[AFL-Review] AFL Round 7

AFL Round 7

 

At Docklands:

Essendon   4.2   6.7   12.10   17.14.116

Hawthorn   1.8   6.8    9.11   10.12.72      

 

What the fark are the Horks playing at? The exciting win over the Bluesers was supposed to be some sort of turning point, but the Orcs were very ordinary here, slow, lethargic and generally rubbish against a faster, fresher Don outfit - who'd had a day less between games. Luke Hodge is symptomatic, he was beaten last week by Bloo fringe-dweller Andrew Carrazzo and thrashed so badly by Angus Monfries in this one Hodge had to be moved after a quarter. Afterwards Horforn coach Al Clarkson didn't so much embrace the injury excuse as tear its' clothes off and ravish it, reckoning Hodge has been carrying a groin muscle injury (which sounded a lot like osteitis pubis) and blaming the club's injury worries in general for a weak defensive group. Take nothing away from the Bommers, though, their commitment to Knighta's high-energy game-plan is admirable and they blew the Hawks away in the end, without Fletcher, Lucas, McVeigh and Hille. Essadun supporters in the meedya (there are plenty) are highly excited over the fact their lads have beaten the Bluies, Collywood and Horforn, skipping over the fact they've lost to Norf and Brisbun. But, as Knights pointed out, the side is still pretty young and a work in progress. In selection the Bummers bit the bullet and dropped Jim Hird's mate, the formless Scott Lucas, while Dustin Fletcher (fractured leg) will be missing for a while, Leroy Jetta was out with a knee problem. Into the Dons' side came Jay Neagle, Bachar Houli and ruckman Tom Bellchambers. The Hawks lost Brent Guerra again with a back injury and axed Brent Renouf and Jarryd Morton. In came Grant Birchall, returning from injury, along with Cameron Stokes and clearance specialist Ben McGlynn for his first game of the season.

 

Both sides had under-manned back-lines, the Bommers placed forward/ruckman Cale Hooker on Lance 'Buddy' Franklin while the promising Tayte Pears lined up against Jarryd Roughead, at the other end Horks Robert Campbell and Campbell Brown again played in defence, joining Thomas Murphy and other Hawkers who didn't play in the Grand Final. Franklin had the game's first shot at goal but missed it, setting the pattern for his team-mates in the opening term. The Hawkers soon had a goal, Garry Moss cleared a ball-up with a handpass to Brad Sewell, he kicked long where Roughead couldn't hold a juggling marking attempt. Hooker gathered the ball and was tackled fiercely by Franklin, the pill spilled free again and Stuart Dew gathered to stab it through from the goal-square. Hawks by 7 points, but the Dons were already running and tackling hard to stifle the Hawks' modest run. They soon scored a major thanks to a very good Jay Neagle mark, seized firmly in front of two Hork backmen. Neagle converted from 30m, no angle. Awk Mark Williams committed the first of several misses before Bomma Angus Monfries led wide to take a mark and then lobbed a kick deep into the pocket for Nathan Lovett-Murray to mark, just around from the point-post. Lovett-Murray executed a terrific banana-kick for a goal. Monfries was busy and soon led towards Zaharakis's pass for another grab, only to be shoved meatily in the back by frustrated Hodge. Monfries free-kicked a goal and Hodge was soon shifted forward, where he also did nothing. The Bommers led by 10 points as the Hawks continued to rack up the one-pointers, Chance Bateman, Roughead and McGlynn adding to the tally with McGlynn's miss a very poor effort. The Dons scored a coupla behinds before three more Horforn misses, including one from Williams. From the kick-in of that Bomma ruckman Paddy Ryder got a ryde on Hawk Sam Mitchell to take an agreeably spectacular speccie in front of the pleased Bomma fans on the city-side wing. Michael Osborne and Cyril Rioli nudged the Hawks' score along to 1.8 before the Dons scored a late major, a good move completed by a mark and burst of speed from Alwyn Davey, his long kick was marked with-the-flight, on the point-line by Neagle. He quickly chipped back to Matty Lloyd on a better angle and Lloydy converted after the siren. Dons by 12 points at the first break.

 

The Horkers came out with renewed commitment in the second stanza, led by some great efforts from Cyril Rioli. A good run outta defence from Beau Dowler and equally good kick allowed Rioli to mark with-the-flight and run on, delivering a pass to leading Roughead who marked and duly converted. Rioli was involved in the next goal too, marking Osborne's centering pass and then punting long towards back-pedalling Franklin, who couldn't mark but recovered the ball himself and stabbed it through from close range. Then it was Rioli again - he didn't handle the ball but backed into a marking contest, getting hammered but forcing the ball loose. Cameron Stokes gathered and handballed ahead to Williams in the clear, Williams got on-target and the Horkers led, by 4 points. Bomma David Zaharakis had missed two shots in amongst those Hawk goals. The Dons scored a timely sausage roll, Jason Winderlich found space for a run and pass to leading Neagle, he marked 55m out and produced a very good cross-field kick for Monfries to mark and boot truly. Dons by 3 points and it was tight for a few minutes as the Hawks tried but struggled to move the ball against the Dons' decent pressure. After a while Don Courtenay Dempsey marked just behind the centre-circle and stabbed a very good pass to Zaharakis, marking in traffic 55m out. Every player on the ground had been forward of Dempsey and we got a great low-angle camera-shot from behind Dempsey when he kicked, showing the mass of milling players ahead of him and just how good the pass had been - and how good the skills of all players need to be these days. Anyway, Zaharakis passed for wide-leading Lovett-Murray to mark and boot a goal with a wobbly but accurate punt to send the Dons 10 points clear. The Hawks closed in late, Rioli again the leader as his terrific tackle on Houli forced the ball free, Rioli gathered it himself, swapped handballs with Bateman and Rioli sped clear to spear a great goal. The unfortunate Houli was involved in the next Hawk goal, caught in possession again by Franklin who played-on quickly from the resulting free, Buddy's long kick from 50m bounced through for a major and the Hawkers led by a point at half-time.    

 

Plenty of goals in the early part of the third Mario, tipsters like me who'd backed the Orcs expected them to kick away eventually, but they didn't. The Bommas scored first, Hawk defender Brown got a great spoil on leading Neagle but Neagle did well to recover the ball near the boundary, he lobbed a very high kick across the face of the goal and Lloyd clutched a one-armed mark while holding off Brendan Whitecross with the other - not the match-up the Hawks were looking for, probably. Lloyd handballed quickly to Sam Lonergan, who slammed his kick through from point-blank. A minute later Winderlich appeared to have blown it when he elected to kick under-pressure and produced a mongrelled grubber into CHF, Stokes dived after it but defected the ball up to Bommer Heath Hocking, whose quick, wobbly punt took a handy bounce to score a major. The Dons led by 11 points. The Awks replied, Moss found some space to go for a two-bounce run around the wing and pass for leading Roughead to take a diving mark, Roughead thumped it home from 50m. Then the Bommas again, fairly spectacularly. Monfries got a ride on Brown to take a great grab on the 50m line, Monfries lobbed a kick to the top o' the 'square allowing Lloyd to have a run and leap over Whitecross and Lovett-Murray to take the mark. Lloydy converted and the Dons led by 11 points again. Horforn won the ball from the following centre-bounce and Mitchell punted a high kick forward, it cleared Roughead, Pears and Hooker - the last had left Franklin to contest the mark and sure enough Franklin ran onto the loose ball, cantered into the goal-square and popped it through, the Horks trailed by 5 points. All of those goals happened in the first ten minutes, the game tightened up now. Essadun had their confidence up and they crept away again, Zaharakis passed long towards leading Monfries, Tom Murphy got a good spoil in but the ball went straight to Neagle, who'd just come off the bench and was glaringly alone, 20m from the sticks. Neagle slotted. The Dons then benefitted from this very harsh rule against slinging a bloke to the ground, at the following centre-bounce Brent Stanton was (arguably) dumped after handballing by Osborne and the 50m penalty tacked on gave Stanton an easy goal. As Leigh Matthews commented, it's a very harsh rule. The Dons led by 17 points now and Zaharakis should've made it 23, but he missed poorly with a set-shot. Sure enough the Hawks managed the next goal, Roughead's good smother on the wing allowed Sewell and Rioli to affect a switch-of-play and Stokes found himself in space, he kicked long where Franklin marked too easily against Hooker. Buddy dobbed it and the Dons' lead was back to 10 points. But they had the final say, after some circular going-nowhere handball Lovett-Murray shrugged and lobbed a kick in to CHF, ruckman Tom Bellchambers leaped across from the side of the pack to take a terrific pack-mark. He got a bit of a ride on Roughead too, as a sweetener. Bellchambers booted truly and the Bommers led by 16 points then and 17 at the final change. Into the last korter and the Dons had an early goal, they put some pressure on Horforn defenders and Grant Birchall, in his own goal-square, lobbed a poor clearing kick which allowed Lloyd to ride and take a grab over some hapless Hawk (Brown I think). Lloyd majored and the Dons led by 23 points. "Can the Hawks come back from here? I'm not sure they can," said Commetti, accurately summing up the prevailing mood where I was watching the game. The next five-or-so minutes were pretty tight as the Dons made like a good team and sat on their lead, a Lloyd miss extending it to four goals exactly. The Hawks raised a hope with some snappy under-pressure handballs releasing Franklin into some space, he had a bounce and lobbed a kick from 50m for full points. But they could make no further inroads and just before time-on the Bommers sealed it, Lovett-Murray led wide for a mark and his shot from 45m, wide-out, just crept inside the post and over the line for a six-pointer. The Dons led by 25 points and there was no way the Orcs were going to win. In fact the Bombouts piled on the percentage, some runnin' handball put Davey clear, 45m from goal and Davey lobbed a pass to Zaharakis in the pocket, Zaharakis had scored 0.4 to that point but he steered this tight-angle shot for a goal. Ah, the lack of pressure. At the restart a weak Birchall handball turned over possession and Andrew Lovett sprinted into the clear, he thumped a running sausage from 50m. A minute later Lovett-Murray shoved off Murphy to collect the Sherrin near the boundary and pass to Zaharakis again, now in the opposite pocket to his previous shot. Zaharakis slotted again as the Dons coasted to a very enjoyable win.    

 

The Dons had a winning midfield with Brent Stanton (36 disposals, 14 marks, a goal) providing the running link-up and Alwyn Davey (17 possessions) the damaging, zone-busting bursts of speed. Angus Monfries (22 touches, 12 marks, 2 goals) was very good at half-forward and spearhead Matthew Lloyd (19 possies, 15 marks, 3 goals) was the best key forward on the ground and a great leader. Jason Winderlich (29 possies, 4 marks) was handy again and Tayte Pears (11 touches, 2 marks) did well on Roughead, although if Ruffy'd kicked a bit straighter than 2.3 it might've been a different story.  Nathan Lovett-Murray (13 disposals, 6 marks, 3 goals) was also an important forward and Jobe Watson (22 disposals with 16 handpasses) was useful. Jay Neagle and David Zaharakis kicked 2 goals each. The Hawks' best was the very talented Cyril Rioli (22 disposals, 8 marks, a goal), the only Orc with the speed and tenacity to make something happen. Jordan Lewis (21 possessions) played well too and defender Grant Birchall (28 touches, 7 marks) made a decent return, he'll benefit from the run. Brad Sewell (19 disposals, 5 marks) had a huge first half but disappeared after the break. Buddy Franklin (12 disposals) kicked 5 goals but took only 1 mark, Leigh Matthews reckoned Franklin is overweight. Sam Mitchell (26 disposals, 7 marks) won a bit of it but had minimal influence. Jarryd Roughead kicked 2.3 and Mark Williams 1.3. Clarkson whinged. "From halfway through the second quarter, we were trying to rob different areas of the ground to patch up other areas," Clarkson said. "We just found ourselves in a vicious cycle of not being able to settle our side too well. We had two-thirds of the side that played in the back half and if you go through any sides that consistently win games of footy, you don't have a lot of rotations through your back six or seven players. Last year the key fact of our success was a lot of the back six hardly missed any games of football. We're looking forward to our defenders getting back on the park and playing some consistent footy together . . . We know we are nowhere near our best, both with personnel and the way that we're playing. We are certainly not going to throw away a season and we're a much better side than we showed tonight. Having said that, if we don't play anywhere near our best then we can become quite an ordinary, middle-of-the-road side. When you've got a lot of unsettling issues like that (injury) it's hard to play your best footy, and that's what we've got to search for over the next few weeks." Matty Knights said "It's great to get a win at any time with a young group, and we've now had four this year and they're all pretty vital. I guess to beat the reigning premiers, with a team that I think we had maybe 11 guys [with] 25 games and under, I just thought it was a superb team effort, really. We saw a lot of team-orientated football tonight and just the resilience of the group [was great] tonight, to bounce back after we were really towelled up quite significantly last week . . . We're a young team that's improving but we have great performances but then we have games where we're not so crash hot. Hopefully playing St Kilda next game . . .  will be a bit of an inspiration for us for our guys to try to rise again."

