AFL Round 10
At Docklands:
West Coast 3.3 3.5 7.7 10.10.70
The Bluies'd built up this one as a season-defining, line-in-the-sand type game and duly saluted comfortably, on the scoreboard at least. It was more of a battle on the ground and if the Weegles could learn how to kick, they may've finished much closer. Stats show the Wiggles are the worst users by foot (to use the current argot) in the leeg and it's easy to believe after watching 'em slaughter the pill when trying to find a forward. Wayward Blue Brendan Fevola returned to form by booting 6, Weeg Mark LeCras also bagged 6 but no other Wiggle forward could get near it, save Kennedy once or twice. In selection the Blooze made four changes to the team embarrassed in Addleaid, mostly to strengthen a weak-lookin' forward-line. Brad Fisher was in for his first game of the season, smaller forwards Ryan Houlihan and Jefferey Garlett were recalled, big Irishman Setanta O'hAilpin also got another chance. Sadly for the Blooze, Jarrad Waite (torn knee ligaments) is out for the season, Simon Wiggins was out with a strained hamstring while Richard Hadley and Chris Yarran were dropped. The Eegs were significantly strengthened with the return of experienced men LeCras, Adam Hunter and Tyson Stenglein, along with the less-experienced Jamie McNamara and first-gamer Tom Swift, an outstanding junior midfielder from
Plenty of niggle in this game, starting at the opening bounce when feisty Weeg Daniel Kerr elbowed Marc Murphy in the stomach, causing Murphy to collapse and writhe for a bit. They almost bumped into the umpire, but his back was turned. The maggot did see Nick Stevens retaliating though, so the Eegs had a free. It came to nothing. After a few battling minutes the Blooze scored three quick goals, Weegle Adam Selwood spilled a low marking attempt of Mackenzie's clearing kick and Murphy gathered, he handballed to Stevens and another handball inboard to running Brad Fisher saw Fisher boot a noice sausage roll. From a forward-pocket throw-in Murphy jabbed a quick, high kick to the top o' the 'square where Chris Judd marked all alone and popped it through. Not a great effort there from Judd's tagger, Tyson Stenglein. The Blooze cleared the following centre-bounce and Judd mongrelled a pass towards leading Fisher, but Fisher gathered on-the-bounce and handballed for Ryan Houlihan to boot a very good running goal. Not sure why Houlihan was dropped, sure he's a reputation as a 'softy' but he's been in very good form this year. The Bluesers led by 18 points but Kerr, engaged in much niggle, was awarded a free-kick at the restart and handballed to Mark Nicoski, he kicked long where Josh Kennedy leaped high and ridiculously early; turns out he was pushed by Thornton and Kennedy free-kicked a goal. The Blues led by 12 points as a long, tight spell followed. Fevola missed his first shot, a long one from the flank, following up his 1.5 plus a coupla on-the-fulls from last week. But we had a burst of scoring in the final five minutes of the term, Bloo ruckman Matthew Kreuzer tapped a forward-pocket throw-in down for Fevola to collect and score a goal with a fantastic dribbly reverse-banana kick, which obligingly rolled in an arc between the sticks. Fired Fev up a bit, no doubt. The Weegs replied from a ball-up in their forward-pocket, Dean 'Big' Cox tapped perfectly for LeCras to snap a right-foot major. Bloo Kade Simpson had a free at the next centre-bounce, he kicked wide where Houlihan out-marked David Wirrpanda and booted another good goal. At the next centre-bounce Kerr attempted to bullock through tackles and was allowed a very long time to get a handball away, Quinten Lynch collected it and lobbed a high kick to the goal-square where Hunter was awarded a mystery free. Hunter converted and the Bloo lead was cut to 11 points at the first change. Lynch snapped a point early in the second term but the Bluies went on to dominate the stanza, winning around packs and continually handed the ball by the Weegs' poor kicking. But Carton's 4.8 for the term didn't reap enough reward, either. Fevola missed with another long effort before good work from Dennis Armfield won possession for the Bluies on the wing, Armfield handballed to Judd who passed towards leading Fevola. Mackenzie got a good spoil in but Eddie Betts roved superbly and at full pace to burst clear and snap truly off the left boot. Fevola and Betts proceeded to miss after marking, then the Blooze won the ball from a throw-in after Kerr lined-up Jeff Garlett for a hit but missed him, Kerr up-ending himself in the process. Garlett handballed to Judd, he gave the ball to O'hAilpin who kicked long where Fevola held off Glass to take a one-handed mark. Fevola managed to kick straight and the Bluies led by 25 points. Judd and Shaun Hampson kicked behinds, but Fisher marked the kick-in of the latter. He stabbed a centering pass to Bryce Gibbs, who kicked long to the pocket for Steven Browne to mark behind Chris Masten. Browne threaded it through and the Blooze led by 33. The Weegs clung on for a bit, but they couldn't deliver to the forwards. They did manage a rushed point, and Fevola missed with another shot from outside 50. Late in the term Fisher rubber-chested a pass but as he dived after the ball Weeg Shannon Hurn dived on Fisher, a fortuitous free-kick from which Fisher booted a goal. The Bluebaggers led by a healthy 41 points at half-time.
