[AFL-Review] AFL Round 15

AFL Round 15

 

At Docklands:

Footscray    3.4    6.6   10.9   16.14.110

Collingwood  7.2   11.5   16.7    17.9.111

 

The Bulldogs need to call Hall. They can't 'til next season, but a decent forward would've won 'em this very exciting game in the end. The Magpoise were all over them for three quarters with some superb defensive-rebound footy and remarkable inside-50 conversion, much like the Dogs last weekend. The Dawgs willed themselves to a final-quarter challenge but the same problem persisted; an inability to crack the Pies' backline, or at least score often enough when they did so. The result tightened the race for the top four. The meedya can't believe the Maggies haven't re-signed Mick Malthouse as coach, amid reports the Poise are trying to put together a 'super-deal' involving Mick mentoring Nathan Buckley as an assistant for a coupla years before a handover. Malthouse isn't happy about this, apparently. Anyway. In selection the Magpies welcomed back Ben Johnson from his broken leg, Nathan Brown was dropped for tactical reasons against the smaller Bully forward set-up. The Doggies also had a returnee in rated defender Tom Williams, he replaced injured junior Sam Reid (calf strain).

 

This game not only featured third v fourth but was also seen as a credibility test. Both the Dogs and Poise had won six straight coming in, but only one of those combined twelve wins was over a side in the eight, Collywood's against the Bommers last Friday. The Bulldogs dominated pack-clearances here, but the Pies' settled defence was superb in holding 'em out and the Maggies were super-efficient going forward. A typical chipping sequence of passes around the boundary, Travis Cloke to Shane O'Bree to Dale Thomas, led to Thomas booting the opening goal. A minute later Poi ruckman Josh Fraser kicked long and Scott Pendlebury had a fairly soft free-kick for holding against Ryan Hargrave, Pendlebury converted and the Poise had a rapid 11-point lead. The Bullies finally benefitted from a clearance, from the next centre-bounce Will Minson punched the ball forward and Matthew Boyd ran on to gather it, steady and drill a running goal. But shortly a dithering Ryan Griffen was caught in possession, by Alan Didak, on the Dogs' defensive 50m line and Dayne Beams collected the loosed ball, he handballed to 'Neon' Leon Davis who chipped a centering kick for Alan Toovey to mark and convert. Shortly Davis sharked Minson's tap from a throw-in in the Pies' forward-pocket, Davis curled a superb over-the-shoulder snap for a sausage and the Maggies led by 17 points. Bullpup Shaun Higgins saw his quick snap take some erratic zig-zag bounces before striking the post, from the resulting kick-in the Poise raced downfield again and Pendlebury kicked towards back-pedalling Ben Johnson, who would've marked if not biffed in the ear by Daniel Cross. Johnson's free-kick just snuck through for a goal. A bit later the Poise sprung from half-back again, where Nick Maxwell and Harry O'Brien were leading a great effort. Paul 'Steak Knives' Medhurst led up into the centre to take a diving mark, as he jumped up Medhurst's jumper was pulled back by Jason Akermanis and that's a 50m penalty. Medhurst goaled. The Pie rebound kept comin', Pendlebury ran through the centre, swapped handballs with O'Bree and then gave one to running Fraser, who walloped a major from just inside the 50m line. The Magpoise led by 33 points with seven goals on the 'board to the Bullies' one. The Bulldogs now adjusted their own frenetic attacking play and tried to control the ball a bit more when in possession, some chip-about and a switching move allowed marauding full-back Brian Lake to bomb a kick forward and Higgins leaped over the back of the pack to take a great grab, Higgins majored. More steady, rather than lightening, attacking play brought the Dogs the next goal, Josh Hill's risky short pass was collected smartly by Boyd, he passed short to leading Mitch Hahn who in turn jabbed a pass to wide-leading Adam Cooney. Cooney steered it through from the pocket and the Pie lead was reduced to 22 points at the first break.

 

The Dogs continued to whittle down the margin in the early second, 50m from goal Scott Welsh had a free for being held back by Tyson Goldsack, Welsh chipped a sideways pass to Boyd who played-on and saw his shot smothered by diving Toovey, but the ball rebounded to Lindsay Gilbee who punted truly. Gilbee tumbled a punt forward from the restart and after a fairly rugged scrap for the ball at half-forward it squirted free to Akermanis, who lobbed a goal off one step. The Bullies had scored the last four goals of the game and the Poi lead was down to 10 points. Pie Thomas kicked them into attack from the next centre-bounce, some more fierce battle for the ball at the Pies' half-forward spot this time before Didak lobbed a terrific handball clear to Fraser, he gave a short handball to Tarkyn Lockyer who dobbed an easy major. Foot-a-scray had a couple of scoring chances but Minson kicked into Prestigiacomo on the mark following a very good grab, then Cross's shot from 45m didn't make the distance. Magpoi Johnson's clearing kick from the last line found Toovey on the defensive wing, Toovey took off an a long run, with battlin' Aker chasing, before passing towards Lockyer who was crunched between two converging Bulldog backmen, handily Medhurst collected the ball and snapped a lovely goal from the pocket. Davis postered following a mark on-the-lead before O'Bree tumbled a kick forward from a throw-in, Travis Cloke tapped-on for Thomas to gather the ball and fire a terrific long handpass inboard for running Beams to collect in-stride and spear a superb team goal for the Maggies. The Poise led by 29 points and the TV cut to a shot of the Bulldogs' president, a surly David Smorgon. "Stunned Dog millionaire," quipped Commetti. The Bulldogs managed a sustained spell of attacking but continued to find the Poi back-line impenetrable, until Scraggie O'Brien was forced into a hurried clearing kick to a contest. Gilbee collected the spillage and chipped a kick forward which Akermanis marked strongly in front of O'Bree, not a noted aerialist. Aker majored for the Dogs at last and they trailed by 21 points. Poi Dane Swan raced clear of the next centre-bounce but kicked a point. A minute later the Poise replied in full though, John Anthony out-marked team-mate Cloke about 30m out but Anthony gave off a mad handpass which put Davis under heavy pressure, Davis's quick, low snap was punched long and high from Robert Murphy's strange goal-square spoil and the ball went straight to Swan, who snapped accurately this time. A poor miss from Sharrod Wellingham had the Maggies 29 points up at half-time.

 

Little changed in the third term. Bulldog Murphy was switched to the forward-line to provide more marking power up there. The Bullpups scored from the opening bounce, Ben Hudson and Cooney combined to clear it and Ryan Griffen kicked long, Hahn roved Higgins's contest and dribbly-snapped it through. But Higgins followed up with an appalling miss and soon, at the other end, Cloke was allowed a run-up to take a very good pack-mark. Clokey kicked quickly towards Lockyer who was spoiled in the marking attempt but roving Davis snapped a sausage. Then Bully Griffen punted towards leading Brad Johnson who roved his own contest and got a smart handball away for Murphy to dob a major. The Poise lead was 22 points after that but they exerted some heavy pressure now, Brad Dick missed from a tight angle and Swan postered after a gift of a 50m penalty gave him an easy shot. Then Swan's terrific half-volley scoop of an under-hit pass enabled him to flip a handball to running Goldsack, who coasted inside 50 and thumped a great kick for a goal. That was followed by an even better Poi goal, in their back pocket Maxwell won the ball with some skill and punted long to the wing where Didak lurked glaringly alone, Didak took off on a 5-bounce run (he bounces a lot) which took him to about 55m out before punting into the pocket, setting up Davis for a ride on and speccie over Jarrod Harbrow - about a metre over the boundary-line as the TV replay showed. But the grab stood and, on a tight angle, Davis played-on immediately and hooked a fantastic goal, Morton-style. Swan won the agget from the following centre-bounce and punted long, Bulldog backman Lake fumbled allowing Dick to gather the ball and chip a pass to Davis in the pocket. A tight angle again but Davis steered a conventional drop-punt for the goal this time and the Pies led by 41 points. "It's over," yelled Commetti and you could forgive him for saying so. The Bullies broke the run, a good kick from Nathan Eagleton allowed Liam Picken to mark behind Hudson and Prestigiacomo, Picken played-on and slotted a badly-needed Doggy goal. Picken was tagging Didak, but not very well. The Pies replied after Bulldog Higgins wasn't paid what appeared a good mark in the Dogs' forward-line, Pie Fraser ran clear and passed to Thomas, he ran to the 50m line before passing to Swan, all alone 20m out. Swan marked, played-on and stabbed it through, Poise by 41 again. The Dogs managed the final goal of the stanza after O'Bree was caught in possession by Boyd. From the turnover Eagleton passed for leading Higgins to mark wide on the flank, Higgins scored full points with a great kick. But that was a rare case of the Dogs penetrating beyond half-forward and they trailed by 34 points at the final change.

 

Hard to explain the final-quarter turn-about. The Pies, who'd played at a furious tempo, dropped off the running, especially from half-back which'd been so damaging. Josh Fraser went to the bench with a 'locked knee'. And the Bulldogs increased their effort, significantly. The Dogs scored an early goal after Welsh roved his own marking contest and handballed for Higgins to steer it through on-the-run. The Bullies won the ball from the next centre-bounce and worked the pill wide to Murphy, he drove the ball long and low where Hahn seized a strong grab in front of the pack. Hahn majored. Murphy missed narrowly with a shot and Harbrow missed on the run, Hahn roved a forward-pocket throw-in but his snap hit the post. Commetti began to equivocate his "it's over" as the margin was reduced to 19 points, the Pies not having an inside-50 for the korter to this stage. Soon some good work from Lockyer set up a mark for Cloke, 25m out but he missed woefully. Swan's effort a minute later was scarcely better, a running shot on-the-full. The Dogs kept comin', Callan Ward held a great with-the-flight mark while two Pies watched, he kicked forward where Poi Pendlebury gathered the ball but Picken stripped it from him with a great tackle, Picken sprang up, collected the Sherrin and booted a very good major. A bit later Poi Leigh Brown lumbered from defence and was mown down by Gilbee, 'bawl' and Brown helped out by booting the ball away as well, a 50m penalty and Gilbee popped it through from 10m out. The Magpoi lead was down to 7 points now. Fraser returned to the action at this point. Lake's spoil on Anthony gave the Pies a rushed point before the Dogs closed again, Murphy collected a loose ball at half-forward and finessed a bit before lobbing a pass to Hahn, who'd run ahead of the play. Hahn marked, played-on and slammed it through from the goal-square, the Magpiss led by 2 points. A minute later Hahn led and marked on the 50m line, his shot was straight but just touched through on-the-line, by team-mate Brad Johnson I think. A point the diff then but time was draining. The Pies managed some attacking, the Bulldogs tried a risky runnin', handballin' move to clear their defence and it came unstuck under pressure. Maggie Beams gathered the loose ball and hooked a blind kick forward, it went straight to Thomas 20m out. Thomas converted, much to the relief of Pie fans and they led by 7 points with 1:45 remaining. But the Dogs advanced again and the ball went out-of-bounds in their forward-pocket, Cooney roved the throw-in and his quick snap sailed across the face of goal, Brad Johnson won it skillfully and handballed to Griffen who was cool enough to sell a dummy before snapping truly. Back to a point the diff, with just 17 seconds on the clock. Minson tumbled a kick forward from the restart but Leigh Brown soccer-hacked it clear and that was good enough for the Poise to cling on.    