 

At Kardinia Park:

Geelong  1.5   8.7   12.10   17.14.116

Sydney   1.2   4.3    7.4     10.5.65

 

Straightforward win for the Cats as we all sit around and wait for 'em to meet the Saints, in round 14 or something. Siddey's attitude was summed up by Barry Hall's newspaper article the day before; get down there, get beaten, leave ASAP. Maybe I'm paraphrasing, although Bazza's people are preparing his exit strategy for the end of the season. The hands-in-the-back rule is forcing Hall outta the game, 'they' say. Others reckon Hall's been rubbish since his weak performance in the 2006 Grand Final. But I digress. The Cats made two changes to the wayward-kickin' side which beat the Dees, Gary Ablett (groin strain) will miss three weeks while David Johnson was dropped, but Cameron Ling returned and captain Tom Harley was available for the first time this year. No change to the Siddey side which beat the Tiggers.

 

The first quarter was tight and scrappy as the Swans attempted to turn the game into a pack-bound arm-wrestle, which they usually enjoy. Catter Steve Johnson, who would have a big day, kicked three behinds in the first five minutes as the ball was dragged about the park. Twenty-six minutes elapsed before the Swans managed a goal on a rebound, Barry Hall led to the wing for a rare grab and handballed inside to running Jarred Moore, he kicked to Brett Meredith who'd run forward into oceans of space. Meredith drew a man and handballed over-the-top to Mick O'Loughlin in the goal-square, he poked it through. Swans by 3 points. Jeelong got one before quarter-time, Johnson dived into a pack and fired a handball to Chapman, he hooked a short punt into the goal-square and there was a big wrestle over it before Travis Varcoe ripped it clear and handballed for Johnson to snap truly from a tight angle. Cats by 3 at the first break. More action in the second, mostly from the Catters. Johnson led the way with midfield efforts coming from Joels Selwood and Corey. The Bloods had an early goal as Moore ran from half-back to the centre, he handballed to Ted Richards who punted long and back-running Heath 'Reg' Grundy marked comfortably, he lobbed it through. Kieran Jack's subsequent point had the Swans 4 points ahead. Johnson replied with three goals in the next six minutes. Cam Mooney led up to mark 60m out, his quick kick was half-smothered by Craig Bolton but Johnson gathered the tumbling ball, wheeled about and snapped truly, with a handy shepherd from Ling. A bit later Johnson led out to mark Corey's pass and convert from 30m on the flank, two minutes later Shannon Byrnes's kick in was fought-over for a bit, Johnson gathered and was ploughed into the turf by opponent Paul Bevan. A free-kick for in-the-back and Johnson booted another, the Cats led by 20 points. Other Pu55ies got in on the act, Jimmy Bartel won the ball from a throw-in and Andrew Mackie punted to the 'square, Swan Richards would've marked if not held back by Mooney, no whistle though and 'Tomahawk' Hawkins gathered the loose ball to stab it through. Soon an impressive and remarkably slick Pu55y move ended with Mark Blake passing for leading Stokes to mark strongly ahead of Bevan and boot a goal. That's confidence, giving the ball to a ruckman to deliver inside 50. Johnson provided an assist when he led long to mark on the forward-flank, Johnson then drove a very long, breeze-assisted punt for back-pedalling Mooney to mark behind Richards and bag a goal. Six-in-a-row from the Catters and they led by 33 points. The Bloods broke the run with a brace of sausages, Adam Goodes ran through the centre to receive Jack's handpass and kick towards leading Hall, but Moore nipped in ahead of Barry to take the grab and convert. Then Marty Mattner finessed smartly on the wing and handballed inboard to Moore, he gave to Nick Malceski whose flat, wobbly punt dropped perfectly for O'Loughlin to mark 25m out and steer for a major. The product of years on the training track, that combination. The Pu55ies' lead was reduced to 21 points but they scored a late major, ruckman Shane Mumford dished off a free-kick to Stokes (Mumford wasn't delivering inside 50) and Stokes passed for leading Mooney to take a grab on his chest and thump a 49m six-pointer. Johnson kicked another behind late to leave the Cats 28 points ahead at half-time.

 

The Swans raised an effort in the third korter, with Adam Goodes shifted onto the ball. Six minutes of battle passed before Cat man Bartel booted a goal, Max Rooke marked on the 50m-line and spent an age lining up the shot before handballing off to Bartel, who thumped it home. But the Swans replied presently, Ryan O'Keefe roved a pack at half-forward and handballed off to running Goodes, who booted it through from the flank. A bit later both ruckmen collapsed at a throw-in and Swan Jarrad McVeigh collected the ball, he lofted a kick forward which O'Loughlin judged best to mark over Harry Taylor. Micky-O majored. Skip ahead a few minutes and Richards and Rhyce Shaw were running the ball outta the Swans' back-line, Shaw passed to Goodes on the wing who marked and was held onto ridiculously by Bartel. A 50m penalty and Goodesey bagged another goal, the Swans had reduced their deficit to 15 points. The Catters responded as Taylor charged up the centre to spoil a pass to Darren Jolly, Taylor paddled the ball to Johnson and he kicked long where Stokes was alone, Stokes dropped the mark but had an age to snaggle the goal anyway. The Bloods pressed on but in the next six minutes they couldn't score. Inevitably the Catters finished off the korter, Paul Chapman collected a loose ball 30m out, wheeled around and kicked the ball straight up in the air (almost), it took a huge bounce upon landing and Stokes pushed Bevan fair in the back so Rooke could collect the ball and snap a goal. Stokes and Bartel missed shots before Stokes got on-target, he scooped Rooke's pass off his bootlaces, played on from a sluggish Bevan and slotted. Normalcy restored as the Pu55ies led by 36 points at the final change. They cruised away in a free-scoring final term, Richards spoiled Mooney in the goal-mouth but then Richards soccered the ball away and it went out on-the-full, while Richards was castigating himself Mooney slipped 'round him and marked Stokes's free-kick, and goaled. A 42-point lead for the Catterers before the Swans snaggled a major, Mattner's fierce tackle on Bartel forced a turnover on the wing, after several handpasses the Bloods got the ball to Moore and he kicked towards Hall, Grundy and their opponents, the ball spilled and Grundy soccered it in slow-motion for the goal. Selwood kicked the ball 40m backwards to James Kelly so he could set up a mark and goal for leading Hawkins, a bit later Shannon Byrnes scored a goal for the Katz, preceding some goals in time-on. Great play from Corey Enright set up another mark-on-the-lead and 50m goal from Hawkins, after which the Cats led by 56 points. Shaw stabbed a kick forward from the restart for the Swans, Jude Bolton swapped handballs with Meredith before Bolton punched a low kick which bounced through for full points. Then Meredith himself kicked one on-the-run, interacting with Moore this time. Kelly kicked a great sausage roll from a throw-in to end the major-scoring.

 

Steve Johnson (28 disposals, 11 marks, 4 goals - 4.5) was pretty quiet in the second half but he'd done the damage by then. Just quietly, Brownlow? Joel Corey (34 possessions, 6 tackles) and Joel Selwood (34 possies, 6 marks) were very good in the middle and the Cats' key defenders were winners, Matty Scarlett thrashing Hall while Harry Taylor (9 disposals, 3 marks) had the better of O'Loughlin. Jimmy Bartel (19 touches, 9 tackles, a goal) was handy in the midfield while Cameron Mooney (16 kicks, 10 marks, 3 goals) and Mathew Stokes (21 handlings, 6 marks, 3 goals) played well up-forward. Tom Hawkins bagged 3 goals including those 2 late ones. Adam Goodes (27 disposals, 4 marks, 2 goals) gave the Swans a big lift in the third quarter when they threatened, Ryan O'Keefe's improvement (25 possessions, 4 marks) continued. Few more goals wouldn't hurt. Jude Bolton (21 touches, 11 tackles, a goal) and Amon Buchanan (22 possies, 4 marks) were handy in the middle as Brett Kirk was tagged by Ling. Rhyce Shaw (24 disposals) did okay as a running man. Mick O'Loughlin bagged 3 goals from 4 marks and 5 kicks, efficient. Heath Grundy booted 2 goals. "Physically, I thought we matched them and I thought we tackled really well, so the things that they're actually the benchmark at, a lot of them we actually did really well," Siddey coach Paul Roos said. "The difference in ball use was why we lost by ten goals . . . It's just a reflection of the competition and we happen to be playing away every second week. It's a really close season in the three to 13 bracket [on the ladder]. There's a mix of teams in the middle, all pretty even [and] that's where we're at. We're a middle team that's pretty even and trying to bring young kids in. I think our young boys struggled today - it's a big assignment down here, so that's a big learning curve . . . If our ball use was better, we're probably a six- to eight-goal worse team than Geelong when we're playing at their home venue. I think it's a fair reflection of where we're at as a club and where we're at as a team." Mark 'Bomber' Thompson addressed everyone's question. "We missed [Ablett] but we still played well. We played Sydney exactly the way we planned to play them. We knew the start would be like that, it would be tight, and our boys just persevered with what we wanted to do and work on, and we did it exceptionally well. To beat Sydney by 51 points at any time is a pretty good performance. The one thing you know that's constant about Sydney is they play that way and they turn up most games. The way they started was exactly the way they wanted to play and I was absolutely thrilled we were able to release the shackles and get on a bit of score and end up kicking 100 points . . . There was a huge amount of clearances with Selwood and Corey, and Scarlett played a terrific game. Tom Harley came back and was trademark, jumping back into space, and Corey Enright as well. Stevie Johnson went berserk early with four goals, so individually, there were a lot of very good efforts."

 

At the MCG:

Richmond   4.5   7.6   8.10   10.11.71

Brisbane   1.4   7.5   9.7     15.7.97

 

A pretty ordinary game, the Lyin's winning thanks to Jonathan Brown, and the Tiges being rubbish. The Lyin's weren't a lot better but the fact they had a few forwards worthy of the description encouraged 'em to attack directly and thus Brisbun recorded their first away-win in the last ten tries. Richmun dominated possession for long periods but their ball-use was terrible, especially forward of the centre. The Richo-less Toigers couldn't work out how a goal might be scored. Maybe if they put the posts on the wings. They're no hope of making the eight now and may as well start tanking. To paraphrase a line from 'The West Wing', the Tiges've been a mess for years, they're not gonna be fixed in the next few weeks. In selection the Tiges lost Matthew Richardson (torn hamstring tendon) for up to 12 weeks while Jordan McMahon was dropped along with Mitch Morton, Adam Pattison was a late withdrawal with 'general soreness'. Inclusions were Ben Cousins, back from his hamstring problem, Troy 'Snake' Simmonds, Jay Schulz and Shane Edwards. The Lisbon Brians were unchanged following their big win over the Bommers.

