AFL Round 12 Part 2
Surprise last week with North coach Dean Laidley quitting. Laidley decided he'd had enough, basically, and revealed he'd offered to quit at the end of last season following the
At Docklands:
Essendon 6.3 10.7 17.13 19.17.131
Comfortable win in the end for the Bommers, which kept 'em in touch with the eight. The
Tight and scrappy opening few minutes before the Dons managed a goal, defender Cale Hooker marked on the attacking side of the centre-square and tangled awkwardly with
The
The Dons kicked away in the third term, dominating contested ball and possession in general. Lloyd kicked an early point, Frawley played-on from the kick-in and punted to a pack where Bomma Adam McPhee took a ride on and big grab over
Bummers are quietly excited with some senior men returning. Dustin Fletcher (18 disposals, 5 marks) slotted neatly back into marshalling the defence and in the middle Brent Prismall (26 handlings, 7 marks) and Jobe Watson (28 possessions, a goal) were both very good. Sam Lonergan (17 touches, 4 marks, 2 goals) and Alwyn Davey (14 disposals, 3 marks, 2 goals) were busy small forwards with Lonergan doing some tough stuff again. Scott Lucas (19 touches, 5 marks, 3 goals) is coming back to form although he also missed three shots. Andrew Welsh (25 disposals) made a very promising return. Matty Lloyd kicked 3 first-quarter goals, Angus Monfries, Hayden Skipworth and Mark McVeigh bagged 2 goals each. For the Dees Brent Moloney (24 touches, 7 marks) worked hard midfield and Matthew Bate (13 disposals, 5 marks, 2 goals) was their most reliable forward. Brad Green (27 touches, 6 marks) and Cameron Bruce (27 handlings, 4 marks, a goal) collected their usual touches about the ground. James Frawley (10 touches, 4 marks) did well on Lloyd after quarter-time and Brock McLean (24 disposals, 8 tackles) battled on-the-ball. Brad Miller, Russ Robertson and Jack Watts kicked 2 goals each. Dean Bailey's complaints were familiar. "Just a lack of concentration and errors in the last two minutes of the second quarter and they went in 16 points up," Bailey said. "Then, the start of the third was really disappointing. I think our possession count was low and we kept kicking the ball back to them. Lucky for us they didn't kick (as many) goals because that flattered us on the scoreboard . . . It's disappointing we can't continue to play like (in the second quarter) for longer periods of time, that's the disappointing part. The players are trying to play like that for as often as they can. I think they're trying to do it, but a couple of mistakes and we became hesitant in the third quarter when the scoreboard started ticking over against us. We didn't really take it on when we got to three or four goals down which is something we should have done. But, when you turn then ball over it just costs you and that's still an area of the game we work on and will continue to work on. We need to reduce the number of turnovers and I think the difference in the scoreboard will start to get closer than what it is now." Bomma man Matty Knights said "I guess to win by 48 points and to get game time through Welsh, Fletcher, McVeigh, Prismall and Reimers was a real positive for us because you do run a little bit of a risk when you bring that many players back in that haven't played a lot of footy. So I guess that was a bonus of the night, to get game time through them . . . I think Welsh was the amazing one, after 16, 17 weeks [and] the horrific injury that he had . . . to come back and actually contribute the way he did tonight was an excellent effort . . . To the credit of the players . . . they raised those (second-quarter) issues at half-time themselves in our meeting. It was good to see them address them because we were very, very shabby defensively in that second quarter. They turned it around and out of that effort defensively we got some good scoring opportunities."
At Stadium
Collingwood 4.2 7.7 9.9 13.11.89
Credit to Mick Malthouse and the Pies, who jumped up to fourth with their fourth-straight win since being thumped by the Bluies. The victory continued a run of wins over their biatches, the Swans, who were a very frustrating side for much of this. Siddey's pack-bound battling appeared a relic of another era, despite dominating stoppages here they badly lack running power and the ability to move the ball quickly. Running men Amon Buchanan and Nick Malceski were dropped for this one, deservedly as their form has been poor, but it just exacerbated the problem. The Poise enjoyed a bit of luck in scoring and from the umps but it was also a great effort from them, especially considering the early loss of Scott Pendlebury to a knee injury. Alan Didak, Heath Shaw and Harry O'Brien were terrific. In pickin' the Swans called up youngsters Ed Barlow, Kristin Thornton and Nick Smith to replace Buchanan, Malceski and injured backman Craig Bolton (knee soreness) - bit of a loss, that last one. The Pies made one late change, ruckman Cameron Wood replacing defender Nathan Brown (knee). Mick Malthouse coached a side for the 600th time, only Kevin Sheedy and Jock McHale have coached more games in the VFL/AFL. They won more flags than Mick . . .
