[AFL-Review] AFL Round 5

AFL Round 5

 

At Football Park:

Port Adelaide  1.3    1.3    3.4     5.6.36

St. Kilda      6.0   10.5   13.9   15.12.102

 

Smacked, were the front-runners at Port. When the Hawks let 'em canter about the field under no pressure in their musical theatre-tastic guernseys, the Flowers won. Now the Saints arrived to tackle, zone off and worry the life out of 'em and Port fell to bits. This is their problem. But it was another great win for the Saints, reversing the status quo by being the aggressors rather then the victims against Port, who've intimidated them in the past. Winning two away-games in Adderlaid is also a bonus for Sinkilda. The Saints became the first side to have a percentage above 200 after five rounds since 1911. The Powder made two changes to the side which beat Horforn, skipper Dom Cassisi returned from suspension and Nick Lower was called up to replace the axed Wade Thompson and Matt Thomas, the latter suspended for colliding with an umpire. Thomas's team-mate Travis Boak spoke volumes of sense when he opined tagged players deliberately position themselves behind the ump at ball-ups, hoping the backwards-running ump collides with the tagger. The Stainers replaced Justin Koschitzke (hamstring) with Robert Eddy.

 

A cold, damp Foopall Park greeted the players during the Anzac Day ceremonies. A chilly breeze too which aided Port to start with. But the match started indicatively as a wayward pass from Port's Travis Boak to Salopek in the centre missed the target and Sainter Nick Riewoldt gathered the ball, ran inside 50m and potted a long major. The Stainers poured on much pressure in their forward line, Powdermen Chaplin and Salopek dived on a loose ball and Stainer Andrew McQualter piled on them, a free-kick for 'bawl' and McQualter majored to give Sinkilda an early 12-point lead. The Powder managed some attacking, a Daniel Motlop shot went for a behind after Brett Ebert failed to mark it, a bit later Kane Cornes jabbed a short pass to Brendon Lade who was knocked over by a fractionally-late Steven King. A 50m penalty to Lade who booted a goal, the Sainter lead was cut to 4 points. But the visitors fired back, defender Jason Gram was held back by Warren Tredrea, a free plus a 50m penalty after Tredders whinged about it - dunno why, it was an obvious free. Gram went forward and there were some chipped kicks about the flank before Leigh Montagna jabbed one to leading Lenny Hayes, he booted a very good goal. Brendon Goddard gathered pack spillage, handballed to Jarryn Geary, he finessed back and passed short to Goddard who then gave a handball back to running Geary, who stabbed a low kick for full points. A beautifully worked exchange which sent the Saints 16 points up. Sinkilda's hard tackling and zone defence forced Port into their own half and stopped any running, Sinkilda also declined to put any pace in the game, happy to chip short passes about. Two late goals stretched the margin, the Saints cleared a throw-in and Gram went for a bit of a run and long kick where Riewoldt juggled a two-grab mark against Troy Chaplin, Riewoldt goaled. Port's Pettigrew seemed certain to score a goal but Gram smothered his kick on-the-line, the Saints advanced from the kick-in and Farren Ray's good switch put Sam Fisher into space. Fisher's punt was marked with-the-flight by Stephen Milne on a tight angle, Milne played-on and hooked a sausage. Stainers by 30 points at the first break. Sinkilda had the wind for the second term and opened with another major, Fisher drove the ball in again and Flowermen Chaplin and Carr collided going for the same mark, lurking Riewoldt gathered the ball and had an easy stab-through. That didn't go down well with the Porty folk. Frustrated Chaplin was soon reported for swinging a punch at Riewoldt, although he didn't make much contact. Power ruckman Dean Brogan was also reported - how unusual - when he fell awkwardly, head-on, over a ducking Ray. Replays showed Brogan didn't touch the Stainer. Ray and Gram had missed shots as the Sainters dominated possession. Power's Salopek whacked a quick clearing kick towards Motlop but Geary spoiled and won the ball with a more determined effort, he passed to Robert Eddy for a mark and sausage. A bit later Hayes made an awful mess of a set-shot with the ball bouncing out-of-bounds. Hayes battled furiously to win the ball from the following throw-in and lob a kick to the 'square, Chad Cornes got a big clearing fist in but the agget went to Gram, a handpass to Luke Ball who lobbed a kick for Adam Schneider to run onto and mark. Schneider majored and the Sainters led by 48 points, the Powder still with just the one goal. The Pooer were now trapped in their own defensive 50 for a while, kicking the ball listlessly side-to-side as they refused to run or kick to a contest. The Port fans didn't like this much, either. With 30s remaining in the half Port's Nick Lower spilled a difficult with-the-flight marking chance as he tracked back, Gram's resulting gather and pass went over Riewoldt's head but Milne scooped up the ball and produced a superb dribbly kick for a goal, right on the boundary in the left forward-pocket, with the outside of his right boot. Great stuff and if the Powder weren't demoralized already that may've pushed 'em over the edge. Sinkilda led by 56 points at half-time following the Power's scoreless second stanza. 1.3 was Port's lowest first-half score in their AFL history.  

 

If the locals did have a hope it was snuffed out quickly in the early third quarter. In the opening minute Ball roved a throw-in and handballed to Hayes, who ran to the 50m line and thumped a terrific drop-punt for full points. Hayes and Ball had lifted a gear with Nick Dal Santo tagged closely by Kane Cornes. Dal Santo did manage to kick the Saints into attack from the following centre-bounce, Eddy gathered the pill and handballed inboard for running Ball to wobble a low kick home. Chaplin was adamant he touched it but a goal went on the scoreboard and the Sainters led by 68 points, with twelve goals to one. Port now managed a goal, set up by Robbie Gray's terrific bump on Eddy which forced the ball loose. Nathan Krakouer swept it up, swapped handballs with Boak and drove a long kick for Motlop to win against Blake and poke through for a goal. Huzzah! Port did some attacking and Motlop dribbly-kicked a point, a bit later Motlop gathered a loose ball further afield and handballed to Boak, he lobbed a kick for Tredrea to mark with-the-flight and pop through from 20m out. Port still trailed by 56 points but at least they were competing a bit. Riewoldt missed awfully after a mark but a minute later he slotted a much tougher running shot from the flank, set up by Ball's tackle on Cassisi to force a turnover and Leigh Montagna's handpass. A late Milne point from a tight angle left the Stainers 65 points ahead at the final change. Again the Sainters bagged a coupla early goals in the final term, Port's Brogan took a defensive mark and telegraphed a handpass off to Danyle Pearce, who was caught by a good tackle from Milne. 'Bawl' and Milne stabbed his free-kick to leading Schneider, who marked and converted. A bit later James Gwilt hooked a free-kick through from a tight angle with a terrific left-foot hook-kick and the Saints led by 77 points. Not much else happened. Motlop had given up a long time before and his attitude was awful, the kicking yips also arrived as Motlop missed two easy shots by a long way. The TV folk noted Motlop was watching the game on the screen when the ball wasn't in his vicinity. Good work from Tredrea and Kane Cornes set up a goal for Chad Cornes and Tredrea kicked the final goal, a free after catching a tired Zac Dawson in possession.

 

Hard-working Lenny Hayes (32 disposals, 5 marks, 7 tackles, a goal) played terrifically well and won the Peter Badcoe VC Medal for best afield in the Anzac Day-related clash. In attack Nick Riewoldt (23 touches, 10 marks, 4 goals) was in fine form again, on a difficult night for big forwards. Running backmen Jason Gram (30 disposals) and Sam Fisher (28 handlings, 8 marks) were very busy and rover Luke Ball (19 possies, a goal) played well, half-forwards Jarryn Geary (21 touches, a goal) and Brendon Goddard (23 disposals) were also handy performers. Clint Jones (22 handlings) was decent too, on Peter Burgoyne. Stephen Milne bagged 3 goals and Adam Schneider kicked 2 goals. Port's best was probably Kane Cornes (20 disposals, 4 marks), who shut down Dal Santo for three quarters until relieved of the job. Dom Cassisi (27 touches, 7 marks, 9 tackles) worked hard to win the ball and there were reasonable efforts from Travis Boak (25 possies) and small forward Robbie Gray (17 touches). Warren Tredrea kicked 2 goals. Mark Williams gave a pretty honest assessment. "I thought St Kilda handed us a fair lesson in tough footy. They beat us in every aspect of that game," Williams said. "We came into the game feeling like we were prepared for it, but by far they were the side that's put the most pressure on us and there was a realisation of where we are at. We're not as good as we hoped that we might be. We're in the pack with another 10 teams fighting out the positions from four down to 12 or 13 - that's about where we're at. This game is pretty cruel. You have to deliver all the time or you'll get eaten up." Ross Lyon is pushing down furiously on the lid. "We're not in the finals, we're 5-0 with 17 tough AFL games to go and we're resetting as of tomorrow, almost now, for the Bulldogs," he said. "We put on six goals early to silence the crowd . . . when we come interstate we have to take our opportunities and compete well . . . It's pleasing to be able to develop, we've got that core of young talent, of Ball and Dal Santo and Riewoldt and those sort of lads, but it was important to find the next six or seven and to find them quick . . . It's always hard to travel and that's why you respect interstate teams that are able to win premierships. It is difficult, it is a challenge but we're certainly maturing and growing and gaining some confidence."

 

At the MCG:

Essendon     1.5   6.6   9.13   13.15.93

Collingwood  4.2   6.6   8.10   12.16.88

 

Amazing finish to the Anzac Day fixture as the Bombouts bagged 3 goals in the final three minutes to snatch victory from the plodding Poise. Collywood appeared likely winners throughout the final term but their overall performance was patchy and lethargic and you could say justice was done in the end. Then again, 14 points up with three minutes to go, the Scraggies should've won. Afterwards Malthouse called it "one of the most disappointing games I've ever been associated with." Essadun made five changes to the side beaten by North, Mark McVeigh (ankle), Darcy Daniher (groin strain) and Hayden Skipworth (hamstring) were forced omissions while Michael Quinn and Jay Nash were dropped. In came Nathan Lovett-Murray and Sam Lonergan for their first games of the season while Heath Hocking, David Myers and Leroy Jetta also returned. One late change for the Pise with Alan Didak (calf strain) withdrawing and replaced by first-gamer Brent Macaffer, a forward flanker from Kilcunda-Bass in Gippsland. Simon Prestigiacomo played his 200^th game and deserved congratulations to the no-nonsense full-back who, as many have noted, seems to have arrived from a previous footballing era.