 

A ragged start, both sides struggled forward of the centre. In the first ten-odd minutes Lyin' James Polkinghorne missed a shot he shouldn't have, at the other end Toigs Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling were off-target with a hurried snap and a long bomb respectively. Mindful of poor recent starts, the Tiges had started with intent and were winning the contested ball. They scored a goal eventually, Daniel Jackson punted into the pocket for leading Jay Schulz to hold a juggled grab, Schulz kicked quickly into the centre where Troy Simmonds out-marked rover Luke Power and booted a goal. Simmonds and Schulz were in attack, in place of Richo and Morton. A bit later Ben Cousins was slung to ground by Power after handballing away from a ball-up, the punitive free-plus-50 was invoked and Cousins booted a goal, his first for the Tiges to put them 13 points up. A few more behinds were scored, Daniel Bradshaw's first shot was a left-foot snap from a tight angle which wobbled on-the-full. The Tiges were manning-up well in defence and helping out Brown and Bradshaw's principal opponents, Kel Moore and Luke McGuane respectively. A clearing clanger from Lyin' Scott Harding was snaffled by Schulz, he handballed off to busy Nathan 'Axel' Foley who punted long and Deledio roved Graham and Merrett's contest to stab it through from point-blank. Robin Nahas postered with a free-kick and Simmonds missed with a running shot from 50, the comment was made that the Tiges weren't scoring in ratio to their general control of the game. Eventually Cousins won the pill from a ball-up and Alex Rance lobbed a handball into the path of Matt White, White collected the agget, ran to 50m and roosted a major. The Tiges led by 26 points now. Brisbun hadn't looked like scoring a goal but they got one with ninety seconds remaining in the quarter, a lucky free-kick to Troy Selwood in the centre allowed him to kick long, the ball spilled from the pack and roving Jared Brennan saw his left-foot snap bounce through for a six-pointer. Jonathan Brown missed a set-shot from the boundary and Richmun led by 19 points at the first break. The Brians improved in the second quarter, Simon Black leading an increased effort from the midfield. The Tiges were still going well, though, some aggressive tackling brought an early goal as Lyin' Joel Macdonald was done for 'bawl' and Schulz free-kicked a major, the Tiges led by 25 points. The Brians won the following centre-clearance and the ball went wide to Power, he passed to Michael Rischitelli and his punt forward was marked with some skill by Brennan, who converted. The Tiggers replied with a move commenced by Nahas's free-kick, a few passes later and Mark Coughlan passed towards leading Jack Riewoldt but Nahas nipped in ahead to take the mark and boot a sausage. Black won the ball from the subsequent centre-bounce, his low kick was gathered on-the-bounce by leading Brown who handballed off smartly to Rischitelli, he stabbed a kick for leading Bradshaw to mark and punt a goal. Richmun's Foley sped clear of the next centre-bounce, Tambling dropped his pass but Foley arrived to gather the Sherrin and have another go, handballing to Riewoldt whose quick, high kick was marked strongly by Angus Graham at the top o' the 'square. Graham majored and the Tiges still led by 25 points. The brief burst of entertainment ended and some very ugly, clanger-dominated footy arrived. Selwood punted an attacking kick straight to Joel Bowden, who in turn kicked the ball straight to Power, who lobbed a poor kick to a heavily out-numbered Brown. But the Lyin's were the winners as in that marking contest Tiger Moore was crashed heavily by team-mate Rance and damaged a shoulder, he departed. Bowden became Brown's opponent, so Brown didn't have one effectively. Within a minute Bowden ran off him to win a kick and pass hopefully towards an out-numbered Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Lyin' ruckman Mitch Clark won the ball and kicked to find Brown marking completely alone, 45m out. Brown goaled. A bit later Lyin' full-back Daniel Merrett took a good defensive grab and was allowed to go for a run, he kicked long and Bradshaw came sprinting out to mark 55m from goal. Bradshaw punted for Brown to hold an excellent with-the-flight mark against Bowden, Brown booted another sausage roll. Confidence surged through yer Lyin's as the Tigger lead was cut to 13 points. A free-kick allowed Josh Drummond to boot the Lyin's into attack again and Bradshaw took a strong contested mark - against team-mate Brown. Bradshaw majored and the Richmun lead was 7 points. The Lyin's won the next centre-break but Daniel Rich's shot hit the post, a bit later a defensive rebound ended with Harding winning a free-kick, held back by Dean Polo in a marking contest. Harding's resulting major leveled the scores. Tige full-back McGuane snuck forward and clutched a very good pack-mark late in the term, but his shot after the siren hooked wide for a point, by which the Big Pu55ies led at half-time. 

 

Richmun's Moore returned for the second half but the Lyin's had realized that fast, direct attacking was likely to beneficial. The Tiges made a bit of an early effort but Nahas and Edwards kicked behinds only. Drummond thumped the kick-in from the Edwards point into the centre, Rich marked and passed to Albert Proud at half-forward, Proud fired a handpass to running Power, another to Rischitelli who stabbed a kick for a very low-pressure goal. A minute later Brisbun scored a rushed behind and the Tiges' runnin' handball move from the kick-in came unstuck, Brown collected the ball and handpassed to Black who dobbed a major. The Lyin's led by 10 points, having scored the previous six goals of the game. But their momentum was halted by a nasty incident, Selwood and Rance clashed heads very heavily and were knocked out as they dived after the ball on the ground. Rance was stretchered off and later went to hospital with multiple fractures of his cheekbone, Selwood staggered off with assistance but didn't return. The game was halted for several minutes and when it resumed, the Tiges improved. But their attacking efforts were awful, chipping the ball slowly and predictably from side-to-side before becoming mired in short-range handball, bombing the ball to a static, heavily out-numbered forward or simply committing a straight-out clanger. Guest commentator Matthew Lloyd blamed the 'inexperience' of the Richmun forwards but it seemed more like a collective cluelessness. This went on for ages, to the vocal frustration of Toiga fans. At one stage the TV showed Tige coach Terry 'Plough' Wallace sipping from a can of Carlton Draught, maybe. Well, it was a dark-red can. Couldn't blame him if it was a beer. Dan Jackson was forced off briefly after Foley's accidental boot to his head opened a wound and covered Jackson's face in an extraordinary amount of blood. With 5 seconds remaining in the term Deledio lobbed a speculative punt towards Simmonds and four Brisbun defenders, amazingly Merrett was penalized for holding Simmonds and 'Snake' free-kicked a goal after the siren, the Lyin's led by 3 points at three-quarter-time. The break steadied the visitors and after some early cheek from the Tigers, they romped away in the final term. A fumble from one-armed Moore on the wing enabled Polkinghorne to gather and fire a good handpass to Brown, the Lyin' skipper ran inside 50m, swung onto his right boot and booted a terrific goal. Black won the Sherrin at the next centre-bounce, Travis Johnstone punted forward quickly. The ball took some erratic bounces and no-one could handle it until Justin 'The Shermanator' Sherman slid in to soccer a major. A strong defensive mark from Merrett led to the next goal, a quick transfer via Macdonald and Proud and Rich passed for leading Bradshaw to mark, he was barrelled a split-second after by Bowden but was (rightly) paid the grab. Bradshaw converted and the Brians had kicked away to a 20-point lead. In the meantime Tiger ruckman Graham had collapsed mysteriously while quietly running along; commentator Luke Darcy suggested Graham had a 'full body cramp'. Anyway, on went the Lyin's as Macdonald passed from defence to find Polkinghorne, he handballed to running Sherman who passed for leading Brown to mark and boot another goal. An attacking Toiga kick went straight to unopposed Drummond, he played-on and kicked to Jed Adcock in the middle who was clattered after marking by frustrated Polo. A clear 50m penalty and Adcock punted a simple sausage, the Lyin's led by 32 points barely half-way through the quarter and it was over. The Tiges scored some belated majors as the pressure eased, the recovered Graham marked in the centre and handballed to Nahas who worked clear with a burst of speed, he punted long and Simmonds plucked a decent grab at the top o' the 'square, 'Snake' dobbed his third goal. Johnstone handballed for Rischitelli to kick a running sausage before Simmonds ended up with a fourth, a decent running effort after Tambling gathered Edwards's pass and handballed to the Snake.

 

No doubt Jonathan Brown (11 marks, 19 disposals, 4 goals) was the major difference between the teams and he was brought into it largely after Simon Black (24 possessions, a goal) began to win some clearances. The Lyin's defensive group did well, Luke Power (27 disposals, 6 marks) was deployed back there to provide some decent run and Daniel Merrett (16 touches, 9 marks) was a rock at full-back, back-flankers Joel Patfull (15 handlings, 8 marks against Riewoldt) and Joel Macdonald (17 handlings, 7 marks) played well. Rebound man Josh Drummond (21 disposals, 9 marks) was useful too. Daniel Bradshaw (10 marks, 10 kicks) managed 3 goals, Michael Rischitelli and Jared Brennan kicked 2 goals each. The Tiges' best was rover Nathan Foley (31 disposals) while Luke McGuane (17 touches, 7 marks) did alright on Bradshaw. Angus Graham (19 disposals, 8 marks, 21 hit-outs, a goal) showed he could be a very good ruckman and Brett Deledio (30 possies, 6 marks, a goal) battled hard, back-flanker Dean Polo (27 touches, 6 marks) did alright. Troy Simmonds (11 disposals, 2 marks, 4 goals) proved a dangerous forward when he got some service and Daniel Jackson (24 handlings, 5 marks) did okay midfield. Terry Wallace threatened the axe - to bring in who, exactly? "That's my responsibility coaching at this stage - I'm coaching the Richmond Football Club for the Richmond Football Club, and I will do what the Richmond footy club thinks is the right thing to do in regards to having a look at players", he said. "We've got to make some difficult decisions . . . We have to work out who are the right guys to take the club forward and who aren't, and that's exactly what we'll do." Sounds like tanking talk! On the game itself, Plough said "We had times where guys got the ball and were looking down one tram-track, and we had guys streaming down the other side of the ground out clear. The ability to have vision to find them on the other side of the ground, you've just got to open up your vision in this game. We didn't hit our targets, and also our decision-making was poor . . . The disappointing thing for me was that, from midway through the second quarter to midway through the last it was 12 goals to 2, and in that period of time we had one more inside-50 entry than them. We had 29 entries for two goals, and they had 28 entries for 12 goals. I reckon the blokes were having a crack, but I thought it was the worst we've disrespected the ball . . . They kicked 10 goals in that period from our turnovers, and that's the ball game." Michael Voss said "I think they (Brown, Black and Power) really stood up, I spoke to them at quarter time and they were pretty positive in their messages that we could turn it around. And they really took the onus on themselves. That effort of Luke Power (with-the-flight mark into oncoming Riewoldt) was just an absolutely outstanding mark; Troy Selwood going in hard and low, two players who didn't take their eye off the ball, that was just the commitment that was showed among the group. They held their line when they needed to hold their line . . . Our leadership group has really grown over the course of the year and is really starting to understand what is required and what they can and can't do out there . . . We've been in every game apart from the Geelong one and that's very pleasing."     

       

At Docklands:

North Melbourne  5.1   12.1   15.3    20.5.125

Port Adelaide    4.1    6.6   12.8   18.12.120

 

Very good, if somewhat tense win for the Kangers. With some classy players restored - Daniel Wells was terrific - and a committed, straight-kicking effort they deservedly beat the Port Adelaide Hubris. Port played arrogant, 'cheat' football as they ran forward of the contest to win a cheap kick rather than the actual ball. Forwards didn't bother to pressure the running Norf backmen. It's the sort of Port 'effort' they produce all too often, although the loss of Salopek and Kane Cornes with shoulder injuries didn't help them. What could've been was shown in the final five minutes, the Powder trailed by five goals but stormed home with a string of centre-clearances and four quick majors; in the end the Ruse forced a series of ball-ups to grind out the win. The Kangers had Wells and Matt Campbell return while half-forward Ben Ross and ruckman Todd Goldstein were called up, but things weren't all rosy as late withdrawals Brady Rawlings (calf injury) and in-form Gavin Urquhart ('flu) joined injured Daniel Pratt (strained knee ligaments) and dropped junior Levi Greenwood in the omissions. Port made one change to their showdown victors, Hamish Hartlett (hamstring) replaced by first-gamer Jason Davenport, a midfielder from Geelong.

 

