[AFL-Review] AFL Round 19

AFL Round 19

 

At the MCG:

Carlton   3.5   7.7   10.10   14.13.97

Geelong   2.4   5.6    8.11    8.14.62

 

The Catters staggered to three losses out of their last six as they were vanquished by a fired-up Bluie unit. Injuries are the excuse and the Pu55ies suffered more here, to David Wojcinski and Darren Milburn, as comparisons with the Bommers of 2001 were again drawn. The Katz' second-string back-line held up reasonably but the other end of the ground was a real problem, no useful marking target apart from Cam Mooney and no consistent goal-scorer at all. Steve Johnson limped about impotently and afterwards Geelong coach Mark 'Bombing' Thompson admitted Johnson shouldn't have played. It's not a crisis yet - still 4 weeks 'til the finals - but you'd be concerned as a Catter fan. None of that concerned the Bluesers of course as events below them on the ladder assured their (almost) certain finals participation, for the first time since 2001. The Bluies made one change here, Simon Wiggins returning to replace Mark Austin (general soreness). The Cats did regain Tom Lonergan but lost Paul Chapman (hamstring). 

 

The Catters scored directly from the opening bounce, Joel Corey tumbled a kick forward which TomaHawkins marked and he lobbed a smart kick into space at half-forward for Mathew Stokes to grab and convert. Hawkins wouldn't do much else, though. The Cats went 12 points ahead after Mooney free-kicked a goal, his arms chopped by Paul Bower when attempting a mark on-the-lead. The Bluesers soon began moving, with Bryce Gibbs and Chris Judd busy in midfield. Judd was being tagged by Cameron 'Cling' Ling as per usual but Juddy ran hard and often to break Cling's effectiveness. Forwards Brendan Fevola and Eddie Betts kicked points, Lonergan was on Fevola, before Pu55y Steve Johnson's stabby nothing-kick across half-back was intercepted by Bloo Kade Simpson, his long shot was marked by Fevola on the point-line who played-on and poked it through - the goal awarded after the field-ump consulted with lithe goal-ump Chelsea Roffey. In contrast, Fev had made himself uglier with a rude shaved head. Fevola missed his next shot as the Bluies peppered the sticks for a while, but were frustrated by the Cats touching shots through. The Blooze finally had some reward when Wojcinski was caught in possession in the centre and Gibbs gathered, his pass to Fevola was spoiled by Lonergan and Marc Murphy soccered forward, Nick Stevens ran onto the ball and soccered a goal. Gibbs then gathered pack-spillage and handballed for Judd to produce a decent pass to Murphy, he majored and the Bluies led by 7 points at the first rest. The first several minutes of quartier le deuxieme were tight as the Cats tried to assert themselves, but again found the Bluie back-line tough to crack. Two behinds they scored before Johnson recovered the agate from his own spilled grab at half-forward and lobbed a handball ahead to Simon Hogan, who drilled a good running goal. The Pu55ies went forward from the next centre-bounce and Travis Varcoe extracted the ball coolly from a pack, he passed for leading Mooney to mark and convert and the Cyats appeared to have settled a bit, leading by 7 points. But the Bloozers dominated the remainder of the stanza, Ling was tackled strongly by Mitch Robinson at half-back and coughed up the pill, whereupon Simpson kicked a running goal. Then Pu55y Jimmy Bartel won the ball in a scrap in his defensive goal-square and handballed it through for a rushed point - deliberate! The almost forgotten and mostly ignored rule was suddenly applied and Murphy free-kicked a goal from point-blank. The Cats had a break when a clearing Bluie kick went straight to Jahlong captain Tom Harley on the wing, Harley marked and was barreled over by late-arriving Simpson and Harley booted a goal from the ensuing 50m penalty. Bluie Matthew Kreuzer snapped a goal from a forward-pocket throw-in and a minute later Heath Scotland's pretty ordinary high, lobbed kick across half-forward was either marked by Ryan Houlihan or Houlihan had a free for Shannon Byrnes's front-on spoil. Houlihan majored and Robinson's running miss just on the siren had the Bluesers 13 points up at half-time.  

 

Running Cat Wojcinski didn't emerge for the second half due to an ankle problem but the Cats battled on, Joels Corey and Selwood worked hard. They scored a goal, Blue Jordan Russell spoiled Steve Johnson's marking attempt but Russell's panicky attempt to soccer the ball clear rebounded off Ling, Johnson gathered and handballed for Ling to lob a punt for a sausage roll. Carton were going well though and they replied, Fevola flew against three Catters and the spilled ball was gathered by Russell, quick handballs from he and O'hAilpin enabled Fevola to tumble a kick into the pocket where Simpson arrived to mark and steer a tight-angle major. Blooze by 13 points. Mooney led up to mark in the centre-square and punted quickly to the flank, Stokes held a strong mark in front of Houlihan and booted a very noice six-pointer. But the Bluies cleared the following centre-bounce with some rapid handball and Simpson kicked forward where Fevola marked behind Lonergan, the Cat looked at the ump in vain hope of a free for a non-existent push-out. Meanwhile Fevola played-on and jabbed it through, the Blooze led by 14 points. The Catters came again, a sweeping rebound move ending with Stokes kicking long into space and Max Rooke ran onto the ball, gathered, had a bounce, weaved around Houlihan and bagged a goal. But the Bluies had the answer again, Cat Bartel ran with-the-flight to affect a good spoil on Gibbs and Bartel carried on to tackle Betts, to whom the ball spilled, but Betts twisted out of it and chipped a pass for Scotland to mark and convert. The Bluies led by 13 points and 11 at the final change, where Stokes limped off with a thigh problem. Into the final Mario and Carton had an early major, O'hAilpin roved his own contest and fired a handball ahead which Simpson collected and slotted for his third goal - he enjoyed it as the Bluies went 17 points ahead, the largest lead either side had seen to this stage. Tight for the next ten or so minutes, both sides scored two behinds, Fevola kicked both of Carton's while Stokes, forcing himself back on, managed to miss from 10m out. The Pu55ies thought Byrnes had scored a handy goal, but the agate was recalled as Gary Ablett had maybe just taken the ball out-of-bounds in the build-up. From the throw-in the Blooze went downfield and Fevola scored another point, Jahlong's kick-in went to a pack and Bloo Richard Hadley gathered, he jabbed a pass to Stevens 60m out who handballed off and Aaron Joseph whacked a long sausage. The Bluesers led by 23 points and a bit later Milburn went down, another ankle problem. Milburn's every touch had been booed by the Bluie fans, still mindful of Dasher's big hit on Stephen Silvagni several years ago. A bit later Andrew Mackie fumbled at half-back and lost possession, Betts gathered and passed for leading Fevola to mark in the pocket and steer it through. Fevola bagged another to complete the game, a great shot thundered home from the junction of 50m and boundary-lines on the left forward-flank. 