The Weegs threatened to come back throughout the second half but could never manufacture a real scoring run-on. The Bluesers went further ahead early in the third Mario, Judd extracted the ball from a pack, ran clear with a bounce and kicked long, too long as the ball went over Fevola and Glass. But Glass had over-committed and Fevola turned sharply and ran back into the Bluies' vacant forward-line to gather the pill and stab it through. Bluies by 47. But the Eegs did now have a scoring run, or at least LeCras did. LeCras free-kicked a goal from a ball-up at the Weegs' CHF spot, the ump deciding LeCras'd been held by Michael Jamison. A bit later Hurn's clearing kick found Matt Rosa in space on the wing, he passed to Cox on the forward-flank and LeCras led into the pocket to mark Cox's pass, a good grab in front of Jamison. LeCras steered it through from the tricky angle. Kreuzer missed following a strong grab and from the kick-in Wirrpanda ran clear from defence and handballed to McNamara, he kicked for LeCras to leap and mark impressively again, ahead of Hunter and Jamison. LeCras slotted his third straight and the Weegs' deficit was down to 30 points. The Weegs had a sniff, although not as much as an over-excited McAvaney thought. Fevola hammered a long shot on-the-full, a bit later under-pressure Nicoski was forced into a hurried clearing punt and Bloo Mitch Robinson gathered it, he kicked for Garlett to mark 30m out and boot truly. Both sides wasted chances before Ben McKinley kicked the Weevils into attack, LeCras's new opponent Paul Bower got a spoil in but LeCras did very well to recover the spillage, and snap a terrific over-the-shoulder goal from a tough angle. He'd kicked all four of the Eegs' goals in the term and they trailed by 30 points at the last change. The Bluies received a slice of goal-umpiring luck early in the final stanza. With 'advantage' from a throw-in, Judd ran clear with a coupla bounces and his kick cleared tussling Fevola and Glass, behind them Garlett gathered and his dribbly-snap rolled through for a goal, officially - but a replay showed the ball'd clipped the post. The goal-ump was questioned by the fieldy and seemed to change his mind to award the six-pointer. Blues by 35. Cox giraffed away from the restart and had a long go, but Bower punched through a rushed behind. A bit later Kerr again bullocked in a pack to force a handball clear - his standard disposal in this game - and Wirrpanda gathered to slot a running sausage. The Eegs trailed by 28 points and threatened, vaguely. But the Blooze lifted to seal it, Browne got a good, contested handball away to Judd, Juddy's handpass-as-tackled went to Gibbs and he passed for leading Fevola to mark and convert. Soon Kerr was swamped as he collected the pill and couldn't get a handball away this time. The ball emerged to Simpson, he handpassed to set-up man Judd again and the Bloozer skipper passed for leading Fevola to mark and kick accurately once more. The Bluies led by 40 points and it was over. The Eegs plugged away,
Judd got plenty of mentions in the preceding guff, and his missus plenty of screen-time on Channel Seven. But Marc Murphy (32 disposals, 7 marks) was probably the Bluies' best here with Chris Judd (29 disposals, a goal) pretty decent too. Brendan Fevola (14 kicks, 7 marks, 6.4) had plenty of chances and took just over half of 'em, at least Ratten played him in the correct position this week. Nick Stevens (25 touches, 4 marks) was good and Matthew Kreuzer (15 possies, 4 marks, 13 hit-outs) a handy performer. Bret Thornton (24 touches, 8 marks) held the defence together and Kade Simpson (29 possies, 8 marks) was okay. Brad Fisher (14 disposals, 7 marks, 3 goals) is an important player for the Bluies, Ryan Houlihan and Jeff Garlett kicked 2 goals each. Can't go past Mark LeCras (9 possessions, 4 marks, 6 goals) as the Weegs' best, Adam Selwood (29 disposals) battled midfield and Andrew Embley (24 touches, 4 marks) continued his decent recent form. Daniel Kerr (23 disposals including 19 handballs) craved the physical contest, rebounding backman Shannon Hurn (18 touches) and ruckman Dean 'Big' Cox (19 disposals, 6 marks, 29 hit-outs) were pretty good. Josh Kennedy kicked 2 goals. "I was fairly happy with the effort in the second half and the first quarter," Worsfold said. "I thought the boys were in it but we're still well short of what we know we have to get to in terms of skill level. That's probably the biggest area that's really hurting us - our ability to hit targets both under pressure but certainly when we're not under pressure . . . On current form, finals aren't really a priority for us. Consistency of effort and improving our skills and decision making are what we'll be really working hard on throughout this season and also [putting] more games into players . . . We're still nowhere near where we want to be at, but we can't get Swift (14 disposals on debut) up to 45 games in the next week . . . some parts of what we want to improve on will take time. Other parts, like the attitude [were good]. I thought the boys fought on very strongly." Brett Ratten acknowledged the Bluies' better structure this week. "I suppose you can play a bit more direct if you've got a few blokes forward of centre," Ratten said. "Last week we had no one [forward] and we had no one to kick to. Have we corrected back to get it about right? Maybe we're getting a lot closer than we thought from last week . . . I think maybe we're perceived to be not really hard at it and not that physical so maybe we have to bring that to the table too. I know they're only young men but you watch someone like an Aaron Joseph (Kerr's opponent) and his ability to keep going and going and that appetite to compete . . . maybe we need to grow that from young men. Early on, I did see our blokes fight the fight or get on the front foot a bit more and I think that's what's required sometimes." Ratts then tried to dampen expectation. "There was a lot of talk about finals early. From my point of view, let's just win the games of footy. If we get the process right and we work on the game itself . . . if we keep working hard at that, the process will allow us to maybe win games of footy and give us that opportunity . . . We've got two really big games against quality opposition that are playing really good football so we're just concentrating on Brisbane for next week."
At Docklands:
The Lyin's were a bit too clean, a bit too classy, a bit too good for the battlin'
An early highlight was the direct match-up between young guns Jack Ziebell, of Norf and Daniel Rich from Brisbun. Rich was an early winner, his gutsy intercepting mark set up the first goal as Rich passed to Jonathan Brown at half-forward, Brown kicked into the pocket where Justin 'The Shermanator' Sherman ran on to gather, straighten and slam it through from the goal-square. Not much happened in the next five minutes of scrappy footy, before Lyin' Dan Bradshaw led up into the centre for a mark and kicked quickly, and long. It was going for a point but Brown juggled and forced the ball back into play, paddling it to Rhan Hooper who snapped a goal. Brisbun led by 11 points at this stage. Norf won the following centre-clearance with a free to Drew Petrie, the
Slow start to the third Mario, a lotta fumbling, pressure and ball-ups featuring a rushed point each and a Bradshaw miss. Seven minutes in the
Good efforts from Lyin's Jed Adcock (30 disposals, 11 marks, a goal) who ran off half-back and junior man Daniel Rich (25 touches, 7 marks, a goal). Experienced man Simon Black (23 possies, a goal) was very good again and Rhan Hooper (8 kicks, 4 marks, 4 goals) made a welcome return. Luke Power (19 disposals, 8 tackles) was handy and ruckman Mitch Clark (21 touches, 9 marks, 29 hit-outs) is working out noicely. Lachie Henderson (15 disposals, 8 marks) helped bolster the defence. Jonathan Brown, James Polkinghorne and Justin Sherman kicked 2 goals each. The
At Manuka Oval,
Footscray 5.2 13.6 16.7 18.9.117
An amazing scoring run from the Bulldogs, in which they scored thirteen unanswered goals from the mid-first quarter through to half-time, parceled-up this one in the nation's capital. As slick and as good as the Dogs were, the Swans helped 'em out with an amazingly inept display, a bumbling, fumbling, clanger-filled performance which was absolutely terrible. Hard to believe it was the same side which thumped the Powder last week. The Bloods improved after half-time, but starting twelve goals behind they were never gonna win it. Overall, the Doggies confirmed their credentials as a contender. In selection Footyscray replaced Tom Williams (plantar fasciitis - that's a foot injury) and the dropped Tim Callan with Ryan Hargrave and Stephen Tiller. The Swans regained Lewis Roberts-Thomson from injury, replacing Craig Bird (concussion).