All the Melbourne-based clubs are embroiled in arguments with Docklands Stadium management over their financial deals to play there and, being quite poor to start with, North are affected more than most. The Kangers have to attract more than 31,000 to a home game in order to make any money and this is pretty rare for them, especially against under-supported interstate battlers like Port. The Norf folks organized a unique form of protest here, after every (North) goal their fans sitting near TV cameras waved money in the air; my favourite was a 5-year-old kid waving a 50-cent piece. North started well, thanks to Port skipper Dom Cassisi lobbing a cross-goal kick in defence and young Roo Jack Ziebell dived to take an intercepting mark, Ziebell goaled. A few minutes battle, all in North's attack, before a typical piece of Daniel Motlop opportunism for Port brought them a goal. Roo Leigh Harding shoveled the ball out of a pack but Motlop batted the ball down and soccered it through for a goal from 35m. But an aggressive North were making most of the play, a rebound move ended with Ben Warren - nickname 'Milky', we learned later - finding Harding all alone 40m out and Harding converted, a bit later Wells sent a long kick towards David Hale, he couldn't mark but Matt Campbell roved perfectly and ran in to stab a low banana-kick for full-points. The Kangers led by 13 points. As the term progressed the Powder began to get some movement, Peter Burgoyne kicked into a sparsely-populated forward-line where Brendon Lade marked in front of Scott Thompson and booted a goal, Motlop missed a shot before Warren Tredrea was paid a dubious back-running mark between Shannon Watt and Thompson. Brave effort, but he didn't hold it. Nevertheless Tredrea booted a good goal from a tough angle on the flank and levelled the scores. Norf answered presently, Sam Power punted to a milling pack and Harding drifted in to mark on his chest, as the TV folk noted Harding is not the most reliable shot for goal but he slotted this one from the flank. Harding's direct opponent, Danyle Pearce, was not doing much defensive work. A bit later Adam Simpson bombed a kick in, Hale nearly marked but 'Milky' Warren gathered the ball, slipped a few weak tackles and wobbled a quick punt for a major. The Ruse led by 12 but Port scored a very late one, Motlop and Tredrea managed to spoil each-other going for the same mark but Brett Ebert roved smartly and cantered into an open goal he could've kicked himself, instead Ebert handballed unselfishly for Travis Boak to poke it through. Norf by a goal at the first break. The Powder appeared to have steadied in the early second quartier, Ebert missed a set-shot before full-back Alipate Carlile worked forward and punted long to the goal-square, Motlop leaped impressively to mark in front of Josh Gibson and Motlop handballed the instant his feet hit the ground, allowing running David Rodan to stab an easy major. "Motlop is set for a huge night," reckoned TV's Dunstall but like his side in general, Motlop did some good things but never really caught fire. North replied, Ben Ross got the ball to Campbell in space and he kicked smartly to the goal-square where Hale took a comfortable mark against dwarfed Port midfielder Steven Salopek. Big 'Whale' popped it through. Hamish McIntosh punted the Kangers into attack from the following centre-bounce and Salopek, not a defender, clambered all over Warren to affect a spoil. A free-kick to Warren and he majored, Norf led by 11 points. The Powdermen began to miss a few shots although none were easy, usually from out wide and/or under-pressure. The Kangar5e didn't miss, as Wells orchestrated many attacking moves. Andrew Swallow led Troy Chaplin under the ball, Swallow doubled-back to gather and punt to the goal-square where waiting Hale was clattered by two oncoming Port defenders. But Aaron Edwards gathered the pack-spillage and produced an over-the-shoulder snap for a goal. Flowers Motlop and Chad Cornes missed shots before Edwards bagged another, out-maneuvering Michael Pettigrew to hold a good grab of Harding's long kick and raise the twin calicoes from 35m. North won the following centre-clearance, Campbell flipped Power's kick away from Jacob Surjan, Campbell gathered and sent a terrific running, left-foot punt for full points. A minute later Hale lumbered out to gather Wells's pass on-the-bounce and Hale fired a no-look over-head handball to Michael Firrito, who produced a great banana-kick off one step for another Kanger major. Norf couldn't miss as they surged to a 31-point lead. New Port man Jason Davenport broke the run, Ziebell fired a wild handball clear when tackled on the defensive 50m line and it went to Port's Robbie Gray, he handballed for running Davenport to drill it through. But the Ruse had the final word, Ben Ross went for a two-bounce run through the middle and lobbed a kick for Edwards to hold a very good, back-pedalling mark under pressure from Pettigrew. Edwards bagged his third goal of the stanza and the Northerners led by 31 points at orange-time.

 

Undoubtedly given a rev by 'Choco' at half-time, Port started the third stanza with a bit of effort. Pearce mongrelled a kick into CHF which bounced up handily for Gray to gather, he handballed quickly to the goal-square where Ebert and Nathan Krakouer were arriving. Them Port players love an easy kick, 'specially if it's a shot for goal. Ebert allowed Krakouer to do the honours. A few minutes later Ebert led very wide to mark at the junction of 50m and boundary-lines, he stabbed short in-board pass to leading Tredrea who marked and converted. The Kangers' lead was sliced to 19 points but they responded presently, Campbell weaved through traffic and lobbed a kick into CHF just before being smashed by Surjan, the kick dropped noicely for Swallow to mark uncontested and boot a major. A slick running move ended with Wells lobbing a smart pass with his non-preferred right boot to unattended Campbell, he booted truly and the Ruse were 30 points up. The margin stayed around 5 goals for a little while. Ebert kicked a goal after leading to mark Tredrea's pass, five minutes elapsed and we were into time-on when Firrito finessed at CHF and handballed to Wells, his ball-use was superb again as Wells produced a cross-field pass to find Lindsay Thomas all alone, Thomas booted a sausage. A minute later hard-working Boak punted long and Tredrea shrugged off Thompson and Watt to hold a good pack-mark, Harding raced in and tackled Tredders for some reason; Harding claimed an umpire had called Boak's kick touched off-the-boot. But no, it was 50m penalty against Harding and Tredrea majored. Around this stage the Power lost Salopek, who dislocated his right shoulder while trying to tackle Edwards. The quarter went on for a while and Port closed in, Kane Cornes ran and kicked long and Ebert ran out to mark ahead of Watt, Ebert booted a goal. Robbie Gray took the ball away from the restart and slipped a running handpass to Chad Cornes, Chadley ran to 50m and launched a long shot which went through with goal-square shepherding from Motlop, although Motlop also stuck his foot out as the ball went by, trying to get a toe on it and claim the major. Port had reduced the margin to 13 points at the final change.

 

The Kangers lifted into the ultimate Mario, they advanced from an early kick-in following a rushed Port point and Ross drove a long kick for running Thomas to hold a very good with-the-flight mark, under pressure from Chaplin. Thomas hurt his shoulder a bit as he crash-landed but booted the goal. Speaking of damaged shoulders, Kane Cornes soon hurt his, crunched by Adam Simpson. It was bad enough to force him off and leave the Powder short of two running midfielders. A bit later Wells ran forward to receive a handball from Power and jab a pass to Ed Lower, the Roo man sausaged and the Kangers were 25 points ahead. Port hung on, Pearce missed a shot before Lade tapped a forward-pocket throw-in down to Travis Boak and he snapped very quickly and accurately for a major. A few minutes later Port received a goal from a similar situation, a forward-pocket ball-up where Dean Brogan was hurled to the ground by Goldstein. A free plus 50m penalty for Brogan as Dan Harris soccered the ball away, Brogan majored and Norf lead was back to 12 points. The Ruse found something again, a Port kick-in was banged down the middle and Ross roved the pack, he kicked wide to Drew Petrie who dummied around Tom Logan and slotted a major. We were into time-on and 7 playing minutes remained when Adam Simpson roved a ball-up 30m out and snapped a great left-foot goal, he and several team-mates celebrated as the Ruse went 24 points ahead. A bit later Lower punted to the 'square again and Thomas ran back bravely to force a contest, the ball spilled and big Hale gathered to snap an over-the-shoulder sausage. The clock showed 5:40 to go as the Ruse led by 30 points. Surely it was over, the Kangers certainly put the cue in the rack. Port men Lade and Gray combined to win the ball from the restart and some handpasses ended with Chaplin, now venturing forward, lobbing a short kick for Rodan to mark 25m out bang in front, D-Rod converted. A minute later Lade flipped a forward-flank throw-in out the back, Petrie gathered and attempted to barrel through three tacklers. 'Bawl' it was and Chaplin free-kicked a goal. Soon Port were racing forward again, loose men everywhere as Gray just got his kick away before being tackled and Lade marked it, Lade bagged a six-pointer. Norf fans had the jitters as their lead was cut to 12 points with just over 3 minutes to go. Krakouer held a good grab in the centre, tumbled a quick kick forward and Chaplin marked strongly in front of Edwards, their normal roles reversed. Chaplin played-on quickly and wobbled a kick to the goal-square, Motlop gave Scott McMahon a healthy nudge under the ball, spilled the mark but Motlop was able to soccer it through anyway. A goal between 'em with 2:15 remaining. But the only other score was a missed Motlop snap with 1:50 left and Norf decided that forcing a series of ball-ups and throw-ins was the way to go, it worked.

 

Every time Daniel Wells (26 touches, 4 marks) touched the ball, something good happened for Norf. Ruckman Hamish McIntosh (20 disposals, 29 hit-outs) did a sterling job against the Port pair, young midfielders Andrew Swallow (27 possessions, a goal) and Jack Ziebell (23 touches, 5 marks, a goal) did well. Aaron Edwards (10 possies, 3 marks, 3 goals) gave the forward-line some edge, as did Matt Campbell (16 possies, 4 marks, 3 goals), and Ben Ross (20 disposals) did some running. Everyone pitched in as Leigh Harding, Lindsay Thomas, David Hale and Ben 'Milky' Warren kicked 2 goals each. Port midfielder Travis Boak (27 possessions, 2 goals) played arguably his best game for the club and Kane Cornes (29 possies, 9 marks) finished as their leading possession-getter despite not playing for most of the last quarter. Others' efforts  were fitful though, Dom Cassisi (27 handlings, 12 tackles) battled away with minimal influence, Warren Tredrea (11 disposals, 7 marks, 3 goals) did a bit now and then, Troy Chaplin (22 handlings, 6 marks, a goal) played a big part in the late surge. Daniel Motlop (13 disposals, 5 marks) kicked 2.4, Brett Ebert, Brendon Lade and David Rodan kicked 2 goals each. "It was a terrible result for our club," said Choco. "I thought we started really poorly. We were probably expecting them to play exactly how they did and we didn't handle it. We made way too many mistakes and fumbled the ball all the time. We had a couple of bad injuries there that stopped a bit of flexibility as far as our run was concerned. In the end we were a chance but I'm not sure how many days [there will be] where the opposition kicks straight like that. It's unbelievable . . . Let's be sure that they actually won all the hard stuff early and they dominated us at clearances early . . . I'm not sure how many games you'll have 14 goals in a row scored against you without any points. There's one for the records today . . . We're not using any excuses (sounds like you were). We are desperately disappointed with how we played. Last week we won and I said we were just a battling side and this week we lost and I still say the same thing." Dean Laidley is a hard man. "We've been on the end of some hidings from Port Adelaide, but when we've been able to control certain areas of the game we're a show. I thought the boys' endeavour across the 22 players [was great]. (Port) have got some very, very quick players and at some stage they were going to get outside of us. It was only a matter of when. We really planned for that, but when they get a run-on they're very hard to stop . . . I don't know about (the win being) season-defining. I never spoke about the result today. I spoke about being accountable and responsible all week [as well as] our ability to execute. I thought our efforts over the last few weeks had been pretty good, but we need to be better than that, so we spoke about that all week." How 'bout that kickin' accuracy, Deano? "Our goal kicking [accuracy] has dropped seven per cent from last year," he said. Hard.

       

At Carrara:

Carlton    3.2    8.4    9.10   11.15.81

Fremantle  3.4   10.5   12.7    13.10.88

 

That Mark Harvey is a great coach. Whoever said otherwise is clearly an idiot. Fremantle recorded a third straight win with a bit o'luck but they had enough of the ball and used it decently. Winning also broke the 'Derby hangover' to which Freo've been prone. Roger Hayden's return is a big part of the Dokka resurgence, they say in Perf, once again Aaron Sandilands and Paul Hasleby won about 753 clearances from the stoppages. Unfortunately for Blueser fans 'bad Carlton' showed up on the Gold Coast, they committed a series of clangers and generally poor disposal and Brendan Fevola was in a 'couldn't give a feck' mood, although he regularly trotted to the bench to give the impression he was injured. Probably is. But without Fev firing, the Blues had tremendous trouble scoring goals again. The Bluies made four changes to the side beaten narrowly by Horforn, Andrew Carrazzo missed with a hamstring injury while Greg Bentley, Setanta O'hAilpin and, surprisingly, Ryan Houlihan were dropped. Called into the Bloo side were Richard Hadley, half-back Matt Austin, ruckman Shaun Hampson and first-gamer Chris Yarran, a very talented half-forward from Swan Districts. The Dockulaters also had a debutant in rookie-listed back-flanker Luke Pratt, also from Swan Districts. He replaced injured Ryan Crowley (foot).

 

Bluie fans can't have been happy about having a home game shifted to the Gold Coast, especially when the Dockers have been so awful at Docklands, where this game would've been played, presumably. No doubt they received a handy whack of dough for doing so (400K, allegedly), but the four points went begging. Plenty of Bluesers made the trip up from Melbun, or at least Bluie fans dominated the decent-sized crowd. Not many coming over from Perth, funny about that. Fevola ran off the ground and down the race after 26 seconds, he hadn't even been involved in the play at that point. He emerged soon enough, flexing his troublesome right foot. Moved okay when he came back on, though. In the meanwhile Fev's opponent Chris Tarrant picked up a hatful of easy kicks. The Bluies managed the first goal, from a forward-pocket throw-in Freo's Hasleby gathered but was tackled firmly by Chris Judd, the ball spilled free and Eddie Betts pounced to snaggle a sausage. But Sandilands and Hasleby won the ball from the restart and it went wide to Garrick Ibbotson in space, he went for a run and kicked long where Hayden marked smartly behind two Bluie defenders. Hayden majored. Judd was trying very hard for the Blooze and he bagged the next major, Judd roved Hampson's contest 60m out, ran to the 50m line and ignored Fevola's lead to bounce a punt home for full points. The Bluies led by 4 points, but they were making plenty of errors - one soon cost a goal as Jamison's clearing kick went straight to Freo's Clay Hinkley, he handballed off to Duffield who chipped a pass to David Mundy, he marked and majored. Blue Dennis Armfield was penalized ridiculously for 'deliberate' when he soccered the ball 40m from the back-pocket and it rolled out of bounds. Nick Suban's shot with the free just missed. Freo bagged the next goal, a scrap for possession at CHF ended with Paul Duffield's wobbly kick forward where Luke McPharlin won a free for being held back by Michael Jamison. McPharlin popped it through from 15m and the Dokkaz led by 9 points. A bit later the Bluies produced a good attacking move and Chris Yarran had the ball on the boundary about 30m out, he had a ping but produced a mongrelled kick which bounced and was rushed through for a behind. Yarran copped a mouthful from Fevola. But the Blues had some reward soon as some rugged tackling from a ball-up ended with Stephen Hill being palpably caught by Richard Hadley, Hadley slotted the resulting free-kick for full points and Freo's lead was reduced to 2 points. Fevola's first kick came from a mark seconds prior to the siren, his shot from outside 50 was touched through. Freo by 2 points at korter-time.