 

This was the Bloobeggars' best performance for a few weeks. Bryce Gibbs (32 disposals, 6 marks) had a great first half and Bret Thornton (30 possessions, 8 marks) led a terrific defensive effort from the Bluies. Brendan Fevola (18 kicks, 11 marks, 4.6) worked hard for the team - can't help but think of David Puddey, "gotta support the team". Aaron Joseph (12 touches, a goal) combined with Andrew Carrazzo to ensure a quiet night for Ablett. Chris Judd (27 possessions), Kade Simpson (24 disposals, 6 marks, 3 goals) and Marc Murphy (24 handlings, 5 marks, 2 goals) were all pretty good. Best Catters were Joel Selwood (28 disposals, 11 tackles) and Joel Corey (27 possessions), working hard in the middle. Andrew Mackie (28 possies, 9 marks), Darren Milburn (17 disposals) and Tom Harley (16 touches, 7 marks, a goal) all battled well in defence. Cam Mooney and Mathew Stokes kicked 2 goals each. "It wasn't one of those Geelong games - it didn't look like a Geelong game that we have become accustomed to, and that's probably the most disappointing thing," Thompson said. "But that's all right, we play again next week. We play in eight days, a game in Sydney, and we're going to try and play better . . . Injuries weren't a factor. We were just pretty disappointed in the way we played. [I said] just walk in Monday, let's go back to business. We are not going to panic, we are not going to do anything extraordinary. We are just going to go about our business and try and play some great footy in eight days' time . . . Our whole week's planning was planned not to play the way we did tonight; it was completely different. The way Carlton played us was the way we planned to play them. We have rarely been beaten for possessions over the past couple of years, and we just didn't throw the ball around. We kept kicking the ball to a contest, which is so unlike us." Brett Ratten still refused to talk finals, although this was Friday night, before the rest of the games unfolded. "We're the least experienced team in the competition. To view too far ahead . . . I think we've had players who maybe got caught up in (finals hype)," Ratten said. "You're looking at the end of the season than actually the week-to-week process. We've made it a real focus. It's a footy cliché and it's as boring as anything, but it's a reality from where we sit at the moment. It's really important we focus on Port Adelaide next week. We know the ball is in our court, and we know we have to do what we have to do. There is still a lot of footy to be played before we see where our fate is . . . They are a great team, Geelong. We probably take a bit of credit for our performance, because it's good for our confidence. But wait 'til September comes - Geelong will crank it up another cog. They will be super-competitive and super hard to beat. They will be right there close to the last day in September."

 

At Docklands:

Footscray   0.8    5.11   10.16   13.19.97

West Coast  3.2   10.3    13.3     16.6.102

 

Big upset. To recycle an old joke, the Bulldogs'd kick themselves but they'd probably miss. The Puppies scored their first goal 24 minutes into the second quarter, on the back of 11 consecutive behinds. But bad kicking is bad football (it's cliché day) and the Bullpups' inaccuracy was symptomatic of their slack and half-ar5ed approach. The day after this game, the Dogs announced coach 'Rocket' Rodney Eade had signed a new two-year contract. Sweet juxtaposition. "You deal with humans and they're worse than horses, so you never know," commented Eade on the Dogs' 0.11 start. The Dawgs woke up eventually and hit the front in the final term but the Coasters toughed it out to claim an away-win, their first since the wheel was invented. Good on 'em too, they've improved this season and an away-result was in the pipeline. Perhaps less likely against the side third on the ladder, though. One change to each team, the Bulldogs replaced concussed tagger Liam Picken with first-gamer Easton Wood, a wingman from Camperdown. The Weegs brought in defender Beau Wilkes in a like-for-like swap with Eric Mackenzie (thigh strain).

 