 

Anuge crowd (84,800) packed in as usual on a cool but mostly dry day at the 'G. Bommer ruckman David Hille was the most notable early performer, he ignored the chance to collect a loose ball in order to (weakly) hip-and-shoulder direct opponent Josh Fraser. A minute later Hille, in the clear, leaped awkwardly to attempt an overhead mark (he dropped it), landed awkwardly and went down clutching his left knee. Hille's game (and season, sadly) were over, with him being the only Bomma ruckman selected it forced Paddy Ryder into the ruck, which ended up benefitting the Dons enormously on the day. Anyway, from the dropped Hille mark Fraser gathered the pill and a coupla handballs later Travis Cloke kicked long, Anthony Rocca marked strongly at the top o' the 'square and popped it through. From the following centre-bounce Dane Swan sprinted clear and punted long, new lad Brent Macaffer marked firmly in front of Henry Slattery and slotted from the pocket with his career-first kick. The Poise had jumped to a 12-point lead. Swan snapped a point from a throw-in as the Maggies dominated these opening minutes, but the Bommers began to work into it. Unfortunately for them, the Donnys still had the goal-shooting yips from last weekend. Angus Monfries missed twice including a set-shot poster from 15m, David Myers then kicked back-to-back behinds with pot-shots from 50m, Matty Lloyd banana-ed a point from the boundary. Struggling Scott Lucas rubber-chested a mark 20m out before the Poise scored a goal against the run, a great effort from Harry O'Brien forced a turnover and the ball ended with Scott Pendlebury, who drove a long, low kick forward for Paul Medhurst to mark in-front and major. A missed Medhurst snap a moment later had the Maggies 15 points ahead. The Dons advanced from their kick-in and Monfries roved Lucas's contest at half-forward, Gus hooked a smart left-foot kick for Jason Winderlich to mark 40m out and finally punt a major for the Bummers. But the Pies managed a goal after the siren, Travis Cloke marking well in front of McPhee. The Poise led by 15 points at korter-time. The second stanza opened slowly but the Dons were beginning to get their running handball going. Ricky Dyson missed an early shot but a few minutes later Dyson slipped a tackle at half-back and embarked on a two-bounce run through the centre, his long punt allowed Andrew Lovett to mark behind Pie Cox and Lovett goaled. The Dons won the following centre-clearance - Ryder going well in the ruck - and Heath Hocking chipped a pass for Sam Lonergan to hold a good diving grab. Lonergan majored and the Maggie lead was cut to 2 points. Lonergan soon suffered a cork thigh as he backed into a marking contest, but he returned later. There were a handful of behinds each including a terrible miss from Cloke, still playing as though he's choofed a few joints before the game. After a bit Cloke's opponent Adam McPhee had a free on the defensive point of the centre-square and a 50m penalty, McPhee's shot from 50m just cleared the line for full points, with some dubious shepherding. The Dons led by a point. The Pise replied immediately as Fraser and Dayne Beams cleared the restart and the ball went wide to Pendlebury, he passed for leading John Anthony to mark and steer a great kick through from the flank. The Dons reclaimed the lead from a scrap for the ball at half-forward, Alwyn Davey got a handball away to Dyson whose quick shot bisected the big posts. Medhurst was denied what appeared a clear free 30m out, but replays showed he exaggerated the slight contact with a dive. The Dons began to make some mistakes, Hocking's pass over Jetta's head led to chance for Anthony which he missed, but as the Dons tried to run the kick-in down the ground Lovett-Murray's terrible handpass caused another turnover and Medhurst kicked for Anthony to mark again, he didn't miss this time. Pies by 6 but the Dons answered prior to the long break, Jobe Watson drilled a good pass for leading Monfries to mark and Monfries majored with a good, long shot. Scores level at half-time.

 

During the second quarter there'd been some discussion of a Nathan Buckley newspaper article, Bucks had commented the Malthouse Pies were good at getting themselves up for the big games, but tended to drop their intensity and lose against lesser-rated sides. This game, although a big occasion, was appearing as one of the latter. The Pies' tough game at the wet Gabba last week was also invoked as a factor. Whatever the case, they certainly appeared pretty lethargic. Early in the third Bomma Lonergan worked tremendously hard to make a chance for himself, he missed. Watson missed from a tight angle before Lucas managed to actually hold a mark and he kicked quickly for Brent Stanton, lurking behind Marty Clarke, to mark 15m out and dob a sausage roll, the Dons led by 8 points. Lloyd led out for a grab but missed, a minute later Lloydy missed again with another banana effort from the boundary. Commentator McAvaney was becoming increasingly frustrated by Lloydy's inability to kick his career 900^th goal. Much credit for that belonged to Prestigiacomo in this game. The Pies managed to reply, Cloke stole the ball off McPhee as the Bomma juggled a marking attempt, Cloke passed to leading Anthony in the corridor who marked and converted. The Poise trailed by 4 points. Lucas missed a shot, Poi Cox's long kick-in went down the centre and the Bommers recovered it, handballs from Watson and Lovett created a chance for Davey whose ordinary snap bounced handily over Lloyd and Presti and through for a goal. Pendlebury won the following centre-clearance for the Maggies and his long kick was well-weighted for Cloke to mark behind McPhee, but Clokey missed woefully. Lovett free-kicked a point and again the Pies struggled on the kick-in, it went towards long-leading Anthony but Stanton spoiled, gathered and jabbed a pass back to Lovett, who goaled this time. The Bombouts led by 17 points. 'Neon' Leon Davis tried to inspire his sluggish team-mates, his long, speedy run brought only a behind but a bit later Swan forced the ball clear from a throw-in and Davis snapped a very good goal. As the final break approached the Dons attempted some keepings-off but they're not good enough and duly messed it up, unfortunately for the Pies Beams missed the resulting shot. The Bommerz led 9 points at three-korter time.

 

Ryder won the ball from the opening bounce of the ultimate Mario and his punt forward set up a golden chance for Lucas, from which he kicked a point of course. There followed some end-to-end stuff as the chasing began to lapse from tired players. Leigh Brown surprised by doing something useful, Medhurst passed to leading Cloke 60m out and Cloke lobbed a short pass to find lurking Leigh Brown, Brown goaled and the Don lead was 3 points. A bit later Toovey won the pill at a ball-up and it went via Davis to Shane O'Bree, he handballed to Jaxson Barham who jabbed a short pass to Anthony. The straight-kicking Anthony booted a goal and the Pies were lifting with the game on the line, as they often do. They led by 3 points. Bomma Leroy Jetta had a free at the restart for in-the-back, he passed towards Lovett who messed about a bit before the ball came back to Jetta, he handballed for running Ryder to spear it through. Dons in front again but momentum was with the Scragpies. Their Medhurst and O'Brien, venturing up the ground, kicked behinds before Tyson Goldsack's good tackle on Davey forced a turnover and Clarke's kick found Pendlebury 40m out, he majored. Then, from a throw-in, Anthony's tackle on Bomma Myers forced the latter's kick to grubber forward and straight to Davis, he gathered and punted a great, long kick from the flank for a goal. The Poise led by 11 points and appeared set for victory as time-on arrived, the threatening skies opened with a rain-shower. Leigh Brown kicked a coupla behinds and Clarke missed a shot too, not helpful in retrospect. They'd also lost O'Bree with a shoulder problem. But those things didn't seem crucial as the Maggies led by 14 points with about 3 minutes remaining in a low-scoring game. The Dons chanced their arm(s) to run the ball at all costs. Lovett collected the Sherrin from a ball-up a half-back and raced straight down the middle on a four-bounce run, his eventual kick landed in the pocket where unopposed Jetta gathered and bounced a snap for full points. The Dons won the following centre-clearance and the ball went to their forward-flank, Pie Davis collected it but was tackled as he kicked and the pill flew out-on-the-full. Dyson took the free and played-on to open the angle, driving his left-footer through for a major. Suddenly the Pies' lead was only 2 points. The Dons manufactured another chance almost instantly but Jetta fumbled awfully and fell over as the sticks beckoned, the Poise rushed a behind. With 20 seconds on the clock Pie Lockyer kicked-in long to a pack, the Dons' Winderlich recovered the ball and Lovett-Murray jabbed a short pass to David Zaharakis on the 50m line. He played-on, Zaharakis was tackled by Macaffer as he got his kick away but between the big poles it went. The Dons led by 5 points and the siren sounded moments after the following centre-bounce. A classic finish.

 

The Anzac Day Medal went to Paddy Ryder (16 disposals, 27 hit-outs, 13 tackles, a goal) for his big performance in the ruck. Brent Stanton (34 disposals, 8 marks, a goal) got the Bomma midfield going and the inconsistent runner Ricky Dyson (27 touches, 2 goals) did some important things. Adam McPhee (26 touches, 6 marks, a goal) played in defence this week and did well on Cloke, Dustin Fletcher (20 touches, 4 marks) co-ordinated the back-line again. The speed of Andrew Lovett (17 disposals, 5 marks, 2 goals) was a factor and Jason Winderlich (18 possies, a goal) was handy too. For the Maggies Dane Swan (37 disposals, 11 marks) collected plenty of the ball and as noted by the TV folk Scott Pendlebury (30 possessions, 6 marks, a goal) is their best 'user'. Leon Davis (32 possies, 8 marks, 2 goals) worked hard around the ground, John Anthony (7 marks, 8 kicks, 4 goals) continues to be their best big forward by a distance and Shane O'Bree (22 possessions, 9 tackles) worked hard in packs. Simon Prestigiacomo had the better of a goal-less Lloyd. Mick Malthouse went as far as to call it the Pies' worst loss in his decade in charge. "You don't hand an opposition three goals, [but] they (Essendon) worked for it. But without a shadow of doubt in my short-term memory - and perhaps later on it'll be my long-term memory - I can't think of a more disappointing result in a home-and-away series game. We unfortunately let the Anzacs down . . . What we said behind closed doors is exactly why we close the doors. I'm telling you, I didn't think we played anywhere near and capture the spirit of the Anzacs and that's what makes this one of the most disappointing games I've ever been associated with . . . This is a very generic assessment of all players. It's flawed because there are some fantastic efforts by a few players. But in general, we just didn't stick long enough and hard enough and stay with it all day - not just the last three or four minutes." He went on to defend the formless Rocca, who had no pre-season to speak of. Matty Knights had a different attitude. "Our theme today was 'never give up because they [our soldiers] never did'. It epitomised the way we went about it . . . Matthew Lloyd did have a heavy corkie, Sam Lonergan did have a heavy corkie, but they had to play, and the way they played was good because they never gave up even though they were sore. They were sore, but they said to me at three-quarter time that they were right to go. It would have been too difficult for the rest of our group if those guys couldn't play on. To be resilient, to believe and keep taking the game on is something which was just very brave by our playing group and something I'm very proud of." He tried to keep a lid on. "We really haven't done anything yet," Knights said. "We're really in the infancy of this season. We've won three games and lost two, but we've still got to work really hard on our consistency because we've got a young group. I don't think we've done a lot yet and respect is gained over time and we've got a long time for this group to gain respect yet."  