 

Some Bluie mistakes helped the Shockers to a more substantial lead early in the second stanza, a poor clearing kick from Jarrad Waite enabled the Dokkers to send the ball in again, Waite recovered the ball but his red-hot handpass put Simon Wiggins in trouble and he was tackled by Michael Johnson, the ball spilled free and Brett Peake swept it up to dob a goal. A bit later Bloo ruckman Matthew Kreuzer's poor handball and Matt Austin's subsequent fumble led to a ball-up when the Bluies should've cleared their defence. From the ball-up Sandilands tapped beautifully for running Hill to collect the ball and boot a major. Freo led by 15 points and with Fevola struggling, the Bloozers moved Waite to the forward-line. But Freo kept on, junior Matt de Boer had free in the centre when shoved heftily in the back by Armfield, de Boer played-on and passed for leading Ryan Murphy to mark and boot a noice long goal. Freo by 21 points. Heath Scotland won the ball from the restart and looped a handpass to running Judd, who booted a long point. But Freo's kick-in was sent towards a big pack and Hadley won the pill for Carton, Yarran's following handpass to Kade Simpson was poor but Simpson did well to gather the ball and feed it to running Waite, who dobbed a sausage. At the following centre-bounce Bloo rover Marc Murphy was tackled high by Hayden and had a free-kick, plus a 50m penalty as Sandilands didn't return the ball directly. Murphy converted and Freo's lead was cut to 8 points. Marc Murphy missed a set-shot from 40m as Fevola went to the bench again. Freo replied following a strong Matthew Pavlich grab in front of Wiggins. We'd been led to believe Judd and Pavlich would be opposed directly, but both men had a variety of opponents and only rarely lined-up against each other. Anyway, Pavlich punted down the wing and Hasleby roved the contest, he kicked towards Byron Schammer 30m from goal who was shoved in the back by Bloo Scotland. A clear free and Schammer converted.  Some great play from Kreuzer created the Bluie reply, Kreuzer marked in the centre and passed to Aaron Joseph, Kreuzer ran on to receive a handpass from Joseph, give another to Hadley, keep running to receive Hadley's return handball and then lob one to Cameron Cloke alone in the goal-square, Clokey banged it through. Great stuff from Kreuzer, the Blues trailed by 7 points as Fevola jogged back on. The Dokkers answered in turn after Luke Pratt's very good tackle on Murphy forced the ball loose, Pratt himself gathered and passed to Schammer 45m from goal and Schammer booted another major. The alternating scoring continued as the Blues got one from a ball-up on their attacking 50m line, Fevola tunnel-balled the agget free and Betts hooked a low kick forward where Waite was held back by Antoni Grover, Waite free-kicked a major. Then Freo again, Pavlich punted long to a pack on the forward-flank and Scot Thornton roved the spillage, his kick towards leading McPharlin

wasn't good but McPharlin won the ball and handballed back to on-running Thornton, who dribbly-kicked a goal. The alternating pattern was broken as Bloo Nick Stevens was done for 'bawl' following the next centre-bounce, Hinkley free-kicked forward and Sandilands lumbered out to mark ahead of Kreuzer, dwarfed by the Freo giant. Sandilands's goal had the Dokkers 19 points ahead. But the Bluies managed a goal in the dying seconds of the half, Marc Murphy's sweeping handpass allowed Stevens to out-pace Pavlich and kick to the 'square, Waite took a good grab over Dean Solomon and popped it through. Waite's third goal of the quarter had the Bluesers 13 points down at the long break.

 

The second term's open play hadn't suited the Bluies so they tightened it up for the third quarter and certainly created the greater pressure. Upon which the Bluesers failed to capitalize. Stevens kicked a long point, Betts took an overhead mark in front of the significantly taller Steven Dodd but missed, Judd postered from a narrow angle. Mundy clangered the kick-in from that straight to Simpson, but he missed. Yet another Bloo behind, Armfield's running effort from distance, sliced the Freo lead down to 8 points. Prosciutto-thin slices. Freo's first attack of the stanza also brought a behind, from McPharlin. But soon the Dockerators scored a goal, Schammer collected the ball from a throw-in and punted towards McPharlin, out-numbered three-to-one. But all the Blooze contested the mark and Dokka Solomon stayed out of it to collect the crumb and have snap which bounced through for the six points. A minute later Suban punted Freo forward, Pavlich was spoiled by Wiggins but Sandilands roved with unexpected agility and hooked a kick to find Mundy marking alone 15m out, Mundy played-on and poked an easy sausage roll. Freo led by 21 points now, against the run but they'd capitalized on the chances. Carton cleared the following centre-bounce and Cloke led out for a mark, he played-on quickly and kicked the ball directly to Freo's Johnson. Ouch. Fevola jogged off again and we got a camera-shot of retired Sinkilda champeen Robert Harvey, sitting on the Bluie bench in full Carlton gear, as he's an assistant coach there. It seemed sacrilegious. Finally the Bluebaggers managed a goal, Gibbs drove a long kick from the centre-circle towards Cloke and Hampson, competing directly in every sense. Tellingly, neither could mark and Freo's Pratt gathered the ball, but Hampson tackled and Pratt's handball was snaffled by Yarran, who booted a major from point-blank. Freo led by 15 points at the final rest. The Dokkas pressed the advantage, Mundy kicked a long point early in the final term before another Bloo error let them in, Armfield's hospital handpass set up Austin to be wrapped up by Hinkley, the ball was loosened and Docker Ryan Murphy swept it up to bag a major. The Dockulaters led by 22 points, the biggest difference of the night. At the following centre-bounce Marc Murphy was flattened by Hasleby and a kinda running blue developed between them for the next minute or so. Schammer intervened and was reported for punching Murphy in the chest, although the replay suggested Murph took a bit of a dive. Murphy's free-kick for that led to a shot for Hadley, which he mongrelled for a point. A bit later Fevola dived to try and mark Waite's under-hit pass and copped a wedge from Tarrant, who grabbed a handful of Fev's shorts. Shortly Simpson punted forward and Fevola juggled a handy mark over Tarrant, Fevola booted his first goal of the night and Freo led by 15 points. A Betts effort just missed and at the other end Freo scored a rushed behind during a tough, tight spell. Dokka de Boer snapped a point after Pavlich wasn't paid a mark, or Paul Bower affected a great spoil, depending on your viewpoint. The Bluies nudged closer as Hasleby's switching-kick in defence missed the target and the ball was run down by Joseph, Joseph slipped around Hayden, passed to Simpson in the pocket and ran on to receive Simpson's handpass, Joseph snapped a goal. Freo's lead was down to 9 points as the crowd got behind the Bluies. Jordan Russell won a rubbish free-kick in the middle plus a 50m penalty for one of these dumping-after-disposal thingys, Hayden apparently penalized for Russell slipping over. But Russell's shot was touched by the man on the mark and wobbled through for a point. We didn't know how much time remained because of Channel Ten's stoopid 'red-time' count-up clock. It counts down for the first twenty minutes of the korter and then 'up' during time-on. What is the point of that? Anyway, the only other score was Joseph's snap for a behind late in the piece, the Dockulaters hung on.

 

Dynamic following duo Paul Hasleby (32 possessions, 5 marks) and Aaron Sandilands (25 disposals, 7 marks, 42 hit-outs, a goal) were outstanding, Sandilands has improved in 'hit-outs to advantage' and involving himself in general play. Tough rover Byron Schammer (19 touches, 6 marks, 2 goals) played well and David Mundy (23 handlings, 8 marks, 2 goals) lurked about the forward-line to good effect again. Garrick Ibbotson (23 touches) held his own against Judd, Scot Thornton (14 possies, 4 marks, a goal) was alright and although few are prepared to admit it, Chris Tarrant deserves some credit for Fevola's one-goal performance. Ryan Murphy booted 2 handy goals. For the Bluebaggers Chris Judd (28 disposals, 3 marks, a goal) worked tremendously hard with good support from Marc Murphy (31 touches, 7 marks, a goal). Half-back Heath Scotland (35 handlings, 7 marks) showed his best form to date this season and Matthew Kreuzer (19 disposals) did some very noice things around the ground, the move of Jarrad Waite (25 touches, 7 marks, 3 goals) into attack was a success, he ended up being their best forward. Bryce Gibbs (31 possies, 13 marks) played decently too. Brett Ratten was asked: No Fev, no Blues? "He kicked three goals against the Bulldogs and we won, he kicked two goals against Richmond and we won, and he kicked eight goals last week and we lost," Ratten said. "Today we had more shots than the opposition and we lose; had 59 inside 50s to 46, and we lose. There's a fair bit of supply going in there; maybe it's the way we go about it (that) we need to change a bit . . . If you look at the second half, we kicked 3.11, so that really hurt us across the board. We made a run at them, but I think we overused the ball dramatically by handball in the second quarter. We spoke about that. In the last quarter it was 51 handballs to 53 kicks, but it is still overplaying the footy in these conditions when the ball is like a soap." Was it? I didn't get that. "It doesn't matter where you play and who you play if you need to take the next step as a team - you need to win these games, and we didn't do that," Ratten said. Mark Harvey reckoned "I just think that our composure, our ability and our will to win . . . we were able to choke them up and not let them back in the game . . . (Hasleby) is actually playing for his life every time he goes out there, and it's really fascinating to sit back and watch. His demeanour has changed, and his outlook on football and perhaps life, for that matter, has changed. The mindset that he's playing with . . . all he wants to do is have an impact on the game . . . (Younger players) are enjoying the thrill of the chase playing in the midfield and taking on the challenge of winning stoppages and centre squares. They really love and enjoy going to contests now. I'm seeing a real hunt mentality around the stoppages." You're a genius , Harvs.

 

At Football Park:

Adelaide   3.5   5.9     6.12   12.14.86

Footscray  2.4   5.10   13.15   17.16.118

 

The Bulldogs rebounded from three straight losses to record an emphatic win in Adderlayed, a powerful third korter of strong tackling and super-speedy ball movement deciding the game. The Camrys again struggled to score goals, poor delivery into the forward-line as much to blame as the forwards themselves. The Cows'd been to the Richmond School of Ball Butchering. They finished off the game well, at least, with young forwards Taylor Walker and Kurt Tippett enhancing their reputations. But the day was all about the Dogs, really. Three changes to the Showdown losers, Nathan Bock was out with a hamstring while Jonathan Griffin and Myke Cook were dropped, in came Brad Symes, Chris Knights and tall man Brad Moran. The Bullies made two changes as coach 'Rocket' Eade kept faith with his lads. Handy player Shaun Higgins withdrew with groin trouble while Dylan Addison was dropped, he's tough but error-prone. In came Tom Williams and former Camry spearhead Scott Welsh for his first game of the year.