Bullpup ruckman Ben Hudson was clambered on by Nick Naitanui at the opening bounce, a free kick to Hudson from which the Bullies went forward and Josh Hill kicked a point. There'd be a lot more of that. Seventeen minutes into the term the Weegles led by 3 points, 1.2 to 0.5. Young Wiggle wingman Tim Houlihan had kicked the only goal, a running effort capping a move he'd started deep in defence. Then Eeg Josh Kennedy, very good here, led up to take a mark at half-forward, he chipped a kick towards Mark LeCras who pulled out of the contest as two Doggies converged but Daniel Cross and Ryan Griffen collided and new Weeg spearhead Callum Wilson collected the ball, he handballed for goal-square tap-through merchant Ben McKinley to tap it through from the goal-square. A bit later a hacked Bulldog kick from a throw-in went directly to LeCras, he floated a mongrelly kick forward of which Kennedy held a decent grab and converted. The Bulldogs completed the term with behinds from Adam Cooney and Callan Ward - Ward's second - and Brad Johnson shanking on-the-full, the Weegs led by 12 points at korter-time. Into the second term and from a ball-up on the wing Doggy Nathan Eagleton's handball was pinched by Matt Rosa, the Weegs went forward where Bully Tom Williams got a good spoil on leading Kennedy but Williams's subsequent, weak attempt to paddle the ball clear simply saw LeCras gather and handball for Andrew Embley to snap a goal. Cooney's woeful centering clanger was marked by Weeg David Wirrpanda, he passed for Quinten Lynch to mark and boot a sausage and the Weegs led by 24 points. Bully Jason Akermanis kicked a point and then full-back Brian Lake wandered forward to have a go, but he missed too. Embley kicked another major courtesy a good pass from Brad Ebert, a bit later Wirrpanda ended an awfully scrappy passage of play with six-pointer scrambled through from close-range. Twenty seconds into time-on Ebert marked at half-forward and was knocked down by the fractionally late-arriving Lindsay Gilbee, a 50m penalty and Ebert kicked a goal. From the next centre-bounce LeCras, having stints on-the-ball again, punted the Weegs into attack and Kennedy out-muscled Williams to mark on the 50m-line, play-on (Williams had fallen over) and drive it through. Very quiet in the sparsely-populated Docklands as the Weegles led by a hefty 47 points, the Dawgs' score 0.10 now. Gilbee's miss made it 0.11 and the Weevils indulged in some chip-about from the kick-in, the commentators were bagging Mitch Hahn just as he smothered Weegle Wilkes's kick and Ward collected the agate to thump a long goal. Huzzah! It was 24:30 into the second quarter. But the floodgates were open now, Bully Will Minson tapped the following centre-bounce down to Akermanis, he whacked a kick forward and after some battle Hill seized a tough mark against Patrick McGinnity, Hill majored. The Weegle lead was reduced to 34 points but they scored the next goal, also direct from a centre-clearance as Adam Selwood's free-kick was marked strongly by Kennedy again, he goaled again. The Bulldogs poured on to score three late goals, Akermanis led up to mark 55m out and then weight a kick for Brad Johnson to mark 30m, right in front, Johnno majored. Griffen snapped a terrific left-footed sausage after roving Johnson's contest, then Lake ventured forward again and marked impressively under pressure from Embley. Lake converted after the half-time siren and the Weegs' lead was down to 22 points.   

 

Dale Morris replaced Williams as Kennedy's opponent for the second half. But the Wiggles extended their lead with the first goal of the third Mario, McKinley intercepted an errant Doggy handball and passed to LeCras all alone 30m out, LeCras majored and the Weegs led by 27 points. Bullpups Cross and Gilbee did well to win the following centre-clearance and Hill led, marked Gilbee's pass and converted. The Weegs replied again as Kennedy's good roving set up a running six-pointer for LeCras. Then the Dawgs as Akermanis marked on the attacking wing and bombed a kick in, Cross held a good back-pedalling grab and booted a goal. The Bullies made inroads at last, Cooney, Cross and Matthew Boyd were giving 'em some bite in midfield. Boyd tumbled a kick forward from the next centre-bounce and Akermanis showed some ticker to attack the ball, Aker gathered and was clothes-lined by a Selwood I think, Akermanis free-kicked a major. Footyscray scrambled the Sherrin forward from the next centre-bounce and Gilbee free-kicked a goal, held back by Scott Selwood. The Weegles' lead was down to 8 points but they steadied, Kennedy again as he free-kicked a sausage roll, shoved out of a pack just 20m out, right in front. Dogs Hill and Brennan Stack kicked behinds before Ward snapped a great goal, whipped through from a tight angle as he roved a throw-in. An Akermanis behind left the Weegs clinging to a 5-point lead at the last change. A handful of points occurred in the early minutes of the final stanza before Griffen speared a pass off half-back to Gilbee in the centre, Gilbee played-on with a coupla bounces and thumped a kick goal-wards which bounced through for a major to put the Dogs in front, by 2 points. Now we had a tight, scoreless spell with the game on the line. Ten minutes after that Gilbee goal the Bullpups got another, Cooney roved a pack and slipped a bit when confronted by Sam Butler, but it turned into a good dummy and Cooney had a shot from 55m which bounced through for a goal as the Weeg backmen had spread to cover Cooney's passing options. Doggy fans realized the momentum as their lads led by 8 points. But this game had some climax. Veteran Embley came to the Weegs' rescue, after Wilson ran underneath Shannon Hurn's long kick Embley gathered it, ran to the 50 and smacked a terrific goal. Embley's next goal was even better, a mark and set-shot from the boundary, 45m out on the right-hand flank. The Weegs were in front again, by 5 points with 3:14 remaining. Minson tapped the following centre-bounce down to Akermanis, he ran clear and walloped a great sausage roll from 55m. Dogs by a point but Lynch grabbed the pill from the next centre-bounce and tumbled a kick forward, Matt Priddis won it and hooked another punt ahead which flopped into LeCras's arms 20m out. LeCras majored and the Weegs led by 5 points once more, with 2:12 to go. That was the final score of the game as the Weegs locked it down.  

 

Andrew Embley (32 disposals, 9 marks, 4 goals) pretty much won it for the Weegs. CHF Josh Kennedy (18 touches, 9 marks, 4 goals) was very good and rebounding half-back Shannon Hurn (31 possessions, 10 marks) is having a very good season. Wingman Matt Rosa (31 possies, 6 marks) played well and Darren Glass (16 touches, 7 marks) showed up the Bulldogs' defensive weaknesses again. Mark LeCras (23 disposals, 6 marks, 3 goals) was important of course and David Wirrpanda (19 touches, 5 marks, a goal) was very good early, as he tends to be. Bulldawg Adam Cooney (30 disposals, 5 marks, a goal) had a huge final quarter as he tried to carry the Dogs home and Matthew Boyd (30 disposals with 23 handpasses) and Daniel Cross (18 possies, 7 tackles, a goal) were part of the effort. Full-back Brian Lake (23 touches, 11 marks, a goal) played well again, kept Wilson quiet and Jason Akermanis (21 disposals, 4 marks, 2.3) made some important interventions. Ryan Griffen (28 possies, a goal) and Brad Johnson (26 handlings, 7 marks, a goal) were handy. Josh Hill, Lindsay Gilbee and Callan Ward kicked 2 goals each, those three plus Brennan Stack and Easton Wood kicked two behinds each as well. "You get what you deserve in footy and we didn't deserve to win," Eade said. "We were playing for a top-four spot and to perform like that, especially in the first half . . . was very poor. We kicked four goals in the last six minutes of the second quarter, which probably flattered where we were at. It was just a bit of a wake-up call really, we just needed to lift our work rate and I think for the bulk of the second half we probably did, but we made that many mistakes and missed that many goals and didn't work hard enough for long enough . . . That's what scoreboard pressure does to you I suppose and kicking 11 points straight doesn't help . . . If you knew [why that happened] you'd be Sigmund Freud wouldn't you? You deal with humans and they're worse than horses, so you never know. Obviously we've got some players who are not consistent with their effort. I don't think you make a knee jerk reaction at this stage . . . I don't think you over-analyse. I think we know without having to look at the tape too much [areas] where we need to rectify, but they're things that we can rectify pretty quickly." 'Woosha' Worsfold was happy. "A good hard win, well fought out, and I'm very proud of the way the players have responded the last couple of weeks," Worsfold said. "It was an outstanding effort - I thought the Bulldogs put a lot of pressure on us all day, from the start. So the way they dealt with that and just kept working was outstanding for a young group. It's just another step in where we're going, the things that we've been working on haven't changed too much . . . It reinforces that they're good enough to take it up to really good teams, and it probably shows them . . . well, they understand how hard they have to work for where they're at . . . I think the talent we've got in our group, that I've always had a lot of faith in, is there, and it's developing rapidly. The young players are developing more confidence in their ability - you look at the midfield match-ups all day today and we shouldn't have been able to compete with their experience and strength, but we've got some very talented and hungry young men in there."