A typically cold autumn day in
The Swans improved in the second half. It's hard to imagine 'em playing worse. They scored the first goal of quartier le tird,
The Bulldogs had some pretty good performances, from Daniel Giansiracusa (26 disposals, 7 marks, 3 goals), late reprieve Jarrod Harbrow (21 touches, a goal - he came in for Williams), Adam Cooney (24 touches, 5 marks, 2 goals), who seems to save his best for the Swans, and Shaun Higgins (24 disposals, 6 marks, a goal) who couldn't walk at the end of last week's game but appeared fine here. Callan Ward (18 touches, 5 marks, 3 goals) enjoyed probably the best game of his brief career (so far) and defender Dale Morris kept O'Loughlin quiet. Up forward Mitch Hahn (15 possies, 5 marks, 3 goals) and Scott Welsh (10 touches, 6 marks, 4 goals) did some damage. Some of the Swans' leaders played very well, Adam Goodes (30 disposals, 3 marks, 2 goals) was terrific and Ryan O'Keefe (31 possessions, 9 tackles) was good again. Barry Hall (10 touches, 6 marks) bagged 6 goals and Brett Kirk (28 touches, 11 tackles) was pretty good. But there was a huge drop-off after those. Craig Bolton (19 possies) silenced Brad Johnson and Jared Crouch (14 touches) did similarly on Akermanis. But the Dogs found other blokes to kick goals. Roos did some shtick. "How do I feel? Old . . . We probably followed our best performance [against Port Adelaide] with our worst. We happened to have guys who probably had their worst games for the year, and they all had them on the same day. I was trying to get an early flight actually but I didn't think that would look that flash. It was probably 40 minutes of our worst footy we have played in six years. It's one of those psychologies of sport, it's pretty hard to explain. We haven't got a margin for error. Even at our best in '05 and '06, we didn't really have a margin for error and now we've got younger guys coming in the team, the margin is less . . . It's probably one of the times you feel helpless because things are going so bad, anything you try as a coach doesn't really work . . . It's just up to the players to dig themselves out. It's one of the biggest tests for players if they are playing poorly to get them to turn it around. Some of them were able to do that (in the second half) but most of them really struggled for most of the day." Rocket said "It was a great win - if you said before the game we were going to win by seven goals, you'd probably be surprised. I thought our effort all day was terrific . . . to be able to come up here and win like that was fantastic. I think the first quarter set it up - there was a bit of wind going to the bottom end, and I thought that first quarter set the scene with our pressure and our ability to at least neutralize the tight ball, even if we didn't win it. Then obviously in the second quarter we were able to split them open with some run."
At Subiaco:
Fremantle 6.2 8.5 11.6 17.10.112
Wallace has quit as the Toigs' coach since this game, more about him next week. But at the end of the contest Tiger forward Mitch Morton, whose selfishness allegedly ended Plough's career, marked, played-on selfishly and snapped the winning goal in this wildly fluctuating and highly entertaining game at Sooby. A promising first quarter was followed by a terrible second, the Tiggers rattled on eight straight goals in the third to go six goals up before the Shockers got moving and grabbed the lead late in the final term, then Morton's heroics. Freo fans would argue the loss of players (Headland, Hill and McPharlin) hampered 'em significantly, and it did, the Tiggers also lost Matt White. At the end of the day it was two flaky sides battling for a rare victory in a season where draft picks'll be their major reward. But it was still great entertainment. The Freo side had three changes from the one beaten by Norf, unfortunately Roger Hayden will miss up to 10 weeks with a badly torn calf muscle while Clay Hinkley and Ryan Murphy were dropped. In came Greg Broughton, Josh Head and rarely-seen wingman Andrew Foster. Dean Solomon played his 200th AFL game, congrats to the former Bommer and hard man. The Tiges lost Andrew Raines (knee soreness) from the side over-run by Essadun, Mark Coughlan was a surprising omission along with Daniel Connors. Jack Riewoldt was recalled along with defender Will Thursfield and Ben Cousins, Cuz apparently 'demanded' to play despite a broken bone in his hand being nowhere near healed. Before the game Wallace announced he would not be seeking a contract extension, or a coaching appointment anywhere next year, setting up the later announcement.