 

The familiar names led the apparently unbeatable Poise, Dane Swan (34 disposals, 6 marks, 2 goals) was very good again along with Alan Didak (33 possies, 8 marks). Nick Maxwell (24 touches, 6 marks, 6 tackles) continues to evade an opponent in defence with Harry O'Brien (21 handlings, 9 marks) also doing well. 'Neon' Leon Davis (19 disposals, 7 marks, 4 goals) provided the flair in attack and Heath Shaw (22 touches, 5 marks) played well off half-back. The Dogs' late comeback coincided with Josh Fraser's (18 touches, 4 marks, 10 hit-outs, a goal) departure. Paul Medhurst and Dale Thomas kicked 2 goals each. Bulldog man Robert Murphy (27 disposals, 13 marks, a goal) was handy at both ends and Brian Lake (24 touches, 12 marks) not only kept Anthony goal-less but was a defensive bulwark. Matthew Boyd (30 possessions, 4 marks, a goal) kept up his great form and Shaun Higgins (16 touches, 3 marks, 3 goals) was very good again, allegedly despite carrying a groin injury. Adam Cooney (31 touches, 6 marks, a goal) and rebound backman Ryan Hargrave (35 possies, 11 marks) were also solid. Mitch Hahn booted 3 goals, Jason Akermanis, Lindsay Gilbee and Liam Picken bagged 2 goals each. 'Rocket' Eade tried and failed not to be a little bitter. "Probably in the end you're going to take more positives than negatives because I think the negatives are rectifiable, and rectifiable very quickly," Eade said. "Against a top-four side, to go down by a point where most of indicators are in front, we just didn't take our chances. Obviously we showed a lot of fight, a lot of courage and that's one thing about the group, they really do persevere and hang in there, so that was very pleasing. Just the amount of mistakes and our intensity was down a bit . . . a mark taken a metre over the boundary-line, ends up a goal . . . I don't know (why the Dogs have slow starts). Two six-day breaks against a quality team, we seemed to be flat. They got a bit of a wake-up call at half time." Malthouse said "We've managed to drag ourselves back into equal third bar percentage, so that's a good place to be. We've worked pretty hard to get that far and against a quality opponent I think the boys can take some valuable confidence with them . . . I wasn't surprised (by the Doggies' comeback) and nor was I comfortable at three-quarter time and I'm sure the players weren't comfortable at three-quarter time. We started well and they finished well. The siren goes at the end of the game and someone's got to be in front; we were and they come home like a train. They're a fantastic football side and we proved tonight I thought that we can go round with some of them . . . There was some outstanding courage by all players and I'm not just talking about Collingwood players. I just thought that . . . it was a pretty good game of football played by 44 desperate players . . . I thought if we kicked 15 or 16 (goals) I thought we could win it. I had faith in our defensive qualities. As it turned out, we needed 17, so I don't think I was far off the money."

 

At the SCG:

Sydney    4.2   5.8    7.11   10.12.72

Essendon  4.6   8.8   12.12   15.17.107

 

"Essendon stay on top after cruising to victory over Sydney," reckoned Sydney-based Foxtel's scrolling headlines. Ah well, a station which considers Mike Gibson and Paul Salmon as brilliant exponents of witty sporting banter can't be held to too high a standard. And why is every rugby-league expert a short, fat bloke in an ill-fitting suit? Keep the body-hugging garments to the presenter-babes, thanks. Oh, the footy. The Bommers surprised themselves a bit with a pretty comfortable win over the Swans, who've been a problem side for them. It was a glimpse into a Hall-less future for the Bloods and it wasn't pretty (apart from cosmetically) as they struggled badly and effectively ended their season, and probably an era. Symbolically Barry Hall himself did a farewell lap-of-honour at half-time and shed a few tears. Hall probably has few admirers outside the Swans but he's done a great job for them, overall - 160-odd games, 467 goals and a key member of a premiership-winning side. The Bloods made two changes in selection, Jarrad McVeigh was out with hamstring soreness and junior Ryan Brabazon was dropped, in came Luke Ablett and Canadian ruckman Mike Pyke. Three changes for the Dons with Mark McVeigh, Jobe Watson and junior defender Michael Hurley returning, at the expense of Angus Monfries (hamstring), Hayden Skipworth (damaged kneecap) and the dropped Nathan Lovett-Murray.

 

On a dark, grey, cold day the Dons lined up with Kyle Reimers at full-forward and they played through him often, early. Reimers kicked the first goal, leading to mark a pass from Jobe Watson who cleared a pack smartly to set up the chance. The Swans replied as Lewis Roberts-Thomson, one of several Hall-surrogates, led long to mark 55m out and dish off a handball to runnin' Ed Barlow, he passed for leading Mick O'Loughlin to mark and convert. There was a poor miss from Bomma Ricky Dyson and Alwyn Davey missed before O'Loughlin led long for the Swans to mark on the 50m line, he kicked towards ruckman Darren Jolly who gathered and saw his snap smothered, the agate spilled to Jared Crouch who sliced his shot which Roberts-Thomson marked kinda fortuitously, 15m out. LRT converted and the Swans led by 4 points. But the Dons began to control the ball, Watson won it from a secondary centre-bounce and passed towards leading Matty Lloyd, Ted Richards spoiled but Don Jason Winderlich collected the ball and handballed to Dyson, whose wobbly snap bounced through for a major. Reimers then cleared a ball-up and lobbed a punt for Lloyd to take a diving grab, Lloydy majored and the Bommers led by 8 points. A handful of behinds from both sides before the Bloods replied, Essadun's Andrew Lovett allowed Slattery's clearing kick to bounce ahead of him and Swan Kieren Jack nipped in to soccer the ball forward, it went straight to O'Loughlin who duly sausaged. The Bommers scored in turn, Davey chipped backwards to Reimers who kicked long into the pocket for back-pedalling Scott Lucas to hold a good grab, Lucas threaded it through. The Dons led by 9 points but at the following centre-bounce Siddey ruckman Mike Pyke tapped perfectly for Adam Goodes to gather, steam clear and roost a superb 50m goal. The Dons, who'd missed a few, led by 4 points at korter-time. There was a barrage of Sidderney behinds early in the second korter, before the Dons scored a goal of course. Sam Lonergan's terrific effort to strip the ball off one Swan and smother another's handpass allowed Watson to collect the pill, he handballed to Lloyd who crept along the boundary before switching onto his favoured left boot and snapping it through. More behinds followed, before Lloyd led up into the centre to mark and dish off to Brent Stanton, his good pass found Brent Prismall marking on the 50m line. Prismall was allowed a farcically short pass - it must've been 5m - to Winderlich who booted a goal. A bit later Lonergan led up to hold a strong grab in front of Paul Bevan, Lonergan bagged another major for the Bombouts. Paddy Ryder jabbed a poor centering pass to opposed Winderlich but Courtenay Dempsey roved and lobbed a smart handball to Andrew Welsh, who ran inside 50 and dobbed a goal. The Dons'd jumped to a 25-point lead. The Swans managed to pull one back before the long break, in a scrap from a throw-in Bomma Heath Hocking tried to break Ryan O'Keefe's tackle and didn't, 'bawl' it was and O'Keefe converted the free-kick. The Dons led by 18 points at half-time, prior to A Farewell to Barry.  

 

It was the Dons' turn to kick points in the early third Mario, three to the Swans' one as the local side lifted their on-ball efforts, but struggled to convert. Twelve minutes had elapsed before the Bloods scored a goal, O'Loughlin led wide for a grab and stabbed a short, inboard kick to O'Keefe, he bombed a punt to the goal-square. The ball spilled from Jolly's contest, Nick Malceski soccer-volleyed the ball straight up in the air and when it came down Pat Veszpremi grabbed it and stabbed the major. The Swans were closer, 14 points down. But the Dons were winning clearances and from a secondary centre-bounce again Welsh tumbled a kick forward for Essadun and Winderlich gathered it skilfully, he handballed to Dyson who dribbly-snapped accurately. A minute later Welsh drove a long kick forward and as Craig Bolton and Richards leaped in front of him, Lucas read the flight better to take the grab and handball to Lloyd alone in the goal-square for a tap-through. The Dons led by 26 points. The Bloods hung in there, but they were playing lazily and wasting chances; Goodes atempted a running banana-shot which wobbled wide when he had time to steady and kick a regular drop-pint. A bit later Bevan dived into a contest to force the ball free to Roberts-Thomson, LRT jabbed a short pass to Barlow who ran clear and had a shot which bounced home through an empty goal-square. But the Dons kicked away, Stanton gathered a loose ball just outside 50m and lobbed a ridiculous rain-making kick which Lucas stood under and was duly hammered, but Winderlich roved smartly (in a couple of senses) and snapped a very good sausage roll. A minute later Don big man Cale Hooker received the ball in space on the wing, Hooker went for an ungainly run and helicoptered a kick forward which Stanton marked very easily, as his man (Rhyce Shaw I think) slipped over. Stanton majored and the Dons led by 31 points, the margin at three-korter time after Jared Crouch missed a sitter for Siddeny. This should have been his final game. The Swans boxed on, as they do, into the last term but couldn't score consecutive goals to exert scoreboard pressure. Early on Brett 'Captain' Kirk's tackle on Reimers forced the Don into a panicky handball and Veszpremi intercepted it, he handballed to Jack who ran and passed to Marty Mattner, alone 30m out. Mattner drew a man and handballed over the top to O'Loughlin, alone, and Mick slammed it through. But a minute later Bummer Davey cleared a pack with a slick handball to Lovett and he passed for leading Winderlich to mark and convert. Tight for a few minutes before the Swans found some space to attack and Mattner's long kick was marked by Veszpremi, lurking behind Michael Hurley. Veszpremi converted and celebrated excitedly, as he does. A bit later there was a throw-in at half-forward for the Swans, it wasn't a good one as Jude Bolton punched it forward for Siddey but directly to Bommer Hocking, he handballed to Davey who ran clear and sent a rather ordinary pass towards Lloyd, leading up into the centre. Lloyd collected the ball and appeared to throw it to Winderlich, who kicked long for back-pedalling Lucas to mark in the goal-square. Lucas popped it through and the Dons led by 31 points still, fifteen minutes into the stanza. It was over and a few points were scored over the following minutes, mainly by the Dons. Crouch booted a consolation major for the Bloods, set up by O'Keefe's strong work, before Lovett drove a good kick over Lloyd and into the arms of Lucas to boot the final major.