 

At York Park:

Hawthorn    1.3   4.5   6.7    11.8.74     

West Coast  1.5   2.9   5.11   7.14.58

 

The unexplained need for the Bummers and Magpiss to have Anzac Day afternoon to themselves (presumably demanded by Channel Ten) meant the Hawks and Wiggles played in the early evening in Launceston (5 PM start), in darker, colder and wetter than normal conditions down there. The Weevils battled hard in the resultant slippery slog and led early in the final term, but the Hawkers managed to grind out the win thanks to Buddy and the less-likely Garry Moss, Sandgropers both. In selection the Hawks were limited to one change, for a change, Travis Tuck returning in place of injured Brent Guerra (hamstring). Stuart Dew played his 200^th AFL game, a pretty decent effort given he had a year off due to lack of motivation. The Weagles replaced Chris Masten (thigh strain) with Sam Butler, their Adam Selwood played his 100^th game. Thought he'd been around longer than that.

 

Rain and a steady breeze greeted the players down in chilly Tassie. The first few minutes were terrible as players (Hawks especially) insisted on much short handball on the leeg's largest venue. This is the modern way, but with the tough pressure from both sides, the damp and the huge ground surrounding them, it appeared ridiculous. A handful of misses in the first ten-odd minutes, the worst being Luke Hodge's slice on-the-full. The Hawks had the breeze to start with, by the way, thankfully the rain soon eased off although drizzle persisted. Sam Mitchell commenced the game playing in a back-pocket, to break the heavy tagging he's been subjected to this season. Mitchell and Jordan Lewis went on to collect a mountain of touches, all the handball a significant factor. The Eegs did most of the early attacking but couldn't manufacture a decent chance, let alone a goal, before the Awks put together a good move from a kick-in. Cameron Stokes switched play to find Jarryd Morton wide, he kicked to Brent Renouf at CHF and Renouf passed to leading Lance Franklin for a mark and goal. There followed a prolonged bout of handball madness from both sides. Late in the term the Eegs managed a major, Ben McKinley tidied a scrap for the ball with a handpass out to Andrew Embley, who sold a noice dummy and stabbed a low kick for full points to level the scores. Snapped behinds from Mark LeCras and McKinley nudged the Eegs ahead at the first break. Into quartier le deuxieme and a few more behinds, Weeg Mark Nicoski's shot was straight but Orc Robert Campbell, replacing Renouf as the ruckman playing in defence, managed to touch it on the line. Franklin had a couple of goes, failing to score with one shot and missing with the other. Brad Sewell drove a long kick forward, Weeg Eric Mackenzie's spoil spilled over the back of the pack and Hawk Campbell Brown gathered, he handballed for Garry Moss to snap a sausage. Horforn by 3 points but the Weegs answered quickly, Awk Jarryd Morton's strange kick caused a turnover and a pass went to wide-leading Eeg Ashley Hansen, he was spoiled but LeCras gathered 35m out and sent a dribbly-kick from the boundary skidding across the turf towards the posts. It would've been a fantastic goal but McKinley decided to soccer it through from point-blank to make sure. Eegs by 3. Horforn nosed ahead thanks to some Weevil mistakes. Tuck's pass went over Franklin's head, Mackenzie ran back and collected the ball but was too casual and caught by Jarryd Roughead, 'bawl' and Roughead free-kicked a major. A pair of Mitch Brown mistakes led to the next Orc goal, Brown's poorly directed pass behind Wirrpanda enabled the Horks to gain possession, their Campbell Brown kicked towards Franklin. He had three men to beat, and didn't, Mitch Brown tracked the ball back towards the sticks but fumbled terribly and Moss snuck in to soccer a six-pointer. Prior to half-time Dean 'Big' Cox missed a long set-shot and an Adam Hunter snap hit the post, the Awkers led by 8 points at half-time.

 

Two quick goals to open the third term. Adam Selwood grubbered a kick forward from the opening bounce, Quinten Lynch dived on the ball and Hodge dived on Lynch's head. A free-kick and Lynch booted a very good goal from just inside 50m, given the conditions. Horforn replied rapidly as Sewell collected pack-spillage and passed to Lewis on the forward-flank, his inboard kick found Moss alone for a mark and goal. In quick time Roughead bagged one, he leaped one-handed to reach Dew's long kick, brought the ball down, gathered and whacked it through with a fair bit of skill. The Orcs led by 14 points. Nothing happened for nearly twenty minutes after that, save a rushed behind or two and a miss from LeCras. The Hawk midfielders were getting on top, Chance Bateman tagging Daniel Kerr, but the conditions prevented much rapid ball-movement and reliable marking. The Weegs sprang back into it with two late majors, Hunter shoveled the ball out of a goal-mouth pack and McKinley managed to slam a low snap for a goal. From the restart Cox punted to the flank for leading Matt Priddis to mark, he was ridden down into the turf by Lewis which added a 50m penalty. Priddis popped it through from 10m to narrow the gap to a point, a Roughead miss made it 2 points to the Orcs at the last break. The Weegs grabbed the lead early in the final korter, Selwood launched a high bomb into CHF and Hunter steamed out to take a terrific grab over Mitchell. Hunter spilt the tall posts from 40m and the Weegirls led, by 4 points. The Horks' response was a reminder of their premier status. They hung tough for a few minutes before Lewis punted long into open space, charging Beau Dowler attempted to soccer it through from 45m out, Roughead intercepted the kick and stabbed his own dribbly-punt for a goal. A minute later Cyril Rioli ran under the ball as he attempted a mark, but it rebounded handily back into his arms and Rioli spurted clear of the pack to steer a low kick for a sausage. Soon Bateman was running clear of trouble and handballing ahead of Mark Williams, who gathered, baulked around Brett Jones and passed for leading Roughead to mark and boot another six-pointer. Three quick ones from the Horks and they led by 14 points. The Weegs dug in but a Hunter minor was followed by another Awk major, Moss intercepted Darren Glass's under-pressure handball and Moss's left-foot snap from 45m curled through for the six-pointer. Horforn led by 19 points and it looked over. The Coasters pressed on, a burst of speed from Matt Rosa allowed him to kick long, out-numbered Lynch couldn't mark but Will Schofield roved and handballed to McKinley in the 'cheat' position, alone in the goal-square. McKinley poked it through and the Eegs were 12 points behind, the Bommers' earlier exploits were mentioned. Still seven minutes to go but the Hawkers held 'em out and sealed it with a free-kick at point-blank range to Franklin, who greatly exaggerated the merest nudge in the back from Glass.

 

The Hawkers' leather-magnet midfielders played a significant part, Sam Mitchell managed 40 disposals with 8 marks wandering unopposed around the back-line while further afield Jordan Lewis (34 disposals, 8 marks) and Brad Sewell (28 touches, 5 marks) were very busy. Mustn't forget the stopping job of Chance Bateman (22 possessions) on Kerr. Garry Moss (24 possessions, 9 marks, 4 goals) has been clinging to a spot on the Hawks' list for a long time and he's certainly taking the chance offered. Jarryd Roughead (16 touches, 2 marks, 4 goals) was pretty useful as well, Lance Franklin booted 2 goals. Once again Dean 'Big' Cox (30 disposals, 9 marks, 31 hit-outs) led the way for the Weegles with wingman Matt Rosa (35 possessions, 5 marks), prepared to run, and experienced backman David Wirrpanda (29 possies, 6 marks) both good. Matthew Priddis (32 possessions, 10 tackles, a goal) worked hard against the odds and Darren Glass (13 disposals, 6 marks) had the better of Franklin. Adam Selwood (25 touches) was decent on his milestone. Ben McKinley made the most of his chances to bag 3 goals. John Worsfold wasn't too upset. "Regardless of home or away, we're trying to measure the players' performance on where we want to get to," he said. "There were a lot of signs we were working towards that tonight, and really in a game like that it comes down to a few opportunities that one side's going to grab and one will just miss. It happened to be us that just missed tonight. I'd say a couple of young players that made decision-making errors close to the Hawthorn goal cost us. They learn from that. It's great experience for them . . . It was always going to be tough to peg them back when they're in front and the boys were very good to get themselves back in front in the last quarter, but not just good enough to nail them." He was less happy about the constant battering to which Kerr is being subjected by opponents. Al Clarkson offered up Anzac Day-related blather. "It was a terrific effort by our lads. We were challenged there toward the end of the third quarter and the start of the last by West Coast and they got their noses in front but we were able to rally. Given where we were at going into the game it was a crucial win as we knew. It didn't mean our season was over if we lost, but it would have been enormously tough to claw our way back into the season if we'd gone one and four . . . We've had a real focus on playing with a good Anzac spirit today because we didn't have that last week and I thought our troops rallied to the cause today and got us across the line . . . Some of our leaders really stood up. Hodge, Mitchell and Sewell were great all day, but particularly that period in the last quarter. Those guys really stood tough and helped get us the win. It really came down to our guys and just their will to win today. We knew it was going to be tough conditions and they responded really well." He went on to praise youngsters Moss, Whitecross and Morton.

      

At Docklands:

North Melbourne  3.2   5.6    6.9     7.16.58

Richmond         2.2   6.7   10.12   13.16.94

 

The Tiges threw off the yolk of disaster (for now) with an emphatic win over a very ordinary Norf side. The Ruse started well but the loss, within a few first-quarter minutes, of skipper Brent Harvey and hard man Michael Firrito unsteadied their ship and they sank steadily asunder from there. The Tiges lost Matty Richardson in the early second stanza but their confidence built as the Kangers' ebbed. North made two changes to the side which beat Essadun, Matt Campbell was out with a hamstring injury and Josh Smith was dropped but they had high-leaping forward Aaron Edwards in for his first game of the season and Levi Greenwood was given an AFL debut, he's a solidly-built flanker-type from the Port Adelaide Magpies. The Tiggers made four changes to the team beaten by Melbun. The most notable 'in' was the return of midfielder Mark Coughlan, his first AFL game in nearly three years following two knee reconstructions and a succession of hamstring problems. He deserves all the luck. Also into the Tige side were Richard Tambling, Adam Pattison and the rarely seen Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, they replaced Nathan Brown (groin strain) and axed trio Tom Hislop, Daniel Connors and Troy 'Snake' Simmonds. Big, but good call on Snake. 