Cousins's agenda in playing was perhaps indicated before the game when he 'flipped the bird' right into the lens of a TV camera. The meedya was upset, only replaying the incident 673 times over the weekend. Cousins has apologized since and played quite well here, but he also gave the Freo players, and supporters, plenty of verbal. In an open first quarter Freo's sky-scraping ruckman Aaron Sandilands appeared the key player. Sandilands booted the first goal after winning the tap at a throw-in and then working forward to mark Michael Johnson's pass. That was the tactic with Sandilands, take the centre-bounce, then run to full-forward. Cousins, who started on the bench, soon entered the fray to much booing. The Tiges soon scored thanks to a clanger from Dokka backman Steven Dodd, chipping a clearing kick straight to Tige Adam Pattison. Pattison centered a pass for skipper Chris Newman to mark and convert. Freo established a bit of a break with the next two goals, Johnson kicked long and Des Headland planted a foot in Dean Polo's back to take a big grab in the goal-square, and pop it through. A minute later Greg Broughton cleared a throw-in and kicked long to the 'square, after some scramble for the ball Matty Pavlich plucked it from the ground and snapped truly. Fremandle led by 11 points but their Johnson'd hurt his ankle in that passage and he struggled thereon, later forced back onto the ground by the Dokkers' subsequent injuries. The Tiges got one as Jack Riewoldt kept his feet in a contest at half-forward and kicked to the top o' the 'square, a bit high for Shane Tuck but he gathered the ball smartly and handballed for Cousins to snap a goal. Boooooo! Headland missed with a long shot and Tige Kel Moore missed a set-shot, he's a terrible kick for goal. The Big Katz soon had a ball-up just outside their attacking goal-square and Sandilands appeared, he won the tap but Tige Nathan 'Axel' Foley sharked it and snapped a goal. Richmun led by a point, I think. The TV scoreboard was wrong for large chunks of the first half. Good ol' Channel Carlton. A Freo point leveled the scores but the Tiges advanced swiftly from the kick-in and Riewoldt was awarded a free for Solomon's holding, Riewoldt majored and the Tiges led by 6. Freo replied with a good move of their own, Paul Hasleby kicked long towards Sandilands,
Perhaps sensing the Dockerators' general reluctance to attack, the Tiges chanced their arm to produce a burst of running, high-scoring footy in the third term. Good work from Polo and Newman sent the ball to Brett Deledio about 55m out, tired of trying to find a leading forward, Deledio walloped anuge punt for a goal. The Tiges won the following centre-clearance with some snappy handball and Polo produced a long pass for leading Nathan Brown to mark, Brown converted. A bit later the Big Pu55ies were chipping around ridiculously in defence before Cousins's unusual forwards-kick was marked strongly by Deledio, he punted long again for Brown to mark behind the pack, play-on and stab another sausage, after which the Tiggers led by 4 points. Pavlich fumbled a marking attempt into the post and, from the kick-in, the Tiges advanced swiftly this time. Dan Jackson's kick found Pattison alone on the wing, Patto's looping handball went to running Andrew Collins whose long kick was gathered with the-flight by Morton near the point-post. Morton handballed for Robin Nahas to soccer-volley the major. Deledio, busy, marked again 55m out and played-on, he was tackled in the act of kicking and Deledio's high, wobbly punt was chest-marked by Tuck, 20m out. Tuck dobbed it. Next the Tiges produced a good runnin', handballin' move, Foley's to Trent Cotchin was low and Cotchin dropped to his knees to gather it, but leaped up, baulked McPharlin and booted a superb goal. Brett Peake's poor handpass in the centre turned over possession and Tige Joel Bowden's switching pass found Foley, his kick into CHF was gathered by Nahas, who sent the ball wide for marauding defender Luke McGuane to boot a running major. Then Collins booted the Toigs into attack again, Riewoldt gathered on-the-bounce and handballed for Morton to bag a goal. Eight straight from the Tiges and they led by 33 points. Meanwhile Dockerator McPharlin limped off with a leg problem, as did Broughton although he returned soonish. A rapidly-developing nightmare for your Shockers but they broke the Toigs' scoring run, as had Deledio before him their Nick Suban tired of his team-mates' tedious side-to-side chip-about and ran forward to have a long, straight shot. Ironic cheering from yer Dokker fans. It woke 'em up, with McPharlin off, Chris Tarrant switched to full-forward and he immediately kicked a goal, from a free against McGuane. A bit later Tige Tambling blundered into a tackle from Sandilands, Byron Schammer collected the loosed ball and handballed for Mundy to kick a goal. Three late ones for Freo and the Toigs' lead was reduced to 15 points at the final change.
During the break Dokka coach Harvey exhorted his lads to stop stuffing about with the ball and actually attack the sticks. But Richmun cleared the opening bounce of the final term, Tambling ran off the back of the 'square to collect Cousins's handball and give one to Newman, Tambling ran on to receive the agget back from Nathan Brown and spear a very good goal. Tiges by 21 points but the Dokkers had a crack as per instructions. After Tige Pettifer missed a long shot, Sandilands marked the kick-in, some runnin' handball ended with Tarrant taking a strong pack-mark on the flank and booting a noice goal. A bit later Freo had a ball-up at CHF and after some scramble Tarrant fired a slick handpass for Paul Duffield to bag a goal, reducing the deficit to 10 points. A good move, that Tarrant one. Pettifer couldn't hold a diving marking attempt, Duffield swept up the pill and passed to leading Tarrant again, Taz kicked quickly to the 'square where Hasleby was out-numbered but managed to bring the ball down and soccer a major. Richmen's lead was 3 points and Solomon steamed away from the next centre-bounce, but his long shot missed. Soon Schammer marked 40m out, right in front but missed poorly, a bit of a momentum-killer. Morton missed at the other end, from the kick-in Foley dived to smother Grover's kick and Pettifer gathered, he chipped a pass into the pocket for Deledio to mark. Deledio played-on to open the angle and hook it through, Morton-style. Jackson and Pettifer won the following centre-clearance for the Tiges and Collins finessed smartly before kicking for former Dokka Troy 'Snake' Simmonds to clutch a decent pack-mark. Simmonds goaled and the Toiges eased out to a 14-point lead. But Freo kept comin', a slick defensive rebound and Peake's smart handpass allowed