 

Essadun appeared a much better side with Jobe Watson (29 disposals, 5 marks) restored, runnin' Andrew Lovett (29 touches, 5 marks) did some skilful things and Brent Stanton (29 handlings, 10 marks, a goal) was busy as the Dons' midfielders did well. Jason Winderlich (25 possessions, 7 marks, 3 goals) was also busy off half-forward and Tayte Pears (21 touches, 3 marks) did well at full-back, on a few opponents. Andrew Welsh (22 touches, 12 tackles, a goal) tagged Brett Kirk closely. Matty Lloyd bagged 3 goals, so did Scott Lucas and Ricky Dyson snapped 2 goals. For the Swans Ryan O'Keefe (27 disposals, 4 marks, a goal) continued his fine form and Adam Goodes (22 touches, 6 marks, a goal) tried hard as captain on Marn Grook Day. Brett Kirk (21 possessions) battled in packs again and Michael O'Loughlin (14 touches, 9 marks, 3 goals) worked hard from full-forward, Ed Barlow (19 handlings, 5 marks, a goal) and Rhyce Shaw (30 disposals) did some running. Patrick Veszpremi kicked 2 goals. Roosy wasn't happy as he wrote off the season, for the first time in a decade. "It was disappointing given the stakes," Roos said. "We just didn't have the usual intensity against a team we know is young and fit and uses the ball well. We hung in and hung in but we really didn't give ourselves a chance to win. It was probably our worst performance over the last five weeks. We just looked off the pace today, they all looked pretty tired today and our better players just didn't play great. We didn't have any class players today . . . If you're talking about finals, you'd be unlikely to play in them this year. You expect this point to come at some stage; you're just not sure when it's going to come. But it's an opportunity for the club to take over the next six or seven weeks. In a positive sense it could be a good opportunity." Ah, rebuilding time. Bomma coach Matty Knights said "We have been blown away in our two previous interstate matches against Port Adelaide and Brisbane and we needed a win. We have two matches coming up at Subiaco against West Coast and Fremantle, so it was important to record a victory . . . To grind a win away like that against a quality Sydney outfit was especially pleasing because the Swans keep going and never give up. There was a lot of hard work at the stoppages and even at three-quarter time when we five goals up I told the boys to keep running hard and to keep kicking goals because the Swans are a team that would never give up . . . We all wanted to make amends (for the loss against Collywood) and I thought it was a consistent four-quarter effort from the team."

 

At the MCG:

Carlton   3.3   9.8   13.9    16.13.109

Richmond  3.4   6.6    7.14   12.17.89

 

The Brendan Fevola Show did for the Tiges here, Fev bagging a career-best 9 goals with the full array of party tricks on display. Blind snaps from the impossible angle, one-handed marks, ridiculous soccer-volleys were all happening for Fevola. The Richmun Handball Club won enough of the ball to finish closer, maybe in front, but their battlin' forward-line simply didn't function well enough. Richmun's 1.8 in the third term pretty much ended their chances, but they fought on okay. Just weren't good enough. In pickin' here the Bluies made two changes to the side which won in Perth, Joe Anderson and the rarely seen Adam Hartlett replaced Setanta O'hAilpin ('soreness') and suspended Mark Austin. Three changes for the Toigers, Nathan Foley (calf strain) and Andrew Collins (hip) were unavailable while Jarrod Silvester was dropped, amongst the 'ins' Jake King was given another go along with Alex Rance while Matthew White returned from his hamstring injury. 

 

It were a very cold, windy day at the 'G and the wind assisted the Tiges to begin with, although as with most strong breezes at the 'G it swirled around a quite a bit. The Bluies scored a goal from the opening bounce, Matthew Kreuzer handballed to Chris Judd, he kicked towards leading Fevola whom Toig Will Thursfield spoiled but roving Bloo Jordan Russell did well to get a handball to Brad Fisher, who snapped truly. The Tiges replied from a weak throw-in, Trent Cotchin fisted it forward and straight to Brett Deledio, whose quick, wind propelled shot bounced through for the goal. Kicking was risky as the wind buffeted the ball around, but Jack Riewoldt can't use it as an excuse. He can't kick, missing a simple set shot and Judd snapped a point (he can kick). Tigger Luke McGuane held a tough defensive mark but engaged in handball madness and as the Tiges tried to avoid rushing a behind their Kel Moore was caught by Eddie Betts, Betts free-kicked a goal. Ben Cousins won the following centre-clearance for the Toigs with a good handpass, Cotchin kicked long where some good pressure from Robby Nahas forced Bloo Joseph into a panicky handball, Riewoldt soccered a goal to level the scores. Tight and scrappy for a bit before Bluie Ryan Houlihan won the pill on the forward-flank and lobbed a great handball for Bryce Gibbs to collect in-stride and steer for a major. Bloozers by 6 but the Tiges grabbed the lead prior to the first break, following a rushed point Bluie Hartlett's kick-in dropped in the wind and was marked by Tige ruckman Angus Graham, he handballed to Nahas who punted to the top o' the 'square where roving Cousins handballed for Mitch Morton to do the hooky kick! and score a goal. Tiggers by a point at korter-time. Fevola hadn't managed a touch at this point and had been out-marked (once) by Thursfield, but Fev got going in quartier le deuxieme. A well-weighted Gibbs kick brought about his first early in the Mario, allowing Fevola to mark behind Thursfield, play-on and poke it through. Carton's Marc Murphy snapped a point and from the kick-in young Toig Jayden Post rode team-mate Tyrone Vickery to take a big grab, the pill went forward where running Nahas slipped two tackles and drew some other Bluies before feeding a handball to White, he jabbed a very short pass to Riewoldt who played-on and hooked a left-foot snap for a major. Tiges by a point again. Betts missed a shot before Riewoldt conceding a free-kick led to the next Bluie goal, Kreuzer roved Judd's marking contest and handballed to Andrew Carrazzo, he lobbed one to Murphy in space who cantered in and slotted. A bit later Tigger Alex Rance's risky switching pass in defence put skipper Chris Newman under a lot of pressure, Newman couldn't hold the juggling mark and Betts ripped the ball free, he handballed for Fevola to snap it through. A short Newman kick-in was intercepted by Bluie Greg Bentley, he punted a major and the Blooze had jumped to a 20-point lead. The Big Pu55ies hung in there, Gibbs was pinged for a throw from a throw-in and Nahas free-kicked a goal. Cotchin and Daniel Jackson combined to win the next centre-clearance for Richmun and White kicked long, the agate spilled from Riewoldt and Thornton's contest, Joseph grabbed it and was tackled immediately by Nahas. A harsh 'bawl' decision ensued and Nahas bagged another major, reducing the Bloo lead to 8 points. But the Bloobaggers responded with a slick rebound move, ending with Carrazzo's pass to leading Fevola who booted a good goal from the flank. A minute later Fevola collected a bouncing ball wide on the flank, shrugged Thursfield's tackle and had a quick snap from the boundary-line which bounced and rolled through for full points. From straight between his buttocks, perhaps, but it was Fev's fourth goal of the korter and Carton led by 20 points at half-time.

 

The Tiggers won a stack of the ball early in the third term, but failed to do enough with it. Cousins and Tom Hislop kicked points early in the third before the Blooze scored a goal, Kreuzer dived into a pack to force the ball clear and Gibbs collected, he jabbed a short pass to leading Fevola who juggled the grab before thumping a 55m sausage roll. That was it for Thursfield and McGuane replaced him as Fevola's man. The 'baggers led by 24 points. The Toigers managed a reply, Jackson's good kick picked out Shane Edwards in traffic in the centre, he played-on and passed for leading Post to mark on the 50m line. Post dished off a handpass to Newman who booted a long major. But then Cousins and Graham added further behinds for the Tiges and a very good move ended with Morton riding Carrazzo to take a great grab 20m out - and miss awfully. He didn't hooky-kick it. The Blooze managed a major from a forward-pocket throw-in, Betts handballed back to Carrazzo who had time to steady before steering his kick between the big posts. Carton led by 22 points after that. The Tiges won the following centre-clearance and junior ruckman Tyrone Vickery led out for a mark, but his shot hit the post. Richard Tambling behinded from a tricky angle and a long Deledio shot was off-target, before the Bluies and Fevola hit the Toigs late. From the kick-in of the Deledio point the Bluies swept downfield, Houlihan booted long and Fevola juggled a one-handed mark in front of McGuane before popping it through. A minute later Kade Simpson wobbled a kick forward, the wind took it over Fisher and Moore and the ball bounced into the goal-square, where Fevola stood with McGuane and the goal-line directly behind him. Fevola flicked the ball with his foot, over his shoulder and McGuane's head and through for an outrageous but spectacular goal. "Goal of the Year," yelled Channel Carlton's Quartermain. It was pretty good. Carton led by a handy 31 points at the final change and the Tiges commenced the final term without defender Moore, an injured hip. The Blues went further ahead early, a soft free-kick to Gibbs saw him boot long again and Fevola also had a free, quite obvious holding from McGuane. Fevola free-kicked no. 8 and the 'baggers led by 38 points. But as they did last week, the Tiges finished off okay. Good work from Riewoldt and Morton set up Vickery to mark near the point-post, given the Tiges had scored nine straight behinds or something Vickery played-on to make sure of it by ramming it through from point-blank. Then Jake King took a good grab and stabbed a short pass to Shane Tuck, he lobbed a kick to the top o' the 'square where Vickery worked to the front to hold a strong mark and boot another. Post missed a running shot before Nahas won the ball at a throw-in and handballed to Cotchin, he speared a pass to leading Graham on the flank. Graham stabbed a short one to Riewoldt, who managed to kick straight for a change. The Tiggers hovered 19 points down. Bad Fevola re-emerged as he biffed McGuane and conceded a 50m penalty from a kick-in. But the Blooze steadied, a tough mark in defence from Bret Thornton initiated a rebound move, Gibbs punted forward and running Kreuzer brought the ball down with one hand before gathering and snapping truly off the left boot. Tiges Cousins and Jackson combined to win the ball from the restart and running Cousins drew some tacklers before handballing to King in the clear, King steered a major. A bit later the Tiges put together an unbelievably slick move from a kick-in, culminating in McGuane's handball to Deledio who roosted a running sausage. The Bluie lead was down to 15 points and a Riewoldt miss (!) made it 14. But Fev's ninth settled the issue, a poor Jackson kick lost the Tiges possession and the Bluesers advanced until Betts could handball over-the-top to give Fevola a 'Joe the Goose' goal-square tap-through. Fev gave a little fist-pump after accepting Betts's handpass, Fev was aware of his record. He did kick 12 in the Millennium Game, of course. Hard to believe that was nearly 10 years ago. 

 

Brendan Fevola finished with 9.1 from 16 disposals and just 4 marks. Chris Judd (29 disposals) was very good as usual and Andrew Carrazzo (29 touches, a goal) saw a lot of it, half-back Shaun Grigg (26 touches, 4 marks) was pretty good and Bryce Gibbs (24 handlings, a goal) motored about to some effect. Matthew Kreuzer (14 possies, a mark, 20 hit-outs, a goal) is gonna be a pretty useful ruckman one day and Marc Murphy (20 possessions, a goal) played well. The Tiges' best was probably Ben Cousins (35 disposals, 3 marks), out to atone for his disastrous Richmun debut against the Bluies in round one. Richard Tambling (19 touches, 5 marks, 9 tackles) continued his good form and Daniel Jackson (32 possessions, 6 tackles) was handy, Brett Deledio (29 possessions, 2 goals) improved once switched onto Judd after half-time - he was carted into the game. Robin Nahas (14 touches, 2 goals) did a bit, Jack Riewoldt (16 touches, 6 marks, 3 goals and 3 points) is a talented but frustrating type. Tyrone Vickery (11 disposals, 4 marks, 7 hit-outs, 2 goals) showed a bit. "We had our chances to be in the game. At three-quarter time, we shouldn't have been down by as much as we were," said stand-in Tigger coach Jade Rawlings. "It could have got too hard for our boys but it didn't, and I couldn't have been prouder of their endeavour and their courage to keep fighting through. I thought Bret Thornton's mark when the game was really tight was a pivotal moment. They go and score from it; our chance gone . . . There's always one that gets out (from a tag). Judd got out, so we asked Deledio, 'By the way, can you go and play on Juddy for us?' He took that on board. Judd was awesome around clearances but we thought Deledio's effort to play on him and stand toe to toe and try to match it and run the other way was really pleasing . . . (Fevola) was just too good. He was in one of those frames of mind where anything in his area, he was going to be able to do something special with. This will sound weird but I thought Will Thursfield was pretty good on him. Thursfield's first half probably negated more contests than we lost." It does sound weird. Bloo coach Brett Ratten said "Brendan kicks nine goals and you'd have to say he was probably the best man on the ground because of that performance. There are some [other] pleasing aspects of the game. I thought a guy like Aaron Joseph really stood up, Adam Hartlett got his first crack at it for the year and he looks like he can get over the ground a lot better than he has in previous years. Jordan Russell's performance, as well, I thought was pretty encouraging . . . When it hasn't always gone right for us [in the past] we have just fallen away as a group. I think there have been patches of that [this year] and that's probably one really pleasing aspect of today. Even though it's not [a player's] day or it's not happening for [someone], our ability to just keep chugging away and grind it out has improved dramatically. Juddy probably helps that and sets the benchmark just to keep working extremely hard, but that then becomes contagious and I think our group is learning to be a mentally better team."