It's been very wet in
Roosy must've delivered the message at half-time as the Bloods began to run about a bit in the third, the Pies began to look a bit slow. Later in the term they had more injury trouble, too. Early on Kirk and McVeigh combined to clear a throw-in and Mattner drove a long punt to the top o' the 'square, where the rarest event in footy occurred - a free-kick to Barry Hall, either for Prestigiacomo's holding or Brown's front-on spoil. Hall majored. The Poise replied soon, Didak was angry with himself after dropping Swan's pass and the ball went for a throw-in. But Didak sharked Jolly's tap from the throw-in, sped clear and booted a great goal. Hall was roaming about to get involved, he missed a long, running shot. A bit later the Siddey supporters and TV folk were angered when Jude Bolton went down in a one-on-one marking contest with Heath Shaw, 20m out and the ump waved play-on. But the replay suggested there wasn't much in it.
The Swans pressed forward in the early final term, but couldn't capitalize in a heavily populated attacking half. Cox tumbled a clearing kick on-the-full, but O'Keefe's pass with the resulting free-kick was bad and the Poise cleared. Richards missed with a snap and Barlow's later effort was rushed through by a leaping O'Brien. Barlow booted another, long behind after Cox and Maxwell made a mess of a clearance, which levelled the scores. A minute later Jack roved Goodes and O'Brien's contest and booted yet another long point, which had the Swans ahead by the margin. The Poise managed an attack, Swan Roberts-Thomson got a clearing kick away but it hung and Lockyer spoiled Smith's marking attempt, Didak gathered and tumbled a quick kick forward where 'Neon' Leon Davis marked in front of the pack.
Terrific game from Alan Didak (34 disposals, 6 marks, 2 goals), arguably the best he's played. Not a good bloke, but a very good footballer. The Poise defence was very good, led by rebounding man Heath Shaw (26 touches), Harry O'Brien (18 handlings, 4 marks, a goal) on Goodes and loose man Nick Maxwell (21 possessions, 11 marks). Simon Prestigiacomo (14 disposals, 7 marks) battled solidly against Hall, with help. Dane Swan (29 touches, 9 marks, a goal) collected plenty of it in midfield again. 'Neon' Leon Davis (17 touches, 3 goals) had three quiet quarters but came to life in the last, Shane O'Bree bagged 2 handy goals. Ryan O'Keefe (41 disposals, 8 marks, 2 goals) was brilliant for the Bloods and the following grouping of Darren Jolly (14 touches, 4 marks, a whopping 53 hit-outs), Brett Kirk (41 disposals) and Jude Bolton (29 possessions) won plenty of the ball. The Swans just didn't do anything with it. Ted Richards (15 possies) did alright in defence, in Craig Bolton's absence, and Kieren Jack (19 disposals, 3 marks, 2 goals) did well on Davis for three quarters, at least. Adam Goodes (23 possies, 5 marks, a goal) started well, but faded. Credit O'Brien there. Barry Hall kicked 2 goals. Roos paid the Poise a compliment. "The class of Collingwood was just better than the workmanlike performance of the Swans and that was the difference in the game, really," he said.
