught in possession by Bartel and Mathew Stokes collected the spilled ball, he booted a noice one. Dee Simon Buckley raced clear of the restart but his running shot faded wide. A bit later Dee Frawley scooped the greasy ball skillfully and kicked in to CHF, Paul Johnson gathered and fired a handball for running Austin Wonaeamirri to speed clear and stab a goal. Huzzah! It slashed Geelagong's lead to 64 points. But the Cats responded, Ablett running onto Blake's lobbed kick for a mark and major. The Cats led by 70 points at half-time.
And so it went on. Early third and Bartel goaled from a free-kick at a throw-in, clouted in the head by Chris Johnson. Mooney missed a set-shot and the Deez maintained some pressure for a minute or three, before Mooney held a strong grab under pressure from Carroll 40m out. Mooney played-on and handballed to nobody, but the Pu55ies recovered the ball and Gamble snapped a goal. Dee Shane Valenti had a free when biffed in the head, he played-on immediately and blundered into another, legal tackle. Joel Corey punted the Cats forward and Johnson gathered near the boundary, he finessed a bit and handballed for Ablett to run into the open goal and poke it through. Selwood, playing very well again, was involved three times in creating the next six-pointer, Mooney clutching a very good goal-square mark of Selwood's punt and popping it through. Commetti waxed lyrical about Selwood and was accused of having a 'man crush' by Nathan Buckley - earlier in the year Commetti outed Bucks's obsession with Buddy Franklin. A minute later Mooney passed to no-one again, Dee Chris Johnson gathered but was tackled by Prismall, Johnson's handball spilled to Ling who snapped the Cats into a triple-digit lead - 101 points, to be precise. Like many sides in the position, the Deez lifted once the deficit exceeded 100 points. Why not in the preceding 75 minutes? A rare fast, direct Dee move saw Addam Maric's shot just miss, the Cats were forced to rush a point before Melbern's Cameron Bruce fought hard to win the ball and get it to Whelan, his very high kick dropped from the goal-square pack and Valenti soccered a goal. Cats by 93 points, but they got a couple more goals prior to the final change. They cleared a throw-in and Corey passed to leading Lonergan, a coupla handballs later and Prismall, enjoying a run in attack, slotted his third goal. Selwood executed a great pick-up, had a bounce and kicked very smartly for Lonergan to mark in the pocket, he banana-ed it through and Jahlong led by 106 points at three-korter-time. Demun Paul Johnson scored a great, ar5ey goal early in the last, Cat Scarlett couldn't hold a back-pedalling mark and lurking Johnson collected right on the boundary and rolled a poorly-hit, left-foot dribbly kick through the big sticks. "Goal of the year!" Commetti exclaimed, to general derision. The Cat response was swift with three quick goals from Stokes. For the first Brad Ottens tapped a ball-up perfectly for running Stokes to collect and slot through, the next was a handball gift from Byrnes. The third came after Dee Buckley was very well tackled by Joel Corey, the Cat man kicked his free towards Steve Johnson who couldn't mark but Byrnes's tap-on allowed Stokes to convert again. Cats by 117 points. The Dees scored another, Bruce's very short pass to Valenti wasn't allowed but the young Dee was ploughed into the wet turf by Hunt, Valenti free-kicked a major. Mooney and Selwood missed as tiredness set in, a very slow Pu55y build-up ended with Ablett kicking for leading Steve Johnson to mark, he was given some afters by Warnock and a 50m penalty enabled an easy goal, Johnson's first. With 46 seconds to go the Deez managed a centre-clearance, Valenti's strong mark and Brad Green's pass set up Chris Johnson for an after-the-siren goal.
Dennis was right, Joel Selwood (33 disposals, a goal) was and is very good, with hard-running back flanker Andrew Mackie (33 touches, 9 marks, 2 goals) also prominent. Brent Prismall (32 touches, 9 marks, 3 goals) enjoyed more freedom and forwards Tom Lonergan (12 handlings, 7 marks, 4 goals) and Mathew Stokes (19 possessions, 4 goals) capitalised on the swift attacks, Stokes bagging three late majors. Backmen Matthew Scarlett (28 disposals, 5 marks) and Tom Harley (13 touches, 4 marks) swallowed up wayward Dee thrusts and there were the usual solid games from Cameron Ling (31 possies, 2 goals) and Joel Corey (30 disposals). Gary Ablett and Jimmy Bartel had 20-plus touches and booted 2 goals each. On the Dee side senior men James 'Junior' McDonald (22 disposals) and Cameron Bruce (25 possessions) tried very hard, putting their bodies on the line. Backman Matthew Whelan (31 touches, 9 marks) saw a lot of the ball and junior Addam Maric (23 disposals) wasn't bad. Shane Valenti (16 disposals) bagged 2 goals. Dean Bailey'd calmed down afterwards. "We just got an absolute football lesson," Bailey said. "We turned the ball over and they counter-attacked at speed. They are not only an incredibly hard team to win the ball off, but they win the uncontested ball at speed. They turned it into an uncontested speed game and we couldn't match it. We were running behind. Our guys were a little bit shell-shocked at the start . . . Although there was a slight improvement in the second half, the scoreboard would suggest that we were unable to change our decisions." He agreed the Deez were intimidated by the Cats. Mark Thompson commented on his team's consistent style. "I think that's the plan - we sort of wanted to play a style of footy that the opposition, no matter who we're playing, or the score, we just want to play a brand of footy and just stick to it," he said. "It's so encouraging and pleasing to see that result tonight, and that's what they did. I thought our boys were just absolutely fantastic. [We were] just playing footy the way we want to play it. I know that Melbourne aren't the best side in the competition, we knew where they were, but it was just so important for us just to stay on task, and we did that. I am very pleased, very proud. I love watching this group of boys play. Some people might have turned the TV off tonight, but if I was coming to a game of football, I wouldn't leave, watching this team play the way they played tonight. It's just outstanding the way they played."
At Docklands:
Carlton 4.7 8.16 12.22 18.24.132
Port Adelaide 1.4 2.5 5.8 9.12.66
The Bluebaggers kept up their chase for the eight with their biggest win for seven years, hammering a pathetic Port side. The Powder were uncompetitive and, apart from one or two blokes, barely tried. A huge contrast with last week, only Carlton's terrible goal-shooting and a bit of effort from the flooded Flower defence prevented a triple-digit margin. In selection the Blooze replaced Eddie Betts (hamstring) with ruckman Shaun Hampson and sprung a surprise by plucking Jason Saddington from VFL obscurity, at the expense of dropped defender Mark Austin. Port regained Peter Burgoyne and Troy Chaplin and called up Damon White and a first-gamer in former Geelong Falcon Ryan Williams, a solidly-built midfielder with a terrific afro. Out went injured Travis Boak and dropped trio Greg Bentley, Nathan Lonie and the unfortunate Toby Thurstans after the narrow loss to Stinkilda. Last week club icon Michael Wilson announced his retirement, tough back-flanker Wilson won the AFL Rising Star award in 1997, a flag with Port in 2004 and has been a great player for them. Wilson also copped a battering through his career, two shoulder recos, two knee recos and a torn achilles tendon in his 192 games.
Port flooded down back but declined to run the ball out, so it stayed in their defensive half most of the time. Inside-50s finished 72-38 the Bluies' way, an enormous differential. Powder attacks saw some appalling delivery, allowing sweeping Bluie backman Jarrad Waite a mountain of touches. Anyway. Both sides were very ragged early, Brendan Fevola missed twice either side of Blue Andrew Walker booting the opening goal, courtesy a wild, lazy handball from Port's Michael Pettigrew. Bloo Bryce Gibbs fumbled awfully under no pressure but Shaun Grigg tidied and handballed to Nick Stevens, he passed for leading Matthew Kreuzer to mark and convert. Stevens and Dennis Armfield combined to win the following centre-clearance, Port full-back Alipate Carlile got a big spoil on Fevola but the ball went to Grigg, who slotted a goal. The Bluies quickly 18 points up, but then Kreuzer mongrelled a low shot so it was touched through and Brad Fisher missed awfully. Pettigrew was done for a throw at a throw-in and Walker free-kicked truly, Blooze by 25 points. Marc Murphy tried a running banana-kick which missed, when he had time for a regular drop-punt, then a Heath Scotland shot was just touched on-the-line - although Fevola didn't think so and he gave the (female) goal-ump a mouthful. That handed Port a 50m penalty on the kick-in and Justin Westhoff held a good pack-mark at CHF, he converted. David Rodan sped clear of the restart but his low, stabbed shot hit the post, the Bluies led by 21 points at the first break. Fevola, struggling a bit in the flood, led but dropped an early chance in le deuxieme trimestre but at a ball-up a moment later Gibbs was placed in a head-lock by Dom Cassisi, Gibbs free-kicked a major. Fisher missed again and Walker slammed a running shot into the post. Rodan tried to run the ball out on the kick-in but, with no support, D-Rod ran in a circle until tackled by Judd. The Bloo skipper's long free-kick spilled from the pack and Kade Simpson handballed for Fisher to snap truly, Carton led by 36 points. A minute later Judd's direct opponent, Kane Cornes, soccered ahead from a throw-in and Brett Ebert did well to gather and tumble another kick forward, Daniel Motlop collected and show-ponied about before handballing for Cornes to snap it through. Good running from the lad Cornes. Port thrusts were rare though. Soon Fevola spilled another mark on-the-lead but roving Murphy was coat-hangered by Peter Burgoyne, Murphy handballed his free back to Fevola who walloped it through from 55m. A bit later Fevola held a mark but he kicked a behind and Michael Jamison also missed a sitter, after Motlop had run hopelessly into trouble as he went kick-chasing at half-back. Another Bloo goal was a matter of time though and Stevens passed to Simon Wiggins on the 50m line and ran on to receive Wiggins's handball, Stevo speared it through and the Blues led by 47 points. Port enagaged in some handbags prior to the long break.