 

Tight first half with neither side able to get their forward-line working. The Camrys majored five minutes in, Scott Stevens slipped Robert Murphy's diving tackling attempt and handballed to Jason Porplyzia, he passed wide to the flank where Simon Goodwin clutched a decent grab under pressure. Goodwin played-on to open the angle a punted a very noice goal. Behinds from Doggies Welsh and Griffen nurdled their score along to 0.3, from the kick-in of the Griffen point Camry Michael Doughty fumbled a handball and fired away his own panicky handpass to no-one, Bully Lindsay Gilbee gathered and was tripped by McLeod. Gilbee free-kicked a goal. Some heavy Camry tackling at the following centre-bounce won them the ball, ?? passed towards leading Taylor Walker who cleverly tapped the ball behind himself and turned to collect, Walker ran towards goal, baulked around Will Minson and had snap which diving Minson smothered. But the agget spilled to Chris Knights and he bagged the major. Tough for a few minutes before the Bullies replied, Josh Hill took a good grab over Andy Otten on the wing and handballed quickly to Daniel 'Guido' Giansiracusa, he kicked long where Murphy leaped for a classy grab, Murphy sausaged to put the Dogs a point ahead. There were a whole lotta behinds scored towards the end of the quarter, including two from Camry Walker and one from - gasp! - Porplyzia. His first miss for the season following 16 straight goals. Amongst all that Walker also kicked a goal, from a lead-and-mark of Bernie Vince's pass. The Cressidas led by 7 points at quarter-time. Still tough into the second term. Commentator 'Dwaynepipe' Russell reported the local opinion of Scott Thompson as being "the equivalent of Ablett and Judd", but Thommo's kicking is a mystery bet. Early in the second Thompson's attempted pass forward was intercepted by Bully full-back Brian Lake, he lobbed a kick to Jason Akermanis in a sea of space and Aker took off with three bounces, he lobbed a kick ahead of Josh Hill who gathered and handballed for Brad Johnson to run right in and slam it through. A minute later Thompson was on the sharp end of a good Corolla move, again his kick forward wasn't too good but Lake and Andrejs Everitt hesitated in attacking it and the ball bounced through to Walker, who stabbed a low kick for a goal. The Cows led by 7 points again. Thompson was winning a helluva lotta touches, though. Bulldog Welsh missed with a shot from the flank and at the other end Stevens blazed a running banana wide. The Dogs had a chance after Graham 'Stiffy' Johncock's centering pass was deflected from its' intended target by Minson's outstretched hand, Daniel Cross gathered and handpassed to Matthew Boyd, he kicked for Akermanis to mark 40m out and boot truly. The Dogs led by a point. Back came the Cressidas, Bullpup Murphy pursued the pill on the wing but an unkind bounce allowed Camry David Mackay to gather, he passed to Kurt Tippett on a long lead. Tippett in turn passed to leading Porplyzia who marked comfortably ahead of Lake, Porplyzia converted as he (nearly) always does. But poor delivery and shooting wasted a decent spell, Walker and Dangerfield behinded with under-pressure dribbly-kicks - kick a drop punt fer Richo's sake. Jared Petrenko missed with a free-kick before the Dogs put some pressure on, Welsh dribbly-kicked into the post (bah!) and Ryan Griffen missed with a running shot. Late in the stanza a Brent Reilly clearing kick for the Camrys was marked by Brad Johnson, he lobbed a pass to Nathan Eagleton in space and Eagleton raced away, had a bounce and punted a sausage with 5 seconds on the clock. Dogs by a point at half-time. Thompson had 26 disposals.

 

The Bullies took charge in the third quarter. Matty Boyd closed down Thompson while Adam Cooney and Nathan Eagleton lifted their games, Akermanis was damaging in attack. But overall the Bulldawgs lifted their intensity and began to move the ball at their customary breakneck speed, while putting great pressure on the Corollas when they had the ball. The first goal of the stanza was indicative, Lake smothered Stevens's kick on the Pups' defensive 50m line and Daniel 'Guido' Giansiracusa gathered, he passed to Cross in the centre and Cross kicked for leading Akermanis to mark, Aker majored. A great Camry move was wasted by McLeod's miss, a minute later Stevens missed with a long set-shot. The Doggies raced downfield from the kick-in, Cross fumbled at CHF but he got a handball away to Cooney who then sent one to Eagleton under pressure, The Bald Man might've thrown it clear but Akermanis gathered and slotted a great goal from the flank. The Cows had lost Simon Goodwin with an ankle injury and Stevens shifted to defence, his first act there was to cough up possession with a bad handball and Akermanis passed for leading Cooney to mark and convert. Shortly Johnson lobbed a centering kick from the flank and big Minson juggled a good pack-mark, Minson goaled. Walker's wild handpass-under-pressure at the Camrys' CHF spot was collected by Lake, the Bulldog went for a run, swapped handballs with Johnson and then sent one to Mitch Hahn on the 50m line, long-kickin' Hahn banged it home for a six-pointer. A long Akermanis shot drifted for a point but from the kick-in Aker pushed Nathan Van Berlo off his punt, it went to Bully Liam Picken who kicked forward again. Johncock's desperate handball from the base of a pack was snaffled by Cooney, he stabbed a pass for Murphy to mark and convert. Six unanswered goals from Footyscray and they led by 36 points. Adlaide broke the run thanks to Minson, whose flailing into a pack at the back of the centre-square deflected the ball to Stevens, he handballed to Thompson, who passed to Knights, who in turn passed for leading Walker to mark and convert. But it proved a dead cat bounce as another Camry turnover allowed Johnson to win the ball, he handballed to Everitt and a long kick gave Murphy a chance, he couldn't hold the back-running mark but Murphy gathered his own spillage and poked a major. Boyd hacked a kick forward from the restart, Welsh extracted the ball from a pack and passed for Eagleton to mark and boot a long sausage. The Doggies led by 43 points, the Camrys had a full-on flood going as all the action was at one end of the ground. Hungry Akermanis booted a coupla late points so the Pups led by 45 points at the end of the stanza.

 

The break didn't appear to have helped the Camrys much, although they should've had an early free in the last korter when Cooney deliberately handballed into the goal-post when under pressure deep in his back-line. They'll never pay one (I know they already have, but you know). Again the Bullies advanced rapidly from the kick-in and Boyd lobbed a handball into Hahn's path, Hahn gathered and passed to leading Akermanis on the flank, Akermanis stabbed one to leading Giansiracusa on a better angle. 'Guido' punted truly and the Bulldogs led by 50 points, it was very quiet in Foopall Park. But the Camrys now mounted a bit of a challenge as the Dogs dropped their intensity. Tippett had a free at the restart and handballed to Richard Douglas, he kicked long and Moran juggled a two-grab mark over Lake. But Moran missed from 20m, right in front. A bit later umpire's favourite Tippett had another free at a throw-in, advantage was allowed for Tippett to run clear and pass for Porplyzia to mark right on the boundary. Porplyzia threaded a kick for a very good goal. Soon Moran was punting the Corollas into attack again and Tippett stretched to take an excellent with-the-flight grab, he booted truly. McLeod booted the home side forward again from the next centre-bounce and Tippett spilled a difficult marking chance, but he battled to win the ball on the ground and get a handball out to Dangerfield, another to Tyson Edwards allowed the Camry veteran to kick a goal. Eyebrows were raised slightly as the Cows had very quickly cut the deficit to 31 points. Aker snapped on-the-full to light jeering, at the other end Porplyzia didn't know whether to have a shot or pass and in the end kicked the agget straight to Bulldog Williams. Bulldog ruckman Ben Hudson was done for a throw and advantage allowed as Edwards burst clear, he passed for leading rover Chris Knights to mark and Knights punted a 50m goal. Now the crowd (or those who'd stayed) fired up a bit as their lads trailed by 25 points. "The Crows (sic) are showing some pluck'n'fight" said 'Spud' Frawley, at least I think he said "pluck'n". The rot seemed to end as Boyd kicked the Bullies into attack from the next centre-bounce and Josh Hill leaped to take a very good grab, Hill booted the steadier. But then again, Bernie Vince wobbled a kick into the Priuses' forward-line and Walker gave Everitt a decent nudge under the ball to mark it, Walker booted a goal and it was 26 points the diff. But the rot really did end there as Bullpups Giansiracusa, Boyd and Eagleton combined to take the ball away from the restart and Hill reeled in a great one-handed mark against Johncock, Hill bagged another sausage. A minute later Dangerfield over-ran the ball at half-back and it sat up for Johnson to whack a high soccer-kick forward, Murphy ran forward and marked on his chest, he goaled. The Dogs led by 38 points and it was over. The Cows scored the final goal, Knights converting after out-marking Lake which the Bulldog can't have enjoyed.    

 

Team effort from the Bulldawgs. They'd be pleased with the form shown by Adam Cooney (29 touches, a goal) while Jason Akermanis (17 disposals, 8 marks, 3 goals) very much enjoyed his team-mates rapid delivery into the 50. Brad Johnson (27 possies, 6 marks, a goal), working up the ground, played well all day and Nathan Eagleton (29 disposals, 9 marks, 2 goals) had a big second half. Matthew Boyd (26 handlings) closed down the prolific Thompson after half-time and Daniel Cross (28 disposals, with 20 handballs) showed better form, as did the recuperating Robert Murphy (18 disposals, 10 marks, 4 goals). Lindsay Gilbee (27 touches, 11 marks, a goal) was handy and Liam Picken produced another fine stopping effort, on McLeod. Josh Hill kicked 2 last-quarter goals. Better Camrys included the promising forward Taylor Walker (18 disposals, 9 marks, 4 goals). Doesn't lack confidence, just some nous. Scott Thompson (34 possessions) finished with very good stats but as mentioned, the vast bulk of those came before half-time. Chris Knights (24 possessions, 5 marks, 3 goals) played well and Graham 'Stiffy' Johncock (22 handlings, 6 marks) wasn't bad at half-back, full-back Ben Rutten (16 disposals, 4 marks) won a bit of the ball and kept under-done Welsh quiet. Kurt Tippett (11 possies, 4 marks, a goal) did a bit and David Mackay (23 touches) wasn't bad. But they were thrashed, really. Jason Porplyzia kicked 2 goals - 2.1! Neil Craig expressed some pleasure in a more attacking Camry effort. Eh? "Our supporters may not have been happy with some of the movement today, but hopefully they walk out of the ground saying, 'At least I saw them trying to move the ball quicker and trying to do something', rather than chipping it up and backing off the mark," Craig said. "We're going to ask [the players] to continue trying to play with a bit more speed. What I saw today, in terms of some of those turnovers, probably really didn't surprise me because we're now asking guys to think quicker, kick the ball [quicker], make a quicker decision, run more and use a bit more handball . . . The way we've been playing is slow, safe footy and [that means] there's no offensive pressure on the opposition because they don't have to cope with anything. Essendon was exceptional on the [Friday] night with that sort of style, but I think if you watch most games now . . . most sides are actually trying to play with it. We've got the skill to do it. Otherwise, I wouldn't do it." Rocket Eade said he as never worried by the losses. "We haven't played well in the last three weeks but we said after the game last week, even though we were beaten reasonably easily, our effort was there. We won the hard-ball gets and stoppages last week, so that's an indication that players are prepared to put their body in. If you get a baseline of your effort at least you've got one step ticked off. If you get smashed and it's poor intensity and poor effort then you've really got some worries . . . I don't think any one particular thing (turned it around after half-time). Coming into the game we performed pretty well at stoppages, which was an area Adelaide said publicly they wanted to work on. They had first use of the ball too much in the first half so we spoke about that. We needed to get first access and we changed our forward structure a bit and went smaller than we have in the past."

 

 At Subiaco:

West Coast  2.4   7.7   11.12   12.18.90

Melbourne   1.1   7.3   10.3     13.4.82

 

Wasn't looking forward to this one but it was a pretty good game. The Melbun lads tried very hard but weren't quite good enough and some untimely injuries meant they ran outta puff towards the end. But they're going alright. Much was made of the Eegs' inaccuracy but when the Weegs don't kick straight you know they've had lots of hurried shots or shots from the boundary-line. Mark LeCras kicked 4.6, continually looking to mark the ball in the front rows of the stands. Weegle-supportin' commentator Glen Jakovich blames under-performing senior players and the side's relative youth when explaining modest Wiggle efforts. Surely it's one or the other. In selection the Weegs axed one of those singled out by Jakovich, Ashley Hansen, along with Mitch Brown. Matt Priddis (thigh strain), Eric Mackenzie (calf muscle injury) and Brent Staker (hand injury) also missed out. Weeg replacements were Will Schofield, Matt Spangher, Jamie McNamara, Scott Selwood and Josh Kennedy. So it was a weakened Weeg side. Just one change for the Dees, injured ruckman John Meesen (foot) replaced by highly-rated junior midfielder Jack Grimes.