"(We made) far too many errors to beat a quality, class team. Teddy (Richards) handed them a goal at the end of the third quarter - you just can't win games of footy like that. We had blokes who had a lot of the footy but might as well not have had a lot of the footy. Their effort was super but the execution was just poor. There are guys who didn't use the ball well tonight who are normally better than that so you hope their performance will lift. We certainly had enough possession and enough of the footy, but just the chasm was enormous between when they had the ball and when we had the ball. Whether we had just a shocker with the ball tonight or whether that's an indication of where we are, that will be determined over the next 10 weeks." He admitted an unfit Crouch shouldn't have played. He should've been retired last year. Mick Malthouse said "I thought they [the Swans] were coming and coming hard and we just seemed to have no answer for the run and ball-getting power through the middle. Fortunately our system held up so they didn't blow us out of the water in that third quarter and by rearranging just slightly we used the ball reasonably (in the last term). When you've got your backs to the wall you've got to make every possession stat count. And I thought we put ourselves in a position at least to be able to score . . . (Didak) is a beautiful user of the football . . . We lost a key player in the first minute (Pendlebury) and they put themselves into the fray to make sure we held up and were able to interchange those players. So it was a great team effort." Mick was asked to comment on his 600th game in charge of a side. "Don't tell the players that but I might sit down with my wife and have a red. This thing (his mobile phone) hasn't stopped, but a lot of terrific people have hit me with these sorts of congratulations," Malthouse said. "I didn't go out from my corner and fight a bloke 600 times. I was able to do this with a fantastic family, a partnership. Every football club, whether playing or coaching, have people who've stayed in my life. That's what it is, it's a simple team game and I just happen to have the title 'coach' but there are so many other people who can share this. That's what makes team sport unique."
At Subiaco:
Fremantle 2.4 4.5 9.7 11.9.75
Following an average effort against the Weegs a fortnight back, Bomber Thompson had promised a full-throttle Catter performance against the Dockers, post-break. But this performance was worse in many ways, scrappy and underlining how the Pu55ies' forward-line can be exposed when they Pu55y-foot around too much. Paul Chapman in particular had a 'mare in front of the sticks and great efforts from Dockers Tarrant and Broughton kept Mooney and Steve Johnson mostly subdued, in the end the Katz could be thankful for Shannon Byrnes's 5 goals. That may belittle the Shockers' performance, they chased and tackled furiously but their own delivery to forwards was pretty ordinary. You couldn't fault their effort, though. Folks recalled this fixture last year, a tremendous game in which Freo led at three-quarter-time but were over-run in the final term. This game was close, but not as good as that one. In selection Freo were strengthened with the return of Luke McPharlin and Antoni Grover from injury, they replaced axed pair Josh Head and Brett Peake, the latter dropped for disciplinary reasons. The Cats swung the axe too, dropping David Wojcinski and Mathew Stokes along with the more marginal Tom Lonergan and Nathan Djerrkura. Stokes was hard done-by but events would show thePu55ies selected the correct small forward. The Katz also had to re-incorporate Joel Corey, Harry Taylor and Max Rooke, all returning from injury, while David Johnson was given another chance.
A still, sunny winters' day in Perf and Freo certainly came out determined to chase, tackle and harass the Cats. Byron Schammer, who followed Gary Ablett about, and young forward Michael Walters kicked behinds and Steve Johnson, opposed by Greg Broughton, missed an early snap for the Cats. The ball went back-and-forth between half-back lines before Freo managed a goal, Stephen Hill roved Andrew Foster's marking contest in the centre and handballed to Matt de Boer, he handballed back to running Foster who kicked long where Aaron Sandilands juggled a grab over Cat ruckman Mark Blake. Sandilands majored and the Dockerators led by 7 points. A lengthy goal-less spell followed, initially the Dokkers were forced into much defensive tackling as the Cats controlled possession. As mentioned, full-back Chris Tarrant did very well along with Greg Broughton and Paul Duffield, but Taz was helped as Mooney failed to make the distance from 50m after marking and Chapman committed the first of several poor misses. At the other end Scot Thornton snapped a behind and Schammer missed poorly. Mooney departed briefly with a dislocated finger before the Dockulaters scored a second goal, Sandilands marked a Catter clearing kick and punted back to the top o' the 'square, Cat Cameron Ling collected the pack-spilled ball but a strong tackle from de Boer forced it free and Thornton handballed for Matty Pavlich to snap the sausage. Freo led by 14 points with a few minutes left in the term and the minds of the TV folk boggled at the idea the Cats would experience a goal-less quarter. A bit later the Cats had a throw-in at half-forward, Steve Johnson won the ball from it and handballed to TomaHawkins, his snap hit the post. Johnson was apparently clobbered after getting his handpass away and there were some follow-up handbags or something during which Freo's Antoni Grover was reported. The TV didn't show us a replay, they're not allowed to when a bloke's reported. Anyways, Johnson had a free-kick from which he booted a goal. Freo's day was summed up a minute later when their Duffield saved a potential