The Powder tried a little bit in the early third stanza. Peter Burgoyne ran the ball clear early and handballed to Tom Logan, he passed for leading Motlop to mark and convert. It was the first recorded instance of more than one Port player running simultaneously. The Bluesers replied presently, Judd won the ball and passed to Murphy, he handballed to running Kreuzer and the big man's smart handpass set up Walker for an accurate snap. Under-pressure Pooer backmen rushed some behinds and Cam Cloke missed following a grab. Port managed a clearance and Ebert's centering pass found Jacob Surjan marking on the 50m line, he stabbed a very short pass for leading Damon White to mark and boot a sausage, reducing the Carton lead to 43 points. At the next centre-bounce dithering Shaun Burgoyne was caught in possession, Stevens went long with the free and Cloke marked strongly in front of Chaplin. Big Clokey majored. More Bloo behinds, Fevola missed with a tight-angle snap and Judd completed a surging run by spearing the Sherrin into the post. "As Judd ran in then it was like Cathy Freeman approaching the finish line in the Sydney Olympics," burbled Gerard Healy. Sounded more like the pole-vault in the commentary box. Kreuzer got on-target again after leading to mark Simpson's pass, the Bluies led by 57 points. A bit later Chaplin hacked a kick clear for Port and Pettigrew's strong contest allowed Shaun Burgoyne to gather, he kicked for leading White to mark and boot his second goal. There followed a terrible miss from Port's Brogan and another from Bloo Fisher. The Blooze coasted forward in a rebound and Fevola marked over Carlile, with the aid of a subtle nudge. Fev played-on and grubbered a kick through. The final minute saw Carrazzo centre a terrible kick towards Scotland, who had to turn and retrieve the ball but he fumbled, badly. Port's Westhoff gathered but he kicked the ball down Waite's throat. There'd been a bit of that as the Bluies led by 56 points at the last change. Early in the last Fevola engaged Carlile in a wrestle and several Bluies got involved, the ground opened up for Motlop to advance and kick long, White held a with-the-flight mark and booted a major. Walker's optimistic boundary-line snap curled on-the-full, a bit later Brogan won a mystery free at a throw-in plus a 50m penalty as Stevens gave the ump some verbal. Simple conversion for Brogan and Port were 44 points down. Stevens involved himself again, placing a smart kick for Fisher to hold a diving grab and boot a major. Port replied again as Westhoff giraffe-d along on a two-bounce run and passed to leading Ebert, he kicked quickly and accurately. Port hovered 44 points behind but the Bluies kicked clear now. Fevola held a good, back-pedalling mark and converted, Kreuzer marked 55m out and dished a handball for Simpson to canter in and slot a major. A bit later Simpson mongrelled an awful pass towards Wiggins, but the Bloo battler trapped the ball skillfully and handballed for Scotland to slot it through. Judd won the following centre-clearance and went wide to Murphy, he kicked for Fevola to mark over Carlile and boot another sausage. The Blooze led by 67 points. A slick Cornes handpass allowed Nick Salter to snap truly for Port, but Carton forced the ball forward from the subsequent centre-bounce and Walker handballed for Judd to bag the final goal, to Healy's audible delight.
The Blue midfielders dominated, thought Nick Stevens (21 disposals, a goal) was very good with Marc Murphy (28 disposals) busy, as were Bryce Gibbs (30 handlings, a goal) and Chris Judd (24 possies, a goal). Down back Jarrad Waite (29 possessions, 11 marks) had a field day thanks to Port's terrible delivery and Shaun Grigg (25 possies, a goal) also benefitted. Andrew Walker (20 touches, 7 marks, 3 goals) was good on a forward flank, Brad Fisher and Matthew Kreuzer kicked 2 goals each. Brendan Fevola (7 marks, 4 goals) took a while to warm up and his opponent, Alipate Carlile (13 touches, 5 marks) did pretty well. Kane Cornes (24 disposals, a goal) battled away for Port as did Brett Ebert (13 disposals, 5 marks, a goal). Backman Paul Stewart (16 touches) went in hard and Dean Brogan (17 possessions, 7 marks, 22 hit-outs, a goal) tried, even if he made a few mistakes. Damon White managed 3 goals from 4 marks and 10 disposals. The Burgoynes collected 20+ touches each but had a modest effect. Mark Williams said "We gave quite a few people opportunities and Carlton smashed us at the clearances and continued to all day. We had a pretty young side out there and the second half they kept at it, which is a small consolation, but that's all we can look forward to. Without doubt we're dedicated to giving our players an opportunity to sink or swim and also the young players an opportunity to develop their game and understand how tough it is and how good the opposition are, and by the start of next year we hope them to be a lot better prepared for a better season. You don't spend too much time on this game and you get on with the next game, and that's what I've certainly focused on. There will be some players that won't be playing next week and others who will get an opportunity to show what they can do." Brett Ratten commented on doing 'the double' over Port this season following a lengthy losing streak against 'em. "We've had a lot of monkeys to get off our back over the last 12 months and hopefully we might be starting something that will go into 2009," Ratten said. "We had a fair slice of the pie today to beat Port Adelaide, and we did, but at the end of the day there are aspects of our game that needed to improve. In these games we're expected to win and we should win if we want to go on and do bigger and better things this year, or next year, or whatever time it is. We need to win games of footy against teams that are lower down on the ladder." He was cagey about finals talk.
At York Park:
Hawthorn 1.3 3.7 7.11 16.14.110
Brisbane 1.2 1.5 2.10 5.11.41
Horforn secured a top-three finish with a comfortable win over the strugglin' Lyin's in a tactical game in Tasmania. Buddy Franklin booted another six goals to move to 91 for the season and he's a fair chance to crack the ton next week, given the Awks play the woeful Tiges. Brisbun came to play a defensive, low-scoring game, which it was for nearly three quarters, but they couldn't kick goals themselves. They're a game out of the eight now. The Hawk team here was unchanged from the one which belted the Pies. Shane Crawford played his 300th game for the Hawks, he's been a tremendous player for Horforn through a difficult era for the club, which is ending just as Crawf is, probably. Crawford wasn't in the Hawks' team of the century; Paul Salmon was, though. Brent Guerra, at his third club, was playing his 150th AFL game. The Lyin's recalled Tim Notting along with juniors Lachie Henderson and James Hawksley to replace Mitch Clark (thigh strain) and dropped pair Scott Clouston and Anthony Corrie. Needs to do more, Corrie.
Launceston's huge, windswept and very cold venue is a difficult place for sides to score heavily at most times, but both sides set up with an extra man in defence and flooded quite a bit. Brisbun tackled hard, too. The result was very little scoring for a long way. After ten minutes it was a behind each, before Lyin' Colm Begley coughed the ball up in tackle. Hawk ruckman Simon Taylor handballed to Crawford, he kicked long for Franklin to mark strongly in front of his man Joel Patfull. Buddy majored. Brisbun managed one presently, their Albert Proud blasted a low kick forward and Hawk Thomas Murphy spilled a difficult mark, Simon Black gathered and lobbed a smart centering kick for Jonathan Brown to mark and convert. Nearly forty-five minutes elapsed before the next goal was scored, with much tackling and cagey chip-about in-between. Sweeping Luke Hodge was collecting a mountain of touches across half-back for the Awks, but strong Lyin' tackling was holding them up. Five minutes before half-time Buddy helped break the deadlock, collecting Mitchell's handpass at half-back Franklin sprinted away along the wing, swapped handballs with Grant Birchall, kept running with a couple of bounces and chipped a very smart kick for Cyril Rioli to mark 35m out. Rioli converted. A minute or so later Mitchell and Xavier Ellis combined to clear another throw-in, Mark Williams lobbed a very high kick forward which bounced untouched. Hawk Rick Ladson got to it first and handballed for Franklin to snap truly. Horforn led by 13 points then and 14 points at the long rest.