 

At the Gabba:

Brisbane  3.4   10.7   12.10   16.12.108

Geelong   3.2   6.5    7.9     9.11.65

 

There's flirting with your form, and there's demanding it strip off and bend over. The Cats took a reserves side to Brisbane after suffering a slew of 'injuries' during, or as a consequence of, the big game against the Saints last weekend. I thought I'd watched fairly closely but remember only Darren Milburn (strained calf) actually hurting himself during the game. But apparently Matty Scarlett (back), Cameron Ling (knee), James Kelly (hamstring), Gary Ablett (calf strain), Travis Varcoe (shoulder) and Andrew Mackie (bruised hip) were hurt too. The Pu55ies' decision to rest these blokes and cop the loss here, with a home game against the Dees next week, may be helpful in the long term. There was also a 'blockbuster hangover' factor and the combination certainly helped the Lyin's out, who bounced back from a poor effort in Addleaid to record a very handy win. Brisbun themselves made a few changes after that game, as mentioned last week Jared Brennan received a very lenient one-game suspension for head-butting Josh Carr and Rhan Hooper ('flu) was unavailable, Travis Johnstone was dropped again along with Scott Harding and Lachie Henderson. Incoming Lyin's included Josh Drummond, a handy player, along with Tim Notting, juniors Matt Austin and Tom Collier and a first-gamer in Jack Redden, a tough midfielder from Glenelg in the Snaffle. Jahlong second-stringers given an opportunity included David Wojcinski, Ryan Gamble, Tom Lonergan, Nathan Djerrkura, Kane Tenace and two debutants in Tom Gillies, a tall defender from Narre Warren, and running half-back Jeremy Laidler from the Doutta Stars, west of Melbourne.

 

A strange bit of business helped the Lyin's open the scoring, Jonathan Brown led very wide to take a grab and he stabbed a short pass sideways to Simon Black, who chipped ahead to ruckman Mitch Clark, who passed back to Black, still the best part of 50m out. Black booted a long goal. The Catters replied as Tom Hawkins led up to mark on the point of the centre-square, he punted into the pocket where leading Max Rooke marked and steered a noice goal. Brisbun suffered a loss now as Jed Adcock tore knee ligaments when tackled by Paul Chapman, Adcock was twisted sideways while his leg was trapped between Chapman's. It's Adcock's season, sadly. The Cats enjoyed their best spell of the game, at a forward-pocket throw-in their ruckman Mark Blake was held down by Clark and Blake free-kicked a goal. A bit later some snappy handball from Djerrkura, Joel Corey and Jimmy Bartel cleared a throw-in on the wing, David Wojcinski ran and kicked long for Cameron Mooney to mark behind Merrett, Mooney handballed to Ryan Gamble alone in the goal-square and he poked it through. The Catters led by 12 points. The Lyin' midfielders lifted a bit to match the somewhat sluggish Cats, Michael Rischitelli missed a running shot and Black snapped a point from a throw-in. Eventually Luke Power's switching kick found Daniel Rich in space and Rich speared a terrific long, low kick for Daniel Bradshaw to mark behind Tom Gillies, the latter given a big assignment on debut. Bradshaw popped it through. Rich won the ball at the following centre-bounce and handballed to Black, he chipped a pass to James Polkinghorne who played-on and passed for leading Brown to grab. Brown majored after the quarter-time siren to put the Lyin's in front, by 2 points. They wouldn't relinquish it. Sam Sheldon missed early in the second Mario before another terrifically long, speared Rich punt cleared Bradshaw and two Cats and was marked by Notting behind them, Notting popped it through. Justin The Shermanator hit the post with a tough-ish shot before new Cat Jeremy Laidler clangered a clearing kick to Ash McGrath, the Lyin' punted for Polkinghorne to hold a good grab and boot a goal. Brisbun led by 16 points. The Katz replied as Shannon Byrnes's clearing kick worked the ball 'round the wing via Mathew Stokes and Corey, Corey floated a kick into the pocket where Tom Hawkins clutched a decent grab. Hawkins steered a great kick through from the boundary-line, reducing the Lyin' lead to 10 points. Corey had a free at the next centre-bounce but it was reversed rather pathetically following minor handbags between Power and Joel Selwood. Power stabbed a short pass to Sherman, he kicked long where ruckman Clark marked 25m out and Kernahan-ed an awful kick for full-points. A bit later Lyin' Joel Patfull's long clearing kick was marked cleverly by Black on the wing, he fired a long handpass to running Rich who booted long for Brown to take an idiomatic with-the-flight grab at the top o' the 'square. Brown majored. Bradshaw dropped a mark when leading but Cat skipper Tom Harley proceeded to shovel the ball out-of-bounds, he was done for 'deliberate' and Bradshaw stabbed the free-kick short to Black, who played-on to punt a goal. Brisbun led by 28 points. The Catters made a bit of an effort, Notting clangered a clearing kick to Byrnes, his handpass to Corey was a shocker but Byrnes followed-up and after some scramble along the boundary Byrnes steered a running banana-kick for a goal. Chapman did very well to the win the subsequent centre-clearance for the Cats and pass to leading Max Rooke, who marked and booted a 50m goal. The Katz followed up with a coupla behinds, including a set-shot miss from Mooney of course, and they reduced the deficit to 14 points as the Lyin's lost Matt Austin, who fell on his head from a marking contest. But the Lisbon Brians scored two goals in the last 90 seconds, Power ran the ball out of defence and kicked towards Brown who was held down by his man, struggling Tom Lonergan. Brown stabbed his free-kick to leading Polkinghorne who marked and booted a noice long goal. Then Joel Macdonald intercepted a Corey kick and gave the ball to Notting, his long kick was almost-marked by Bradshaw who recovered the pill and bagged a goal anyway. Brisbun led by 26 points at the long rest. As the Cats departed their coach ran onto the field to give Shannon Byrnes and Paul Chapman some stern advice.

 

The third term was tighter as the Cats had a crack, led by Chapman, but the Lyin's defensive pressure was solid. There was a lot of tackling. Brown hit the post with a set-shot and a bit later the Pu55ies were robbed when Hawkins was dragged down by Merrett 30m out, an obvious free, but the ump waved play-on. The Brians scored the first goal of the korter almost half-way through, Cat Corey Enright dived onto young Jack Redden's back and Redden's free-kick squeezed through for the major. Catter Selwood missed poorly with a set-shot and Rooke kicked a point, from the kick-in of the latter the Lyin's advanced smoothly. Patfull's long kick found Rischitelli and he punted into the pocket where Clark marked alone, Clark steered a good kick for a goal and the Lyin's led by 37 points. Another scoring lull. Jimmy Bartel was reported for ramming his shoulder into Power's face, Bartel was great against the Stains last week but did very little in this game, tagged closely by Cheynee Stiller. The Cyats scored a goal at last, Tom Gillies's clearing kick was marked by Simon Hogan on the wing, Hogan played-on and passed for Mooney to mark 40m out and punt truly. The Lyin' lead was back to 30 points, the Cats cleared the restart and Gamble won a free-kick within range but sliced his shot on-the-full. Stokes kicked a point and Brown missed a shot for Brisbun on the siren, the Lyin's were a handy 31 points ahead at the last change. Quick goal for them in the last, Power marked on the forward flank and stabbed a centering kick for unattended Notting to mark, Notting converted. Selwood won the following centre-clearance for the Pu55ies and kicked short to Byrnes, he passed for leading ruckman Shane Mumford to mark and punt a goal. Still 31 points the diff but the Brians began to add percentage now, Power roved a throw-in and handballed to Rischitelli, he lobbed a kick towards Brown who was held down by Lonergan and Brown free-kicked a sausage from about 12m out. Redden's centering kick picked out Ash McGrath, he passed to leading Brown who marked and booted another. A bit later Patfull weaved outta defence and gave the ball to McGrath, who took off on a three-bounce run before delivering a pass for leading Bradshaw to mark and punt truly. The Lyin's led by 49 points and Cat-loving commentator Anthony Hudson handed over to Tim Lane with the words "I give up." Just like the club. They did score the final major, from a kick-in the agget went to Hogan on the wing, he played on with a bounce and had a shot from 50 which bounced through for a six-pointer. Wojcinski rode Sheldon for a grab and Gamble missed a simple shot again prior to the final siren.

 

Boom youngster Daniel Rich (31 disposals, 4 marks) was very impressive again, especially them laser-like foot-passes. Chaplin knows how to stop him. Simon Black (33 touches, 6 marks, 2 goals) gave Joel Selwood a rare hiding and big skipper Jonathan Brown (23 possies, 15 marks, 4 goals) dominated poor old Lonergan. Ashley McGrath (30 disposals, 14 marks) has struck some form and Luke Power (34 touches, 4 marks) scuttled about as usual. Josh Drummond (29 handlings, 9 marks) slotted back in and Cheynee Stiller (10 possies) tagged Bartel effectively. Daniel Bradshaw booted 3 goals, Tim Notting and James Polkinghorne bagged 2 goals each. Best of the second-string Cats were Paul Chapman (35 possessions) and Joel Corey (25 disposals, 7 marks). Then there was a gap. Corey Enright (20 disposals) was alright and Cam Mooney (16 possessions, 12 marks, a goal) worked reasonably hard, but still doesn't wanna take the shots himself. Shannon Byrnes (21 touches, 8 marks, a goal) was okay and Warrnambool boy Simon Hogan (24 possies, a goal) showed some promise. Max Rooke kicked 2 goals. "It's a bit of a concern, we have to do a little bit of work and find our real hunger and get that real sharpness back," Bommer Thompson said. "Because we are a little bit flat at the moment. It felt like I was coaching about six years ago to be honest because we didn't have that many good players on the ground. But it was good fun (yeah, losing is so much fun you patronizing &*^%), it was certainly different because we just had guys that we needed to nurse and you couldn't yell at them because sometimes they go into their shell." Why all the 'injuries', Bomber? "We didn't coach or manage our players nearly well enough," Thompson said. "The fact that we played against St Kilda, it was a fantastic game, tough man's game played all the way to the end and then to not recover, it means that our boys weren't ready for that sort of game. It probably had some effect but it wasn't the reason why we lost, we're not blaming that, we still had players on the ground, we just didn't play well enough. We should have played better, the players aren't completely happy with what's happened (so they were generally happy?) and we've got a fair bit of work to do as a club . . . It was really poor supply (to the forwards) but at the same time we kept kicking the ball into areas where we were outnumbered and that seems to be the problem when we play poorly." Were the Cats fair-dinkum, Vossy? "For us, as far as I'm aware they still field 22 players, so I don't think that's changed,'' Voss said. "Obviously the build up has been a bit about who hasn't been there but give credit to the (Lyins') guys and what they've been able to do. You've still got to beat the team that's got the winning culture and the way they're able to build their group of players together and their style of play they play, you've still got to beat that. If I was to forecast what tomorrow would look like, it would probably be spoken about who wasn't there and whether that gloss was taken off, whereas I don't believe that was the case at all. To beat Geelong is to beat Geelong, who's done that in the past two or three years?" This last bit was accompanied by a challenging stare to the assembled pressmen. "One of the reasons why they're a great club is because they're a great team. They have individuals who are obviously highly capable players but they're a great team. So for us to be able to get away with a victory, there's not a lot of teams that have done that in two or three years against Geelong."