 

As mentioned the game started perfectly for Norf while the nightmare continued for the Tiges. Roo Michael Firrito roved a contest on the wing and kicked ahead of David Hale whose opponent Luke McGuane slipped over (he does that), allowing Hale an easy gather and controlled left-foot snap for a goal. The Ruse won the ball from the following centre-bounce, at the second attempt, and Firrito again kicked for back-running Ben Warren to mark. Warren booted his career-first goal. Drew Petrie plucked a strong grab wide on the flank but, as he would go on to do again, his shot just missed to left. No mind, soon Gavin Urquhart was punting long to the 'square, over Hale's head but after some scrap Andrew Swallow extracted the ball, he was ploughed into the turf by Alex Rance. Free-kick for in-the-back and Swallow majored, the Kangas led by 19 points to zip and a rushed point made it 20. But the game soon turned on two incidents. Roo skipper Brent Harvey, already busy, was tackled by minder Daniel Jackson and Harvey threw his left arm out to break his fall, dislocating the elbow. Yeee-owch. Terrible luck, he'll be out for 12 weeks they reckon. There's been some kerfuffle since over Jackson's tackle being a rugby league-style 'chicken wing' tackle (which that sport has banned) as Jackson had hold of Harvey's right wrist at the time, pulling that arm back to prevent Harvey getting a handball away. But it's not clear how it contributed to the injury. A minute or two later Tiger Jackson fell across Firrito's lower leg, causing the Norf man to roll his ankle. Firrito returned later but he wasn't too mobile. Norf heads dropped and the Tiges slowly worked into it. Their forward-line didn't function too well, although the speedy Robin Nahas was busy. Needs to calm down a bit in possession. Time-on had arrived when the Tiges managed a goal, Richardson's strong mark in the centre and lateral pass to Jordan McMahon allowed McMahon to find Chris Newman marking 45m out, he goaled. A minute or two later Roo Scott Thompson's lobbed kick into the centre allowed Richard Tambling to spoil, Tambling drove a long kick goal-wards to which sprinting Brett Deledio beat Leigh Harding and soccered through. The Ruse still led by 6 points at the first change but there'd already been a fair momentum-shift. It was evident in the second term as Tiges Nahas and Jack Riewoldt missed early chances. Tige Matty Richardson twanged a hamstring while attempting a typically ungainly left-foot kick, he departed to return later but, like Firrito, he was proppy. The Tiges kept on, McMahon's pass went over Adam Pattison's head but Pattison managed to tap-on cleverly for running Riewoldt to gather and spear a goal, putting the Toigers one point ahead. Tight for a bit, Riewoldt launched himself for a terrific flying grab on the flank but he was too far out to score and nothing came of it. The Kangers responded, Tiger Rance's compulsion to run with the ball got him into trouble and Norf's good tackling pressure forced a turnover at half-forward, Adam Simpson handballed smartly for Swallow to slot a running major. Coughlan missed a shot but Roo Urquhart dithered on the kick-in and was called to play-on, his hurried punt was recovered by the Tiges and Newman passed to Nahas just inside 50, Nahas booted a long goal. Rues Lower and Thomas kicked behinds, Norf were 2 points down, prior to a brace of Riewoldt goals. For the first a rapid switch and Jackson's pass saw leading Riewoldt mark and convert, for the next Tiger McMahon passed wide to Pattison, ran on to receive Pattison's handball and lob a kick which leaping Riewoldt marked emphatically amongst some spectating Kanger backmen. Riewoldt's subsequent goal had the Tiges 14 points ahead. The Ruse responded before the break, Lindsay Thomas's pass set Aaron Edwards a tough task but Edwards marked strongly in front of Tige Collins and booted a decent sausage. Richmun led by 7 points at half-time.

 

The Tiges moved steadily clear in a third stanza which saw Norf play some truly terrible footy. Their kicking was dreadful and confidence appeared to be zero all-around. Not to belittle the Tiges' effort but the Ruse can and have played much better than this. Edwards and Firrito kicked behinds to start the term before the Tiges scored a major, Joel Bowden centered a pass to leading Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls who marked and, as he usually does, paused to consider options. In this case Oakley-Nicholls chipped a good pass for Matt White to mark 'in the hole' and boot a goal. The Kangers replied following a complex move, eventually Sam Power kicked long towards the sticks where Swallow roved Hale's contest and, as he was tackled by Newman, Swallow cunningly pulled the Tigger man down on top of himself to win a free for in-the-back. Swallow hooked it through and Norf were still there, only 6 points behind. The Tiges couldn't put their general dominance on the 'board, it wasn't a high-standard game. Tambling, Riewoldt and Mitch Morton missed shots before Kel Moore majored with a free-kick for being slung after disposal. He must've been practicing his goal-kicking a lot. The Big Pu55ies led by 15 points, a Petrie shot faded left before two late Toiger majors opened a significant gap. A good move around the boundary with few Roos appearing in camera-shot ended with Tambling's torpedo-punt towards Richardson, he couldn't mark but roving ruckman Angus Graham handballed for Collins to race in and slam it though. Kanger Lachie Hansen was tackled fiercely as he tried to clear trouble and was done for 'bawl', Shane Tuck free-kicked a major and the Tiges led by 27 points at three-korter time. The final term opened slowly but four behinds from Norf ruined any chance of a comeback, the normally reliable (for a fifth-gamer) Jack Ziebell missed one and Petrie again saw a shot from the right forward-flank fade left for a behind. Why wouldn't he learn? I bet he's a terrible putter. Ten minutes in Deledio raced clear of the Toiger back-line, looped a handball to Jackson who immediately fed the ball to running Bowden. Bowden had a bounce to run inside 50 and punt a major, the Tiges led by 30 points. More Kanger behinds, Swallow and Simpson missing from 50m. Then Jackson punted long into the pocket where leading Morton marked, his man Thompson trudged back to the mark and so doing turned his back on Morton, who played-on to open the angle and hooked a snap for full-points. The Tigers led by 35 points now and it was over. The Ruse finally managed a goal, Greenwood's aimless kick forward took a lucky bounce for Hamish McIntosh to collect and he handballed ahead for Thomas to dribble it through. But Bowden finished the night off for Tigger fans, Dean Polo capped a slow three-bounce run with a fairly ordinary handpass to Bowden, who was good enough to gather the ball and slot a major. Bowden had the ball when the siren sounded and tossed it into the jubilant cheer-squad behind him.

 

The most influential player on the ground was Tiger Daniel Jackson (33 disposals, 11 marks), in addition to them touches he wrenched Harvey's arm from its' socket and rolled on Firrito's ankle. Purists would probably go for Joel Bowden (28 disposals, 10 marks, 2 goals), he's struck some form and Jack Riewoldt (18 handlings, 14 marks, 3 goals) is a much better player when Richardson's not around. The stats prove it. Brett Deledio (25 possies, a goal) was good and Jordan McMahon (27 touches, 9 marks) did plenty of run-and-carry, there were decent efforts from forward Robin Nahas (17 disposals, 4 marks, a goal) and ruckman Angus Graham (13 possessions, 16 hit-outs). Mark Coughlan managed 16 possessions and, more importantly, to get through the game. North's best were Adam Simpson (30 disposals, 7 marks, 6 tackles), who tried hard as a ball-winner and attacking half-back Gavin Urquhart (25 possies, 10 marks). Rover Andrew Swallow (20 touches, 3 goals) was the only bloke in attack who did anything. Few worth mentioning besides them, ruckman Hamish McIntosh (14 possessions, 28 hit-outs) was okay  and there was a satisfying comeback from Aaron Edwards (15 possies, 9 marks, a goal). But it was a terrible night for North. "I thought our physical intensity was pretty good, but our ability to execute was poor from a mental perspective, taking wrong options, guys out free, two versus ones and we kick it to the one Richmond guy in the middle," said Roo coach 'Angry' Dean Laidley. "We practice and practice and practice that and we just couldn't get it right. We gave ourselves enough opportunities; we went inside 50 nearly 50 times again, but we're just not putting scoreboard pressure on. In the third quarter, they kicked 3.5 (4.5 in fact) and seven of those shots were directly from our kicking turnovers." He went on to bemoan lack of forward options, most due to injury. Relief for Tigger coach 'Plough' Wallace. "I thought after a pretty deplorable first five minutes, the guys really knuckled down. I was particularly happy with our disciplines in the game - we set certain blokes certain roles after that first five or 10 minutes and most of the guys took a fair bit away from their own game to do what the team needed. That's always a pleasing thing for a coach, because if you can rely on the guys - especially in my position, where you've been under pressure - and you know that the guys are still there listening to what you're trying to do, and for them to just follow those instructions to a 'T', I thought was fantastic from the boys . . . We're still fairly young - people talk about the top end of our side, with the blokes who are 30 years of age, but we had 13 blokes run out who had played 55 games or less tonight, so we're still fairly young, what we're putting on the park at the moment. I hope some of our supporters, who I believe have always believed that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that some of these blokes are just young and need games in them, I hope that they are driving home, seeing that some of those can play a bit of footy."

 

At Subiaco:

Fremantle  6.4   11.9   16.10   18.13.121

Sydney     2.2    5.3   11.3     16.4.100

 

Copping a hiding at Docklands from Stinkilda seems to be an ideal tonic for your WA teams. In the short-term, anyway. Last week it was the Weevils who rebounded to beat the Dogs, this time the Dokkers recovered from their rogering by the Sainters to record an impressive win over the struggling Swans, unfortunately soured by a season-ending knee injury to rover Rhys Palmer. And how do you win by 21 points and drop a place on the ladder? Freo's rapid start forced the Bloods out of their normal low-scoring grind and the open play suited the locals, with the Bloods still missing key forwards. In pickin' the Dockerators dropped Josh Head, Kepler Bradley and Daniel Gilmore, replacements were Ryan Murphy, Clayton Hinkley and Scot Thornton. One change for the Bloods, Jarred Moore dropped and in came Amon Buchanan. Siddey captain Brett 'Captain' Kirk played his 200^th game, a fanatically determined player whose moderate skills and 'accountant's body' haven't prevented him becoming a great, premiership winning midfielder.