Much of the third Mario saw more of the same. Seventeen minutes in the Hawks began to turn the scoreboard screw. Rioli punted long and Campbell Brown roved Roughead's contest, Brown fired a quick handball for Cameron Stokes to stab a low kick for full points. Ellis collected the ball from a throw-in and passed to Stuart Dew on the 50m line, with the wind unfavourable Dew lobbed a kick to the top o' the 'square. Roughead made a flappy, one-handed attempt at a mark but the ball spilled to Franklin, he snapped it through. Chance Bateman chased the ball out to the flank, collected, slipped away from Hawksley and punted into the corridor. Rioli leaped and hauled down a fantastic one-handed mark, he booted a deserved goal. Hawk ruckman Robert Campbell had a free at the following centre-bounce, he handballed to Guerra who punted forward. Lyin' backman Daniel Merrett spilled a difficult chance, Bateman and Brown forced the ball goal-wards for the Awks and Roughead collected for a simple slot. The Hawks led by 38 points, huge considering the Lyin's had scored just the one goal. The ump gave 'em a break, very late in the stanza Guerra stabbed a short kick-in to Jordan Lewis which the ump decided wasn't 15m. True, it was more like 20. Lewis was wrapped up by Jared Brennan, who free-kicked a goal after the siren. The Hawks led by 31 points at the last change and the Lyin's had to attack now, opening the game up. They'd lost Josh Drummond with a strained thigh. Early in the last Brisbun's Justin Sherman marked at half-back, ran strongly afield to receive Begley's handpass and thump a great running sausage from 50m. The Lyin's were a bit of a show, trailing by 26 points. The Horks responded quickly, Roughead marked wide on the flank and kicked to Franklin's lead deep into the pocket, Buddy marked and banana-ed it through off two steps, one of those 30m jobbies. Rioli advanced and gave Brown a hospital handball, but the tough Hawk rode a heavy bump and handballed to Stokes, who handpassed back for Rioli to punt a major. The Hawks led by 38 points again. Lyin' forwards Brown and Bradshaw had drowned in the flood, but as things opened up Bradshaw, at least, did something. Sherman punted long and back-running Bradshaw marked by the point-post, he hooked it through. A minute later Bradshaw kicked another, a free-kick for a clattering from Croad. The Lyin's trailed by 26 points again but now they were on the receiving end of an old-fashioned floodgate-opening. Lewis completed a handball-chain with a running goal from 50m, a bit later Murphy's long handball found Brown in space, he passed for leading Franklin to mark on the 50 line. As Tim Lane noted, Patfull could match Buddy for speed, but not height. Franklin wheeled about and hammered it home. Running handballs from Stokes and Rioli got the ball to Dew, he exchanged handballs with Crawford and slotted one. Franklin marked on another long lead and kicked towards Roughead, he couldn't mark but roving Stokes extracted the ball from a pack, finessed smartly and stabbed a very classy goal. Lyin' Ash McGrath drove a long kick-in up the guts, Mitchell affected a good spoil and handball to Franklin, Buddy broke tackles from Begley and Hooper before snapping no. 6. The locals were seeing a belated show, with all four eyes. Lewis bombed another 50m running sausage before a sentimental closer, Williams won the ball after some pack-battling and handballed to Ladson, he stabbed a short, centering kick for Crawford to mark 20m out, right in front. Crawf converted, to much joy from his team-mates.
BOG was a toss-up between 'sweeping' Hawk Luke Hodge (31 disposals, 10 marks) and power forward Lance Franklin (18 touches, 6 marks, 6 goals). Sam Mitchell (29 disposals with 21 handballs) and Xavier Ellis (21 touches, 8 marks) did very well on-the-ball and Stephen Gilham won kudos for his game on Jonathan Brown, although Gilham had plenty of help. Small forwards Cyril Rioli (16 possies, 7 marks, 3 goals) and Cameron Stokes (2 goals) were important and Shane Crawford (28 touches, 8 marks, a goal) played well. Jordan Lewis kicked 2 goals. Lyin' Michael Rischitelli (26 disposals) won a stack of pack-clearances again and Luke Power (28 possies, 9 marks) swept to collect the ball. Travis Johnstone (29 handlings, 10 marks) and Simon Black (26 handlings) were pretty good, as was Jared Brennan (24 disposals, 8 marks, a goa). Jamie Charman (7 possies, 5 marks, 24 hit-outs) rucked pretty well, Dan Bradshaw finished with 2 goals. Leigh Matthews laid it out. "We took the attitude that we would try to make it a low-scoring game . . . but once you get behind you've got to try and make up the margin and their scoring power is a lot better than ours. It was a frustrating second half, but in the first half at least we played the game on our terms a bit and kept the margin tight. Once they got a few goals up we had to try and see if we could pick up a few goals and that probably contributed to opening the game up and once the game opened up they were a bit too good . . . Our destiny (re the eight) is still in our own hands but we've got to win the [three remaining] games. We've got to do everything right, but it becomes a confidence issue . . . It's going to take all our resilience and our determination to make sure that we come up again next week, but that indefinable confidence would have to be a bit shaky at the moment with a lot of the guys." Speaking of shaky, it's a big game against the Bulldogs at the Gabba next Satdy night. Alastair Clarkson said "It was a special day with Brent Guerra playing his 150th and Crawf playing his 300th. You always like to win milestone games, it's a good result for us with plenty of recognition for Crawf and Goo (Guerra), but more importantly we got the four points which makes us a certainty to finish in the top four which is what we were after obviously. Now we can focus on the next three games and get ourselves ready for finals . . . We were interested in [the Lyin's'] comments throughout the week when they openly stated that they weren't going to allow Franklin to have the space that he had against Collingwood. So we knew that they were likely to have extra attention on Buddy and it took us a while to work out how we could best work our way through that. As the game unfolded and we continued to be able to provide supply; there's not much you can do when the ball goes in there a lot. He's a very, very talented player and when the guys kick it to his advantage he's very hard to stop."
At the MCG:
Collingwood 4.4 7.5 11.9 14.13.97
St. Kilda 2.2 3.5 7.7 12.11.83
As the turmoil at Pieland unfolded last Monday, Saint man Nick Riewoldt, a guest on Foxtel's 'On the Couch', muttered "Great, they'll probably come out breathing fire on Saturday night." True, but the Pies were without the suspended Heath Shaw and Alan Didak, two of their best, to complement some very poor recent form. What this game underlined was the fact the Saints are a very ordinary outfit. Watching the earlier Carlton/Port game, I wanted to change my tip. Sinkilda had to pull out all the stops to beat that Port side? How'd they beat Hawthorn a few weeks ago? By running and taking risks, something they refuse to do consistently. Blame the coach. Collywood appeared to pull the plug on this season by suspending the aforementioned 'Porky Pies' (plus injured Rhyce Shaw), but this win was great and keeps 'em in the hunt. The Pies replaced Shaw, Didak, injured Shane O'Bree (hip) and dropped Ryan Lonie with Shane Wakelin and a bunch of kids in Ryan Cook and two debutants, beefy forward Chris Dawes from and 18-year-old flanker-type John McCarthy from Sorrento. The Saints duly lost Luke Ball with a hamstring strain but regained full back Max Hudghton. During the week veteran Saint champion Robert Harvey, about to turn 37, announced he'll retire at the season's end, his 21st. I'll give him a eulogy then, but he's been fantastic.
New Poi Chris Dawes scored a goal with his first kick, the Pies cleared the opening bounce and Dawes read Dane Swan's low mongrel to drop back, gather and poke it through from point-blank. The ball whipped end-to-end a bit early, Riewoldt used an early free-kick to try and find Koschitzke, he couldn't, and Travis Cloke missed a tight-angle shot for Collywood. The Saints had a major when Aaron Fiora juggled a three-grabber and chipped short to Nick Dal Santo, he passed noicely for leading Riewoldt to clutch a strong grab and score full points with a lovely punt. The Pies nudged ahead again thanks to a poor centering kick from Saint Sam Gilbert, Medhurst and Wellingham won the ball for the Pise and Josh Fraser lobbed a kick for Swan to hold a diving mark, Swan goaled. Riewoldt juggled another good grab in front of his man Nathan Brown but now produced one of them awful, shanked kicks, just scoring a point. Alarm bells just started to ring for Sainter fans. Swan grabbed a throw-in and slapped it on-the-boot, his torpedo drifted and bounced through for a major and the Poise led by 12 points. The Sainters won the following centre-clearance and there came 'a moment' as Stephen Milne ran towards goal from the flank, but hesitated, executed a poor bounce and was crushed by Poise Maxwell and Goldsack. They and the Poi fans roared. Dawes missed from a tight angle, a bit later Scott Burns kicked long and Stainer ruckman Steven King's spoil tipped the ball neatly out the back, lurking Leon Davis bagged a goal. The Pies led by 19 points. The Stainers were playing 1950s-style; take a mark, run back and wait for a big pack to gather 40m away, kick to it. Cloke postered from the boundary-line before the Saints managed a late goal, constructing an actual running, handballing move completed by Harvey finding Koschitzke on-the-lead, Kosi majored. The Pies led by 14 points at korter-time. The Maglies did well in the second term, early-on Burns jarred the ball free with a big hit on Clint Jones, Dal Santo over-ran the pill, Tarkyn Lockyer scooped it up and booted a sausage. The Saints bombed some un-markable kicks towards Riewoldt before the Pies attacked again, Medhurst roved a pack, weaved smartly and punted for Dawes to mark strongly in front of Hudghton, Dawes majored. "He looks like a 200-game forward," reckoned commentator Luke Darcy. Steady. Sainter Jarryn Geary was run down by Maxwell, the ball went to Cloke whose grubbered kick clean-bowled several players before John Anthony arrived to soccer a major. The Pies led by 31 points. New Poi John McCarthy won the following centre-clearance and passed to Dawes on-the-lead, but the other new Poi missed. Riewoldt kicked a running point for the Saints but a few minutes later he had to leave, with split webbing in his hand. Owch. The Sainters managed a late goal again, Poi Fraser 'did a Sinkilda' and stood about too long after marking, his lobbed kick to out-numbered Pendlebury was spoiled and James Gwilt punted the Saints forward, Adam Schneider held a with-the-flight grab and booted truly. The final minutes degenerated into some kick-to-kick between half-back lines. Fiora went against type by punching McCarthy in the stomach, he could have a holiday ahead. Pies by 24 points at half-time.