Brett Deledio (27 disposals, 10 marks, 2 goals) was the Tiges' match-winner really, he created the momentum. Shane Tuck (30 touches, 8 marks, a goal) battled on-the-ball and Richard Tambling (28 possessions, 7 marks, a goal) mixed mistakes with some good stuff. Daniel Jackson (27 touches, 8 marks) had the better of Pavlich and Ben Cousins (25 disposals, a goal) was pretty useful after half-time. Chris Newman (24 possies, 7 marks, a goal) and Andy Collins (24 handlings, 8 tackles) were handy. Jack Riewoldt, Mitch Morton and Nathan Brown kicked 2 goals each. Freo had good efforts from the cool Garrick Ibbotson (24 disposals, 9 marks) and runnin' Paul Duffield (27 possessions, 7 marks, a goal). Aaron Sandilands (17 touches, 7 marks, 45 hit-outs, 2 goals) threatened to dominate the game early, but never quite did. Chris Tarrant (20 possessions, 8 marks, 2 goals) was a key part of the comeback and Paul Hasleby (27 disposals, 7 marks, a goal) was useful despite suffering a calf strain late in the piece. Greg Broughton (23 touches, 11 marks) saw a lot of it early and Byron Schammer (25 possies) was useful. Des Headland, Matthew Pavlich, Michael Johnson and Scot Thornton kicked 2 goals each, overall 24 blokes kicked goals in the game. Harvs reached for the obvious excuse. "We're going to lose some players for maybe substantial weeks from this. I'm not going to go into detail about how long it is, but you obviously saw the guys that couldn't come back on tonight . . . We either need to expand our list or we look at the interchange . . . I'd like to think everyone recognises how tough this game was tonight, from both sides. In the short-term it's probably going to hurt us a lot. In the long-term it might be the making of the players and the team. If you want to go and have a look and see our players, they're pretty battered and bruised from this game. [Other] players, when we're wounded, need to take their opportunities . . . We couldn't sustain the effort. There were some areas of the game in the last quarter where we could have won the game and should have won the game. But I thought it was a testament to the team that they did rally when
At
St. Kilda 5.3 7.8 10.11 11.17.83
A promising first half segued into a fantastically boring second half on the Gold Coast, but the Sainters ended up recording win no. 10 easily enough. They'll set a record if they can beat Norf next week. The Deez tried very hard again but the reason they can't break through for a win now and then is they don't have any decent forwards. Matthew Bate battles away and Brad Miller is inconsistent, here Stefan Martin, playing his fifteenth game, was deployed at full-forward. Afterwards, Bailey was questioned about the playability (if that's a word . . . it's late) of Russ Robertson and no. 1 draft pick Jack Watts. Robertson was dropped for this one, assumed to be punishment for his brain-spasm last week when trying to kick a goal while lying down. Ricky Petterd, a young forward-flanker, was also axed and ruckman Mark Jamar was called up along with half-back Daniel Bell, in for his first game of the season. One late change for the Stainers, Stephen Milne (knee soreness) replaced by Jason Gram.
A modest crowd of 9,800 turned out, although that's nearly a full-house at
The second half was not good, full of scrap, fumbling and slipping as had featured in the first. Melbun's forward-line was more obviously under-powered, led as it was by erstwhile full-back Martin. According to the paper, the
Sinkilda leader Lenny Hayes (35 disposals, 6 marks) is in great form as is forward and local
At
Hawthorn 2.1 4.4 8.6 12.7.79
The Awks were made to pay for a ragged first half, the Camrys new-found love of fast, running play reaping reward for the second straight week. Which happened to be at home again, handy for yer Cressidas. Horforn folk blame injuries for their mediocre season to date, but they're strange injuries which make you kick like an arthritic elephant and handball straight to the opposition. And in
The Cows did some fast attackin' early while the Orcs made lots of mistakes. Addledaid opened the scoring as Jason Porplyzia kicked towards Pat Dangerfield and Hawk Campbell Brown, the ball spilled from their contest but Dangerfield chased back and soccered the major while being crunched between Brown and Mark Williams. Horforn replied as Michael Osborne kicked long and Lance Franklin gave Bock a hefty shove under the ball to mark it, play-on and stab it through. Shoulda been a free to Bock, we thought, but Spud Frawley reckoned Buddy'd "used his elbow." But there's still a rule against pushing in the back, I think. The Hawks won the next centre-clearance, Jarryd Roughead steamed out and crashed a pack to take a noice grab, but he missed the shot. The Awk mistakes started, Franklin blundered over the mark and conceded a 50m penalty to Nathan Van Berlo, as Buddy jogged quietly back Van Berlo sprinted away from him and kicked long where Kurt Tippett was dragged down by makeshift Hawk full-back Robert Campbell. Tippett free-kicked a major. A bit later Hawk Xavier Ellis collected the ball in defence but handballed straight to Corolla Bernie Vince, Vince's snap was smothered but Chris Knights gathered and handballed back to Vince who snapped truly the second time. Then new Hork Beau Muston fired a hot handball which Brown couldn't handle, Cow Andy Otten gathered and passed for leading Knights to mark and convert. The Camrys had jumped to a 17-point lead.
The Hawkers improved in the second half, led by a big effort from ruck-rover Brad Sewell. And fewer mistakes. The Awks scored an early goal, Brent Guerra stabbed a pass wide for Rioli to gather on-the-bounce, he played-on, slipped a tackle but was caught by Goodwin, but Rioli got a handball away to Bateman who spun outta Van Berlo's tackle, dummied around Otten and slotted. The next eight minutes were fairly tough, with no score as the Hawkers battled while the Camrys exhibited their standard third-quarter choke. Eventually Osborne chipped a clearing kick to find Sewell in some space, Sewell sold a dummy and kicked long where
Solid midfield efforts from Camrys Scott Thompson (38 disposals, 5 marks) and Michael Doughty (25 possies, 4 marks, 2 goals) were useful, Doughty also kept Mitchell reasonably quiet. Wingman David Mackay (26 touches, 5 marks) is having a break-out season and young forward Taylor Walker (7 marks, 8 kicks, 5 goals) impressed again, as did Chris Knights (15 touches, 5 marks, 4 goals). Nathan Bock (22 handlings, 6 marks) probably had the better of opportunity-deprived
At Docklands:
Essendon 1.1 3.1 5.3 11.4.70
Flirted with the idea of tipping the Bommers here, before their coach Matty Knights pointed out the Cats had beaten the Bommaz by 99 points in their only meeting last year and 50 points in 2007. The Catters and Mark 'Bomber' Thompson seem to reserve a special effort for Essadun, taking some care to pummel the Bommers to pieces. Bomber supposedly left the Bombers amongst acrimony, falling out with Kevin Sheedy. But that was a long time ago now and Sheeds isn't there any more. Maybe it was a reaction to last week's scare against the Bullies. Whatever the case, the Cats smashed the Dons for three quarters before letting up in the last. The Essadun side had two changes from the one which over-ran the Toigers, experienced men Mark McVeigh and Hayden Skipworth returned to replace Courtenay Dempsey (rolled ankle) and Nathan Lovett-Murray (suspended). The Pu55ies had Cameron Mooney, Darren Milburn and Shannon Byrnes return from suspension and injuries, respectively, and called up Nathan Djerrkura for an appearance. They replaced Mathew Stokes (suspended), Paul Chapman (broken finger), Joel Corey (foot injury) and Ryan Gamble (concussion).