 

Overcast, humid day in Perth. The Eegs scored a goal from the opening bounce, Daniel Kerr tapped-on to Sam Butler and he lobbed a kick forward, Dee backmen James Frawley and Matthew Warnock collided going for the same mark and Ben McKinley grabbed the spilled ball to snap truly. But the remainder of the quarter was pretty tight, the Demuns went in hard and had the bulk of possession but couldn't work out how to score. The Weegs couldn't clear their back-line due to lack of running. A high snap from Demun Matthew Bate bounced right on the goal-line and back into play, then through for a point. Not great fortune. Weeg Andrew Embley postered with a free-kick before the Deez broke through about half-way through the korter, Russ Robertson led up into the centre for a mark and handballed off to busy Aaron Davey, he passed for Dee skipper James 'Junior' McDonald to mark on the 50m line. McDonald gave the ball back to Davey who speared a good pass to Cameron Bruce, lurking in the pocket. Bruce handballed to Addam Maric in the goal-square for the point-blank tap-through. The Weegs led by a point and had to weather quite a bit more Dee pressure, but they did stop the visitors scoring. The Eegs managed some attacking towards the end of the term, Mark LeCras tumbly-kicked a point and Josh Kennedy booted a long behind. Dee Jared Rivers telegraphed the kick-in of the latter and LeCras nipped in to mark it, LeCras booted a goal. Kerr had a long shot from the boundary but sliced it on-the-full, Kerr was struggling with groin trouble which would eventually force him off. The Weegs led by 9 points at the first break. A more open and entertaining second term followed, Melbun scored an early goal as Colin Sylvia roved his own contest on a forward flank and stabbed a centering pass to Bruce, Weeg Schofield not only jogged through the mark in covering Bruce but also tripped the Dee man over. A 50m penalty and Bruce booted a goal. Schofield soon atoned, he bullocked his way clear of a forward-flank throw-in and handballed to Adam Cockie, the Weeg's under-pressure snap bounced through for full points and his career-first goal. There was a surreal bit where Melbun's Brock McLean failed repeatedly to deliver an accurate pass to a team-mate, but McLean kept recovering the agget to have another go. Eventually a quick McLean handball rolled out-of-bounds. Dee Clint Bartram tackled and pinched the ball off Scott Selwood from the throw-in, Bartram raced clear and slotted a great goal, reducing the Weeg lead to 3 points. Melbun helped out the locals, defender Warnock dropped a handpass under no pressure and Kennedy dived in after the ball, Warnock fell on him and Kennedy had a free. He passed to leading Adam Hunter in the pocket and Hunter steered his shot for a noice goal from the tough angle. A bit later McKinley missed a set shot and Rivers sent the kick-in long down the centre, but the Eegs won possession and Matt Spangher passed for leading LeCras to mark and boot truly from 40m. The Wiggles led by 15 points and their supporters relaxed a bit. The Demuns wasted some more attacking chances, Davey had a go from outside 50 which dropped into Shannon Hurn's arms, then Bate's pass meant for Brad Miller went over Miller's head and Embley marked. But the Dees powered into it during a purple patch for Nathan Jones and Miller, Jones's great chase and tackle on Mark Nicoski caused a turnover and McLean was put into space, he produced a very good pass for Miller to mark and Miller booted a good goal from 45m. Ruckman Paul Johnson won the following centre-clearance and bundled the ball in to the path of Jones, he gathered and handballed to Miller who potted another sausage. A minute later Rivers backed bravely into a marking contest and was clattered by Kennedy, badly injuring his ankle. Play proceeded immediately and the Dees cleared, Jones found himself in space and again passed for back-running Miller to mark 40m out. Play was now halted while Rivers was stretchered off, his ankle isn't broken but there must be some severe ligament damage. Terrible luck for the injury-prone Rivers and just before that incident Melbun'd lost backman James Frawley with a groin strain. But Miller booted his third straight goal to put the Demuns in front, by 2 points. The Weevils steadied from a throw-in, Bartram gathered the ball but was tackled by Kerr, Bartram's handball spilled to Dean 'Big' Cox and Cox's low kick skidded through for a goal. Kerr was being tagged by Bartram and the Weeg gave Bartram some afters, igniting three separate blues in front of the sticks. Melbun men seemed especially keen to punch Mark LeCras. The Weegs soon scored again, Bruce's poor clearing kick was marked by Brett Jones and he stabbed a centering pass to Adam Selwood, the Weeg booted truly and the locals led by 11 points. Dee Davey booted a behind following a brilliant full-pace pick-up, a bit later McLean lobbed a high kick in, Bruce roved Robertson's contest and handballed back to Robertson, Robbo produced a clever handball while being tackled and Bate snapped a goal. The Weegle lead was reduced to 4 points at the long break.

 

Kerr didn't play after the half-time break, succumbing to his groin trouble. Melbun started the third quarter well, Brent Moloney forced the ball clear of a pack and some short passes put the busy Nathan Jones clear again, his kick was marked in idiomatic, with-the-flight style by Robertson, with some handy shepherding from Miller. Robbo majored and the Dees led again. LeCras capped a good Weeg move with a hurried snap for a point, Dee Cale Morton's kick-in was poor but McKinley missed a simple shot. Scores were level as the Deez burned a coupla chances before Maric clutched a good mark right on the boundary and punted in to CHF, Bartram marked and sent a pass further wide to unattended Jones, who'd just come off the bench. Jones goaled. From the restart Jack Grimes set up a mark for Robertson, but Robbo's mis-kick dropped short and was marked by Cox. At the other end Hunter missed a sitter. The Demuns advanced from the kick-in and Miller led up to mark in the centre, he handballed off to Bate who kicked for Robertson to take another with-the-flight, doubling-back grab. Robbo's man Spangher slipped over so Robertson played-on and blasted it through from point-blank. The Dees led by 11 points. The umps helped out the Weegs, LeCras handed a fantastically weak free for off-ball holding at a forward-pocket throw-in. LeCras accepted the gift and booted a goal. The momentum shifted sharply, Dee Grimes chipped a poor kick in the middle of the ground and Embley intercepted, he passed to McKinley who lobbed a smart kick for LeCras to mark with-the-flight as he ran into a vacant forward-line. LeCras kicked accurately again and the Weegs reclaimed the lead, by a point. A bit later Cockie forced his way clear of a ball-up and handballed to Sam Butler, he broke McDonald's tackle and handballed to McNamara who raced clear with a coupla bounces and booted a very noice running goal. A rapid Weeg rebound gave Hunter a marking chance he dropped poorly, Kennedy collected the ball and dropped it when tackled but Hunter soccered the Sherrin from 20m out, on a tough angle, for a major. Four quick goals had the Eegs 13 points ahead and LeCras postered from the boundary-line. "Melbourne players need to get their hands in their balls, er, the ball in their hands," clarified Gerard Healy. They did one of those things at least and the Weegs led by 15 points at the final rest. The fourth stanza was a frustrating half-hour of missed opportunities from both sides. LeCras blathered a coupla early points before the Deez put together a move from a back-flank throw-in, Davey was twice involved and stabbed a pass to Maric on the attacking side of the centre-square, Maric played-on, had two bounces and booted a terrific running goal. LeCras soccered a weak throw-in for another behind - the boundary umpires were curiously terrible in this game. Dee Morton booted the kick-in to a pack of players and Weeg Chris Masten roved the contest, Masten ran clear, weaved onto the right boot and drilled a good goal. The Weegs led by 19 points, a hefty margin in context. Melbun replied presently as Maric produced an excellent, long pass to leading Miller at CHF, Miller passed quickly for leading Ricky Petterd to mark and Petterd booted accurately. The Demuns trailed by 13 points but struggled to get any closer. Weeg big man Quinten Lynch thundered a long point and Kennedy hit the post following a great pack-mark. Kennedy has 'Est. 1987' tattooed on his forearm, which I thought referred to the Eegs but it's also his year of birth. The Deez were tiring and couldn't produce enough running, especially with Davey off for a rest. They received a break when Jones punted them into attack and Robertson, Hunter and Darren Glass were too tired to jump, the ball went over them and plopped into Petterd's lap. Petterd goaled and the Dees trailed by 9 points with five minutes remaining. There followed some open play and end-to-end moves without any scoring, until Davey worked overtime to set up a mark 45m out for Sylvia. But Sylvia missed and, with just over a minute to go, that was it.    

 

No stand-out performer for the Eegs although they wouldn't have won without Mark LeCras (22 disposals, 8 marks, 4.6). Adam Selwood (22 possies, 7 marks, a goal) was a tireless winner of contested ball and Darren Glass (14 touches, 6 marks) and David Wirrpanda (24 disposals) did plenty of mopping-up down back, Shannon Hurn (23 handlings, 8 marks) the rebounding. Chris Masten (18 possessions, a goal) wasn't bad and Dean 'Big' Cox (23 disposals, 8 marks, 27 hit-outs, a goal) collected touches as per usual. Adam Hunter (16 disposals, 4 marks) bagged 2 goals and there was a promising return from CHF Josh Kennedy (16 possies, 9 marks), although like many team-mates he couldn't kick straight, scoring 0.2. For the Deez Nathan Jones (27 disposals, 7 marks, a goal) had a great game and they were powered along by Aaron Davey (20 disposals, 4 marks) again. Brent Moloney (30 disposals, 6 marks) did well on-the-ball and Brad Miller (8 marks, 13 disposals, 3 goals) fired in attack, ruckman Paul Johnson (20 disposals, 21 hit-outs) was energetic. Following a slow start to the season Cale Morton (34 disposals, 16 marks) found plenty of leather as a rebounding defender, half-back Jamie Bennell (19 disposals, 6 marks) was handy too. Addam Maric, Ricky Petterd and Russ Robertson kicked 2 goals each. Dean Bailey's being positive this season. "The guys hung in there and I thought they kept taking the game on in the last quarter. They kept going and it was pleasing to see them have a crack on an interstate trip. I told them afterwards that they had a crack and showed great unity to help and courage to assist each other," he said. "We challenged the players that regardless of the two blokes injured, we still have to take the game on and we did still attack. We didn't take as many risks kicking as we could have, but the last quarter effort was good. They tackled, chased, and kept trying to score, but they are a very disappointed in the result. They weren't worried about the injuries, they wanted the result . . . At times our decisions through the middle of the ground let us down where we turned the ball over, but we'll continue to play that way (eh?) and continue to have a go. Our challenge is to reduce the amount of turnovers and increase our inside-50s." John Worsfold didn't have a problem with inside-fifties, just conversion. "As we progress forward and become a better team we'll be able to take advantage of those [forward entries] and maybe [take] control of the game so we do have bigger margins," he said. "The margin in the end was a lot closer than we would have liked and we had the opportunity to extend that margin - that's something that we've got to make sure we take . . . [I am] pretty happy with the way those guys (Scott Selwood, McNamara, Cockie, Butler) performed and the roles they played. They didn't get the luxury of coming in and working off the bench - they had pretty key roles, especially in the second half. They had a massive responsibility in there with Priddis and Kerr out of there for the whole second half."

 

At Docklands:

Collingwood  1.4   1.6    3.7   5.10.40

St. Kilda    3.3   9.7   15.8   20.8.128 

 

And on rolled the Saints, crushing the hapless Pies. The winning margin was a record for the Sainters over Collywobble and the Pies' final score was their lowest in the decade since Malthouse took over. Sinkilda's relentless tackling pressure and huge numbers 'round the ball, compressing the action into a 40m-wide area, seems the zenith of modern football, both combating and exploiting the zeal for heavy ball over-use. Why not try to beat them with some long-kicking? I 'spose that's what Horforn do. Late in the disaster commentator and next Magpoi coach Nathan Buckley threw Pie supporters a bone, pointing out the Poise had about the same number of inside-fifties as the Stains but hadn't converted because they didn't have Medhurst, Davis, Anthony or Didak. Paul 'Steak Knives' Medhurst (ankle), 'Neon' Leon Davis ('flu) and John Anthony (suspended), the Pies' three leading goal-kickers for the season to date, were all unavailable along with Dayne Beams (groin injury). Replacement Maggies were Anthony Rocca, Heath Shaw, Danny Stanley and a debutant in the wonderfully-named Steele 'Rusty' Sidebottom, a medium-sized teenage champion from Congupna on the Murray. One late change for the Stains, ruckman Ben McEvoy replacing Robert Eddy.

 

The AFL's few previous experiments with Monday night football haven't been successful, due to both poor fixturing and the novelty of the idea for the audience. Friday night football was denounced by all when it started. But the leeg will have extra games to program when the Gold Coast join the comp in 2011 and they're "exploring options." No doubt the TV folk want more games in prime time, too. The Stainers had a goal 40 seconds after the opening bounce, Poi Danny Stanley was penalized for a high fend-off and Leigh Montagna punted the Stainers forward, Pie stalwart Simon Prestigiacomo got a good spoil on Nick Riewoldt but the ball went straight to Stephen Milne who snapped the major. But the Pies had come to play and took the Stainers on at their own game, tackling furiously in their forward-line to stop Sinkilda's rebound run and trying to move the ball quickly along the 'fat side'. Sadly for the Poise they couldn't capitalize, their first attack indicative as Rocca and Cloke combined across half-back to clear the ball and Brent Macaffer took a with-the-flight mark in plenty of space, he kicked to the pocket where Sharrod Wellingham arrived to mark 15m out, but Wellingham played-on and snapped a point. Dale Thomas missed a tight-angle shot as the Saints came under plenty of pressure in their back-line. Poi skipper Nick Maxwell showed their attitude, taking a terrific with-the-flight mark as he crashed headlong into Luke Ball. Soon Sainter Brendon Goddard was tackled at a ball-up and threw the agget away, a free-kick to Tarkyn Lockyer and he booted a goal. The Poise only one of the first half as it'd eventuate, but it put them 2 points ahead at this stage. Thomas set up a shot from 50m for Leigh Brown, he didn't make the distance and it was rushed through. Koschitzke and Rocca kicked points for their respective sides as the Saints began to work into it. Farren Ray's switching kick found Jarryn Geary in space, he punted to the top o' the 'square where Nick Dal Santo almost held a grab, but some bullocking from James Gwilt allowed Adam Schneider to snap truly. Koschitzke missed from 15m, tough angle, a bit later Maxwell's kick forward was picked off by Sam Fisher. Every player on the ground had been ahead of Maxwell so when Fisher ran clear there was no-one ahead of him, but he kept going until overtaken by Jason Gram, Gram's scrubby centering kick clean-bowled Poi O'Brien and allowed Milne to scoop up the ball and snap truly. Dal Santo kicked a point after Shane O'Bree clangered a kick to him, the Sainters led by 11 points at the first break.