Solomon and Pavlich combined to win the ball from the opening bounce of the third term and Hill's handball set up a goal for de Boer. Freo weren't going away, but you were waiting for the Cats to click into gear and produce one of those decisively brilliant scoring bursts. They never did, though. Immediately following that de Boer sausage the Catters produced a running move down the wing and Jimmy Bartel lobbed a centering kick towards leading Mooney, Tarrant spoiled but Byrnes roved at pace and slotted a major. The Catters rebounded and attacked rapidly now as the Dockulaters foundered at half-forward. Pavlich was playing on-the-ball and forward Adam Campbell appears to be the sort of bloke who'd need three or four attempts to grab a glass of water successfully. Kepler Bradley was useless too. McPharlin was shifted to full-forward but the Cats wasted their dominant spell again, Varcoe, Johnson and of course Chapman missed shots, Chapman also dropped an uncontested mark 20m out and roving Byrnes's snap was rushed through by Freo backmen. Jahlong scored five consecutive behinds before a superb Varcoe effort set up a goal, Varcoe smothered Garrick Ibbotson's handball at half-back and soccered and paddled the ball ahead until he could pick it up, great speed from Varcoe saw him go clear and punt towards leading Steve Johnson. Broughton spoiled but Johnson managed to tumble a kick forward, Gamble gathered as Varcoe arrived on the scene. "If there's justice, Gamble should give this to Varcoe," said commentator Russell, but Gamble sold a dummy and booted the goal himself. By their own standards the Cats were stuttering along but led by 24 points now. Freo's forward delivery continued to be terrible, so Tarrant ventured forth to have a go. He gave a hospital handball to Hill, who was crushed by Ling. But Hill got rid of the pill and it came back to Tarrant, who chipped a good pass for Duffield to mark and boot a Freo goal at last. Ling had lain on top of Hill for longer than was necessary and a blue erupted in which Ling gave Schammer a bit of a tummy-tap, the Dokker dropped as if shot. No umpire action was forthcoming and Ling's every touch thereafter was loudly booed by the locals. It wasn't as annoying as Russell's continual references to Ling as 'The Mayor of Geelong', though. Solomon punted the Shockers into attack from the next centre-bounce and Hasleby won a free-kick for a very slight push on the shoulder from Darren Milburn, 'Dasher' couldn't believe it but Hasleby booted a goal and Freo were 13 points behind. A great Freo move ended with a mark for steaming McPharlin on the lead, but he missed poorly. Russell was disturbed as some sling-tackles weren't punished by frees, in fact it was free-for-all. An unconfident Gamble missed from 50m and Chapman failed to make the distance with a set-shot from 30m, it was awful. Freo closed in late, there was a scrap from a throw-in at half-forward, Foster failed to sell a ridiculous dummy but after some more scrambling Schammer got a handball away for Nic Suban to snap a goal. From a secondary centre-bounce Pavlich tumbled a punt forward,
Again the Catters moved clear in the early final Mario. Freo's McPharlin proved to be mixed value as a forward, he led and marked strongly but in a desire to play-on quickly, booted the ball into Cat Blake. The Katz rebounded and the ball went towards Steve Johnson, Broughton spoiled but Varcoe gathered the Sherrin and handballed back to Johnson, who bagged a running goal. Good play from Gary Ablett at the restart forced the ball forwards for the Pu55ies and a slick handpass from Varcoe led to Hawkins passing for Byrnes to mark, 15m out. Byrnes lobbed an over-the-top handball enabling Steve Johnson to poke it through from point-blank. Johnson was lifting as the Katters led by 13 points. Freo butchered the ball going forward, a long Pavlich miss was followed by terrible clangers from McPharlin and Ibbotson to Joels Corey and Selwood, respectively. But the pressure paid off soon, Sandilands tapped a ball-up on attacking 50 down to Schammer and Schammer handballed for Ibbotson to punt truly. Cats by 6 but they replied, as a Freo clearing kick emerged Corey got away with a questionable spoil on Foster, handballs from Steve Johnson and Ling set up Byrnes for a running major. Ablett, who'd been pretty quiet, out-marked Schammer 20m from the sticks, slight angle, played-on and produced another awful miss for the Katz. Grover's long kick-in was marked strongly by Hasleby, he drove a long punt into the centre where running Tarrant held a one-handed mark and played-on with a kick towards Pavlich and Taylor. Pav was awarded a pretty soft free - You Can't Touch Pav - which he converted into a goal. The Cats' lead was back to 7 points and became a goal exactly following Mundy's long behind. Freo fans were soon fuming again when Kelly marked at half-back and ambled away from the mark, unaware of the rapidly approaching McPharlin. 'Bawl' they cried as Kelly was tackled, but he was allowed an age to get a dubious handball away. No free to McPharlin. A bit later Corey sent an attacking kick very wide towards Johnson and Gamble, the latter gathered and hooked a centering kick where Freo men Dodd and Foster collided and Byrnes collected the ball to snap a major. Byrnes also cleared the restart and Hawkins set up a mark for Mooney 15m out, Moons played-on and produced possibly the worst miss of a game which excelled in those. But the Freo men were tiring and the Cats sealed the game shortly afterwards, under pressure from Bartel the Dokkers' Hill clangered a kick straight to Ling, he passed to Byrnes who found Chapman marking 50m out. Chapman played-on and finally managed to raise the twin calicoes, the Catters led by 19 points with about 4 minutes remaining. They closed it down from there.