A few handbags to open the second half, the Poise unhappy with softy Fiora playing hard-man with a teenage first-gamer. The Saints put in a bit, but couldn't close the gap. In the opening minute Riewoldt, his damaged hand encased in a glove, slapped a ball-up to Lenny Hayes and he handballed for Schneider to bag a goal. The Pies replied presently, Davis roved Dawes's spilled mark and booted a terrific goal from the boundary-line, something he does quite often. The Saints scored in sequence, Robert Eddy's dubious handpass allowed Dal Santo to find Milne on-the-lead and Milne, who doesn't like set-shots, chipped ahead for Jones to mark, play-on and slot. Stinkilda trailed by 19 points. The Pies answered again, Dale Thomas sped along the boundary-line with a few bounces, pursued by Blake, Thomas's high cross-goal kick was marked by back-pedalling Medhurst who stabbed a pass backwards to Lockyer, he converted. The overall standard wasn't high, a string of turnovers, from Wellingham, Riewoldt and Cook, ended with Schneider lobbing a kick into the pocket for Milne to collect. On the boundary, Milney rolled a trademark dribbly-kick along the ground and it curved neatly between the big posts, a bit of inspiration for the Stains as they closed the gap to 18 points again. But they couldn't capitalize, a miss each followed before Fraser did well to punt the Porky Pies forward, Thomas roved Cloke's contest cleverly and steered a banana for full points. Lockyer cleared the restart and Cloke marked strongly, but he missed again. Brendon Goddard blundered over the line on the kick-in and the Saints were forced to rush another Poi behind. Not going well for Sinkilda but they scored the next sausage roll, Dal Santo collected Harvey's handball and Dal's hurried shot from 50m dropped through for the six-pointer, with shepherding from Schneider. At the restart Poi ruckman Chris Bryan fisted the ball forward and Alan Toovey kicked ahead, Anthony scooped up the ball superbly on the half-volley and snapped a great over-the-shoulder goal. He's not good enough to that, but he did. The Maglies led by 26 points at the final change. Sinkilda pressed on into the last, Pie Swan dropped Marty Clarke's pass and Harvey handballed to Milne, who dummied around Clarke before slotting. A bit later Dal Santo dived into a pack to force the ball clear, handballs from Eddy and Riewoldt allowed venturing backman Sam Fisher to run into the open goal and spear it through. The Stainers won the following centre-clearance and Riewoldt held a good pack-mark, but didn't make the distance from 40m. The Sainters were coming, though. Medhurst dropped a mark on-the-lead - the ball was a bit greasy - and Harvey cleared for the Saints, Riewoldt marked and kicked for Schneider to hold a tough grab in front of Clarke. Schneider's sausage closed the gap to 9 points and the Sainter fans made some noise. The Poise lifted. Koschitzke was forced to rush a point for them and Cook postered. Riewoldt couldn't hold a grab on hard lead and Pie Brown gathered, he got the ball to Thomas who passed towards Anthony. Hudghton got a big spoil in but the ball went to Swan, who booted a major. The Saints came again, their Geary fumbled badly - he looked overwhelmed - but got a high kick away to the top o' the 'square, Goddard leaped for big grab and popped it through. The Saints were 11 points down, but it wasn't their night. Davis dithered after a mark before kicking towards Cloke, who marked strongly in front of Dempster. Cloke went back and hammered a 55m punt for anuge goal. Swan hacked a kick forward from the restart and Wellingham booted long to the goal-square, Anthony roved the spillage and stabbed another goal. The Channel Ten cameras, which'd cut to shots of Eddie McGuire every 20 seconds, caught Ed, and his son, fist-pumping in triumph as the Poise went 23 points clear. Sinkilda did all the attacking in the remaining few minutes but it was over, Riewoldt kicked 1.1 from a coupla late set-shots.
The Porky Pie leaders stood up, Scott Burns (23 disposals) and Dane Swan (25 touches, 3 goals) working hard midfield while Josh Fraser (20 touches, 11 marks, 22 hit-outs) played his best rucking game for a long while. Harry O'Brien (18 possies, 6 marks) was a committed defender, Tarkyn Lockyer (19 disposals, 2 goals) kept Dal Santo very quiet in the first half and Leon Davis (25 touches, 7 marks, 2 goals) did well. Scott Pendlebury (23 possies) was handy and Dale Thomas (22 handlings, 7 marks, a goal) provided some overdue highlights. John Anthony bagged 3 opportunist goals and Chris Dawes kicked 2 goals. Brendon Goddard (32 disposals, 10 marks, a goal) typifies the Saints, a very talented player who often does some really stupid things. Robert Harvey (28 touches) was a classy professional yet again, Lenny Hayes (30 possessions) got a bit of the ball but didn't use it as well as he might've. Jason Gram (21 disposals) and Sam Fisher (17 touches, 7 marks, a goal) produced what little running the Stains could muster, Adam Schneider (15 handlings, 7 marks, 3 goals) did a bit and Nick Riewoldt (21 possies, 8 marks, 2 goals) was pretty good considering his damaged hand. Stephen Milne bagged 2 goals. "Let me sum it up," began Ross Lyon. "Too little, too late. They turned up from the start, we turned up after half time, and it doesn't get it done. Our work rate - to me, we didn't run and spread to attack, and we didn't run and spread to pressure well enough. They went forward quite quickly and scored easy goals . . . We're bitterly disappointed in what was a really important game, obviously. We felt we were beaten in the main facets of the game, particularly in the first half. We slaughtered the footy, their pressure was good, we broke down up forward, and their good players were playing well, and ours weren't . . . There's a few things that we need to fix, and we need to do it quickly, and to move on. The aim is to try and keep improving, and for a fair period over the last six weeks we've felt we'd done that, but clearly we've faltered a little bit in what was a critical game." Yes. Mick Malthouse said "A lot of players who haven't been playing well, played well today and I was encouraged by the leadership group. That was one of the things I stressed myself to that group, that they've got to stand up this week. I thought Scott Burns, at 33 years of age, Josh Fraser played his best game for almost 12 months, and that is encouraging because Josh is the vice-captain and Burns is the captain. You look at the other three or four blokes that hold those positions, Lockyer had a big role, Maxwell had a big role, and Pendlebury had a big role and they all stood up . . . The expectation to hold up is important and, sometimes, you hold up because your senior group are holding up and therefore it's not as difficult because you see leadership. You don't hear it, you see it . . . I think under the circumstances of a pretty torrid week where we learned a lot about people, some good, some bad, we were able to generate enough enthusiasm, enough desire to play a very good football side and win . . . We've just got to keep the foot on the accelerator and make sure we approach next week's game with the same intensity we had with this one."
At the SCG:
Sydney 2.4 7.6 13.8 17.10.112
Fremantle 3.5 8.8 10.13 15.18.108
A very pleasant surprise for the Bloods as Adam Goodes bagged a career-best 8 goals, spearheading an amazing, late comeback victory. Less pleasant predictability for the Dockerators, Matthew Pavlich missing a simple shot for goal as the Dokkers blew another close one. Pav had the shot at the 22 minute-mark of the final korter, which would've put the Dockers 19 points ahead if accurate. But he missed and goals from Goodes, Goodes and Hall dragged the locals to victory. In pickin' the Swans regained Goodes and Jarred Moore following injury, axing juniors Ryan Brabazon and Jesse White. Fremantle lost Jeff Farmer to suspension yet again, a week, Antoni Grover was a late withdrawal for personal reasons, Ryan Murphy was dropped and Shaun McManus had retired, of course. Roger Hayden returned from injury while Marcus Drum, Andrew Browne and hefty spearhead Adam Campbell were given chances. The Dockulaters had another retiree last week, Heath Black calling it quits after discovering he required a shoulder reconstruction. Black played 192 games (54 for Sinkilda) and is the type of running player the Dokkers need, but injuries've dogged his recent years.
Despite a poor record at the SCG, the Dokkers came in as the form team and they started well. Overall it was a sluggish start in damp conditions, twelve minutes elapsed with the Dorkers leading 0.4 to 0.2. Then Swan Mattner's kick towards Goodes went over the man's head and Dokker defender Chris Mayne marked, he kicked wide for Kepler Bradley to collect. Bradley galloped forward, slipped Ted Richards's tackle and thumped a great running goal from the flank. The Swans replied quickly, Spida Everitt tapped a throw-in for Jude Bolton to collect, Moore centered a pass for leading Barry 'Psycho' Hall to mark and boot a 50m sausage. Siddey managed a quick rebound a minute later and Kieran Jack's kick picked out Goodes marking behind his man, Goodesey played-on and slotted. Siddey led by 4 points, but Freo pressed on. Sandilands missed a set shot, of course, before a string of passes set up Hayden for a shot from 45m out, on a tricky angle. Hayden's punt dropped short but Bradley gathered the goal-square spillage to poke another. Sandilands marked 50m out and wisely handballed to David Mundy, from his long kick Pavlich managed to out-mark three Swans and handball for a Chris Tarrant tap-through. Pav has plenty of up-side, Freo led by 7 points at korter-time. Siddey fired in the early second term, from the opening bounce Mattner recovered his own clanger and the ball went wide to Jude Bolton, he kicked long for Patrick Veszpremi to mark with-the-flight, deep in the pocket. Veszpremi banana-ed it through for a goal. A minute later a slick rebound, featuring an accurate pass from Jared Crouch, ended with Jarrad McVeigh's pass to Goodes, he converted. Soon Craig Bird was punting long and Hall slipped opponent Steven Dodd for a mark and goal, the Swans'd kicked 11 points clear. Freo responded with three majors of their own, all from 'stoppages'. Rhys Palmer snapped a goal from a ball-up, Josh Carr roved another ball-up and handballed to Pavlich, Pav's kick just cleared Swan Bird and Mayne gathered to boot a goal. A weak, short throw-in was collected by Bradley, he launched a rain-maker to the goal-square where Mark Johnson handballed for Paul Duffield to dribble it through. Freo led by 7 points. Hall and McPharlin missed shots for their respective sides before Crouch ventured forward for the Swans and found leading Goodes for a mark, he goaled. McPharlin missed again before Dockulater Michael Johnson attempted a terrible pass from the back-pocket, Brett 'James Tee' Kirk intercepted and stabbed a pass back to Johnson's man, Goodes, who kicked another. The Swans led by 4 points. Fremandle responded again, Mark Johnson dished a free-kick to Mundy who kicked long and Adam Campbell clutched a decent mark in the pocket. Campbell hooked a wobbly kick through and was very happy about it. He missed a shot shortly afterwards but soon Ryan Crowley's good handball released Andrew Browne, he kicked for Bradley to hold a juggling grab and boot truly. Freo led by 8 points at the long break.