 

The Saints moved ever further ahead from there. The backline and its numbers at every contest suffocated the Poi forwards while the midfield began to pick its way through the Pies' decent pressure to the Sainter forwards. The second started slowly, Riewoldt snapped a point after Pie Jaxson Barham's handball put Marty Clarke under the hammer, Gwilt also kicked a behind. At the other end Heath Shaw, playing as a forward, led out to mark on the 50m line. Shaw's shot fell short and appeared to be marked right on the line by Rocca, but the ball'd hit the post first. On the way out Sinkilda ruckman Michael Gardiner clutched a very good pack-mark on the wing, Ray punted to the opposite flank where Koschitzke marked and delivered a pass for leading Riewoldt to mark. Riewoldt majored from 40m. The Sainters like to push the envelope regarding the holding- or dropping-the-ball rule, they're quite happy to take a tackle and get the ball away during it. The Stainers soon had another goal, Andrew McQualter shot a handball clear of a throw-in to Ball, he gave one to Montagna and his long kick was marked one-armed by Riewoldt, holding off Prestigiacomo with the other. Riewoldt sausaged again and the Saints led by 25 points. A bit later Lenny Hayes's clever tap-on at half-back sent Montagna clear on a three-bounce run, Montagna kicked towards leading Koschitzke who crashed over Riewoldt and Presti but 'Kosi' didn't hold the mark. Milne sped by and gathered expertly, then dribbly-kicked a goal. Milne wheeled away and gave the Pie supporters a little stare as his side led by 31 points now. The Maggies' only score for the quarter was that long Shaw effort which Rocca juggled into the post and things weren't looking good. Sainter Ray stabbed a low shot into the woodwork before Shaw led to mark 50m out again, but he jabbed a short pass to nobody really and the Saints cleared. Fisher raced through the centre to collect Goddard's handball and give one to Dal Santo, he kicked long where Schneider out-maneuvered O'Brien to mark in front of the Pie and boot another Saint sausage. They led by 38 points now. Pie Travis Cloke led wide to mark 50m out, his grab bringing some light, sarcastic cheering. Harsh, Clokey wasn't awful in this game. But he didn't kick any goals, a bit problematic. His shot here landed in the goal-square and was punched through for a behind by Jason Blake, hurrah! A Poi score. The Saints probed relentlessly down the flanks, bringing some desperate and very good Pie defending but the ball kept coming in, eventually Ball lobbed a kick for Clint Jones to mark with-the-flight about 30m out, Jones played on insanely when surrounded by Pies but he fired a handpass wide to Goddard who steered an excellent under-pressure kick for a goal. More Sainter pressure caused a Pie turnover and Hayes had a low shot, attempting shepherd it through Koschitzke was dragged down by Leigh Brown and the ump gave Koschitzke a point-blank free, he popped it through. Stinkilda led by 49 points at half-time.  

 

The Poise scored a goal early in the third, Lockyer marked 55m out and drove a kick long where Rocca appeared set to mark but was spoiled front-on by Zac Dawson. The ump penalized Dawson who opined that "I didn't effing touch him", adding on a 50m penalty. A replay supported Dawson's case but not even Rocca could miss this one, and he didn't. A minute later Rocca led out again but Anthony Corrie's pass went over his head and out on-the-full. The Stainers replied from a forward-pocket throw-in, Hayes went into the ruck and slapped the ball behind himself, a tap-on from Jones sent the ball to Schneider and his tight-angle, left-foot snap raised the twin calicoes. A bit later McQualter roved Riewoldt's contest on the forward-flank and stabbed a short, inboard pass to Schneider, 20m from goal. Schneider handballed for Jones to snap it through, a touch of lairizing as the Stainers went 55 points ahead. A passage of play shortly afterwards showed what the Poise (and all the others) are up against. Pie O'Bree marked in the back-pocket and sent a kick to the opposite pocket and Scott Pendlebury. Most sides would let you 'have' that and zone off to guard against subsequent, attacking kicks. But as the ball travelled towards Pendlebury two Saints bore down on him, Goddard spoiled and Pie Clarke had to rush a point. Pendlebury's kick-in was marked by Ball over O'Brien, Ball punted in again where Clarke gathered but was forced into a hurried clearing punt. This time Montagna collected it for the Saints, he was lucky not to be penalised for 'bawl' but got a handpass away to Gram who thundered a kick 55m for a goal. Whaddaya do, eh? Comic relief came from Rocca who marked cleverly on the boundary-line but sliced his shot away into the stands. It must've missed the sticks by 40m. Dawson was Rocca's opponent and of course we'd seen a montage of their last encounter in 2006, when Rocca'd kicked 8 goals against the then teenage Hawk Dawson. Both men are now older and bigger, in a good way in Dawson's case but not in 'Pebbles's'. The Pies copped a break when Sainter Sam Gilbert was forced into a hurried clearing kick towards Geary, it sat up for O'Bree to spoil, gather and handpass to Wellingham who snapped a goal. The TV folk commented on the Pies' effort being equal to or even greater than that of the Saints, but they were nine goals behind. "Better skill - and better personnel," suggested Bucks wistfully. "Is the personnel really that much better?" asked McAvaney. "Imagine having Richmond's personnel," chortled Leigh Matthews. I don't have to imagine it, Lethal. The Pies were indeed having a decent crack but still couldn't score much, Rocca tidied a ragged Toovey handball but snapped on-the-full, Maxwell's terrific attack on the ball set up another chance for Rocca but he didn't make the distance from 55m. Thomas was paid a dubious two-grab mark on the boundary 15m around, but his attempted hook-kick also sailed out for no score. The Saints bagged three late goals, Scraggie Dane Swan's handball to no-one was gathered by Goddard, he took a tackle and got a handball away for McQualter to boot a long major. A Pie switching kick at half-back missed the target and a few Sinkilda handballs later Schneider was schnapping a goal. Wellingham tried to weave his way clear from a throw-in at half-back but was crunched in McQualter's tackle, 'bawl' and McQualter free-kicked a major. The TV cut to Malthouse closing his eyes and placing a hand to his temple, then to Magpoi cheer-squad leader 'Joffa' subtly shaking his head with a grim look on his face. The Pies were 73 points down at the final turnabout.

 

This review has rambled on a bit so I'll wrap it up quickly. Early in the last Riewoldt was punched (accidentally) in the face by Prestigiacomo as the Pie went for the ball, but a bit later Riewoldt was awarded a goal-square free-kick, Presti wrestling Riewoldt to the ground as he tried to mark Hayes's kick. 'Rooey' popped it through. Schneider smothered Thomas's handball at half-back for the Poise, Schneider collected the ball, swapped handpasses with Milne and snapped a major, Schneider's fifth on the night. Toovey kicked a point for the Poise and the Saints advanced from the kick-in with some steady, chipped passes around the boundary, until Goddard drove a long, low kick in and Milne pushed off O'Brien to mark it and boot truly. Sinkilda led by 89 points and it hadn't been a good night for Harry O'Brien, oddly matched against small forwards Schneider and Milne. The Pies broke through as Rocca punted long and after a heap of tackling and desperate handball from both sides in the goal-mouth, Pendlebury snapped a major finally. Goddard marked at CHB and punted to Ball on the wing, he passed for leading Schneider to mark 55m out and Schneids stabbed a centering pass for Riewoldt to grab and punt for a sausage. With just over a minute to go Wellingham scored a goal for Collywood with a good kick, a free-kick for over-the-shoulder. There was still time for Riewoldt to bag another goal, a great kick from 50m after bullocking off Prestigiacomo for the mark. Riewoldt's kicking confidence is the highest it's been, I'd reckon. Just to cap it off Josh Fraser (knee), Travis Cloke (hammy) and Dale Thomas (shoulder) all got injured in the last quarter.

 

Winners everywhere for the Saints, Leigh Montagna (38 disposals, 4 marks) was important early when the game was alive and big forward Nick Riewoldt (11 marks, 17 disposals, 5 goals) turned in another great effort. Lenny Hayes (33 touches, 9 tackles) and Andrew McQualter (14 touches, 9 tackles, 2 goals) were fine midfield performers while the small forwards Adam Schneider (16 possies, 4 marks, 5 goals) and Stephen Milne (13 touches, 2 marks, 4 goals) did the damage in attack. Then you've got Sam Gilbert (29 disposals, 10 marks) outpointing Cloke at CHB, Clint Jones (12 possies, a goal) tagging Dane Swan, Brendon Goddard (31 handlings, 8 marks, a goal) roaming, the greatly improved Farren Ray (18 possessions), front-runner Nick Dal Santo (38 possessions, 5 marks) with the ball on a string. Clearly they've peaked far too early. Pie skipper Nick Maxwell (21 disposals, 9 marks) was probably their best, although a 'free' role in defence gave him some license. Shane O'Bree (22 disposals, 4 marks) and Scott Pendlebury (28 possies, 7 marks, a goal) worked hard midfield and Nathan Brown was a winner on Koschitzke. Sharrod Wellingham (20 disposals, 2 goals) did a bit and the debut of Steele Sidebottom (22 possessions) was encouraging. Chucked in at the deep end. Malthouse reached for the injury excuse. "We didn't have enough numbers at the end of the day to virtually put people on the ground. Things that went wrong? Practically all things went wrong from quarter time onwards," Malthouse said.

"When you do get a couple of injuries the thing that comes back to whack you is you don't have the maneuverability within the structure on the bench to aid the blokes out there. But the damage was done - let's face facts. We could have lost those blokes at the 29-minute mark of the last quarter. It was not going to make any difference to the game . . . The side that runs down the race is your best side. The ones in the grandstand are incidental because they can't get on the ground, but I think they are all the one type of player - ground level players who are very creative. It's very hard to replace those players and it was a big ask . . . but you've just got to make a better account of situations and we didn't do that." He went to repeat his idea for within-game substitutes. Ross Lyon avoided comparisons with Geelong. "There is a benchmark team in the competition called Geelong. They've won 48 out of 50 and we need to win another 41 to try to catch them," Lyon said. "I'll trot out the line . . . it's not a line, it's a fact. It is a really big business and it is exciting in Melbourne. We are a winning team. We love the fact we are winning. We expect articles to be written. For every club there are expectations set high and set low. There are expectations generally by the media and the fans. Just because they said it doesn't make it right or accurate. Fremantle were written off and they've won three in a row . . . The nation was watching, it was a Monday night experiment for the time slot. We knew it was going to be a really good crowd. Collingwood are a big club . . . We are a top-four side from last year and have been preliminary finalists three times in the last five years. We're aiming to be a really aggressive contested team that scores heavily and defends well. You walk out of there and (we) ticked those boxes tonight, which is pleasing."

  

Ladder after Round 7

                Pts.       %    Next Week

St. Kilda        28    208.2    Essendon (Docklands, Sunday)

Geelong          28    154.2    North Melbourne (Kardinia Park, Saturday)

Footscray        16    108.0    Melbourne (MCG, Saturday)

Port Adelaide    16    104.9    Richmond (Football Park, Sunday)

Essendon         16     99.2    St. Kilda (Docklands, Sunday)

Brisbane         16     97.1    Adelaide (Gabba, Sat. night)

Carlton          12    117.4    Collingwood (MCG, Sunday)

Collingwood      12     99.7    Carlton (MCG, Sunday)

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

Hawthorn         12     93.8    Fremantle (Subiaco, Fri. night)

Sydney           12     93.1    West Coast (Stadium Australia, Sat. night)

West Coast       12     93.0    Sydney (Stadium Australia, Sat. night)

Adelaide         12     85.9    Brisbane (Gabba, Sat. night)

North Melbourne  12     84.1    Geelong (Kardinia Park, Saturday)

Fremantle        12     77.3    Hawthorn (Subiaco, Fri. night)

Richmond          4     76.6    Port Adelaide (Football Park, Sunday)

Melbourne         4     71.2    Footscray (MCG, Saturday)

 

Cheers, Tim.

 

 

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