 

At York Park:

Hawthorn   3.4   4.5   6.6     7.7.49

St. Kilda  5.1   7.5   9.10   10.14.74

 

Great win for the second-string Saints, the players may've been different but the song remained the same as Sinkilda tackled and pressured their way to victory no. 19. Sinkilda applied 115 tackles, a record by some distance apparently. There'd been a massive betting plunge on the Hawks as rumours of the Saints' injuries and resting of players spread during early last week, rumours confirmed as Nick Riewoldt (concussion), Lenny Hayes (back), Brendon Goddard (knee), Leigh Montagna (elbow), Nick Dal Santo (illness), Sam Fisher (soreness) and Steven Baker (knee) ended up absent from the team which scraped by the Swans. But the replacements (and remaining regulars) did the job. Buddy Franklin lost a tooth during the last quarter and you can go metaphor-crazy around that. The Awks' tepid flag defence remains alive courtesy the rubbishy Port's loss the next day, but only mathematically. And now they've lost Roughead for the rest of the year, with a knee problem. In selection for this one the Hawks regained Robert Campbell and Michael Osborne and called up Travis Tuck, they replaced Brent Guerra (shoulder), Xavier Ellis (ankle) and the dropped Cameron Stokes. Sainters called into action included some returning regulars in Michael Gardiner, Zac Dawson and Luke Ball, along with juniors Jarryn Geary and David Armitage - the latter playing his first game of the season - and two new men in former Brisbun Lyin' Colm Begley and AFL debutant Jack Steven, a midfielder from Lorne.

 

Great win for the Saints but it was not a great game, a dour tackling-dominated struggle. Poor entertainment for the 20,011 who turned up, the second-biggest crowd in the history of the Launceston venue. Horforn began well, winning a few free-kicks due to Sinkilda's over-aggressive tackling - clearly the Stainers'd been revved in that aspect. Awk hero Lance 'Buddy' Franklin started in midfield, running off half-back and he was involved often early, but the Hawkers found the Stainers' pressure and a facing breeze tough to crack. The Orcs did score the opening goal, some chipped short passes from Josh Kennedy and Michael Osborne setting up Ben McGlynn to convert from 30m. But the Saints got the next three majors, firstly young Hork battler Travis Tuck dropped Sam Mitchell's pass from a kick-in and was caught in possession, Sinkilda ruckman Ben McEvoy free-kicked the major. A brief shower wet the ground as Stephen Milne's good tackle on Kennedy won the ball for the Satiners and Luke Ball kicked forward where Adam Schneider marked and converted. Orc Beau Dowler, playing in attack in Buddy's stead, sprayed a shot on-the-full before Stinkilda first-gamer Jack Steven thumped a great long goal and the Saints led by 12 points. Horforn's Cyril Rioli jabbed an unconfident tight-angle shot for a behind and Osborne managed to miss with a free-kick from 20m out, right in front, as Horforn wasted some territorial advantage. Eventually ruckman Brent Renouf majored courtesy an enormous 50m penalty - the ump clearly didn't appreciate York Park's size compared to your average venue. Renouf's sausage cut the Stainer lead to 3 points, but a minute later Schneider dribbly-snapped a superb goal from the boundary-line, after Milne dropped a mark and inadvertently flicked the ball up with his heel for Schneider to grab. Jordan Lewis punted the Orcs into attack from the restart, Jarryd Roughead wasn't paid a juggling grab but snapped a goal anyway. Schneider responded for the Stains again, a free-kick for 'bawl' against a hopelessly caught Thomas Murphy. The lad Murphy is a quite an ordinary player and exemplifies all that's wrong with the Hawthorn back-line as the Sainters led by 9 points at the first break, with fewer inside-fifties for the term but slicing through the Orc defenders too easily. The opening minutes of the second term were tough and slow, dominated by lotsa tackling and ball-ups. Fifteen minutes in we'd had a point each before Renouf was awarded a free on the wing and another, sensible 50m penalty for Sean Dempster's highly-thrown, pi55-taking return of the ball. Renouf's kick landed in the goal-square where Dowler flew over the back of the pack to mark and poke it through from point-blank, Saints by 3. Sinkilda scored two majors in reply, an Orc kick-in to a contest was gathered by Schneider, he punted long where Milne marked amongst three befuddled Hawks, played-on and dobbed it. A bit later Awk ruckman Simon Taylor elbowed Stainer Steven King in the back prior to a ball-up and was penalized under a new 'anti-handbag' instruction. King punted forward where David Armitage won a mystery free and kicked a major. The Stainers led by 17 points. A handful of behinds followed to the end of the stanza, culminating in young Hawk Liam Shiels's set-shot miss. The Sainters led by 18 points at half-time.