The Swans again made a big effort to start the third stanza, Jude Bolton leading the way. Goodes set up the first goal, collecting a ball-up in the forward-pocket he handballed backwards to Kirk, who stabbed a centering pass for Jude Bolton to mark and punt a major. A minute later Heath Grundy's kick sailed over Ryan O'Keefe's head but lurking Hall ran onto the ball and grubbered a punt for another. Siddey by 5 points, but Chris Tarrant booted the Shockers back into the lead with a noice free-kick goal, held back by Richards. The Bloods pressed on, Tadhg Kennelly's good pass found Luke Brennan in the centre, he swapped handballs with Jack and punted long where Goodes wrestled with Mick Johnson, collected the bouncing ball and poked it through from point-blank. Spida hacked an awful kick forward for Siddey but Jude Bolton dived spectacularly to mark in front of Duffield, Jude converted again to give the Swans a 10-point lead. A Freo answer, Hayden's clever centering kick allowed Scot Thornton to punt them forward where Campbell gave Brennan a decent shove in the back before marking, playing-on and poking it through. The umps put the whistle away on the hands-in-the-back rule in this one, to the Dorkers' ultimate detriment. Mayne missed a shot and they had a coupla of rushed behinds before Psycho Hall marked on a long lead and jabbed a short pass to Veszpremi, who walloped a 55m kick for a goal with handy, possibly illegal goal-square shepherding from Jude Bolton. A Bolton handpass and a Kirk foot-pass got the ball to leading Goodes in the pocket, Goodes steered it through and the Swarns led by 13 points at the final change, but they still had work to do. Plenty, in fact. Pavlich had spent the game in midfield but he went forward for the final korter, holding a strong grab in front of Roberts-Thomson early in the piece and kicking cross-field for Michael Johnson to mark and boot a goal. Relieved of the Goodes job, Johnson was very happy with that. A bunch of players chased a ball from a throw-in, Drum got there first for Freo and should've had a free but no, Swan Paul Bevan got a handball away and O'Keefe snapped a goal. Mundy punted the Dorkers forward, Palmer gathered, shrugged a tackle and handballed for Crowley to snap a good sausage under pressure. A minute later dithering Sinney defender Grundy was caught in possession and Dokker Dodd handballed for Pavlich to snap a great goal, leveling the scores. Carr soccered the ball forward from a throw-in and it landed neatly on Duffield's chest, he converted to put Freo ahead again. Michael Johnson held a good defensive mark for Fremandle and the ball went towards Tarrant leading wide, of course, he didn't mark it but Brett Peake gathered, sped along the boundary with a bounce and steered a terrific kick for a great goal. Freo led by 13 points and it was very quiet in the SCG. Pavlich's 'moment' came about three minutes later, Garrick Ibbotson speared a low pass onto leading Pav's chest, 25m out on no real angle and he missed, left. Still, Freo led by 14 points with about five-and-a-half minutes remaining. The Swan kick-in went to Richards at half-back, he kicked long to McVeigh and McVeigh's quick punt forward found Jolly, Veszpremi and Goodes completely alone. Oops. Goodes took the easy grab and popped it through. McVeigh had a chance from the next centre-bounce but missed, soon Kennelly stabbed a pass over leading Goodes's head, but Hall managed to gather just inside the boundary and handball to running Goodes, who dummied extravagantly around Hayden before poking it through from the goal-square. Freo's lead was cut to a point. The final kettle in the camel's glasshouse came after Dodd found himself with nowhere to go, he kicked to a pack on the wing and Siddey's Bird extracted the ball, a handpass and Craig Bolton punted forward. Hall placed one hand on Crowley's back, another on Mike Johnson's and pushed 'em gently under the ball, Hall turned, collected the Sherrin and speared it through for six points, the Swans led by 5. The Shockers didn't give up but McPharlin's soccer effort in the goal-square hit the post, soon Dodd drove them forward again but Bevan dived for a great with-the-flight mark to snuff out the chance. The final one, as it turned out.
Nice effort from Adam Goodes (9 marks, 11 kicks, 8 goals), who'll be playing up forward a lot from now on, you'd think. Jude Bolton (30 disposals, 7 marks, 2 goals) was terrific in the second half and Brett Kirk (21 possies with 16 handballs) and half-back Paul Bevan (20 disposals) went in hard as always. Barry Hall (18 touches, 8 marks, 4 goals) was handy and running rebound-men Marty Mattner (23 possies, 6 marks) and Tadhg Kennelly (27 disposals) were good, Kennelly's effort an improvement on his amazingly lazy performance in Canberra last week. Pat Veszpremi kicked 2 goals. Matthew Pavlich (27 disposals, 9 marks, a goal) was probably Freo's best again so to blame him for the loss is cheap and lazy. But fun. Paul Duffield (14 handlings, 8 marks, 2 goals) was a useful half-forward and Kepler Bradley (14 handlings, 3 marks, 3 goals) a handy back-up ruckman to the good-as-ever Aaron Sandilands (17 possessions, 36 hit-outs). Ryan Crowley (9 touches, a goal) did a very good stopping job on O'Keefe and Roger Hayden (20 possies) is always a handy player to have. Adam Campbell kicked 2 goals. Mark Harvey accentuated the positive. "We had more shots on goal, we 'out-stoppaged' them, we were right in there," he said. "We were right into every challenge that Sydney presents when you play them and we were bettering them in a lot of areas. I'd say that we're starting actually to see Fremantle evolve. I'm not putting any expectation on us, I'm just saying we rally every time we play. We've had four players retire and we've had a lot of playmakers not in the side, yet we've still had this resolve in games that's been significant." He defended the choker Pavlich. "There were a lot of comments made about Matthew earlier this year, but he's one of the best players that I've seen. He brings it upon himself to do everything that you would aspire for a leader and a captain to do. There are a couple of areas late in games where he's missed shots on goal, but that's because of how hard he's worked to try to rally the team." A weak excuse. Paul Roos said "I said (to Goodes) during the week to give me five (goals) and he gave me another three, so that was handy . . . That's what I was trying to tell our players. We've got Hally and Goodsey, so just get the ball in deep. But it does take a while for everyone to readjust to a different forward set-up. Once (Goodes) learns how to play that role he might do okay. With injuries (the forward set-up) is one area we haven't been able to get consistency. I suppose it takes the rest of the players some time to get used to, because Goodsey's an outside running midfielder, but he's suddenly catching every ball that's going down there. Twelve (goals) from your two key forwards is obviously very important. When Mick (O'Loughlin) got injured we spoke to (Goodes) about playing that role. Medically he's fine to play but he's a bit sore. So we thought we'd try him, see how he goes. We'll probably leave him there now."
At Docklands:
North Melbourne 6.5 11.6 15.7 21.10.136
Footscray 2.3 5.4 11.7 18.8.116
Very entertaining game in which the Dogs were caught napping, they trailed by 50 points early in the third quarter, closed to 14 in the last but couldn't bridge that last little bit. Chock full of Shinboner spirit etc., the Ruse maintained the pressure on Siddey for a top-four spot, Brent Harvey scored a decent contender for Goal of the Year and gave Brownlow punters further consideration. Should be a great game against the Blues next week. Bulldog coach Eade had foreshadowed this result with his comments last week about focusing on the finals and resting key players, he did the latter with Ben Hudson (back), Andrejs Everitt and Josh Hill left out for Tim Callan, Peter Street and Callan Ward. The Roos had Nathan Thompson and Ed Lower come in for dropped pair Leigh Brown and Blake Grima; still no Adam Simpson.