 

Two Freo players had come in for particular attention during their horror run, Melbourne-based meedya pundit Garry Lyon had suggested Matthew Pavlich should move to a Melbourne-based club (or just Melbourne the club, probably) as Freo are a basket-case (well, that was implied rather than stated). David Mundy had also copped it for being an under-performing talent. Would you Adam-and-Eve it, those two were the best players on the ground here. Mundy had a hand in the opening goal as he sent the ball towards Garrick Ibbotson, who passed for leading Michael Johnson to mark and covert from the pocket. Pavlich then bagged a goal, marking strongly in front of his man Luke Ablett and thumping it home from 50m. Mundy missed the next opportunity, but his tackle on Buchanan created a goal as Luke McPharlin gathered the loosed ball and kicked into space ahead of Nick Suban. He jumped on Rhyce Shaw's head without penalty to force the ball clear and Byron Schammer scrambled a kick through. Freo had raced to a 19-point lead. The Swans steadied with a classic Swans goal, ruckman Darren Jolly tapped a throw-in down perfectly for Adam Goodes to take, sprint clear and steer between the big sticks. A tight several minutes followed as the Bloods worked to hold out the Dockers, moving the ball far more quickly and directly than they have done. The Dockulaters broke through again, Brett Peake collected the ball from a throw-in and his quick snap lobbed between the posts. Siddey answered as Jolly ran down to the 'square to mark Buchanan's kick and pop it through, the Swans trailed by 13 points. But two late Freo goals broke it open, Ryan Crowley produced an impossibly accurate kick for McPharlin to mark between two Swans and McPharlin confounded history too by slotting from the tight angle. Then Roger Hayden roved a McPharlin contest and handballed to Pavlich, who bounced a snap for full points. The Dokkaz led by 26 points at the first break and carried on into the second Mario. A snappy running, handballing exchange finished with Pavlich kicking long and Mundy marked over Richards, he goaled. A McPharlin miss (that's more like it) had the Dokkers 33 points up but the Bloods began to work into it. Kirk and Jude Bolton won them some ball but they struggled to find a reliable target in attack. A bit of slog followed prior to a Siddey goal, again from a stoppage as Jolly tapped a ball-up to Kirk and some quick handball released Marty Mattner, who dummied noicely before booting the major. In what would become a pattern the Dockerators answered quickly, Aaron Sandilands soccered 'em into attack from the restart and McPharlin shoveled out a diving handball to Scot Thornton, his handpass wide to Johnson saw a kick to the 'square where Ryan Murphy arrived to soccer the goal. The Dokkers forged on and scored a barrage of behinds, including consecutive misses from Sandilands, before the Bloods majored against the run. Dokker Grover's big clearing punch was gathered by Kieran Jack who potted the sausage (mmm, potted sausage). Fre-ho's lead was 30 points after that and a rapid sequence of goals ended the half, their Scot Thornton took a with-the-flight grab just inside 50 and thumped it through, followed by another Swan stoppage-goal as Jarrad McVeigh roved a throw-in and banana-ed a major. Two more Freo goals put 'em firmly in charge, they won a ball-up by utilizing three ruckmen and Pavlich tumbled a kick forward, Crowley gathered and produced an amazing across-the-body snap from 30m for full points. He's made some sort of infernal deal, surely. Hayden's cool pass set up Thornton for a long kick, Mundy tracked back into the goal-square to mark it and dob another. Freo led by 42 points at the long break.

 

Needing goals instead of ball-ups and throw-ins, Sidderney coach Paul Roos made several moves to start the second half. The oddest of which was placing Rhyce Shaw at full-forward, but it paid off immediately as Shaw found space and was picked out by McVeigh's pass, Shaw marked and booted a goal. Tough for a few minutes as the Bloods raised an effort, led by Kirk. Then Swan Heath 'Reg' Grundy won a disputed ball and fired out a handpass for Nick Malceski to spear a major and the Swans trailed by 30 points, they geed each-other up. Unfortunately Shaw (back in the back-line now) gave away a free and a 50m penalty at the following centre-bounce, gifting Sandilands a goal. Handbags with Suban, apparently. The Bloods replied as Brett Meredith roved a throw-in, of course, and lobbed a kick forward for Kristin Thornton to leap and take a very good grab. The Siddey Thornton converted but again Freo had the answer, Suban punted long to nobody really, but the ball bounced and sat up handily for McPharlin, out-pacing Roberts-Thomson, to collect and poke through from close range. The Bloods scored in turn with a steady short-passing move, Grundy wobbled a kick into the pocket and Buchanan marked and steered it through. The Swans were 30 points down but couldn't manage consecutive goals to start a run-on. Sure enough Freo got the next one, Roberts-Thomson's weak handball on the defensive 50m line put McVeigh under all sorts of pressure, he lost the ball and Peake stabbed a running sausage. McVeigh atoned for his role in that (although it was mostly LRT's fault) by converting a mystery rucking free a minute later, Freo by 30. But the Dockers broke the alternating pattern, Paul Hasleby booted them into attack from the restart, Craig Bolton spoiled Johnson but Mundy gathered the ball and walloped a terrific 55m goal off a step (or two). Then from a throw-in at half-forward Pavlich was crashed face-first into the ground by Goodes, a free-kick and Pav thumped it home. There was an un-necessary square-up moments later when Goodes was awarded a free for Pavlich's 'blocking' at a ball-up plus a 50m penalty for Pav's subsequent verballing of the ump, Goodes majored. But the Swans were still 37 points down at the final change. Not even their marvellous accuracy appeared likely to save them, but they certainly gave it a crack. Clamping down on some tiring Freo runners, the Bloods scored the opening goal of the final korter, albeit eight minutes in. Paul Bevan's kick forward was a shocker but it stayed in-bounds and Ryan O'Keefe collected, he passed for leading Goodes (now at full-forward) to mark and boot a goal. A coupla minutes later Shaw lobbed a speculative kick forward, Freo defender Chris Tarrant got a decent spoil in but Kirk launched himself to win the ball and fire a handpass to Grundy, who snapped truly. The Swans were 25 points down, the closest they'd been since the first korter. In addition the Dokkers lost Palmer with torn knee ligaments as he landed from a marking contest, terrible fortune. But McPharlin effectively sealed it with a fantastic goal, he led up into the middle of the ground to mark Dean Solomon's pass, wheeled away from a stumbling Craig Bolton and played-on, had three bounces to run inside fifty and lobbed it through to finish. Great stuff as the Dokkers led by 31 points. Swan Ed Barlow snapped a great team goal but a few minutes later a ragged handpass in the Swans' back-half caused a turnover and Roger Hayden dribbly-kicked a major. Swans Meredith and O'Keefe bagged late majors to give their scoreline a flattering look.

 

Big games from David Mundy (20 disposals, 9 marks, 3 goals), he won some contested ball, and Matthew Pavlich (27 touches, 3 marks, 3 goals) powered the Dockers along. The challenge now, particularly in Mundy's case, is to do it consistently. The skilful Roger Hayden (17 disposals, a goal), playing as a half-forward, also did well and tall men Michael Johnson (18 handlings, 5 marks, a goal) and Luke McPharlin (16 possies, 5 marks, 3 goals) were also handy. Dean Solomon (18 possies, 7 marks) played well marshaling the defence and Steven Dodd (12 touches) played well on the struggling O'Keefe, although O'Keefe wasn't too bad either. Stephen Hill (14 disposals) used his pace and long kicking to good effect. Brett Peake kicked 2 goals. Siddey milestone man Brett Kirk (27 disposals, 12 tackles) was terrific, shutting down Hasleby in the first half and willing his side into the contest in the second. Jude Bolton (28 possessions, 13 tackles) is also a blood-and-thunder on-baller and running Amon Buchanan (21 touches, a goal) made a decent return, Adam Goodes (21 disposals, 3 marks, 3 goals) made some timely interventions and Jarrad McVeigh (15 handlings, 2 goals) did a bit. Paul Roos was honest as usual. "One of the main disappointments for the night was that we couldn't win for Kirky," Roos said. "He was the one that had to put us on his shoulders again and some of the guys would be disappointed in their performance based on what Brett has given the footy club. He had to rally the troops again and it was disappointing we didn't win for his milestone . . . (The Shockers) were a club under siege and you generally expect an effort like that in those circumstances. It was a credit to them that they came out ready to play after four weeks of disappointing results. They got out early and we couldn't peg them back. Four our young players, it would be their first experience of playing a team that was 0-4 and coming off an 80-point loss. They need to learn that teams fluctuate and you know that if you are Brett Kirk or Jude Bolton, but if you are Brett Meredith, Jesse White, Kristin Thornton, Craig Bird or Kieran Jack you need to see to learn from it. That's the big thing from the game . . . Our forward line wasn't the reason we were behind, but it was why we couldn't peg back a seven goal lead, because we didn't have enough raw talent up there for someone to kick five or six in the second half." A no-doubt relieved Mark Harvey said "I think when you go through a losing streak like [we] have, sometimes there can be a reluctance to take the game on because of that reason. I did make a statement about that; 'Don't worry about the consequence - take the game on' . . . A lot of our senior players got involved early and when you have a look right across the board you'll see everyone's weighed in, in the areas that you are required to, to win the game. It's about stamina, endeavour and last man standing, so tonight typified Anzac Day in many ways. Even though after half time we were out-scored, I thought we never really let them get any momentum on their way back . . . It was one of those extraordinary nights where you play Sydney, you end up having one-hundred-plus stoppages. That's what they pride themselves on and that's where they get their drive from. We were really keen to stop that drive. The playing group has felt the brunt of all that, which is good from a mental toughness point of view for our guys."

 

At Kardinia Park:                                                                

Geelong   5.4   13.8   15.11   18.18.126  

Brisbane  0.2    3.3    4.3      5.3.33

 

Another week, another stat-heavy, superior performance from the Catters. Gary Ablett collected over 40 touches again as the Cats smashed the Lyin's, who were not up for the contest in any way. Brisbun went close to winning this fixture last year but were never, ever in the hunt here. At least it was decent entertainment for the Catter fans who'd ventured out on a very ordinary day. The Pu55y side had Darren Milburn returning from injury and called up David Johnson for a rare run, they replaced injured Cameron Ling (partial tear of the achilles tendon) and dropped Tom Lonergan. Brisbun lost ruckman Jamie Charman for a while with knee trouble and dropped Tim Notting and Cheynee Stiller, in came junior ruckman/forward Lachie Henderson, James Polkinghorne and Tom Collier.