 

Third verse, same as the, um, second. More relentless Stainer tackling and pressure prevented the Hawks constructing any sort of running footy. Franklin came closest to doing something, his midfield move in that regard was a good idea. But only to a point. Milne free-kicked an early Sinkilda goal, dragged down madly by Brown when leading to a pass from Schneider. Then halfway through the stanza the Hawks managed a reply with a rare, good running move - Franklin the key - leading to McGlynn slotting a goal. The Orcs managed consecutive majors, Saint Dempster dived to affect a good spoil on leading Roughead but Rioli collected the spillage and snapped a left-footed six-pointer. The Awks'd cut their deficit to 14 points and the Stainers were worried enough to shift Justin Koschitzke to defence, temporarily. Whatever the case, the Awks couldn't press the issue and the Saints did some attacking, but Milne, Koschitzke and Jason Gram missed from long distance. In the final seconds of the term tired Horforn backman Ryan Schoenmakers tried and failed to duck under Ball's tackle, 'bawl' it was and Ball passed his free-kick to Raphael Clarke, who sold a coupla dummies before giving the pill to Clint Jones who wobbled a snap for a goal right on the siren. Sinkilda led by 22 points at the final rest. Franklin moved to full-forward for the final term, as he had been so successfully against the Ruse a month earlier, but in the very first Hork attack of the final stanza Buddy copped a shove in the back from Max Hudghton and Dawson's elbow in the mouth which knocked a front tooth flying, captured brilliantly on the TV. Criminally, there was no free-kick for either infringement and Franklin had to depart with his mouth bleeding; Buddy wasn't wearing a mouth-guard but most of Clarkson's Hawks don't, for some reason. Sinkilda took a stranglehold on the game when hapless Hawk Murphy slipped over in the centre of the ground and failed to gather Birchall's poor, under-hit pass, three Sainters swept onto the ball and, as Murphy'd been the rear-most Hawk, they galloped into a paddock where Milne bagged an easy goal. The Saints led by 28 points now and a bit later Roughead departed following a knock. Both he and Franklin returned soon enough. Kennedy postered before the Hawks scored a goal finally, Mitchell lobbed a kick forward from a ball-up and Lewis marked too easily between Begley and Clarke, just 15m out. Lewis's goal had the Orcs 21 points down but the goal'd come too late, Milne snapped a coupla behinds as the Saints played keepings-off and the Horks despaired to the end. Horforn discard Zac Dawson roared in delight upon the final siren.

 

Adam Schneider (19 disposals, 8 marks, 10 tackles, 3 goals) was very good again in the Stainer forward-line. Rover David Armitage (22 handlings, 10 tackles, a goal) seized his chance to impress and Stephen Milne (17 possies, 5 marks, 3 goals) was good too. Young ruckman Ben McEvoy (13 possessions, 6 marks, a goal) looks a decent player and Clint Jones (27 disposals, a goal) did well on Hodge. Full-back Max Hudghton (17 possies, 5 marks) stopped Roughead although the conditions and the game-style didn't suit big forwards. Luke Ball and Andrew McQualter both finished with tackle-counts in double-figures. Ben McGlynn (21 possies, 9 marks, 2 goals) was probably Horforn's best and Sam Mitchell (31 touches, 5 marks) started well but faded. Jordan Lewis (29 possessions, 5 marks, a goal) was pretty good and Josh Kennedy (26 disposals) played well again. Lance 'Buddy' Franklin (19 possessions, 3 marks) wasn't bad. "Obviously they've got some quality guys out, but it's the system they play with that is the key to St Kilda's success this year and that's why they'll travel pretty deep into September and probably win it," Clarkson said. "Irrespective of the personnel, they're very hard to break down and they're an outstanding footy side . . . We just didn't take our chances. Seven out of their ten goals came from turnovers in the middle of the ground. We need to improve in that area of the game and unless we do, we're going to be a middle of the road side like we've shown throughout the course of this year. Some of it will be the systems with which we play and need to get better at and some of it will be personnel . . . We're not really concerned about finals as much as we are about getting our method of play right. Irrespective of what happens we're probably not going to feature deep into September and we've probably known that for some time. It's all about getting our systems of play and we're not playing anywhere near to the level we'd like to at the present time and that's all we'll concentrate on during the last three weeks of the season." Sinkilda coach Ross Lyon left on an early flight (!) so Hudghton did the press conference. "At the end of the day, we had 22 contributors and that was what the important thing was. The guys stepped in, did their job and played their role in the team," said Max. "Every good side has to have depth. The great thing that came out of today was that our depth was going to be tested and we came through with flying colours against a fantastic opposition who are obviously striving to make the finals . . . We've got depth and it shows that everybody's got to keep their seat on the bus . . . There are guys underneath who are pushing week-in and week-out to strive to get in our side".

 

At the MCG:

Essendon   4.3   6.5   11.7     13.9.87

Brisbane   3.3   6.6    8.10   12.15.87

 

Another case in the recent epidemic of close finishes, this time Brisbun spearhead Daniel Bradshaw kicked a goal (from inside the goal-square) after the final siren to tie the scores and produce a very unsatisfying 2 points for the Bommers, mostly. Their form was much improved here, they led for the majority of a fluctuating battle and it was a mistake from the Don defenders which gave the Lyin's the chance to draw the game (Bommer fans would blame the officials, too). And to top it off, a win would've seen them back in the eight, given Poor Taddelaide's weak effort to come the next day. At least they've taken percentage out of the equation now. On the other hand, Brisbun had five more shots at goal. They struggled as Jonathan Brown went goal-less - he kicked 0.5 - and they have not been impressive in these past two outings at the 'G. But the Bulldogs' upset defeat kept the top-four in reach, the Lyin's have a big eight-pointer against the Pups at the Gabba this weekend. The Bommers made five changes to the battlers beaten in Perth, Andrew Lovett (cork thigh), Scott Lucas (knee) and Andrew Welsh ('leg' injury) were unavailable while Hayden Skipworth and Cale Hooker were dropped. Mark McVeigh, Alwyn Davey and Bachar Houli returned while the rarely-seen Jarrod Atkinson and Irishman Michael Quinn were given chances. The Lisbon Brians had Bradshaw and Tim Notting return and recalled Scott Harding, they replaced axed trio Jason Roe, Bradd Dalziell and Tom Rockliff.