  

At Football Park:

Adelaide   5.4   10.9   12.14   19.16.130

Fremantle  0.1    0.1    1.5      1.7.13

 

The Cows may've missed out on a percentage-booster last week on the Gold Coast but they cashed in here against a group of people purporting to be the Fremantle Football Club. Freo's final score was the lowest in the club's fourteen-and-a-half year history, other low-scoring records were broken but meedya outlets seemed at odds as to which. The Tiges endured a scoreless half just a fortnight ago. I'd just assumed Freo's 'effort' was unsubtle tanking as they seized the no. 1 draft position off the Demuns, but their coach Mark Harvey copped a new wave of bucketing in response to this result, prompting the club to give him the dreaded 'full backing'. The Camrys could be satisfied with the result ahead of games against Sinkilda (away), a Showdown, Geelong (away), the Magpoise (at Foopall Park) and Horforn at the MCG. Tricky run. In selection here the Cows brought in Simon Goodwin for his 250^th game and Brent Reilly returned, they replaced the dropped Richard Douglas and junior Shaun McKernan, who broke his arm at training. The Dokkers arrived without ruckman Aaron Sandilands (hamstring soreness) and Des Headland (er, something injured) while Daniel Gilmore was dropped, Dean Solomon returned along with Ryan Murphy and junior Tim Ruffles was given an AFL debut, he's a high-leaping forward-flanker from Narrandera in NSW.

 

The Shockers set out to flood heavily and attack on the rebound, but they never really managed the second part. The Shockers had 23 inside-50s for the game, a record low total apparently. Nevertheless the flood frustrated the Camrys for much of the first quarter, despite them dominating possession. Scott Stevens booted the opening goal after leading to mark David Mackay's pass, Mackay'd won possession with a nice bit of roving to Scott Thompson. The next goal came from a ball-up 20m out, after a battle for possession Camry Patrick Dangerfield got a handball clear and Andrew McLeod snapped truly. A bit later some panicky handball from the Freo defenders eventually saw their Greg Broughton fire one to nobody, Dangerfield swept upon the ball and booted a very good sausage. The Cows led by 21 points at this stage but it was almost time-on already. Dokka Luke McPharlin kicked a long point, Freo's only score of the half as it'd eventuate. From the kick-in the Cressidas advanced and a good Thompson kick found Jason Porplyzia marking on the attacking wing, he fed a handball to running McLeod who booted long where Kurt Tippett marked strongly in front of Chris Tarrant. Tippett converted. A minute later leading Stevens dropped a pass and Tarrant gathered the ball but his handpass was intercepted by charging Dangerfield, who booted long to the 'square. Chris Knights was caught behind Antoni Grover, Knights spoiled Grover, beat the Freo man to the ball and snapped a very good goal. "Oooh, they're omnipresent!" yelled commentator Matty Campbell. Omnipresent? The Camrys led by 33 points at the first break. Goals arrived more quickly for the locals in the second stanza. Running backman Andy Otten lobbed a punt into the pocket for Stevens to run out and mark, Stevens steered it home from a tough angle. The Camrys cleared the following centre-bounce with a lot of handball before McLeod chipped a pass wide to Thompson, he handballed to busy Dangerfield who had a running bounce and weighted a kick for Porplyzia to mark ahead of the pack. Jason 'The Crowd Porpleaser', as a banner suggested, booted truly. Tippett missed a pair of shots before Knights led wide to take a grab, he played-on and had a shot from the boundary-line which held up in the wind (yes, Freo had the wind) and Dangerfield slid in to mark it in the goal-square. Dangerfield popped it through. A minute later Tippett grabbed the agget from a ball-up 45m from goal and walloped it through off one step, of all the pathetic things Freo did (or didn't do) in this game that was probably the worst. Fifteen minutes into the korter the Camrys led by 62 points, but they'd only manage one more shot for the term. It was a goal of course, Nathan Bock was involved three times in a rebound move before Knights led out to take a grab and convert. Shocker Kepler Bradley had a shot from the boundary after the half-time siren, it faded across the face of the goal but was prevented from going through for a behind by the Camry backmen. A purple-haired Freo supporter raised his palms skywards in a 'not even that? gesture as his lads trailed by 68 points.

 

The Dockerators had a bit of a crack in the third term and although they didn't score much themselves, they slowed the Camrys down at least. The first goal of the term saw the Camrys forced into some ragged handball by actual pressure from Freo, until Porplyzia got clear and kicked to the top o' the 'square. Tippett was spoiled and Freo's David Mundy collected the ball, but his handball was intercepted again by expert snipper Dangerfield who snapped a major. The Corollas led by 74 points now. A behind from Nick Suban doubled Fremandle's score. A bit later Corona man Knights had a free at a throw-in, he booted long and Porplyzia leaped in from the side of the pack to take a great grab, Porplyzia bagged another six-pointer. The Crowns led by 80 points but shortly afterwards, Freo scored a goal. Another handball-heavy rebound move appeared ready to break down as always but finally Byron Schammer got clear and kicked 'round the wing for first-gamer Tim Ruffles to mark, Ruffles lobbed a good pass in-board for Ryan Murphy to hold a with-the-flight grab just inside the 50. Murphy can kick, and he went back and thumped it home from 50m. Hurrah! Shocked, the Camrys failed to kick another goal in the term, though they did score quite a few behinds. Freo got some too, including consecutive misses from Paul Duffield. The Cows led by 79 points at the final change, into the last quarter and Tippett got a big punch on a ball-up 40m from goal, Thompson gathered and handballed backwards Bernie Vince who weaved through traffic and stabbed a pass to Tippett, who'd slipped forward. Tippett goaled. Freo's Duffield added a third behind to his tally before Camry Thompson marked 50m out, dummied poorly around Matt de Boer and stabbed a wobbly left-foot kick forward but Porplyzia'd read the action and wandered out to mark Thompson's kick, The Porpoise majored again. Counting down to the 100-point lead now and soon a Vince bomb saw Tippett allowed a run-up and leap for a big pack-mark 15m out, Tippett sausaged to have the Camrys 92 points ahead. A minute later Michael Doughty lobbed a kick for running Tippett to mark on the 50m line, Tippett chipped a pass ahead for Robert 'Don't Call Me' Shirley to mark and boot truly. Now it were 98 points the diff. A behind each and time-on loomed before Mackay gathered the ball on the wing, sprinted clear of trouble and lofted a terrific centering kick for leading Tippett to mark yet again, sliding on his knees. Tippett's subsequent sausage sent the Camrys 104 points to the good. In the remaining minutes Porplyzia kicked two goals, the first from a with-the-flight mark assisted by Stevens pushing Tarrant over, the next a snap from a ball-up.  

 

Adderlayed folk were outraged when the Camrys drafted Victorian Patrick Dangerfield (19 disposals, 3 goals) ahead of local football royalty Brad Ebert, and gave the lad Ricciuto's no. 32 guernsey, but Dangerfield's starting to reward the faith. Young backman Andy Otten (27 disposals, 4 marks) was also good here and Scott Thompson (27 disposals, 5 marks) did his alleged Brownlow hopes no harm. Up forward Jason Porplyzia (21 possessions, 9 marks, 5 goals) and Kurt Tippett (15 touches, 9 marks, 5 goals (5.4)) did the completion work and wingman David Mackay (26 possies, 6 marks) was good again, so was defender Nathan Bock (27 handlings, 7 marks) and rover Bernie Vince (29 disposals, 6 marks) and forward Chris Knights (17 touches, 9 marks, 2 goals). Scott Stevens kicked 2 goals. Freo backmen saw a lot of the ball, headed by Greg Broughton (30 disposals, 8 marks) and Steven Dodd (24 touches, 7 marks). Paul Hasleby (20 possessions) tried hard as usual and Paul Duffield (26 possies, 0.3) had a bit of it, Antoni Grover (22 disposals, 8 marks) was another oft-involved defender. Harvey went for philosophical. "There's no excuse tonight. Adelaide were terrific and they were fantastic, and they taught us a bloody good lesson," he said. "It's difficult for a young side to take that kind of beating. I told them that's (Adelaide's performance) how good you need to aspire to be collectively as a team and as an individual. If you want to have a look at (Freo's) statistical data it's not good. It's terrible . . . We were blinded by the way they moved the ball and their positioning and then our inability to move the ball through situations. We had really big problems getting inside our forward 50 and putting any pressure on. Our backline were under siege all night and too often the ball was coming down unpressured inside their forward 50." Harvs went on to praise the Camrys some more and promised Freo would 'stick with yoof'. Neil Craig looked ahead. "We all saw the Geelong versus St Kilda game and it was about as fierce as you'll get. Our whole emphasis tonight, irrespective of scoreboard, was to make sure we got some really good practice at that for what we're about to play. The level of intensity I saw from the playing group tonight will be able to compete with St Kilda. Our challenge will be can we keep it going long enough . . . that's provided we can put it against them." Craigy then made Harvey's excuses for him. "We all understand the shape that Fremantle was in tonight," he said.

"They lost Aaron Sandilands, Des Headland and they haven't got Matthew Pavlich - they were decimated. We understand that, but we can't do any more than what we did . . . We've won seven in a row and you could argue that a lot of the sides [we've beaten] haven't been in the top four or top eight. But the sides we're about to play, starting with St Kilda next week, will certainly give us more information."

 

At York Park:

Hawthorn         1.3   2.6   5.9   10.13.73

North Melbourne  1.2   4.3   8.5    9.10.64

 

Buddy Franklin ended a seven-quarter dry spell by booting four goals in the final Costanza of this game as the Orcs came from behind to keep their season alive. In the wet and wild Launny the Kangers tried very hard but couldn't maintain their ball-winning efforts in the last term, in the face of big lifts from Hawkers Hodge, Sewell and Franklin of course. Despite their embarrassing mauling from the Dogs last weekend the Horkers made just one change to that side, Cyril Rioli returned from his hamstring injury at the expense of Cameron Stokes. North had four alterations following their loss in Sydney, Lindsay Thomas and Sam Power returned from injury while juniors Levi Greenwood and Leigh Adams were given chances, they replaced suspended Daniel Pratt and axed trio Ben Ross, Cruize Garlett and Todd Goldstein.