The Dogs started very sluggishly and Norf dominated the opening half, especially the first fifteen minutes. They had a bit of trouble getting on-target early, scoring five straight behinds before David Hale finally converted a lucky free-kick for holding against Bully full-back Brian Lake - it could've gone either way. Brad Johnson bagged the Pups' first score, a behind. Roo Leigh Harding drove the kick-in to the wing, Lindsay Thomas was involved a coupla times before finding running Harding marking 30m out. Harding copped a whack afterwards from Akermanis, no 50m but Harding majored anyway. The Dogs scored some more points before Norf cleared a ball-up with some tough handball, Bulldog Callan Ward should've had a free but Rue Jess Sinclair did get one when ploughed into the ground by Cooney. Sinclair converted and the Kangers led by 20 points. The Dawgs scored a goal, Jarrod Harbrow kicked long and a flukey bounce saw the ball come to Scott Welsh in the pocket, he ran right in and stabbed it through. The Kangers responded with three goals in as many minutes. Sam Power's smart kick was placed for Thompson to mark and convert, soon Corey Jones elected to knock-on a difficult marking chance and Thomas gathered, he finessed a bit before handballing for Matt Campbell to snap it through. Then came Brent 'Boomer' Harvey's great effort. The Doggy defenders attempted to rush a behind but Harvey sped past them, toed the ball right off the line, gathered and wheeled away from the sticks, swapped handpasses with Thompson to buy space and snapped a tremendous right-foot sausage. Best goal I've seen this season and it put the Ruse 32 points ahead. The Bullies managed a late goal, Will Minson marked Giansiracusa's soccer kick and lobbed a punt for back-pedalling Rob Murphy to mark, he majored. Norf led by 26 points at the first break and Eade gave his men a standard spray, although he reserved praise for Ward who'd taken a gutsy mark late in the stanza. Into the second and Roo backman Daniel Pratt hacked a clearing kick straight to Bully Ryan Hargrave, who passed wide to Johnson. Johnno played-on and booted a very noice goal from the flank. But the set pattern resumed, Bulldog backman Tim Callan was caught in a 'chicken wing' tackle by Daniel Wells and Wells slotted his free-kick for a tight-angle major. Doggy Farren Ray's terrible clearing kick missed Cooney and was collected by Campbell, his kick found Jones alone 25m out for an easy goal. Wells, playing, er, well, kicked long to the pocket for leading Shannon Grant to mark, Grant hooked it through on the left and the Ruse led by 38 points. The Bulldogs had a break, Giansiracusa intercepted a clearing North kick and lobbed a punt of which Harbrow was paid a doubtful, diving mark. Harbrow majored. But a minute later Wells used his undoubted speed to race clear of a contest, have a couple of bounces and centre a pass for Harding to mark and boot another Kanga goal. Michael Firrito kicked long, it went over Thompson but lurking Campbell gathered, sprinted clear of Eagleton and slammed the ball through from point-blank. The Kangaruse led by 43 points now. The Dogs did manage a late goal though, Lake held a good defensive mark and the pill went to Minson at CHF, he passed for leading Johnson to hold a good, diving grab. Johnson converted and the Ruse led by 38 points at half-time.
The third Mario Lanza didn't start well for the Bullies. Kanga Campbell slipped behind Thompson and Lake to collect Rawlings's long punt, Campbell brushed past Callan and bagged an easy goal. A moment later Ed Lower was whacked in the head by Gilbee after marking Harvey's (very) short pass, a 50m penalty resulted and Lower popped it through from the goal-square. The Shinboners led by a decisive 50 points. The Bulldogs plugged away, though. Callan punted long and Minson couldn't quite hold a grab, roving Murphy handballed and Johnson scored with a great left-foot snap while being tackled. A bit later Minson found himself in space on the wing and drove a long kick for Giansiracusa to mark in the pocket, 'Guido' lobbed a strange kick across the sticks but it worked as Harbrow marked and sausaged. The Doggies missed a couple of shots but a kick-in from Roo Urquhart went over Lower and Bullpup Ryan Griffen marked, Griffen punted a goal and the Norf lead was down to 31 points. The Ruse got one as the Dogs showed they hadn't learned from earlier, Ward tried to force a rushed behind and again Harvey sped on through and soccered a goal. But Footscray kept coming, Eagleton drove a wobbly kick forward and Welsh gathered, spun out of a tackle and handballed to Mitch Hahn who snapped a great goal while he was being tackled. The Bulldogs cleared a throw-in on the wing with a string of handballs and Cooney booted a long major. A bit later Rue backman Shannon Watt telegraphed a poor pass to junior Hansen, Murphy spoiled and stabbed a short pass to lurking Harbrow 15m out. Harbrow snapped it through and the Dogs'd cut the margin to 18 points. Now it was the Kangers' turn to bag a late goal against the flow, Wells involved again as he jabbed a very short pass for leading Thompson to grab strongly. Big Thommo's six-pointer had Norf 24 points ahead at the last change. Cooney won the ball from the opening bounce of the final term and Murphy got a ride on Pratt to take a great grab, Murphy's accurate punt narrowed the gap to 18 points again. Norf managed to turn the tide. Harvey waited before passing smartly to pick up Scott McMahon's lead, McMahon marked and goaled. Power kicked long to a big pack and Thomas gathered the crumb, sold a dummy and nipped clear to slot a goal. North led by 30 points. Brad Johnson booted another for the Bulldawgs, an easy shot completing a series of running handballs. But Roos Petrie and Sinclair combined to win the next centre-clearance, running Harding exchanged handballs with Lower and punted truly. Lower missed twice for the Ruse as the Bullies kept on. Matthew Boyd lobbed a pass to no-one but a useful bounce allowed Hahn to collect the Sherrin, he handballed to Johnson and another to Giansiracusa brought an easy goal. The Norf lead was 26 points just prior to time-on, preceding a late barrage of goals. Harvey led up to mark 55m out, he played on for an extended run-up and thumped a long major home. Giansiracusa kicked the next two for the Bulldogs, found alone by running Griffen to mark and boot the first, the next came from a Puppy centre-clearance and bad handpasses by Ruse Wells and Hansen saw the ball trickle through to 'Guido', he snapped it home. Akermanis, puffing heavily, ran the ball outta the Dogs' defence and went long, Hahn marked too easily in the goal-square and poked another. The Bulldogs trailed by 14 points at the 25 minute-mark. But Grant sealed the game for Norf. Sinclair kicked 'em forward and Grant collected the ball with some excellent roving to Hale, Grant snapped a great right-foot goal. A bit later Harvey roved a throw-in and his long centering handball picked out running Harding, he kicked long and Grant clutched a great grab while being clobbered by Dale Morris. Granty converted again and the Ruse were home, 26 points ahead. Johnson booted a consolation goal for the Doggies.
Brent Harvey (27 disposals, 9 marks, 3 goals) is a fair contender for the Brownlow, unless the umps take exception to his diving. Running half-back 'Lethal' Leigh Harding (14 touches, 5 marks, 3 goals) showed up Akermanis again and Daniel Wells (26 possies, a goal) indeed played very well. Drew Petrie (15 handlings, 7 marks, 18 hit-outs) performed solidly in the ruck again and Brady Rawlings (29 disposals with 21 handballs) collected plenty of touches, as did 'new' midfielder Michael Firrito (21 disposals). Shannon Grant (3 goals) was important and Nathan Thompson kicked 2 goals. Doggy veteran Brad Johnson (22 disposals, 11 marks, 5 goals) was their best. Other Bulldogs were okay without being especially good, after half-time in particular. These included midfielders Adam Cooney (27 touches, a goal), Daniel Cross (23 possies) and Matthew Boyd (25 handlings), up forward Robert Murphy (19 touches, 8 marks, 2 goals) was good and Jarrod Harbrow (16 possies, 9 marks, 3 goals) a handy lurker, Daniel Giansiracusa (22 possies, 8 marks, 3 goals) was alright too. Mitch Hahn snaggled 2 goals. 'Rocket' said "We didn't have the intensity there, and once they (Bulldog players) got a bit of a burst [at quarter-time], they responded . . . We both went [inside 50] 51 times and they've scored 31 times. It's a huge percentage once you go inside your forward 50. We haven't got the personnel there (in defence) at the moment. We've got a couple of players out, which leaves us vulnerable." What about another late-season Bulldog form slump, Rocket? "Most players and teams, in such an even competition, you're going to have some troughs. I've seen all you guys write about certain teams and players that have been in the gun, but good teams and good players come out of that. I've certainly got every faith that this group is going to be able to do that. Geelong went through a trough but they still won games because they're good enough. We are not a good enough side unless we've got everyone working hard. We haven't got the superstars of some teams to be able to turn it on in a switch. We can't. We need all players to work hard, and we didn't have that." Rue coach Dean Laidley said "We're really pleased with the effort. We expended a lot of energy and it probably showed in the lead and at some stage, a good side like that is going to come back at you. The reality is that we worked really hard and had a lot of guys that played some pretty good footy across the day and that's been really pleasing, probably in the last five weeks." He was asked if the Ruse were respected. "To be honest, we don't care. We're playing good footy and the boys are pretty confident and we haven't got many injuries, which we've had throughout the whole year and I think our supporters would be pleased and wanting to watch us every week. So we're not too perturbed what the footy world actually says and we're on a bit of a mission and we're going okay. We're probably going to have to win the last three if you want to sneak into the top four and we've got a pretty tough run. We play the Cats down there, which won't be easy."