 

Good start for the Dons, Jay Neagle led strongly to mark Kyle Reimers's kick and boot the opening goal, a few minutes later Jobe Watson roved a big pack at CHF and produced a very good pass for Angus Monfries to mark in the pocket and steer a sausage, the Dons led by 11 points. The Bombouts' intensity was on and their running power restored, in defence Tayte Pears would do well on Brown and 'Dustbin' Fletcher similarly effective against Bradshaw. But the Dons didn't really press the advantage prior to a burst of goals in time-on, the Lyin's got their first when Brown out-marked Pears on the 50m line and bombed a kick to the goal-square where Jared Brennan leaped unopposed to mark and pop it through. The Dons answered direct from the following centre-bounce as Paddy Ryder's tap and second-effort allowed Watson to kick forward and Adam McPhee marked in front of Ash McGrath, a rare, straight McPhee kick followed. Bradshaw missed a shot prior to another McPhee goal, roving as Monfries spilled a big speccie-attempt. The Bummers led by 17 points but the Lyin's scored two late sausages, Don Brent Prismall's handball at half-back was smothered and Lyin' Simon Black lobbed one wide to Luke Power, he drilled it through. The next was very good, a long, bouncing Justin 'The Shermanator' Sherman run ended with a jabbed pass to Bradshaw, not 15m so Bradshaw handballed quickly to Daniel Rich who snapped it through terrifically from the boundary. Essadun's lead was down to 6 points at quarter-toime. The Lyin's lifted into quartier le deuxieme, with Mitch Clark winning the ruck against an over-worked Ryder and Brennan, Black and Power all doing well. Rich thumped an early goal with a running shot from inside the centre-square which bounced through, Brown came up with consecutive behinds before a Fletcher pass at half-back was chopped off by Brown's spoil on Pears and ended up with Scott Harding snapping a goal. Rich missed a shot before Michael Rischitelli roved a contest 60m out and smashed an enormous goal off a step or two, it bounced right on the goal-line. The Lyin's led by 14 points and all the Dons had to show from twenty minutes of footy was a point from Neagle. But they scored two late majors, after Atkinson dived to smother a Brown shot, McVeigh wobbled a kick forward from a throw-in on the wing and Ricky Dyson's clever toe-poke allowed Sam Lonergan to boot a running goal. A minute later junior Michael Hurley, playing much of this one at CHF, led to mark strongly in the pocket and boot a very noice goal. Brisbun led by a point only at half-time.

 

But overall trend continued into the third stanza, with the Lyin's doing all the attacking but failing to convert. Brown and Clark scored behinds before James Polkinghorne intercepted Fletcher's short kick-in and bagged a goal. Brian junior Jack Redden's miss had the Lyin's 11 points ahead before some big efforts from Dons Watson and Nathan Lovett-Murray gave the Dons some momentum. Lovett-Murray had been labelled a drug fiend by the meedya last week after the police raided his house to find a single ecstasy tablet. Great use of resources. As the Dons had no back-up ruckman Lovett-Murray was given a go when the Lyin's shifted Brennan into the ruck, and Lovett-Murray did well, complemented by kicking a goal from a ball-up at half-forward. Lovett-Murray then marked Houli's lobbed kick and passed for Prismall to mark and convert and the Dons led again, by a point. Lyin' Joel Macdonald messed up a pass deep in defence, it clean-bowled Power and ball-magnet Watson swept up the agate to bag a goal. Watson then banged a long kick in and Neagle roved Lovett-Murray's contest to snap it through and the Dons'd kicked four straight, they led by 14 points. The Lyin's broke the run, a tough effort from Brennan to win the pill and get a handball away allowed Sherman to boot a running sausage, but a minute later some classic play from Knighters' Dons, non-stop runnin' rebound, ended with Neagle marking behind Lyin' Merrett and booting a six-pointer. Essadun led by 15 points at the final change.

 

The Brians again pressed hard going into the final korter, Rischitelli's desperate, lunging tackle on Reimers forced the Bomma into a ragged clearing kick and Rischitelli was rewarded when Brown stabbed a pass back to him for a mark and goal. Black finessed smartly before kicking for Bradshaw to mark in front of Fletcher and boot truly, another Brown behind followed before Bommer Ricky Dyson's hopeless clearing kick to nobody resulted in a major for Brisbun's Harding. A couple more Brisbun behinds followed and halfway through the ultimate stanza they led by 6 points, the Dons not having scored in the korter so far. Michael Quinn provided the unlikely inspiration for the Dons, Quinn honoured his national stereotype by falling over when trying to execute a complicated sidestep around Sam Sheldon, but the Dons retained the ball and Brent Stanton lobbed a pass for Quinn to mark 30m out and boot a handy goal which levelled the scores. Soon McVeigh marked Lovett-Murray's pass to have a shot from right on the boundary, McVeigh's kick dropped into the goal-square where Monfries roved and snapped a major. Behinds from Lonergan and Hurley had the Bommers 8 points ahead with about three minutes remaining. But it wasn't enough. Brisbun's Josh Drummond and, of course, Brown kicked points to make the difference a goal exactly. With 30 seconds to go, the Dons tried to retain possession from the kick-in but Lonergan's cross-goal pass to McPhee was read and slapped clear by a diving Brown and a throw-in resulted. The agate squirted clear to Brown who had a snap which arrived in the goal-square where Bradshaw, using his full-forward's instincts, had lurked to take the mark, despite being clattered by Fletcher. Siren, goal, draw.