 

Awful weather in Launceston. It'd rained for 2 days before the game and more torrential rain, plus hail, featured throughout the first quarter and much of the first half here. Thankfully it eased off in the second half. Horforn committed the wet-weather sin of ball over-use while Norf utilized the long-kicking. The Kangers had an early goal, Gavin Urquhart drove a long kick forward and Lachy Hansen was spoiled, but big David Hale roved and as he was tackled right on the boundary, Hale got a low kick away into the goal-square which Leigh Adams marked and slammed through. Lance 'Buddy' Franklin missed a difficult shot, given the conditions, just before the heavens really opened. Heavy rain hammered down on the tin roofs of the stands, creating background roar on the TV. Soon it was hail, and the lights came on. There were lots of ball-ups and the odd behind. Late in the term, rain still tumbling down, Norf attempted an ill-advised running move from defence and their Scott Thompson lost the ball in Brad Sewell's tackle, the Orcs fed the ball to Sam Mitchell who kicked as hard as he could, but the wind held it up and the ball travelled about 30m. Handily, Jarryd Roughead was poised under it but the slippery agate went straight through his hands, Roughead dived and forced the ball clear for Liam Shiels to soccer a goal. The Orcs led by a point at the first break. Thunder 'n' lightening featured prominently during the break, but the rain eased off in the second quarter (there were a coupla heavy showers). The Kangers did well early, Hork Brent Guerra hacked a clearing kick along the ground and Roo Michael Firrito collected in space, he walloped a kick forward and 'Lethal' Leigh Harding took a terrific with-the-flight grab, against Thomas Murphy. Harding jabbed a short pass to Lindsay Thomas, not much closer to but right in front of the sticks. Thomas converted. A minute later Hamish McIntosh marked a desperate Orc clearing kick and punted towards leading Hale, Hawker Gilham spoiled but Harding roved and handballed to Thomas who had a long go. Drew Petrie arrived in the goal-square, couldn't take the mark but roving Brent 'Boomer' Harvey bagged a major. Norf led by 11 points. The Hawkers got a goal, Mitchell lofted an old-fashioned punt into the 50 and Roughead read it well to run out and mark on his chest, Roughead majored. Norf got another one late in the term, Adam Simpson kicked wide towards McIntosh who gathered on-the-bounce and handballed back to Sam Power, who punted to the top o' the 'square. Hansen raced out to try and mark it, diving and raising a huge spray of water and muddy slush. But Hansen did force the ball clear to Liam Anthony, who snapped a very good goal from a tricky angle. Just prior to the break Harding and Orc Campbell Brown engaged in some handbags, the Ruse led by 9 points at the break. During half-time the TV folk made fun of the locals clearing the surface water with some modified brooms. Stick to the two-headed jokes.       

 

Thankfully it didn't rain again and the wind disappeared, but the ground was still very wet. North opened a handy lead early in the tird, Anthony punted 'em forward and the ball skidded off Hale's hands, roving Thomas attempted a dribbly-kick goal but that's the wrong tactic in the wet, the ball stuck in the water. Urquhart and Hawk Rick Ladson over-ran the agget and slid away into the gutter, allowing Roo Corey Jones to waltz in and bag an easy major. Norf led by 14 points. A bit later Franklin executed a good pick-up on the boundary, slipped Josh Gibson's tackle and handballed to Chance Bateman, who lobbed a kick into the pocket. The Awks had some luck as the ball slipped from the hands of Ruse Thompson and Grima, Roughead gathered and raced into the 'square to stab a major. Some more slog before Norf responded, Firrito punted forward and the ball spilled from Hale's contest, Thomas roved again but his shot was smothered, handily it rebounded to Adams who snapped accurately. The Kangers led by 15 points after that, they were running to space and moving the ball smartly. The Orcs hung in though, from a throw-in on their attacking wing Rue McIntosh gathered but had a mulligan-kick, Sewell swept up the Sherrin and handballed to Luke Hodge who ran clear and thumped a shot from 50m which bounced through; the best kick of the day. The Ruse answered again, a lofted punt from the Orcs' defence spilled from a pack about 45m from goal and Simpson's quick, blind snap sailed between the big posts. Norf led by 15 points again. Then the Orcs, Ben McGlynn raced off half-back and punted towards Michael Osborne, who was caught behind Harding. But Osborne gave a the Roo man a shove in the back to take the mark, play-on and have a shot from just inside the 50 which bounced through for a goal. The replay suggested Harding had played it up a bit. The Shinboners had the answer again, Horforn tried to run the ball from defence and blind-sided Ladson was crunched by Daniel Harris, Kanger Brady Rawlings collected the spilled ball and lobbed a very high kick forward, which Harding marked in the middle of a collapsed pack. Harding majored and the Kangers were answering all the challenges, 14 points ahead at the last break.

 

Horforn coach Clarkson made a key move for the last quarter, Hodge onto the ball. Big efforts from he, Sewell and Franklin saw the Hawks home. As it has done for a couple of games now, the Ruse running power dropped away dramatically in the final stanza. Hodge had a hand in a very early Horforn goal, he sent the ball ahead to Sewell in space who bombed the ball long and Franklin leaped to take a very good mark over Gibson and Thompson. With a new, dry ball used at the start of each korter, Buddy had no trouble converting. The Kangerz replied quickly, Rawlings kicked to find Andrew Swallow in space and he ran and punted long where Hale plucked a good grab over Gilham, big 'Whale' majored. The Ruse led by 14 points again. Tight now for a few minutes but Hodge and Sewell were winning a lot of contested ball for the Awks. Some good Hork tackling pressure on their attacking 50 forced a Rue turnover and Shiels lobbed a punt to the goal-square where Franklin threw the under-sized Scott McMahon aside to mark, play-on and slam it through. And give McMahon some afters. Thomas missed a tough set-shot for Norf before the Orcs scored consecutive goals for the first time, a ball-up 30m from their sticks brought about some volleyball until Franklin got hold of the agate and had a quick snap which bounced through for full points. Poor by the Ruse there, to not have a man in the goal-square. Just 3 points separated the teams now. Jones and Thomas scored behinds for the Kangers, neither shot was easy, before Roo Power saw his ill-advised kick-in-a-pack smothered and rebound to Hawk McGlynn, he handballed to Jordan Lewis who ran inside the 50, drew a man and handballed for Hodge to boot a goal. The Awks led for the first time, by a point. A bit later there was throw-in on the wing and Mitchell dived in to force the ball clear to Sewell, a pretty gutsy effort from Mitchell who'd hurt his shoulder not long prior. Sewell ran ahead and punted long towards Franklin, Buddy juggled a two-grabber behind Gibson and booted another major. The Orcs led by 7 points with under two minutes remaining, they scored a coupla behinds as Norf stumbled to the line.       

 

Luke Hodge's (25 disposals, 2 goals) move was crucial, 12 of those touches coming in the final quarter. Lance Franklin (24 possessions, 8 marks, 4 goals) was the other key difference between the sides, with Brad Sewell (30 possessions, 10 tackles) and Sam Mitchell (26 touches) solid all day. Chance Bateman (21 possessions) also had a big final term, Jarryd Roughead kicked 2 goals. Young Roo Liam Anthony (25 disposals, 6 marks, a goal) was the best of a hard-working Rue crew, with Adam Simpson (20 possessions, 6 marks, a goal) and Leigh Harding (14 touches, 7 marks, a goal) also very good. Andrew Swallow (16 possies, 13 tackles) worked hard too and Lindsay Thomas (10 touches, a goal) roved expertly to David Hale (12 kicks, 9 marks, a goal). Leigh Adams bagged 2 goals. You could argue North had the better team effort, but the Hawks had the bigger stars. "I've talked about it being a journey and a path of where we want to get to as a side and we are doing so much right as that side, but a win would be nice," Roo coach Darren Crocker said wistfully. "That was a winnable game for us and that's why it's so devastating for everyone concerned. When you look at their side they've got 16 premiership players running around out there and that's obviously where we need to try and get to . . . You look at that quality of player that allowed them to basically will themselves to get themselves over the line. I spoke to our guys and that's where we've got to get to. We've got to have players that stand up in those crunch times and can help us get over the line in those situations. You don't win premierships for no reason and they're a good side. That's where I'm proud of our guys and for so much of that game we were in a position to win it and to push what I believe is a very good side." Another fade-out, Crock? "Fatigue and pressure causes that," he said. "We've got to be tight as a drum and make sure we can play out four quarters." Alastair Clarkson said "It was a tough grind and it was always going to be a war of attrition in the end and that's the way it panned out. We straightened ourselves up a little bit in the last part of the game and went a bit more direct than in the first half. That brought some of our key forwards into the game and gave us a better chance to score . . . We've probably been unable to play Hodgey anywhere else but back-six for the bulk of the season. Last year, before we moved him into the back six he was a potent goal kicker for us and he's kicked another two today. Those two goals in particular were against the run of play a little bit and gave us some momentum . . . It was a real great, gutsy come-from-behind victory that will hopefully pick up the spirits a little bit of the players around the club and hopefully we can move forward to the Magpies next week. All we really want to do is look forward. We had a real spirited effort from our troops in the last quarter today and we've got Collingwood next week and we don't look any further than that."

 

At the MCG:

Melbourne      4.2   9.6   13.9   15.11.101

Port Adelaide  3.3   7.6   10.8   13.12.90

 

You've gotta be tough to be an AFL coach. A fortnight ago Dee leader Dean Bailey was under some pressure because the Dees were under-performing relative to already modest standards. Bailey had to get some wins, the meedya said. Now he's had two straight victories, but apparently that's wrong too. Because now the Deez are gonna blow high draft-picks. Just yesterday former captain Garry Lyon openly advised tanking and a few journos hopped on board. What do they want, these people? By the way, Port are no good. The Powder were talked up in the meedya after their win over the Lyin's last week, with an 'easy fixture' ahead. But there are no easy games for the Power, at least away from home. Once again they didn't run enough to support each other, didn't work hard enough on-the-ball, didn't raise enough of a gallop. The Demuns made two changes to the side which beat the Eegs, Colin Sylvia was suspended three games for biffing Scott Selwood (not Adam as I said) while Jamie Bennell was dropped, in came Lynden Dunn and Daniel Bell. Port had Chad Cornes return from his various leg ailments and recalled Michael Pettigrew, they replaced the discarded Danny Meyer and Troy Chaplin, who was suspended for crashing into Rich last weekend. A very harsh decision.

 

Port did some early attacking, bringing points only from Jacob Surjan and Justin Westhoff. But soon they were doing quite a bit of defending. The Dees broke through for the opening goal, Jack Grimes's classy pick-up on the wing enabled him to go for a run and kick towards Neville Jetta at CHF, Jetta spilled the mark but regained the ball and chipped a very short pass to Matthew Bate - not 15m, so Bate played-on and snapped it through. A bit later Cale Morton smothered Chad Cornes's kick in the centre of the ground, Morton collected the ball and kicked towards Liam Jurrah whose 'arms were taken', maybe, by Pettigrew. A free-kick for Jurrah and he converted, the Deez led by 10 points. Jurrah carries the no. 48 and commentator David 'Ox' Schwarz reminded us of another famous Melbun no. 48 - Darren Cuthbertson. Hopefully Jurrah has a longer career than him. A minute later Bell's switching kick in defence was picked off by Port big man Brendon Lade, Lade booted a goal. Tight for a while, before a big spoil from Powder backman Jacob Surjan set them up. David Rodan collected the pill, weaved through traffic as he likes to do but then grubbered a poor kick forward, handily Robbie Gray scooped up the ball and handballed to running Kane Cornes who walloped a great long sausage. Port led by a point. Back came the Deez, a good switch-and-rebound move allowed Paul Wheatley to release Lynden Dunn with a handpass, Dunn booted long and Liam 'Cougar' Jurrah lurked behind the pack to take an easy grab. Jurrah majored with his absurdly relaxed kicking action. Bate postered following a great one-handed mark before it was Cougar time again, Dee skipper James 'Junior' McDonald was clothes-lined in defence by Chad Cornes and McDonald chipped his free-kick into the centre and Grimes, the young Dee played-on and lobbed a kick for Jurrah to leap over Surjan and pluck a noice grab. Jurrah converted again and the Demuns led by 12 points. Melbun football manager Chris Connolly couldn't explain why Jurrah is nick-named 'Cougar'. Port manufactured a response, Gray's grubbered kick forward was awful but Gray followed-up to regain possession and get a handball to Chad Cornes, he kicked into the pocket where Westhoff spilled the with-the-flight marking chance but gathered and snapped a major. Brett Ebert postered with a late shot and the Dees led by 5 points at the first break.