The afternoon started well enough for the Bommers, Jason Winderlich marked on a forward flank and lobbed a centering pass for leading Jay Neagle to mark and boot a goal. Huzzah! But soon the Catters were tackling the very life outta the Dons, lead by Joel Selwood who fairly throttled any Bomma with or near the ball. Meanwhile Steve Johnson and Gary Ablett cruised about with the agget. Selwood bagged the Cats' first major, Mooney led up into the centre square to take a diving grab and dished off to running Selwood, who speared it home from 45m. Fairly tough for the next ten-odd minutes as the Dons stood up to the challenge, there were a few points scored. Then Tom Hawkins chipped a good kick for Ablett to leap and mark over Skipworth. Gazza converted and the Cats led by 7 points, but the floodgates opened in time-on. Bomma Jobe Watson was bumped during a clearing kick by Travis Varcoe and the ball spooned 15m into the pocket to be marked by Steve Johnson, he banana-ed a major. Mooney bullocked for a strong grab and poked a centering pass to Cameron Ling, alone 20m out and 'Cling' sausaged. Andrew Mackie drove a long pass towards leading Johnson, he couldn't reach it and a scrap ensued before Hawkins handballed for Byrnes to snaggle a goal. Some casual, pressure-free passes 'round the wing allowed Mackie to run inside 50 and have a shot, he didn't connect properly but Max Rooke arrived to take a mark and pop it through. The Pu55ies led by 33 points at the first break but had a negative, skipper Tom Harley limped off with hamstring damage. More of the same in the second korter. Mooney made it seven straight Jahlong goals when he read Johnson's kick best amongst the flailing Bomma defenders to chest-mark 15m out and dob it. Great banana-kick pass from Mackie to Johnson, too. The Dons broke the run, Sam Lonergan extracted the ball from a collapsed pack at half-back, swapped handballs with Matty Lloyd and ran ahead to handball to Ricky Dyson, a tired-lookin' Dyson (he'd run a long way to get involved) strode inside 50 and had a low, slightly mongrelled left-foot shot which bounced kindly for a six-pointer. The Cats' reply was swift, Corey Enright won the ball at the restart and punted fairly ordinarily forward but Rooke reached it first to gather and slip a handball to Byrnes, he sprinted clear and slotted. The Pu55ies led by 39 points and an other lull in scoring occurred, just a Johnson point in the next ten minutes before the Catters unleashed another burst. Enright's pass found Ling marking alone on the flank, Lingy's shot from 50m appeared to be touched on the line by Bomma Cale Hooker but the goal-ump disagreed. Enright again thumped an up-and-under, no-look kick from the restart and Steve Johnson marked on his chest in the goal-square as Dons Pears and Houli watched. Through the big poles it went. Then Bomma Heath Hocking's wild handpass-as-tackled was claimed by Varcoe, he handballed to Jimmy Bartel and another released Ablett to run clear and spear a sausage. Deep into the korter and Djerrkura thumped a long kick forward where Mooney was surprised to mark it as Hooker and Lonergan flapped about in front of him, Mooney's subsequent goal had the Catters 65 points clear. The Dons managed a goal, Leroy Jetta's hopeful punt to the top o' the 'square was marked very nicely by Neagle, leaping over Harry Taylor. Neagle majored, yippee. A late Hocking clanger set up a snap for Mooney from the edge of the goal-square but he missed appallingly, leaving the Cats exactly 10 goals in front at half-time.
No let-up in the third korter. Selwood and Rooke clashed heads early-on as Selwood swung a Bummer to ground in tackle, it was the third Selwood tackle in the same passage of play. The man's a zealot. A 19-year-old 'man', to boot. Rooke came off worse and departed for rest. If there's a flaw in Ablett's game it's his tendency to miss shots for goal, he did so twice in the first four minutes of the korter. As the Dons attempted to advance from the kick-in of the second of those, a Don (didn't pick up who) mongrelled to ball straight to David Wojcinski, who lobbed a long kick for Steve Johnson to mark in the pocket, dummy onto his left boot and snap it through. Bombout man McVeigh won the following centre-clearance and kicked towards Lloyd and Matty Scarlett, as they wrestled Neagle collected the agget and handballed for Hocking to boot a running goal. The Catterz replied as Selwood sharked Ryder's tap from a ball-up on Geelong's forward-flank, Selwood slipped Zaharakis's diving tackling attempt, had a bounce and cantered into an open goal to thump it through. Another attacking ball-up and Mark Blake slapped the ball to Johnson, who snapped a major off his left boot again. Johnno wheeled away smiling and winking to the crowd as the Pu55ies led by 74 points now. Mooney and Ling kicked points before Steve Johnson had another chance, Milburn jogged to the 50m line and curled a low kick to the top o' the 'square which Johnson dropped, but his arms'd been chopped by Don Henry Slattery. Johnson free-kicked a goal and it were Cats by 82 points now. Hocking pulled one back for the Dons with a quick, accurate snap from a ball-up. But Steve Johnson made the stanza his own with his fourth goal of the term. Johnson led wide to out-mark Slattery on the 50m line, Johnson's quickly-taken kick was marked with-the-flight on the point-line by Ablett. Ablett stood about assessing options from the ridiculously tight angle, then lobbed a high, short kick to the opposite pocket where Johnson was arriving to again take a strong grab in front of Slattery. Taking the urine if it were ever taken, Johnson's subsequent goal had the Cats 82 points ahead at the final change. Ablett limped off with an ankle problem the Katz insist isn't serious, but the Dons had more to worry about as young ruckman Tom Bellchambers had hurt his knee and it is serious, apparently. They can't take a trick. The foot came off the pedal in the last korter, or "the Dons fought it out", if you prefer. Seven minutes elapsed with just a Mackie point scored, then Bomma McVeigh led onto the flank to mark Angus Monfries's pass and boot a goal with a good, curling left-foot shot. A bit later Hooker kicked long from about 70m out and as Lloyd and Scarlett engaged in more wrestling the ball bounced past them and rolled through for a major. Mooney kicked one for