 

Cool Lyin' ruck-rover Simon Black (23 disposals, 10 tackles) was very good here, speedy Justin 'The Shermanator' Sherman (33 touches, a goal) clearly enjoys the space of the 'G and ruckman Mitch Clark (28 possessions, 11 marks, 31 hit-outs) played very well again, although he faded a bit after half-time. Luke Power (28 touches, 7 marks, a goal) and boom youngster Daniel Rich (12 handlings, 8 tackles, 2 goals) were also very good again and Michael Rischitelli (17 touches, 7 marks, 2 goals) did some handy things at half-forward. Jonathan Brown (21 possies, 9 marks, 0.5) may have had an 'off' night but was still useful, particularly at the death there. Daniel Bradshaw and Scott Harding kicked 2 goals each. Jobe Watson (32 disposals, a goal) produced a terrific game for the Dons and key defenders Dustin Fletcher (21 disposals, 7 marks) and Tayte Pears (20 possessions, 4 marks) had the better of Bradshaw and Brown respectively. Adam McPhee (14 handlings, 7 marks, 2 goals) was handy at both ends and some running power came from Kyle Reimers (24 possessions), Bachar Houli (24 disposals) and Courtenay Dempsey (19 touches). Jay Neagle bagged 3 goals and Angus Monfries kicked 2 goals.  Matty Knights was upbeat about it all. "There were probably three or four things in that last three or four minutes, from a maturity point of view, where we just need to learn from and get better at it," Knights said. "Obviously one of them was the last play . . . it was disappointing, but they played with spirit and they played with good energy. I was really proud with the way they attacked the game, but when you've got the game in your grasp, it certainly is a bitter taste when you're up with 15 or 16 seconds to go and you don't get a result." Knights gave Neagle, Hurley and Pears some praise before continuing "To come here tonight and play a top four or five team and be very, very competitive and take the game on was pleasing. That's all we've got to focus on now, playing really strong football for the last part of the year, no matter who we play." Michael Voss said "We're fighting for our lives at the back end of the year. When I say our lives, it is that chance to finish off our season well and finish where you need to be and what you've worked hard for. We've worked really, really hard as a group . . . (Regardless of the result) there's certain standards that we have, I don't think we reached those. While we got the two points, we certainly didn't play anywhere near our best. When you don't play your best you always walk away with that hollow feeling whether you win or lose. I thought we went away from some of our roles. We've shown a pretty good discipline across the year to play a role within the team and I think that we went away from those at different times . . . We didn't stand for what we want to stand for as a group. For us to go further, if we hope to, there's some things we can't compromise on."

 

At Football Park:

Adelaide     2.4   3.10   6.13   9.14.68

Collingwood  2.5   3.7    8.7   13.11.89

 

With another win at Foopall Park, combined with the Dogs' earlier stuff-up against the Weegles, the Poise claimed the curious mantle of 'third-best', a back-handed compliment if there ever was. Is there a trophy for that? But on recent form the Magpiss are the third-best team in the leeg and would give themselves a chance of worrying the Cats, at least, come September. The Camrys played pretty well but found the Maggies' tough defence difficult to crack, and only kicked behinds when they did so. But the Corollas did lead by 15 points halfway through the third term before the Poise ground back into it and kicked away at the end, so credit where it's due. The Cows made one change here to the team beaten narrowly at Kardinia Park, young forward Taylor Walker was recalled and out went Patrick Dangerfield (back). The Poise dropped youngsters Jaxson Barham and Steele Sidebottom and recalled Chris Dawes and Brad Dick, Dawes played well in the Pies' finals win at this venue last year.

 

This game was a tactical battle apparently, as both sides zoned off in midfield and defence, worked overtime to tag the others sides' men and free-up defensive runners. There were only 39 tackles in total for the game, in contrast to the Saints/Hawks contest earlier at Launceston which'd featured 170 or something. The Scraggies began well, Travis Cloke led wide to mark on the flank and bombed a kick quickly to the top of the 'square, following some scramble Alan Didak snapped a superb left-footed goal from a very tight angle. The next Poi sausage had a similar genesis as Cloke led wide again for a grab, but as players flooded back Clokey chipped a slightly backwards, centering pass to John Anthony, who played-on into some space and smashed a huge 55m kick for the major. Fourteen minutes into the stanza the Pies led by 15 points, 2.3 to nuthin'. The Camrys upped the pressure a bit and the Poise began to commit some clangers, the Maggies don't like the 'midfield zone' employed by the Cows and Horforn, both of whom'd beaten Collywood this year. But the locals couldn't capitalize fully. Jason Porplyzia, Richard Douglas and Brad Symes kicked points before Simon Goodwin bombed a long kick in and as Kurt Tippett flew against three Poise, the ball spilled to Brett 'Birdman' Burton who snapped a wobbly left-foot goal. The next goal came in a similar way, a long punt in from Andrew McLeod and Burton's attempted grab was spoiled, illegally it appeared, by Harry O'Brien but Chris Knights gathered the crumb and snapped it through. The Poi lead was down to a point at the first break. Adderlayed would go on to dominate the second term in every stat, except points scored. Tippett free-kicked an early major, held back by Leigh Brown in marking contest just 15m out, right in front. But Tippett missed a subsequent shot and a bit later the Poise managed their own free-kicked major, ruckman Cameron Wood with a mystery rucking free at a forward-pocket throw-in. Scores were level after that but the Cows bombarded their forwards to no avail for the remainder of the stanza, eighteen inside-fifties they had for the second korter to the Scragpies' four. But the Camrys were only 3 points up at half-time.   

 