 

An early winters' day in Geelong, heavy overnight rain had soaked the ground and a cold, stiff sou-westerly swept across the field. It wasn't raining when the game started (not much, anyway) and the sun broke through regularly but it was still plenty wet underfoot, big splashes of water greeting every footfall or bounce of the ball. The Katz had the aid of the diagonal breeze to begin with but the game started as you might expect with lots of fumbling and soccer-kicks. The Lisbon Brians had the first decent scoring chance, Justin 'The Shermanator' Sherman had a long shot which Matty Scarlett punched through for a point. The Cats put together a good move but Travis Varcoe missed poorly. The Pu55ies recovered the ball from the kick-in and David Wojcinski lobbed it forward, Max Rooke marked close-in and majored. Lyin' Troy Selwood was tagging his brother Joel and they exchanged some early handbags in front of the parents, who'd been to see Adam's 100^th game in Launceston the previous night. A clearing Lyin' punt spilled from a pack and Mathew Stokes soccered ahead, Varcoe scooped up the ball and handballed to Cam Mooney alone in the goal-square, he popped it through. The Cats led by 13 points. A bit later Lyin' Jared Brennan was done for 'bawl' and the Katz advanced quickly from the free, Stokes punted long and Mooney held a good mark in front of Jason Roe. Mooney booted another goal as you began to feel it'd be a long afternoon for the Brians. Shannon Byrnes managed to hit the post from point-blank, he fell over as if to suggest he'd been under some sort of pressure. He wasn't. Brisbun's second behind came as a long Josh Drummond shot was touched through on the line. From the wind-driven kick-in Cat ruckman Mark Blake had a free, pulled down by Mitch Clark, Blake dished off to Paul Chapman who passed successfully to leading Steve Johnson. Johnson kicked smartly for Byrnes to mark and convert this time. Shortly Joel Selwood won the ball from a throw-in and lobbed a kick to the top o' the 'square where Tom Hawkins, who'd been good, marked well and lined-up from close range, on an angle. We got a great camera-shot from behind Hawkins, which showed the thin posts at Kardinia Park swaying about in the wind. Hawkins steered his kick between the taller reeds and the Catters led by 32 points at the first break. The Lyin's had the wind at the start of the second term and enjoyed a good minute or two. Sherman missed an early set shot, at the other end Chapman missed from the boundary-line and Lyin' Drummond hammered the kick-in to the centre, Polkinghorne gathered and handballed ahead of Sherman, he collected and executed two exemplary wet-weather bounces - you've got to slam the ball down firmly and allow for the skid - before slotting the Lyin's first goal. They trailed by 26 points but the Cats now upped the ante. Jimmy Bartel clutched a good overhead mark and played-on quickly with a kick, Mooney marked behind Dan Merrett, played-on and produced a bizarre grubber-pass to Hawkins who scooped it up and snapped truly. A minute later Darren Milburn weaved through traffic and kicked wide towards Byrnes, he dropped the mark but recovered the ball and lobbed a pass to Stokes, he majored. Soon Mooney marked alone 30m out, played-on and bore down on goal but elected to pass sideways to Varcoe, who missed. The Lyin's were not being sufficiently competitive and were in trouble. Michael Rischitelli attempted a clearing kick to an outnumbered Brennan, sure enough the agget ended up with Chapman who mongrelled a kick forward but it plopped into the arms of Byrnes, another Pu55y goal. All Cats now as Mooney gave up another easy shot but Chapman missed. Arrogant and kinda frustrating so when Johnson's wind-affected kick was marked easily by Mooney with Lyin' defenders spectating, Moons took the responsibility and kicked a goal. Those four Cat goals had occurred in about five minutes and they were 52 points ahead, the Lyin's with just the one goal still. Started checking the time to see when the Carton/Bulldog game was on. Lyin' Jonathan Brown switched into the midfield as the Brisbun forwards froze, probably. Soon the Lyin's had a goal though, Daniel Rich, Luke Power and Simon Black combined and Black's centering kick allowed leading Brown to mark, he majored. Huzzah! I'd switched over to Seven at this stage. The Catters poured on though, they won the centre-clearance following that Brisbun goal and Byrnes set up a running goal for Stokes, then Rooke collected the ball following a series of tackles and bounced a shot through from the boundary-line. A Wojcinski pass set up Ablett for a mark 40m out and goal and the Cats led by 65 points. Brisbun now scored a third major, Cat Harry Taylor's hurried clearing punt held up in the wind and Rich held a good chest-mark, Rich played-on smartly and punted a major from 45m. But the Katz had the final say of the half as Hawkins jogged out to mark James Kelly's pass comfortably and pot one. Geelagong led by 65 points at half-time.

 

I gather there were few highlights thereon, the third term was particularly tedious with no score after the 16-minute mark as heavy rain swept the ground. Jonathan Brown bagged the Lyin's only score of the quarter in the opening minutes, Tom Collier roosted a long punt forward and Brown read it best to mark behind the pack and slot a major. Not much happened for the next ten-odd minutes save a coupla Cat behinds, the Lyin's being a little more competitive. Then Lyin' Sherman unfortunately dropped a mark and Steve Johnson pounced to snap a sausage. The Cats eventually won the ball from the restart, leading Mooney gathered the ball on-the-bounce and handballed off to running Varcoe who slotted. Pu55ies by 73 and 74 at the final change. Into the final stanza then, the sun was out again and a strong Hawkins mark - he played well - led to a mark and goal for Jimmy Bartel. Brown replied for the Lyin's following an excellent mark of Black's up-and-under punt. Mooney battled to get a left-foot shot away, in the goal-square Stokes was spoiled by back-running Ash McGrath but Stokes was able to gather and snap a major anyway as McGrath slid off into the gutter. But the game's most-often replayed highlight came next, handballs from Steve Johnson and Stokes worked the Sherrin clear of a ball-up and Ablett slotted a superb kick from the boundary-line for full points. Gablett saluted the crowd, he enjoyed that. The Cats were 88 points ahead after that, if you're still keeping count. But the Ablett Special was the final goal of the game, it petered out in a string of Catter behinds as more rain arrived. 

 

Geelong had a team-total of 490 disposals, some sort of record I think. Gary Ablett (42 disposals, 2 goals) led the way again with Joel Selwood (31 possessions) the chief ball-winner in packs. Bit o' sibling rivalry. Andrew Mackie (26 disposals, 5 marks) was busy running from the back and in attack Cameron Mooney (22 possessions, 10 marks, 3 goals) set up plenty, maybe too much. His sort of lairizing arguably cost the Cats last year's Grand Final. Tom Hawkins (20 touches, 7 marks, 9 tackles, 3 goals) played the best game of his developing career. You could mention ten other players in the Pu55ies' best but small men Mathew Stokes (24 disposals, 3 goals) and Shannon Byrnes (21 handlings, 6 marks, 2 goals) did well and Paul Chapman (34 possessions, 9 marks) was plenty busy. Max Rooke kicked 2 goals. Hard-working Simon Black (24 disposals) was probably Brisbun's best while Joel Patfull (12 possies) did a very good defensive job again, on the in-form Steve Johnson. Jonathan Brown (9 disposals, 4 marks, 3 goals) did well from limited chances and there were reasonable efforts from Daniel Rich (12 possessions, a goal) and Jed Adcock (13 handlings, 12 tackles). Vossy tried to laugh it off. "It's fair to say we didn't bring the kryptonite," Voss said. "They're the very best team in the competition and probably have been over the last couple of years. You do different things against them and they can counter it. Their ability to win the ball and maintain possession is quite extraordinary and they do bring each other into the game. When you have a group of players together you want something from everyone. When you've got a number of players who aren't contributing it makes it very hard to win a game of football. When you come up against Geelong you have to contribute . . . What we can't do is lose hope on one another and lose what we've been able to build over the months of pre-season and in the early part of the season. We have to make sure we can get back on the bike quite quickly. We've got another game coming up in six days time against a side that has had a reasonable win. There might have to be a DVD we put in the bin and leave to the side so we can move on quite quickly." Mark 'Bomber' Thompson said it was the Cats' best performance this season.  "To kick 18 goals and have 75 entries, to only concede 30 entries, to keep them to 33 points, look it was a really good solid performance," he said. "It wasn't just based purely on seeing how many goals we could score . . . I've never seen anyone kick a goal from that pocket like the way (Ablett) did today when the wind was blowing in that south-westerly direction. It's just an amazing goal."

 

At Docklands:

Footscray  1.6    6.9   10.10   13.12.90

Carlton    4.1   11.3   15.7     21.7.133

 

Impressive, exciting win for the Bluies after two disappointing losses. During last week coach Brett Ratten had urged his men to move the ball more quickly, giving his forwards (and forwards besides Fevola) a chance to get the ball in useful areas. The Bluies certainly did that, mimicking the Bulldogs themselves by moving the ball with great speed and skill. The Dogs weren't too bad in that aspect but their forward-line is struggling, Brad Johnson no longer able to conjure the bags of goals which might've seen 'em win a game like this in the past. The Pups also made an uncharacteristic string of disposal errors, the admirable pressure of the Bluies a contributing factor. The Bluebaggers were motivated by news of ailing ex-president Richard Pratt, stricken with cancer. In picking here the Blues restored Heath Scotland to the side and called up Andrew Carrazzo and Setanta O'hAilpin for their first games of the season, O'hAilpin made headlines in the pre-season when the cameras captured his furious assault on team-mate Cameron Cloke in an intra-club game, finished off by giving the prostrate Cloke a hefty kick in the family jewels. Nice touch. Outgoing Blues were injured Shaun Grigg (ankle) and dropped juniors Mitch Robinson and Sam Jacobs. The Bulldogs lost Jason Akermanis to suspension following his trip-kick on Weegle Nicoski and Stephen Tiller was dropped, but Robert Murphy was in for his first game of the year and forward Jarrad Grant of the Frankston Bombers made his AFL debut, sporting the no. 1 guernsey. Grant's most notable achievement to date was to be stung by a stingray during a recovery session at the beach last year. The Dogs should go down to St. Kilda; only used syringes to worry about there.