Most observers had either Joel Selwood (37 disposals, 7 marks, 2 goals) or Steve Johnson (21 touches, 11 marks, 6 goals) as their BOG, depends upon your predilection for grunt-work and classy forward play. Selwood did both. Six goals is a lot, though. Corey Enright (28 disposals, 6 marks) was very busy running off half-back and Matty Scarlett (15 touches, 4 marks) stopped Lloyd in standard, old-fashioned style. Gary Ablett (30 disposals with 21 handballs, 9 tackles, 2 goals) was good for the three quarters he played and Cameron Mooney (17 disposals, 11 marks, 4 goals) underlined his importance to the Katz' forward set-up, Cameron Ling (26 touches, 2 goals) and Shannon Byrnes (30 possessions, 9 marks, 2 goals) went alright. Youngster Nathan Djerrkura had 10 disposals but applied 9 tackles; they're learnin' him right. On the Bomma side Brent Stanton (21 disposals, a goal) and Heath Hocking (23 touches, 2 goals) plugged away midfield and defender Tayte Pears (16 touches, 3 marks) drew the long straw in getting Hawkins as an opponent. Paddy Ryder (18 possessions, 24 hit-outs) battled in the ruck and Bachar Houli (31 possessions) went okay as a rebounding defender, Jason Winderlich (18 touches) and Jobe Watson (20 disposals) did a bit. Jay Neagle bagged 3 goals from 7 marks and 8 kicks. "The number-one lesson we spoke about after the game is we've played the two top sides and given away starts both times," Knights said. "You just can't expect to win against quality opposition when you start like that. I guess we're starting slowly, but they're starting fast, and full credit to
At the MCG:
Collingwood 3.1 6.5 15.8 17.12.114
Port
Perpetually running Poi midfielder Dane Swan collected 48 possessions as the Poise rolled over the rubbishy Power. In a round dominated by heavy scoring runs, the Maggies produced one of their own, scoring nine goals in a row spanning half-time. The Pies were modestly strengthened with the return of Alan Didak and Dale Thomas but both were off the pace, and it was regular Pie battlers like Swan, John Anthony and Nick Maxwell and newer Pie also-battlers like Leigh Brown and Brad Dick who did the damage. Heath Shaw rebounded with some strong form, too. Despite a reasonable first quarter-and-a-bit, the Powder were terrible overall and there's gotta be some trouble down there, with the club in financial difficulty, Mark Williams heavily rumoured to want out at the end of the season and Chad Cornes wandering around either injured or completely uninterested (turns out it's the former). Didak and Thomas returned at the expense of Tyson Goldsack and Ryan Cook for Collywood, Port were without Daniel Motlop (ankle) and dropped Josh Carr and Marlon Motlop from the side trounced by the Swans. In came David Rodan, Nathan Krakouer and Matthew Westhoff.
These twilight games might be good in early or late season but as the Melbourne winter closes in, it's pretty cold on a Sunday afternoon at the 'G and this game had the bonus of a thin foggy mist hanging above the ground. Port were in their strange mostly-white away guernseys again. The Maggies were still in the negative, lock-down mode of last week in the first half and Port took up the running. Returning Didak had the pleasure of booting the opening goal, ?? passed towards leading Jack Anthony but Leigh Brown slipped in ahead of Anthony to take the grab and fire a quick handpass to Didak, lurking 20m from goal. Dids slotted. Port's Steven Salopek punted them forward from the following centre-bounce, Poi Nick Maxwell failed to hold a tough grab and the ball spilled over the back where Port's Brett Ebert hooked a quick punt to the pocket. The Powder's Robbie Gray failed in a diving marking attempt but won a charity free-kick against Harry O'Brien, Gray threaded it through from the tough angle. The Poise moved ahead again with a miraculous goal from Leigh Brown, a drop-punt threaded through from a tight angle after Flower ruckman Brogan dropped the ball like a steamed dim sim when tackled. Any accurate kick from Leigh Brown is a miracle. The Poise led by 7 points as two of the MCG's light-towers suddenly failed, plunging the member's wing into gloom. Power failure! Prophetic. Symbolic. Coincidental. But not ironic. Look it up in the dictionary. The coaching staffs were also forced down onto the bench as power in their boxes failed. Play continued (it wasn't that dark) and the Powder kicked clear a bit, the Poise messed about in defence with some side-to-side stuff and got into trouble, 'Neon' Leon Davis stabbed a low kick right down the centre and straight to Port's Danyle Pearce, who handballed ahead for David Rodan to snap a goal. Ebert thumped a 50m goal after leading out to mark ?? pass, although Tredrea tried to take the ball off Ebert as he juggled the grab. Brogan marked on the 50m line and handballed off to ??, who stabbed a very short pass to Dom Cassisi. The mark stood and Cassisi majored, three-in-a-row from Port and they led by 12 points. The Poise replied as Shane O'Bree led to mark on the forward flank, he was dragged down by Jacob Surjan but no 50m penalty ensued, to O'Bree's chagrin as his best kick travels about 40m. O'Bree lobbed a punt to the goal-square where Chad Cornes spilled a grab and roving Tarkyn Lockyer poked a sausage roll. But a minute later Pie Swan coughed up possession in the centre with a bad handball and Port's Matt Thomas gathered, he handballed to Pearce who speared a good, low kick for Tredrea to mark in front of Prestigiacomo. Tredrea majored and the Power led by 12 points again, Matt Thomas's point made it 13 at the first break.