The Cats could thank Shannon Byrnes (26 disposals, 9 marks, 5 goals) for his effort and the solid midfield performances of Joel Corey (30 touches, 8 tackles) and Jimmy Bartel (26 disposals, 8 tackles). Cameron 'Krusty the Klown of Geelong' Ling (27 disposals, 7 marks) actually played very well, having the better of Hasleby. Corey Enright (19 touches, 7 marks, a goal) and James Kelly (21 possessions, 5 marks) ran well off half-back and Travis Varcoe (19 handlings) did some very good things. Paul Chapman (31 touches, 10 marks, a goal) had plenty of the ball but his woeful goal-shooting (1.3 plus two no-scores) kinda tempered the effort. I said Ablett didn't do much but he ended up with 29 touches (24 handballs), so there you go. Steve Johnson (16 possies, 7 marks) bagged 3 goals in the end, Tom Hawkins kicked 2 goals. Freo's backline was very good, led by Chris Tarrant (16 disposals, 6 marks) on Mooney, Greg Broughton (29 touches, 11 marks) on Johnson and rebound man Paul Duffield (29 disposals, 7 marks, a goal). Aaron Sandilands (20 possies, 5 marks, 37 hit-outs, a goal) was terrific in the ruck and small-but-tough guys Matt de Boer (21 touches, a goal) and Byron Schammer (24 disposals) were impressive against Selwood and Ablett respectively. Matty Pavlich (31 disposals, 4 marks, 2 goals) battled against close attention from Mackie. Mark Harvey took some positives from the effort of his young, injury-depleted side. "The effort of the guys - against a side that we all think is going to play in the grand final - was substantial. We gave ourselves an opportunity and put ourselves in the game in the last quarter, and had an opportunity to dethrone a winning sequence (what?). I think our competitive nature was right up there with what I would expect from a group that was playing against a great side . . . (Poor forward play) really hurt us. I spoke to (the forwards) throughout the course of the game about just taking a competitive mark . . . we weren't able to do that (and) we didn't have enough crumbers at times. I think in time when we get a better balanced team - with Headland and Ballantyne around the corner and Hayden and Johnson around the corner, too - that's what we look forward to . . . We've got to really make sure everything is spot on in our preparation in the build up to a big game at the MCG. We haven't played there this year (and) they (Collywood) are in good form." Mark Thompson conceded his lads didn't play very well, and Freo put the pressure on them. "The five minutes before three quarter time was really poor," Thompson said. "We did a lot right in the third quarter but we kicked points instead of goals and we left the door open. To go in at three quarter time (level) wasn't exactly how we planned it. In the end we controlled the last quarter and came away with a reasonably comfortable win . . . We really enjoy being in games that are a little bit tight and I think it's great to get into a habit of doing that (and) being able to think your way through. We've done it most weeks which shows a maturity and experience and a confidence, and sometime they're better games to play in . . . I'm really sympathetic to the Western Australian teams and how they have to travel to
Ladder after Round 12
Pts. % Next Week
St. Kilda 48 173.6
Footscray 32 123.9
Collingwood 28 109.5 Fremantle (MCG, Saturday)
Essendon 24 98.6
------------------------------------------------
Hawthorn 24 94.9 West Coast (Subiaco, Sat. night)
Port
West Coast 12 86.9 Hawthorn (Subiaco, Sat. night)
Fremantle 12 79.7 Collingwood (MCG, Saturday)
Cheers, Tim.
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