 

Grant started his AFL career by pile-driving Judd in a tackle, he won a few fans there already. The Docklands roof was closed on a freezingly cold, windy day in Melbourne. The Bulldogs made all the early chances but missed many, perhaps sealing their fate already. Matthew Boyd missed with a close-range, tight-angle free, Shaun Higgins sliced wide from distance, from that Bloo man Chris Johnson clangered the kick-in straight to Lindsay Gilbee but he missed. The TV folk mentioned that, even with the roof closed, a strong south-westerly wind howls through the entry gates at the Lonsdale Street end and up through the entry-tunnels and I can confirm the truth of that. There was no surprise when Bloo Simon Wiggins kicked a point with their first shot. A goal arrived eventually as off-the-pace Bulldog Robert Murphy sent a hospital handpass towards Callan Ward in the centre of the ground, he was swamped and Bluie Bryce Gibbs stabbed a pass to unopposed Jordan Russell, who booted the six-pointer. The Dogs replied quickly as Mitch Hahn roved a ball-up and handpassed to Josh Hill, he bagged a goal. Brendan Fevola began the game in usual style, giving away a downfield free-kick after unleashing a mouthful of abuse at an official. The Dogs didn't capitalize though. Soon good Fev emerged as he led wide to mark in the pocket, then centered quickly to find Cloke alone in the goal-square and Cloke tapped-through for the six-pointer. Judd wobbled a kick forward from the following centre-bounce, Matthew Kreuzer marked and fired off a handpass to running Scotland. His kick was a low mongrel but Fevola was in-front of his man Dale Morris to take a mark and convert. Oddly the Bullies had Morris on Fevola and Brian Lake taking the resting ruckman-forward, either Cloke or Kreuzer. The Blues led by 9 points. New Doggy Jarrad Grant soon had a chance as he marked 50m out. "He'll miss this," said commentator David 'Ox' Schwarz, a bit dickish but Grant did indeed miss. Carton's Johnson messed up the kick-in again but again the Dawgs didn't punish him, Higgins missing the resulting shot. A bit later Doggy Dylan Addison's risky centering kick missed the target and Bloo Marc Murphy collected the pill, his kick into the pocket was collected by Eddie Betts who baulked classily around opponent Jarrod Harbrow and curled a left-foot snap for a goal. Standard stuff for Eddie as the Blooze led by 13 points at quarter-time.

 

Bulldog Nathan Eagleton booted a long point from the opening bounce of the second term as the Pups battled along to 1.7. The Bluies worked the kick-in down the ground with a two-bounce run from Bret Thornton and Gibbs's long kick found Jarrad Waite for a lurking mark and close-range goal, they led by 18 points. But the Dogs got moving now. Gilbee, who was being tagged by Carrazzo, managed a few touches from a kick-in and a long kick which saw Will Minson clutch a strong grab 50m out, Minson lobbed a quick handball for Boyd to boot a goal. Ward played-on from a free-kick and punted long, Hahn roved his own contest and had a snap which sliced across the goals but Ryan Griffen recovered the ball and snapped truly. Liam Picken led out to mark Rob Murphy's pass and boot a long goal, nudging the Bullies in front by a point. Daniel 'Guido' Giansiracusa had a free at the restart and a 50m penalty was tacked on when O'hAilpin didn't return the ball. Giansiracusa booted truly and the Dogs led by 7 points, with four unanswered goals in ten minutes. But the Bluies struck back in a period when a centre-clearance translated into a goal. The Bluies won the next one after some battle for the ball and Andrew Carrazzo's handpass released running Marc Murphy for a speared goal. The next restart required a couple of efforts after the ump couldn't get a vertical bounce. When play did get under way Bloo Paul Bower got the ball, spun through 360 to break a tackle and handballed to Waite, his kick was probably meant for Fevola but Kade Simpson drifted back to pluck a mark ahead of Fev and punt a sausage. The Bluies also won the next centre-clearance, the Doggies won the ball in defence but their Tom Williams wandered unaware and was tackled by Simpson, 'bawl' and Simpson free-kicked another major. Ryan Houlihan slotted a superb set-shot from the boundary, 45m out and the Blues led by 17 points with four straight goals. Bulldog Boyd tumbled a punt forward from the subsequent centre-bounce and Higgins read it best to take a mark and boot a sausage roll. But the Bluies replied as Bulldog Williams struggled again, attempting to play-on from deep in defence he hacked a kick straight to Bloo Dennis Armfield, he drove a kick forward again and Williams found himself confronted with a rushed-behind situation. Williams hesitated fatally and O'hAilpin arrived to soccer a goal. "Cloke should run down and hug him," said Ox as the Bluies' 17-point lead was restored. Cloke did just that. A minute later Bower tapped the ball back into play when faced with the rushed-behind problem, albeit under a lot less pressure than Williams had been. Waite collected the ball and punted into the centre, Marc Murphy roved the contest and fired a long handball to O'hAilpin on the attacking 50m line, O'hAilpin fed a handpass wide to running Russell who speared a goal. "Brilliant," yelled Dennis Commetti. I thought he was referring to Russell having two kicks in the same game, but probably he meant the overall passage of play which was pretty good. Carton led by 24 points at the long break but they'd lost Chris Johnson with a thigh strain.

 

The Bluies stretched the lead in the early third. The Bullies again coughed up possession in their own backline and Wiggins dived to force the ball towards Judd, he stabbed a short kick to Cloke in the goal-square for an easy tap-through. A bit later Marc Murphy's superb full-pace pick-up and centering pass allowed Kreuzer to mark, his kick was a low wobbler but again Fevola was in front of Morris to collect the ball on the bounce and hook a quick over-the-shoulder snap for a goal. It was the 500^th sausage of Fev's career and provided McAvaney with much-needed statistical relief following the Lloyd frustration of the previous day. More importantly it left the Bluesers a healthy 36 points up. The Bullies had to do something and they lifted the intensity, the move of the speedy Hill to midfield also helping. Wiggins lost possession when tackled and the Bulldogs advanced with a rapid sequence of handballs, Giansiracusa passed for leading Brad Johnson to mark and Johnno booted a needed goal. The 'baggers answered following a smart handballing move of their own, Judd twice involved, then their Murphy dummied brilliantly around Brad Johnson and passed for leading Fevola to mark in the pocket and fade a very good kick for a major. Blues by 36 still, there followed an unusually goal-less few minutes as the Doggies hung in there. Eventually Giansiracusa punted a major following a good grab of Rob Murphy's kick, some more tough minutes before Carrazzo free-kicked one for the Bluies, they led by 37 points at this stage. Giansiracusa found Boyd for a mark and goal but the Bullpups were generally struggling in attack and Eade had shifted Lake to full-forward. Lake had a chance after Cloke postered from a tight angle, the Bullies' kick-in went wide where Hahn clutched a strong mark on the wing, he handballed off to Hill who ran and passed for Lake to mark 20m out, slight angle. Lake missed. Bloo Thornton produced a weak kick-in, allowing Bulldog Daniel Cross to spoil from behind. Brad Johnson collected the spillage and snapped a major, the Pups trailed by 27 points. In the dying seconds of the half Boyd punted the Pups forward and Lake clutched a strong mark in front of the pack, again about 20m out, slight angle. Poor ol' Lakey fired a quick handpass meant for Giansiracusa but it bounced poorly away from the Bulldog and the Blues cleared. Three-quarter-time and Eade was reasonably restrained given a chance to excoriate Lake, his favourite whipping-boy. But 'Rocket' did mention the incident afterwards as a turning point. The Blues bagged the opening goal of the final quarter as the Bulldogs turned over again. Morris took a defensive mark and handballed back towards Gilbee, who quickly found himself under pressure from Betts. Gilbee lost the ball in Betts's tackle and after some battle for the pill Betts sprung up again to snap the goal. Quick reply from the Bullies as the Carlton Murphy slipped over and was pinged for 'bawl' under Liam Picken, the Sherrin was fed to wide to Hahn who booted a terrific long goal from the flank. Footyscray were still about as they trailed by 27 points, but the Bluesers surged away now. Judd soccered 'em into attack from the next centre-bounce, O'hAilpin gathered, wheeled and passed smartly for Betts to mark in the pocket and steer a major. Classy play from Judd created the next chance, Betts again lurked wide into the pocket for a mark and he hooked a cross-goal kick for Kreuzer to clutch a decent pack-mark. Kreuzer converted and a 39-point gap separated the teams. Bulldog Hill just missed with a snapped effort, the Blues moved ahead from the kick-in and Fevola led long to mark in the centre. Fev kicked quickly to allow Kreuzer to hold a back-pedalling mark at full stretch, the big Bloo booted another goal and the Bluie fans began chanting "Krooooozer". Almost as annoying as the 'woofs' which accompanied the (mercifully rare) kicks of Ang Christou a decade ago. Bulldog Higgins fumbled a hot handpass from Ben Hudson and Houlihan collected the ball, he kicked for Wiggins to mark and convert. Soon Nick Stevens was punting forward for leading Fevola but team-mate Gibbs drifted across to mark, hit the ground running and slot it through. Five rapid-fire goals and the Blues were a more than decisive 56 points ahead. The pace and intensity dropped markedly. Bulldog Brad Johnson bagged a pair of late goals, one aided by a handy bounce, the other a good kick from a tight angle. Marc Murphy rode Ward for a noice speccie before some very tired players jogged out the final minutes.      

 

Great game from Bloo leader Chris Judd (23 disposals) and Marc Murphy (25 possessions, a goal) was very good too following his average game in Sydney last week. Bloo fans were very happy with the game of athletic ruckman Matthew Kreuzer (17 disposals, 4 marks, 14 hit-outs, 2 goals) and Kade Simpson (29 touches, 8 marks, 2 goals) played well, helping reverse the momentum in the second quarter. Jarrad Waite (25 possies, 7 marks, a goal) and Bryce Gibbs (25 disposals, 10 marks, a goal) ventured forth from the back to good effect and Andrew Carrazzo (15 handlings, a goal) produced a solid stopping effort on Gilbee - every team's tagging Gilbee now. Ryan Houlihan (29 touches, 8 marks, 2 goals) is playing well, as is Eddie Betts (13 handlings, 5 marks, 3 goals). Brendan Fevola kicked 3 goals while there were 2 each for Jordan Russell and Cameron Cloke. Josh Hill (23 disposals, 6 marks, a goal) played very well for the Bullies in a promising midfield role and Matthew Boyd (26 possessions, 2 goals) worked hard on-the-ball, Shaun Higgins (27 handlings, 6 marks, a goal) displayed his great talent again. Brad Johnson (4 goals from 23 disposals, 8 marks) tried hard in a struggling forward-line and Daniel Giansiracusa (18 possies, 6 marks, 2 goals) played alright too. Ruckman Ben Hudson (17 touches, 16 hit-outs) wasn't bad. Eade was alive to the problem(s). "It was just our errors early. It would have made it a pretty even game at three-quarter time. All our indicators at halftime and three-quarter time we were in front, but we just didn't have the score on the board," he said. "For us to make errors and it go back the other way . . . then in the last quarter, they just outworked us. It was certainly disappointing . . . We missed five or six (shots for goal) within 30m, and that's not counting Brian's horrendous decision as well in the goal square. Like Carlton last week when they didn't take their chances, we didn't take ours today." He pointed out Murphy and first-gamer Grant would be better for the runs. Brett Ratten said "We had a lot of motivation. We knew Dick (Pratt) was at home watching the game, so to give him a performance from his favourite team to sit back and watch was very pleasing . . . He's done so much for our club and he's just been a wonderful person to us so we thought we could actually repay him with a really good hard tough performance . . . (Goal-kicking) is a confidence thing and it's hard when you make a focus of it as a team or on individuals about it. You can get the yips or you can go the other way and correct it. I think to our credit the boys responded accordingly."