The misty dew or whatever it was slicked the ground into the second term and made things a bit slippery. At least all the lights were back on. Early on Port's Michael Pettigrew produced a poor clearing kick which was marked by Pie Alan Toovey, there followed a typical boundary-hugging Magpie move until Lockyer stabbed a short pass for leading Didak to mark, 20m out but on a tough-ish angle. Didak bagged his second goal. There followed a series of points over the next ten minutes, Swan kicked one - although he had 50 touches, many of 'em were useless - and Leigh Brown reverted to type by missing a simple set-shot. At the other end Chad Cornes soared over Presti with a great ride and grab, but his shot from 25m hit the post. The
The Poise rattled 'em on in the third stanza. In the early minutes Port's Nathan Krakouer shanked a clearing kick from his own goal-square straight to Swan, who booted a goal and leveled the scores. One of the more effective of the 50 disposals (alright, 48). Leigh Brown's snapped point put the Maggies ahead before Maxwell soccered a loose ball clear of half-back and Shaw gathered in space, off went Heath on another bouncing run before he handballed to Brad Dick, Dick's helicoptered punt forward dropped for Anthony to mark again in front of the hapless Carlile. Anthony majored again. Rodan raced away from the restart but his long shot missed. A bit later Maxwell's good spoil at half-back was collected by Wellingham, he punted long to the wing where Steele Sidebottom marked, he kicked for Dick to take a with the-flight grab just outside 50. Dick lobbed a quick pass for leighding Leigh Brown to mark and such was the Poise momentum now, not even L. Brown could miss. "The Pies may've kicked the last five goals but they're only twelve points in front," cautioned TV man Brian Taylor. They soon fixed that, Barge. Another long Shaw kick spilled from a pack and Leigh Brown's roving handpass allowed Dick to skid a low left-foot shot for a six-pointer. The Flowers forced a rushed point for Collywood and their Peter Burgoyne wasted some attacking chances with some terrible, lobbed punts forward. Poi Scott Pendlebury chipped a smart kick for Leigh Brown to mark behind Tom Logan, Brown played-on and mongrelled a shocker towards leading Anthony who shoved Carlile aside, gathered and slotted from the pocket. Leon Davis got in on the act with a smart contested, with-the-flight grab and close-range, tight-angle major. Then O'Brien whacked a clearing kick into Swan's path, he collected and punted towards Sidebottom who marked at half-forward and handballed inboard for running Marty Clarke to dob a sausage. That was the last of the Poise nine straight, after which they led by 37 points. Pordaddleaid's Burgoyne floated a kick forward from the next centre-bounce and it was marked by Maxwell over Ebert, but the Port man was given a free for in-the-back. Ebert certainly milked it, he kicked a goal. A minute later Cassisi roved a pack on the attacking wing and handballed to Travis Boak, he lobbed a punt to the pocket where Maxwell spoiled Ebert legitimately, but Ebert collected the ball near the boundary and snapped an absolute corker of a goal under heavy pressure from Maxwell. The Poi lead was reduced to 26 points but they more-or-less ended the contest with the last two majors of a goal-fest quarter. Toovey roved a ball-up on the wing and grubbered a kick forward, the luckless Carlile couldn't handle cleanly and leather-magnet Leigh Brown showed him how to do it, handballing for Sidebottom to snap a major. From the restart Pie ruckman Josh Fraser found himself lying on his back with the ball, Fraser kicked over his own head while lying there, but forward if you picture it and Dick collected the agget, Dick found the space between the tall uprights again. The Maggies led by 38 points at the last change. Chad Cornes was on the bench with ice-packs on his right calf-muscle and knee. Port scored the opening goal of the closing quarter, Ebert collected near the point-post and handballed back to Burgoyne, he handballed to Surjan who shrugged off
Dane Swan's final stats were 22 kicks, 26 handballs, 8 marks and a goal, but I agree with Malthouse who called Swan's performance "okay" and "reasonable". Swan burnt it more than a few times. Leigh Brown (18 disposals, 5 marks, 2 goals) was a very useful bloke at CHF and Brad Dick (25 disposals, 3 goals) stepped up as a handy forward-flanker, John Anthony (7 marks, 10 touches, 4 goals) got the run moving. Scott Pendlebury (24 handlings, 6 marks) provided some coolness in midfield and there were good signs from Heath Shaw (25 possessions, 8 marks). Defenders Harry O'Brien (14 disposals) and Nick Maxwell (19 touches, 5 marks) were steady as always and Josh Fraser (17 possies, 4 marks, 24 hit-outs) performed handily in the ruck. Alan Didak bagged 3 goals. Port didn't really have a winner, Danyle Pearce (27 disposals, 6 marks, a goal) was their most dangerous-looking player while Dom Cassisi (32 possies, 7 marks, a goal) and Travis Boak (23 possesions) were okay. Troy Chaplin (22 touches, 5 marks) is a gutsy defender and Steven Salopek (26 disposals, 8 marks) and Kane Cornes (29 possies) had decent stats, at least. Brett Ebert eked out 3 goals. What now, Choco? Richmun job? "The fact of the matter is our best players or our oldest, most experienced players aren't playing well. In times of crisis, they need to lead," Williams said. "If they start playing well, it makes it a hell of a lot easier for a lot more of us. I'm not saying every person there in that (leadership) group, but I'm saying enough of those aren't playing to that standard. We're hanging the young blokes a little bit to dry, and that makes it difficult for them . . . We've lost the last two games, so of those that are 5-5, we are probably not the sharpest of those on the way up. We need all those supporters to hang in there. It is going to be a tough year, it is going to be a tight year, and it certainly is one of those years that don't come around very often where it is going to be a struggle for a lot of teams. There is going to be a lot of ups and downs and heartache, and you've got to keep working your way through it and persisting . . . You are trying to get away with things, and today I thought we were found out with too many players that weren't fit at the end of the game. They just couldn't chase, they couldn't add to the group, couldn't interchange enough. Collingwood brought a couple back and they got through the game without any problems." On Swan's performance, Williams pointed out
Ladder after Round 10
Pts. % Next Week
St. Kilda 40 183.5
Footscray 24 110.3
Collingwood 20 100.8 Melbourne (MCG, Monday)
Hawthorn 20 97.2 Sydney (MCG, Sunday)
------------------------------------------------
Essendon 20 94.9
Port
North Melbourne 16 81.4
West Coast 12 88.2
Fremantle 12 80.2 Port
Cheers, Tim.
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