 

The Deez pressed on into the second term, Brock McLean kicked wide to Jurrah who gathered on-the-bounce and handballed back to Brent Moloney, Moloney had a crack from 50m which sailed through for a goal. A bit later Dunn was gang-tackled over the boundary-line by Chad Cornes and Dom Cassisi, some handbags followed and Dunn was awarded a free. The Chad expressed his displeasure and a 50m penalty was tacked on, Dunn booted a simple goal. Melbun led by 17 points as their supporters fired-up. But Port won the ball from the restart, David Rodan weaved forward, ran into a wall of Dees, reversed and handballed to Cassisi who jabbed a short pass to Dean Brogan, who'd slipped forward following the centre-bounce. Brogan played-on and booted a long goal. The Demuns soon attacked again and Jurrah soared over Pettigrew to take a superb grab, it was all jump too - Jurrah never touched Pettigrew. Unfortunately the absurdly relaxed kicking-action failed as Jurrah missed from 15m. A minute later Moloney pumped the ball long for the Dees again and Russ Robertson took an idiomatic Robbo grab, with-the-flight, into a pack, on his chest. Robertson converted and following another Jurrah point the Deez led by 19 points. The Podwer hung in, Warren Tredrea booted long to the pocket and Brett Ebert almost held a tricky grab, but roving Danyle Pearce gathered and curled a great left-foot snap for a sausage. The Dees answered, Bate collected the ball on the wing and strolled through some pathetic tackling attempts from the Flowers before handballing to Jurrah, the Cougar ran ahead and punted for Ricky Petterd to mark alone, 20m out. Petterd majored. The Powder replied after Dee backman Cameron Bruce gave team-mate Daniel Bell a bit of a hospital handball, Bell ran straight into Peter Burgoyne who forced the ball loose and handballed to Josh Carr, his handpass saw Steven Salopek waltz inside 50 and boot truly. Yes, mistakes still flowed for the Deez but they countered with effort, something the Power produced only occasionally. Port did make the mistakes too, Thurstans played-on from a kick-in and gave an insane handball to Nathan Krakouer, surrounded by Deez. Krakouer was krunched and Dee Aaron Davey handballed for Bate to snap a major. Port had better luck in scoring the final goal of the half, Cassisi lofted a very high kick forward which bounced freely before Pearce got to it and handballed to Rodan, D-Rod sprinted clear and bore down on the sticks, failing completely to sell a dummy to Dee Jared Rivers into whom Rodan blundered hopelessly. 'Baaawwwlll' they cried but the ump allowed Rodan to shovel the pill clear and Tredrea snapped a goal. There'd been some prior opportunity. And D-Rod had taken on the tackler. But the goal stood and the Deez led by 12 points at half-time. 

 

Melbun kept up the effort into the third Mario, Petterd and Jetta scoring behinds before Bate won a free wide on the forward-flank and drove a long centering kick for Petterd to mark behind the pack, Petterd booted truly. A bit later Cale Morton marked on the 50m line and had a long shot, it hooked wide but Jurrah marked unopposed on the point-line and hooked a great kick for full-points. Very ordinary defence from Port, to allow Jurrah that grab. Not much later the Dees rebounded from defence and Brad Green passed for leading Jetta to mark on the 50m line, Jetta quickly passed ahead to McLean who booted a goal. Thirteen minutes into the third and Melbun led by 32 points, not a good look for Port. To their credit they raised an effort, Lade forced the ball forward from the following centre-bounce and Chad Cornes soccer-volleyed a very high kick into attack, a bit of volleyball from both sides ensued as the Sherrin landed before Chad Cornes arrived to again soccer and force the ball goal-wards, finally Carr picked it up and handballed for Kane Cornes to snap a goal. Ugly but effective. The Chad missed a shot but a minute later Krakouer's mark and smooth acceleration from half-back ended with a long kick, Lade plucked a very good grab 30m out and punted accurately. A bit later Demun Green fumbled a clearing pass from Bruce and Chad Cornes won the ball again, he gave it to Salopek, he handballed to Rodan who ran and speared a sausage roll. Three straight goals from the Powder and they reduced the gap to 13 points. But the Deez scored a handy goal in the final minute of the term, Nathan Jones sent a handball wide to Dunn in space and he booted to the top o' the 'square, Robertson staged unsuccessfully for a free-kick but Petterd grabbed the loose ball and snapped a good one from a tight angle. Melbun led by 19 points at the final change. Jittery final stanza for Dee fans, early-on a poor Grimes handpass put James Frawley under pressure and he was red-hot when tackled by Robbie Gray, 'bawl' it was and Gray free-kicked a goal. Dees by 13. But a bit later Port's Alipate Carlile sent a defence-clearing pass over the head of Kane Cornes, Bruce gathered and fired a long handball to Davey on the boundary, Davey sent a risky-looking handpass inboard towards Petterd who gathered coolly under pressure and snapped quickly, and straight. Dees by 19. Both sides scored a point over the next seven-odd minutes before a smart Cassisi kick got the ball to Surjan 60 out, Surjan handballed to running Jason Davenport who sold a dummy as he weaved inside 50 and drilled it through. Cassisi had a free-kick at the following centre-bounce and sent it wide to Salopek in space, Salopek booted long to the pocket for Westhoff to run out and mark. Westhoff steered a good punt for a goal and it was, in the words of Sir Alex Ferguson, squeaky-bum time as the Demuns' lead was cut to 7 points. Moloney missed a shot for the Deez and not much later Moloney sent a risky kick from defence towards Jurrah and two Powermen on the wing, but Dee skipper McDonald ran hard to get to the contest and rove the spilled ball, McDonald handballed ahead to Jurrah who sprinted clear with a bounce and kicked long again, Petterd wrestled off Carlile to hold a great mark as both men tumbled to ground. Petterd converted and the Demuns led by 14 points as time-on commenced. Still some footy to be played but Port's Krakouer, Tredrea and Ebert all kicked points in the final minutes as the Deez held on. 

 

Dee veteran Cameron Bruce (37 disposals, 6 marks) did a power of mopping-up in defence and at the other end Ricky Petterd (18 touches, 11 marks, 4 goals) belied his modest frame to be an effective marking forward. Brock McLean (25 possessions, 4 marks, a goal) and Brent Moloney (28 handlings, 8 marks, a goal) worked hard on the ball and Liam Jurrah (12 disposals, 4 marks, 4 goals) provided some excitement, even if he mostly disappeared after quarter-time. Cale Morton (22 disposals, 7 marks) is enjoying a return to midfield and Matthew Bate (13 touches, 5 marks, 2 goals) is a handy type. Russ Robertson bagged 2 goals. Port skipper Dom Cassisi (36 disposals with 28 handballs) worked very hard and full-back Toby Thurstans (26 touches with 20 handballs, 8 marks) was also very good. Kane Cornes (35 possessions, 3 marks, 2 goals) was his usual solid self and half-back Jacob Surjan (23 possies, 6 marks) is having a good season. Chad Cornes (21 disposals, 5 marks) provided that third-quarter lift, he'll be better for the run two weeks ahead of the Showdown. Justin Westhoff and Brendon Lade kicked 2 goals each. Power coach Mark 'Choco' Williams was asked about Port's finals prospects. "It makes it more difficult but there are seven games to go, and five of them are at home," he said. "It's really emotionally draining, today, as you can imagine. I'm not my zippy self, but there's no doubt we can still make the eight. We're going to put every effort into it with the prospect of a big eye on the future." A bit each-way, there. "(The players) are certainly hurting," Williams continued. "We're all in this together, so we can prepare but the players have to deliver. That's how it goes. They understand there's a role to be played and when it comes to game day, the effort and intensity has to come from the players . . . Footy is a marvellous thing. It can take you to the greatest highs and the deepest lows. Our clearances, too many times we fumbled the ball, or we had it ripped out of our hands. All of those things are related to intensity. If you look at their forwards, Petterd and Jurrah, they kicked four each. Losing Chaplin was pretty important for us from last week. You look for differences, and that was a major difference as he was probably our best player last week." That's a pretty weak excuse. "Credit to Melbourne; they beat us at most of the contested stuff today. We were pretty ordinary, which was really disappointing for us," said Choco. "We certainly didn't come into the game underestimating them. We prepared for them to be at their absolute best, and I actually thought we were a bit flattered by half-time . . . In the last quarter, we dominated clearances and we had enough chances to win the game in the end if we were good enough but we weren't on the day. We had four or five players who were particularly poor, which is really disappointing, and our supporters will be very embarrassed by that result for us and it's justified." Dean Bailey said "The boys knew it was going to be a real challenge this week coming off the emotional game of last week. It was always going to be a test [to see] whether we worked hard for each other without that external stimulus. I thought they did that for most of the game. Our tackling was still there, I thought our pressure was really good and that was the easiest thing for us to target from last week. We did that well last week and it was good that the players were able to replicate that. Maybe not the number [of tackles] but the attitude to tackling and pressure was there . . . (Jurrah is) starting to come out of himself a little bit. He's got a great personality, Liam, which will eventually come out. He's quiet, I suppose at the moment he's letting his footy do the talking, but he did some good things and he's coming off [almost] a zero pre-season base. He's got some exciting things ahead. He's added another dimension up forward for us, as has young Ricky Petterd; it was pleasing to see two young blokes take their chances and kick their goals . . . We've got two wins [in a row] so their application has been great and it's just good to see the players smiling and building a bit of confidence and a bit of belief amongst them which is important. I think what the last two weeks have shown is that when the boys have a crack and they're all prepared to do the hard things that builds a bit of belief - there's no doubt about that. Morale amongst clubs is important and a win like this will certainly add to that."

 

At Subiaco:

West Coast  2.1   4.3   9.3    11.4.70

St. Kilda   3.4   5.7   8.9   13.12.90

 

Unlike Geelong, the Saints took a (near) full-strength team interstate and worked through their blockbuster hangover to keep up the winning sequence. But the Stainers did struggle for three quarters, their running power was down and they committed an unheralded number of turnovers before snapping out of it in the last term. Typically, the Wiggles compensated for some absolutely poo-house ball-use with a big effort, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Stainers. The Wiggle side here had five changes from the one beaten by the Demuns last weekend, Brett Jones (hamstring) lasted barely 5 minutes in his comeback game while Scott Selwood, biffed by Colin Sylvia, was out with 'general soreness'. Nick Naitanui was a high-profile axing along with Ben McKinley and Chad Fletcher as the Weegs had some handy 'ins', with Dean 'Big' Cox, Mark Nicoski and Eric Mackenzie back from injury, Ashley Hansen was recalled and Claremont's tagger Patrick McGinnity made his AFL debut. McGinnity had his jaw broken by Magpoi captain Nick Maxwell during the pre-season. Two changes for the Saints, Adam Schneider was out as his wife was having their first baby while Jarryn Geary was dropped, in came Robert Eddy and Sean Dempster for his first game of the season I believe.