At Football Park:
Adelaide 3.2 10.4 15.6 16.12.108
Richmond 1.3 1.4 4.6 6.9.45
Adderlayed smashed the rubbishy Tigers to consolidate their place in the eight, a fine comeback from their problems a few weeks ago. Richmun had 'set themselves for a big one', so they were certain to lose. For all the improvement and development, the Tiges haven't beaten a side in the eight and never cause an upset. You could argue all their wins are upsets. The Camrys were celebrating Andrew 'Bunji' McLeod's 300th game, a great player and a tremendous performer for the Camrys. The prototype 'Crobot'. In selection the Camrys recalled Graham 'Stiffy' Johncock, at McLeod's request apparently and junior Andy Otten was selected, they replaced Chris Knights (hamstring) and Jason Porplyzia who suffered concussion with brain bruising after his collision with Bloo Stephen Browne last week. The match review panel recommended Browne be suspended 3 games, but the tribunal decided the collision was accidental and no penalty warranted. The Tiggers had Nathan Brown return, replacing Jay Schulz. Joel Bowden, who's had an eventful season, played his 250th game for the Tiges.
The ground was heavy underfoot due to plenty of recent rain, the very rare sight of mud on AFL ground. A coupla early goals, Tiger Richard Tambling was done for 'bawl' when tackled high it appeared, Bernie Vince had the free and chipped a pass to Tyson Edwards, he majored. Toig Jake King had a free at the restart, he handballed to Shane Tuck who kicked long and Brown fired a very slick handpass for Bowden to snap a goal. Richmun cleared the centre-bounce after the Bowden goal, Brown marked 25m out but played-on and hooked an awful kick into the arms of Camry Ben Rutten. Corolla Nathan Van Berlo roved a ball-up, crept along the boundary and lobbed a kick into the goal-square, roving Edwards got a handball away and Scott Stevens snapped a major. The Cows led by 5 points. No goals for a while as both sides slaughtered the ball going forward, although the Tiges were worse offenders. They over-used the ball, went sideways and generally coughed it up under pressure. Late in the stanza Nathan Bock ran and kicked long, Simon Goodwin roved Stevens's contest smartly, burst through the pack and slotted a great goal. The Camrys led by 11 points at korter time, but they exploded clear in the second stanza. Superb rebound running was they key, under appallingly weak Tigger pressure. The Big Pu55ies' key runners, Foley, Deledio, White et al. were invisible, although Foley struggled with a corked hip. The Cressidas cleared the opening bounce of the term, Goodwin was awarded a doubtful mark as three men grabbed the ball simultaneously. Goodwin's shot dropped short and was touched through by Luke McGuane, but goal ump Helen Keller reckoned Stevens had marked the ball, despite being behind the line. Eh? Stevens had an unmissable shot. No doubt about the next, Nathan Bassett advanced and kicked long, Nick Gill held a very good mark against Moore and converted. Gill hadn't been awarded an equally good grab in the first quarter as the ump's view was 'obscured'. Brad Symes leaped over the ruckmen to fist a ball-up forward, McLeod gathered and coasted inside 50 before punting a very good and highly popular major. Goodwin converted a free-kick, held back by Thursfield while leading, a minute later Bock cruised outta defence and passed to Otten, he gave quick handball for Kris Massie to again run inside 50 under no pressure, have a coupla bounces and pop it through. A moment later Massie used a free-kick to find Gill on-the-lead, Gill booted a sausage. Adderlayed were winning the contested ball and waltzing clear with it, weight of numbers won a contest and Symes kicked across-goal, David Mackay clutched a decent mark and scored full points. That was seven for the korter for the locals and they led by a healthy 54 points. The Tiges manufactured a move involving 78 handballs before Matty Richardson won a free-kick 10m out. He missed to complete the farce. Tige Jordan McMahon collected the ball in the back-pocket, managed to pick out the one Camry amongst three team-mates but that man, Otten, missed the resulting shot. Cows by 54 at half-time.
Difficult to maintain interest after half-time. The Tiges tried a bit harder, to no avail. Goodwin used an early free-kick to find Scott Thompson on-the-lead, Thompson marked and was shoved over by Daniel Jackson, adding a 50m penalty and goal. The Tiges then managed their second goal of the game, Brett Deledio held a good grab on the 50m line and thumped an excellent long sausage. Hurrah! The Camry reply came soon, Toiga Tuck wandered aimlessly into trouble deep in his backline and was tackled by Richard Douglas, who converted his resulting free-kick. A bit later Deledio's stupid backwards, centering kick was intercepted by the Cows and Edwards collected, he found lurking Van Berlo for an easy mark and goal. Foley had a free at the restart and went short to Adam Pattison who was awarded a 50m penalty for Bryce Campbell's hanging-on. Pattison goaled. The reply(s) were immediate, Douglas fired a great handpass under pressure to release Shirley, he passed to leading Stevens who kicked quickly to the goal-square. The Cows' hero of last week, Brad Moran, roved his own contest to snap one. A minute later Vince capped a slick move with a strong mark of McLeod's kick, Vince's goal had the locals 74 points ahead. They shifted down a gear or two and nothing much happened in the remaining 45 minutes. The Tiges managed some attacking, Morton, Deledio and Richardson missed shots before Troy 'Snake' Simmonds marked 40m out and kicked a goal after the three-quarter-time siren. Rain tumbled down throughout the final Mario. Tige Jack Riewoldt bagged an early goal, running hard to judge and mark Bowden's very high, wind-affected kick. There'd been a stiff cross-ground wind all day and it led to a string of behinds over the next twenty minutes, in time-on Richardson used a lucky free-kick to find McMahon for a mark and goal, Camry Thompson converted a soft free to end the scoring.
Even performance from the Camrys, thought Tyson Edwards (26 touches, 9 marks, a goal) was very good and free-running backman Brad Symes (25 disposals) did a lot of damage, Nathan Van Berlo (32 touches, 6 marks, a goal) worked hard midfield again. Andrew McLeod (28 touches, 7 marks, a goal) very much enjoyed his milestone and Michael Doughty (29 handlings, 7 marks) played well on-the-ball. Nathan Bock (20 disposals, 6 marks) and Kris Massie (18 possies, a goal) joined McLeod and Symes in providing plenty of drive off half-back. Responsibility for scoring was shared with Scott Stevens, Nick Gill, Simon Goodwin and Scott Thompson all kicking 2 goals each. For the Tiges both Shane Tuck (34 disposals) and Kane Johnson (32 possessions, 9 marks) worked hard to win the contested ball, but neither did much with it. Skipper Johnson especially is a mixed blessing. Troy Simmonds (22 possies, 6 marks, 22 hit-outs, a goal) did well in the ruck and Joel Bowden (19 handlings, a goal) was okay. Tigger fans are ambivalent regarding Jordan McMahon (26 touches, 6 marks, a goal) but at least he runs forward and kicks long towards the goals. Luke McGuane tried hard in defence. 'Plough' Wallace said "This was a very similar game to playing Sydney in Sydney earlier in the year for us. We're bitterly disappointed with our performance. Obviously it was season-on-the-line stuff, and to come over and not play the game style that we want to play was disappointing. And it started virtually from the first kick of the game. We got hold of the first kick and when you want to kick the ball in (long) with the breeze (well, it was more across the ground) . . . to kick the ball sideways and backwards was terribly disappointing. What you need to be able to do is either stand up and have your game structure stand up or be able to fight out a really dour one-on-one struggle when the conditions are like they were today. We weren't able to do either. We're a high scoring side who kicked one goal in the first half of an AFL game of footy. That's not where we need to be, clearly. Either we've got to match what they're doing, or we've got to be better at getting the game played on our terms . . . Running on top of the ground at Telstra Dome we look a different side; the conditions were very heavy out there today (and it was) old fashioned, suburban style heavy weather footy, and we didn't handle it." Neil Craig said "To kick over 100 points in those conditions and to have 12 goal kickers with our forward line at the moment was really good. Last week Brad Moran and Ivan Maric had to do it [the goal scoring], so we've got to keep finding ways to make sure we keep kicking good scores. It was a good day for us. Particularly in the first half and in bits of the third quarters, I thought our kicking was very good. We actually got some real powerful running, which you could argue we've lacked a bit since our five losing weeks. I couldn't ask any more of our playing group than what they put on display today."
At Subiaco:
West Coast 6.3 10.6 12.9 17.11.113
Essendon 3.2 4.4 9.7 16.7.103
Big win for the Eegs with promising forward Ben McKinley bagging 7 goals, the best return of his nascent career. The Wiggles don't want a priority pick, obviously. Their game next week against the Dees could be interesting. Essadun were jumped early but they fought back admirably in another entertaining game. But I'm not aware of a key event; was there jacket-waving at the end? Or has that been retired along with Sheeds? Perhaps a Weevil (or Bomma) supporter can enlighten me. Two team changes for the Weegs in selection, Ryan Davis and Matt Spangher recalled to replace Brent Staker (injured thumb) and the rested Brad Ebert. Bombout coach Matty Knights loves the kids and he selected Heath Hocking for his second game and rookie-listed midfielder Rhys Magin for his first, he's from Queensland club Zillmere. Courtenay Dempsey was recalled following a long spell with injury, the trio replacing Kyle Reimers (hamstring), Damien Peverill and Jarrod Atkinson.