 

At the MCG:

Melbourne  0.1   0.3   1.6   4.10.34

Adelaide   2.4   4.6   5.7    7.9.51

 

I tipped the Deez here, thinking back to last year when Melbun won the same fixture. And the Demuns would've succeeded too, if it wasn't for those meddling old guys in the Camrys' back-line. Alright, I'm already struggling in the tipping comp. But the Cows' rock-solid defence snuffed out a mountain of poorly planned and/or executed Melbun attacks and the Corollas did enough in attack to scratch out the four points. The fact that Camry full-back Ben Rutten had 30 disposals should tell you plenty. The Dees made one change to their winning side from last week, captain James 'Junior' McDonald returned to replace Brad Green (broken jaw). Green had been in great form and it was a sad loss for the Dees. The Cows dropped ruckman Ivan Maric and defender Brad Symes, coach Neil Craig had apologised to Maric for his on-camera spray against the Cats last week. Still dropped him, though. Corona replacements were ruckman Jonathan Griffin and flanker Myke Cook.

 

Cold and windy at the 'G as at other Melbourne venues on Sunday, with the odd sprinkling of rain. In contrast to the previous day a hardy 14,000 were scattered around the stands, although the weather and the AFL's pointless twilight fixturing - the game started at 4:30 - were significant factors. The low scoring was due to a combination of factors, a swirling wind ("turbulent" was the word used often by commentators) made any kicking risky, the poor forward-lines of both sides didn't help and it was slippery under foot. As usual the Camrys had experienced men Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod and Michael Doughty in defence complementing big men Rutten and Nathan Bock, they did plenty. Bernie Vince postered with a free-kick after Nathan Jones was very harshly done for 'bawl', a bit later Graham 'Stiffy' Johncock gathered a loose ball in the centre, brushed off a few tackles and thumped a very good goal from just inside the 50. Ruckman Jonathan Griffin, who's added considerable bulk to his tall frame, bullocked his way clear of a contest and forced a kick forward, it spilled from the contest of small men McLean and Mackay and poacher supreme Jason Porplyzia bagged a sausage. The Cressidas had a 13-point lead. The Demuns were working hard but their ball-use going forward wasn't too good, a series of bombed kicks were cleared easily. Bock often ran the ball out, a highlight being a seven-bounce effort. The small but vocal Dee crowd heartily booed every possession of Bock the wife-beater. Taylor Walker capped off the best move of the game to that stage with a disappointing miss as the Cows led by 15 points at the first break. Commentator James Hird was as entertaining as the game. When Jones raised his elbow for a high fend-off, Hird commented "sometimes it's good to take that high elbow in the face, you can get a free-kick." Or pretend to take it in the face, like Hirdy did . . . oooh! A Griffin shot was marked on-the-line by his Dee counterpart John Meesen, that was the other highlight of the first ten minutes of the second term. The Dees now had their best chance so far as long kicks from Colin Sylvia and Ricky Petterd allowed Michael Newton to mark 10m out, on a 45-degree angle. He missed, dammit. The Camrys then scored another goal with a late advantage call a factor. As the ball arrived Camry Scott Stevens didn't go for the mark, believing the kick would be recalled upfield. Behind him Jared Rivers placed his hand lightly on Stevens's back and was pinged for hands-in-the-back. He couldn't believe it and confusion reigned before the free was upheld and Stevens goaled. Very harsh. More of a lull, in the final two minutes of the half Walker kicked another point but a minute later Walker snapped a close-range goal after roving a pack, Goodwin had driven the kick in. Good efforts from Clint Bartram, Sylvia and Aaron Davey created a late chance for Brad Miller, marking 40m out. He missed, so the Cows led by 27 points at the long break.

 

The Dees decided tall blokes were the answer to their goal-less state so Paul Johnson and Lynden Dunn shifted forward to start the third term, joining Newton and Miller. A long snap from backman James Frawley appeared on-target but bounced on an angle and through for a point, sending the Dees rocketing along to 0.4. From Goodwin's kick-in the ball went to the wing, Corolla Walker had a free and handballed instantly to McLeod, he was allowed to run away, have three bounces and balance for an excellent running goal from 45m. Addleaid led by 32 points and the Dees still didn't have a six-pointer. Replays showed Dee Jones had been near McLeod just before the Camry received the ball, but Jones responded to a call from the nearby bench to leave the ground and thus McLeod ran away un-chased. Hirdy showed a talent for unintentional humour when he paused while making a comment to "watch this play unravel." And as Melbun was involved, it did. Fifteen minutes into the third term, the Deez scored their first goal of the game. Another long Sylvia kick found Matthew Bate marking 60m out on the flank, he kicked quickly into a 'paddock' and running Lynden Dunn arrived to mark and hook a kick through from a tricky angle. Hurray! The Dees trailed by 26 points. Bate and Sylvia soon combined again to allow a Johnson mark 40m out, he played-on dopily, was tackled and lost the ball. Newton marked again, 10m out on a 45-degree angle. He tried a very hesitant and un-necessary banana-kick which slammed into the post. Bate missed a more difficult shot before three-quarter time arrived, the Dees were mounting some sort of challenge as they were 25 points down. Two quick last-Mario goals from big Camry Kurt Tippett effectively sealed it. Rutten's spoil on Johnson and good work from Goodwin and McLeod set up the first, Tippett led out to mark David Mackay's pass and boot a sausage with a smart kick. A minute later a slick switch put Johncock into space and his kick was marked by leading Tippett again, a good grab and another smart punt raised the twin calicoes. Adderlayed led by 37 points and the enthusiasm of the dozen-or-so Dee supporters was drained, moreso after Bartram and Miller brought up more behinds from eminently kickable chances. Melbun did make a late run, though. Rutten's decision to keep a loose, boundary-bound ball in play backfired, Newton gathered and his tired lash with the left boot sprayed a low torpedo inboard where Dunn marked fortuitously and goaled. Within a minute Brock McLean marked 60m out, sold a noice dummy around Nathan Van Berlo and ran inside 50 to dob a major. Jimmy Stynes and his immediate family roared into life as the Deez slashed the margin to 23 points. The Demuns won the following centre-clearance and Davey passed for Meesen to mark on the 50m line, he punted long to the 'square where Dunn had three grabs at a mark but didn't do quite enough for it to be paid, the Camrys rushed a point. Then tiring Rutten was run down by Davey, Petterd gathered and kicked for Neville Jetta to mark 30m out - he missed. Goodwin passed the kick-in to Tyson Edwards as the Cows looked to play some keepings-off, Edwards kicked to the opposite pocket but Dee captain James McDonald arrived to take a sliding mark and boot a goal. The Dees were 15 points down with around 5 minutes remaining but they didn't get any closer. An error by Dee backman Matthew Warnock gave Walker a chance but he soccered into the post, Scott Thompson kicked a long point and the Camrys weathered the challenge.

 

Corolla defenders were the key players with Simon Goodwin (35 disposals, 10 marks), Nathan Bock (26 touches, 12 marks), Ben Rutten (30 possies, 11 marks) and Graham Johncock (25 touches, 9 marks, a goal) all good performers. In midfield there were solid efforts from Bernie Vince (33 possessions) and Scott Thompson (29 disposals with 21 handballs, 8 tackles) while the 2 final-quarter goals of Kurt Tippett (19 disposals, 5 marks) were crucial. On the Dee side Aaron Davey (28 disposals) and Brock McLean (29 possessions, a goal) worked hard and Brent Moloney (29 handlings, 8 tackles) wasn't bad, Cameron Bruce (26 possessions) ran far and wide to retrieve the ball. Lynden Dunn (11 touches, 5 marks, 2 goals) gave 'em a spark in attack after half-time. "It had some really frustrating parts of the game," said Dee coach Dean Bailey. "In the second quarter we turned the ball over with our handball. The best way to get through the zone is to kick through it, rather than handball it. Both teams turned it over with the handball, so it just kept more handball going, which was disappointing. But to the guys' credit, I thought our players stuck at it for the whole game - there was some momentum coming in the last quarter. We had a couple of opportunities to kick goals . . . If I was a Melbourne member and supporter [here] today, the handball would've disappointed. It disappointed the players and us too, because we couldn't get through the zone with handball . . . Fourteen shots to sixteen; we certainly want to kick goals and we don't want to play a low-scoring game. We missed some opportunities, some set shots to kick goals. We didn't take our opportunities, so that's very reflective on the scoreboard." Neil Craig said "There's a degree of frustration (in) not being able to execute the way we wanted. There will be a lot of games this year where there will be frustration for our playing group. Were we calm enough when things weren't quite unfolding? No, we weren't. There's lots of great examples we'll be able to show on the debrief. In the first half, we were very good. Our last bit, finishing off in the forward line, we had a bit of trouble with. Around the ground we were very good, and to come away with four valuable premiership points with the way the season is unfolding is important for our group to go through." He went on to describe the boo-ing of Bock as "in poor taste."

 

Ladder after Round 5

                Pts.       %    Next Week

St. Kilda        20    211.8    Footscray (Docklands, Sunday)

Geelong          20    148.8    Melbourne (MCG, Sunday)

Carlton          12    127.1    Hawthorn (MCG, Saturday)

Footscray        12    110.4    St. Kilda (Docklands, Sunday)

Port Adelaide    12    102.6    Adelaide (Football Park, Sat. night)

Essendon         12     98.7    Brisbane (Gabba, Sat. night)

Adelaide         12     92.0    Port Adelaide (Football Park, Sat. night)

Collingwood       8    107.7    North Melbourne (Docklands, Fri. night)

------------------------------------------------

Hawthorn          8     99.2    Carlton (MCG, Saturday)

Sydney            8     97.1    Richmond (SCG, Sunday)

West Coast        8     91.6    Fremantle (Subiaco, Saturday)

North Melbourne   8     86.0    Collingwood (Docklands, Fri. night)

Brisbane          8     82.2    Essendon (Gabba, Sat. night)

Richmond          4     76.7    Sydney (SCG, Sunday)

Melbourne         4     69.9    Geelong (MCG, Sunday)

Fremantle         4     67.8    West Coast (Subiaco, Saturday)

 

Cheers, Tim.

 

 

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