 

Scrappy first quarter in perfect conditions at Sooby - none of the wind and rain which featured in the Weegs' victory over the Horks. The TV folk pointed out the game featured the worst users of the ball in the AFL (Weegs) against the side which exerts the most tackling pressure (Stains). Not a recipe for a close game you'd think, but Sinkilda leaders Hayes, Ball and Riewoldt were very quiet most of the day. Sinkilda scored a goal from the opening bounce, Michael Gardiner hacked a kick forward and Nick Riewoldt gathered and snapped it through. The ruck clash between Gardiner and his former Weevil second-banana Cox had been hyped up in advance, but Cox struggled through the game with a groin injury and wasn't seen much after half-time.  Riewoldt soon kicked a point, Leigh Montagna hit the post with a set-shot before the Eegs scored a goal, Pat McGinnity kicked smartly for Hansen to mark 30m out and drive it through. Weeg forward Mark LeCras missed a shot from the boundary-line after leading to take a grab. The inaccuracy of the Wiggle forwards is a hot topic amongst their fans, apparently. Kennedy is pretty accurate normally, LeCras a mixed bag and McKinley hopeless. Wiggle backman Shannon Hurn was caught palpably in possession as he failed to dummy around Andrew McQualter, but McQualter missed poorly with the resulting free. The Saints managed a goal eventually, the Weegs lost possession at half-back with some ragged handball and as Stainer Nick Dal Santo dived after the pill he was biffed by Adam Cockie, Dal Santo steered his free-kick for a very good goal from the boundary. Weeg Adam Selwood had also been grabbed 'round the head in that passage, but no free for him. Sainters by 9 points before the Weegs replied, Dean 'Big' Cox stabbed a poor pass into the centre but Mitch Brown did well to recover the ball, run clear and handball to Ashley Hansen, he fed one to running Andrew Embley who went inside 50 and speared it home. But Stainer man Lenny Hayes won the ball from the restart and handballed to running McQualter, who booted a great long sausage. Saints by 9 points at the first break. The Weegs did the bulk of the attacking early in the second stanza but poor delivery cruelled them, particularly with Gardiner dropping back. From a coupla rebound moves Saint Stephen Milne snapped into the post and Jason Blake missed after marking 30m out. The Stains had a free-kick at a throw-in and Dal Santo dished off to Clint Jones, he kicked long where the ball spilled from the pack and following some battle Milne threw the ball to Farren Ray, who snapped a goal. Sinkilda led by 17 points now. Josh Kennedy frustrated Weegle fans by sending a free-kick on-the-full from 50m (I said 'normally accurate'), but a minute later the Weegs had a goal. Quinten Lynch grabbed the agate cleanly from a ball-up and tumbled a kick forward, Kennedy gathered on-the-bounce and hooked a great over-the-shoulder snap for full points (see?). LeCras missed poorly following a good mark, during a good spell for the Eegs. Riewoldt led up to the wing to get involved, but Jones's pass dropped short and Riewoldt couldn't gather, Hansen did and sent a risky pass towards Embley. His marking attempt was spoiled but good shepherding from Matt Spangher allowed Embley to gather and chip a pass to Kennedy, he converted and the Sainter lead was reduced to 4 points. LeCras soccered another point before the Eegs helped the Satins, Lynch's weak clearing kick bounced away from intended recipient Tyson Stenglein and Sainter Sam Gilbert gathered the ball, he handballed to Robert Eddy who stabbed a short pass to Dal Santo in the pocket. Dal Santo steered another fine kick for full points and the Saints led by 9, Riewoldt's subsequent miss made it 10 at the long rest.

 

The Weegs kept plugging away into the third term. They scored the opening goal, LeCras was held down by Sam Gilbert and free-kicked truly from 10m out. Shortly afterwards they went ahead, Spangher roved Brown's contest in front of the interchange benches and ran clear, Spangher sent a pass along the boundary which fell short of leading Embley but Embley collected the ball, dummied Sam Fisher (who slipped over) and then ran inside 50 to drill a very good goal. The Weegs led by a point. The Saints replied with a great move, Gardiner crashed a pack to take a terrific mark in defence and fire a quick handball to Jason Gram, he ran ahead and stabbed a pass to leading Riewoldt who marked 60m out, Riewoldt kicked rapidly to unopposed Milne, who dropped the mark but had time to recover and snap it through. The Satiners followed up with a good flank-switching move and Montagna lobbed a kick to the forward-flank where Riewoldt arrived to mark it. "You won't have seen it on TV but Riewoldt's just run 120m to mark that," Glen Jakovich told us. Riewoldt punted in-board for McQualter to mark behind Nicoski, McQualter majored and the Saints led by 11 points. Back came the Eegs, courtesy a Saint error as a switching-kick missed Eddy and Cox gathered, he handballed to Kennedy and his to Hansen sent the Weeg man clear and kicking for Embley to take a chest-mark 40m out. Embley considered playing-on before going back and thumping it through. Cockie battled to win the ball at the restart and get a handball away to Chris Masten, he passed for leading Hansen to mark and boot a noice long sausage roll. A bit later the Eegs managed a slick rebound move and handballs from Matt Priddis and Mark Rosa allowed Masten again to pass to leading Cox, the Big One handballed off to LeCras whose snap bounced through for a goal. Three straight goals from the Weegs and they led by 7 points. The Sainters answered, Jones soccered a loose ball forward which Sean Dempster gathered and handballed to Montagna, he lobbed a kick into the pocket which Milne scampered out to mark. Milne, no fan of set-shots, steered a great kick for a goal from a tricky angle. The Weegs' lead was back to a point and Montagna's miss leveled the scores prior to the final break, including Milne's snap on-the-full. The Stainers cranked up the pressure into the ultimate stanza. They cleared the opening bounce and Jones lobbed a kick to the goal-square, the agate spilled off Koschitzke's and Glass's contest and Robert Eddy stabbed a goal while being tackled. A minute later Hurn collected the ball in his defensive goal-square and stabbed a wayward pass behind Lynch, Lynch compounded Hurn's error by slipping over and Dal Santo collected the ball and booted a goal. Montagna missed a shot, then there was a ball-up on the Stains' half-forward flank which Gardiner tapped down to Ray, he hooked a kick to the top o' the 'square and Eddy marked unopposed, 15 out. Eddy majored. A bit later, another ball-up which Gardiner and Raphael Clarke cleared and Clarke kicked wide to leading Koschitzke, Kosi tapped-on smartly to Dal Santo who lobbed a kick for back-running Milne to mark strongly in front of Nicoski. Milne booted another Sinkilda goal, there'd been four in ten minutes and they led by 25 points. The Wiggles stemmed the bleeding for a while but didn't make inroads into the lead. Just before time-one the Weegs had the ball in their defensive 50 and Brown's pass to Kennedy was very harshly deemed to have not travelled 15m. Nah, it was more like 20. Play-on and Kennedy was seized by Riewoldt, the ball spilled and Milne pounced to snap another six-pointer. Sinkilda led by 32 points and the game was over, Hansen and Cockie bagged some consolation-goals for the Eegs.

 

With some Sainter leaders subdued, Leigh Montagna stepped into the breach to collect a hefty 43 possessions, along with 7 marks and 9 tackles. Nick Dal Santo (28 disposals, 4 marks, 3 goals) played well too and Brendon Goddard (25 touches) was handy. Stephen Milne (17 handlings, 5 marks, 4 goals) continues to challenge the idea he's poor value away from Docklands and Michael Gardiner (11 touches, 5 marks, 28 hit-outs) won the battle of the ruckmen, not a lot of touches but every one counted. Jason Gram (26 possies, 6 marks) was handy. Andrew McQualter and Robert Eddy booted 2 goals each. For the Eagles Chris Masten (27 disposals) did a great job against Luke Ball and Adam Selwood (29 touches, 4 marks) did similarly for Lenny Hayes. Andrew Embley (19 possessions, 3 goals) played well and the back-line was good, Shannon Hurn (23 disposals) with the rebounding while Darren Glass (15 disposals, just one kick) and Eric Mackenzie combined to restrict Koschitzke and Riewoldt to one goal between them. Quinten Lynch (24 touches, 9 marks, 24 hit-outs) pinch-hit in the ruck effectively and Matt Priddis (25 disposals, 10 tackles) played solidly. Ash Hansen kicked 3 goals, there were 2 each from Josh Kennedy and Mark LeCras. Worsfold had the usual take-positives attitude. "It's another loss, so that's disappointing," he said. "But we worked pretty hard, saw some really good things and some things we still need to work on. I'm pleased with the way the guys are attacking what we are asking them to do and taking the game on. There were some great chances for us to attack, but we made poor decisions that put ourselves out of the game . . . I don't know what 'Kosi' did really, and that's a good thing because we weren't worrying or making a change. Eric started on Riewoldt and looked out of sorts there, but fought back, and I can't remember Koschitzke doing a lot of damage to us. Glassy's job on Riewoldt was outstanding." Woosha went on to discuss possible ruck-replacements for Cox, who might be out for the remainder of the season. Stinkilda's Ross Lyon was asked about 'blockbuster hangover'. "It wasn't an issue for us," Lyon said. "We certainly wanted to put in a performance, and not use last week [as an excuse]. A lot of people were trying to set expectations that we'd be tired, we'd be flat, we'd (have) a let-down. That wasn't a part of our reality, but we can't control outside expectations. We talk about what good teams do - we feel we're a good team, so it was important that we won interstate. We picked a team that we thought was capable of coming over here and running and winning, and we did that. To our group's credit, the contested ball and the surge and the poise under pressure [showed] - we felt we came over and improved today under real pressure . . . I thought our emerging leaders stood up - Dal Santo, Montagna, Goddard, Gilbert and McQualter - they really got behind Riewoldt and Hayes . . . We'll enjoy this win, because wins are really hard to come by in the AFL - they're really difficult." Not for the Saints so far in 09.

     

Ladder after Round 15

                Pts.       %    Next Week

St. Kilda        60    167.3    Adelaide (Docklands, Sunday)

Geelong          52    137.5    Melbourne (Kardinia Park, Saturday)

Footscray        40    127.8    Essendon (Docklands, Fri. night)

Collingwood      40    116.9    Hawthorn (MCG, Sat. night)

Adelaide         40    112.5    St. Kilda (Docklands, Sunday)

Brisbane         36    108.2    Fremantle (Subiaco, Sat. night)

Carlton          32    108.8    Sydney (Docklands, Saturday)

Essendon         32    103.8    Footscray (Docklands, Fri. night)

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

Port Adelaide    28     91.8    West Coast (Football Park, Sunday)

Hawthorn         28     89.2    Collingwood (MCG, Sat. night)

Sydney           24     93.2    Carlton (Docklands, Saturday)

West Coast       16     88.2    Port Adelaide (Football Park, Saturday)

North Melbourne  16     77.7    Richmond (MCG, Sunday)

Richmond         12     77.8    North Melbourne (MCG, Sunday)

Melbourne        12     73.9    Geelong (Kardinia Park, Saturday)

Fremantle        12     71.7    Brisbane (Subiaco, Sat. night)

 

Cheers, Tim.

 

 

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