Quick goal in a quick start from the Weegs, Tyson Stenglein hacked a kick forward from the opening bounce and Adam Selwood gathered and kicked to McKinley's lead, Dustin Fletcher got a spoil in but Selwood'd run on and he collected the crumb and snapped a goal. Presently Ricky Dyson replied for the Dons, snapping truly from Sam Lonergan's pressure handball. The Weegs managed two in-a-row, McKinley converted a very doubtful free-kick for arm-chopping by Fletcher - looked like a decent spoil to me - then Quinten Lynch marked on the wing, almost, and hammered a huge kick to the 'square which surprised everyone except Ryan Davis, who took a very easy mark. Davis majored and the Eegs led by 12 points. Essadun were out-played for a long way but they were very efficient going forward, Matty Lloyd collected Lovett-Murray's kick on the bounce and handballed to running Leroy Jetta, Jetta's calculated tumbly-kick bounced through for a goal. A minute later David Wirrpanda restored the Eegs' two-goal lead, after marking strongly in front of Adam Ramanauskas. Don man Ramanauskas replied soon enough, Weeg defender Spangher's desperate clearing kick under pressure went straight to 'Rama' and he thumped it through from 50m. The Weegs led by 5 points in time-on but after a coupla misses, two late goals allowed the scoreboard to reflect general play. Stenglein used a free-kick to find McKinley on-the-lead and the young forward booted his second, Dean 'Big' Cox managed to clear the following centre-bounce and run-on to receive Lynch's handball, from Cox's tumbling kick Wirrpanda clutched another strong grab, ahead of Jay Nash this time. Wirrpanda converted and the Eegs led by 19 points at the first break. Their midfield, led by Cox and Lynch, the latter persisted-with in there, was going well, Michael Braun, Chad Fletcher and Adam Selwood were also winning. Nevertheless, the opening ten minutes of the second term were tight, before Lynch punted the Eegs forward and Cox galumphed to collect McKinley's handpass, Cox dribbled a short kick for Adam Selwood to collect in space and snap through. The Dons replied quickly, Lovett-Murray won a wayward, secondary centre-bounce and David Hille collected, he passed for steaming Adam McPhee to mark and convert. The Weegs led by 20 points but they opened a larger gap now. McKinley roved a throw-in and snapped a very good tight-angle sausage, a minute later he kicked an even better one. Don defender Paddy Ryder got a big spoil in on leading Ash Hansen, but McKinley collected near the boundary-line and rolled a fantastic dribbly-kick through the sticks - although it's surprising if they miss one these days. A minute later Jamie McNamara backed in bravely to try and mark Armstrong's hospital pass, Wirrpanda collected the spillage and was clobbered by Henry Slattery. Wirrpanda converted his free-kick and the Weegs led by 38 points at half-time.
Essadun woke up a bit in the second half, led by Andrew Lovett and Jobe Watson. The Weegs' task became harder as Wirrpanda departed with a hamstring strain. Early in the third Matthew Lloyd managed a mark, at last, his shot from 50m dropped short but Hille marked in front of Cox and slotted a close-range goal. Again there was a lengthy goal-less spell, a couple of behinds each in it. Eventually Bummer Dempsey used his speed to play-on after marking and kick long, Lloyd marked strongly behind Eric Mackenzie and popped it through. Five minutes later Jetta handballed for running Ramanauskas, he jabbed a short pass for leading Angus Monfries to mark under pressure from Scott Selwood. Monfries steered it home from a tricky angle and the Dons'd cut their deficit to 20 points. Centreman Lynch scooped up the ball at the restart, bulldozed through tacklers and hacked a kick forward, it dropped for Mark LeCras to mark on his chest. LeCras majored for the Weegs. A minute later Mark Nicoski passed to lurking Hansen, he kicked towards Mark Seaby. The big Wiggle was spoiled by (Essadun's) Fletcher but McKinley was on-hand to collect the ball and snap truly. The Weegs had kicked out to a 33-point lead but the Dons kept coming. Heath Hocking ran thru the middle and kicked long, Lloyd nudged Glass under the ball and held a good mark as Spangher clattered him. Lloydy majored and a minute later Jason Laycock booted a goal, allowed to mark completely alone just 30m out. The Dons were 20 points down at the final change. Cagey opening to the last before Weegle Spangher kicked to Lynch's wide lead, the ball went over his head but Lynch doubled-back, gathered, spun through an attempted Lloyd tackle and ran on to thump a great goal from 50m. It's difficult to tell him from Brent Harvey. Essadun replied, Lloyd dived into a pack to win the ball and Slattery picked it up, swapped handballs with McPhee and slotted a running sausage. Chad Fletcher had a free at the restart and passed wide to Adam Selwood, he honoured McKinley's lead and McKinley steered a great kick through from the boundary. The Eegs were 26 points ahead but the Dons nagged on. A short throw-in caught players out and Lovett pounced for Essadun to run inside 50 and slot a goal. A minute later Bommer Lonergan won a scrap for the ball at CHF and Ramanauskas handballed wide to running Dempsey, he also sprinted inside 50 with a bounce and punted a left-foot major. You still didn't think the Dons'd win but they were only 15 points down, only 15 minutes into the korter. Veteran Michael Braun kicked a crucial steadier for the Weegs, Scott Selwood blasted a clearing kick into the centre of the ground, it bounced neatly for running Braun to collect, race away from trouble, have a coupla bounces and slam it home from 40m. He enjoyed it as the Eegs went 21 points ahead. Still the Dons came, Lovett went long, Monfries roved Lloyd's contest and handballed to Jetta who dummied about four times, once around himself, before snapping it through from a tight angle. Slattery's good spoil allowed Lovett-Murray to gather in the centre and kick for Lloyd to mark in front of Mackenzie, Lloydy majored again and the Dons were 10 points down with just under 5 minutes remaining. As close as they'd get. Lovett-Murray's tired/lazy handball/throw to Slattery missed the target and Chad Fletcher pounced to score a goal, a minute later Lovett surged outta defence and handballed to Jetta, he kicked long and Laycock out-maneuvered Beau Wilkes for a mark and goal. Glass's good win and handball allowed Adam Selwood to kick long and McKinley marked ahead of Fletcher, McKinley's seventh goal made the lead 16 points in the 31st minute. Still time for Laycock to kick another for the Dons, a great kick from the boundary.
Great game from Ben McKinley (11 disposals, 4 marks, 7 goals), who as a few folks have noted probably needs to work on his fitness. Quinten Lynch (24 touches, 8 marks, a goal) was a decent midfielder again, veterans Michael Braun (29 touches, a goal) and Adam Selwood (23 disposals, 7 marks, 2 goals) had good games across the middle too. Dean Cox (21 possies, 5 marks, 36 hit-outs) shaded Hille in (arguably) the battle of the leeg's best ruckmen, Chad Fletcher (27 disposals, a goal) and Matt Priddis (30 handlings) were okay midfield too. David Wirrpanda kicked 3 goals. Speedy Andrew Lovett (26 disposals, a goal) and ball-winner Jobe Watson (31 possessions) were the Dons' most consistent players, Andrew Welsh (27 possies) continued his fine season. After half-time Matthew Lloyd (10 marks, 12 kicks, 3 goals) and Courtenay Dempsey (25 possessions, a goal) got involved, Sam Lonergan (19 touches) worked hard and Ricky Dyson (21 touches, a goal) wasn't hopeless. Jason Laycock kicked 3 goals, two in the last three minutes, and Leroy Jetta bagged 2 goals. Matty Knights said "We were under no illusions today that it was going to be a tough game and that we had to play to our maximum to win, and we didn't play to our maximum. We played some very average football in the first half. It certainly wasn't the way we've been playing the last eight weeks, so it was quite disappointing. I thought our intensity around the ball wasn't good (and) their midfield really cleaned us up early in the game and gave them good opportunities. Our defenders were also on the back foot and were led to the ball, so I guess with that midfield-defence combination it wasn't a great recipe in the first half." He conceded a finals appearance for the Dons was "extremely unlikely." John Worsfold said "They kicked the first three of the second half and the boys fought back with the next couple, so that's what we've been looking for, and they worked very hard to turn it around again. That's what you always want to see and there have been a couple of games this year where we haven't seen it, which is more disappointing. This is what we expect now and it should be the norm. Rather than being pleased with it, it's more about the players doing what they expect from each other." He was asked about the priority pick. "It can't be a focus at all and it's not anything you consider," Woosha said. "It's (the priority pick) there to reward teams that aren't good enough to win that many games. We have Melbourne next week and we want to take it up to them before having two big games to finish off with against Hawthorn and Geelong." They couldn't possibly lose all three . . .
Ladder after Round 19
Pts. % Next Week
Geelong 72 160.3 Sydney (Stadium Australia, Sat. night)
Hawthorn 60 129.3 Richmond (MCG, Sunday)
Footscray 58 120.0 Brisbane (Gabba, Sat. night)
Sydney 46 116.4 Geelong (Stadium Australia, Sat. night)
North Melbourne 46 99.6 Carlton (Docklands, Sunday)
Adelaide 44 110.1 Essendon (Docklands, Saturday)
Collingwood 40 109.8 Port Adelaide (Football Park, Fri. night)
St. Kilda 40 100.2 Fremantle (Subiaco, Sunday)
------------------------------------------------
Brisbane 36 100.6 Footscray (Gabba, Sat. night)
Carlton 36 99.3 North Melbourne (Docklands, Sunday)
Richmond 34 91.5 Hawthorn (MCG, Sunday)
Essendon 32 87.7 Adelaide (Docklands, Saturday)
Fremantle 20 94.2 St. Kilda (Subiaco, Sunday)
Port Adelaide 20 89.3 Collingwood (Football Park, Fri. night)
West Coast 16 69.4 Melbourne (MCG, Saturday)
Melbourne 8 63.2 West Coast (MCG, Saturday)
Cheers, Tim.
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