The Coronas finally began to convert pressure into points in the early third Mario. Knights kicked a goal 90 seconds in, after Poi Alan Toovey clangered a clearing kick to Ben Rutten who handballed for Knights to wallop it through from 50m. A coupla minutes later Porplyzia smothered Heath Shaw's kick on the 50, gathered and ran in to slot a great goal and the Cressidas led by 15 points. But the Maggies replied quickly as Scott Pendlebury was given a lotta time to get a handball away while being tackled, Wood lobbed a kick forward and Chris 'Rufus' Dawes out-bustled Otten to mark on his chest and convert. Things were opening up a bit as Porplyzia restored the Camrys' 15-point lead, a sausage roll after marking a clever pass from Tyson Edwards. But the Poise scored a reply, Anthony marked Tyson Goldsack's high kick with some helpful shepherding from Cloke and Big Jack majored. The Camrys' challenge began to wane slightly, as Burton limped off with a corked buttock. Or gloot. Dane Swan, Pendlebury and small forwards Didak and 'Neon' Leon Davis gave the Poise a lift. Douglas kicked a point before Pie Cloke snapped a goal, Anthony with the supplying handpass. Camry Brent Reilly, tagging Dale Thomas, kicked a behind prior to the Pies' isolated big forwards worrying the Cows again, Davis tumbled a kick into space at half-forward for Pendlebury to gather and chip ahead where Anthony led into the pocket to mark and steer it through. A snappy rebound move ended with Davis lobbing a kick to the goal-square where Cloke arrived for an easy mark and poke-through and the Poise led by 6 points at the final change. The Magpiss scrambled the agate forward from the opening bounce of the final Mario, eventually Brad Dick got a kick forward and Tarkyn Lockyer marked in the pocket, he handballed over-the-top for Didak to jab it through from point-blank. Quick reply from the Camrys, Tippett dived impressively after his own pack-spillage to win the ball and handpass to Scott Thompson, he fed one wide to running McLeod who drilled it through. Pies by 6 still. Tight for a bit but the better forward pressure came from the Poise, with Dawes, Cloke and Paul 'Steak Knifes' Medhurst all missing kickable chances. Finally Dick split the tall uprights with a set-shot, a mark from Cloke's pass, and the Maggies led by 15 points. Events were not trending well for the locals but they managed the next goal soon, Edwards's switching kick finding running Brad Symes in space and he thumped it home from 50m. Knights added to the Cows' behinds-tally and we were into time-on when Poi Dawes scored the next major, created by Nick Maxwell's superb spoil on leading Otten, follow-up gather, run and handball to Didak who supplied the pass to Dawes. The Magpoise led by 14 points after that, Porplyzia kept the Camrys alive with a goal following a strong mark in front of O'Brien, just 15m out. But the Maggies kicked two sausages in the final three minutes, for the first Camry Scott Stevens marked in his defensive goal-square but his telegraphed short-pass to Symes was spoiled by Lockyer and Didak gathered, he handballed for a Dale Thomas tap-through. Wood then majored courtesy a clear 50m penalty against frustrated Symes and the Pies had another famous interstate victory to babble about.      

 

Magpoi Alan Didak (31 disposals, 13 marks, 2 goals) was very good here, working hard to win the ball and use it in midfield and attack. Dane Swan (30 touches, 7 marks) was tagged by Robert Shirley and Bernie Vince, but it made little difference to him, while Scott Pendlebury (27 possessions) also played well on the ball. Ruckman Cameron Wood (24 disposals, 8 marks, 19 hit-outs, 2 goals) played very well and Harry O'Brien (28 touches, 9 marks) was excellent in defence, ensuring a miserable night for young Walker. Simon Prestigiacomo held Tippett to one goal and Heath Shaw (28 handlings, 11 marks) wasn't bad off half-back. John Anthony kicked 3 goals, there were 2 each for Travis Cloke and Chris Dawes. On the Cressida side Simon Goodwin (34 touches, 10 marks) continued his decent recent form and Bernie Vince (33 possessions, 3 marks) won a lot of the ball, didn't pay too much attention to Swan. Andrew McLeod (31 possies, a goal) and Brad Symes (30 touches, 10 marks, a goal) were effective runners off half-back and Scott Stevens (27 handlings, 6 marks) was very good at CHB. Coulda used him in attack, where Jason Porplyzia (16 possies, 6 marks, 3 goals) was the Camrys' most effective. Scott Thompson (35 possies with 26 handballs, 7 marks) and Brent Reilly (21 disposals, 9 marks) weren't bad, Chris Knights kicked 2 goals. Neil Craig wasn't happy. "It's an opportunity lost and it's one we spoke about," Craig said. "It was a big game for Collingwood as well and certainly a result that would have been good for us, but in this competition you don't get given games. You've got to earn them . . . I wasn't unhappy with our forward line tonight. I was unhappy with our entry into the forward line. We had enough opportunity, but it was where we were actually going too many times that caused us the problem." Malt Mickhouse said "They (Adderlayed) are a very well-organised, disciplined, top side and it's always a difficult task to play them. If you can come away with a victory under those circumstances and coming from behind, it makes for a good win . . . I don't think we had more (forward) options. We scored at a rate better than 50 per cent (ratio scores to inside-fifties). You may have the occasion where you get to 60 per cent and you have a blow-out, but it's very rare that you win games with a 50 per cent strike-rate and the opposition have 16 more entries. I guess the nature of the game has changed. We now rely more on old information to say that you shouldn't win games like that. That's totally incorrect in modern football. You can be down in so many of the general stats and be effective and efficient in others that count as much, if not more."

 

At Docklands:

North Melbourne  4.1   7.5   14.8    19.9.123

Melbourne        3.3   3.7    7.10   8.13.61

 

North recorded their first win under interim coach Darren Crocker, over Melbourne the Tank Engine. The meedya was all over Dee coach Dean Bailey last week, whose response to the bizarre positional moves against Richmen was "We're going to continue to develop players the best way we see fit, and if we happen to win games while doing that, so be it." Inspiring. Norf made two compulsory changes in selection here, Daniel Harris and Leigh Adams called up to replace retired Adam Simpson and hamstrung Leigh Harding. There was probably more interest in the Melbun selections with five changes, Jack Grimes (hip), Matthew Whelan (torn plantar fascia), Jamie Bennell (knee), Matthew Warnock (ankle) and Jared Rivers (back) all out of the side narrowly defeated by the Tiges. Colin Sylvia returned this week along with Brent Moloney and Cale Morton, while two lads were given AFL debuts in tall defender Tom McNamara from South Adelaide and speedy winger Rohan Bail from Mt. Gravatt in Queensland . . .

 

. . . but unfortunately for young Bail he injured a thigh in the warm-up. The Deez declined to replace him and allowed Bail to make his 'official' AFL debut, but Bail managed one kick before being benched for the day. The Dees' positional moves weren't too bizarre this week, the best one swapping regular half-back Cameron Bruce with forward-pocket Ricky Petterd. But with Warnock and Rivers out of the side, the Dees struggled to cover even the Ruse modest big forwards. The first quarter of this game was 'shambolic' as described by the paper, with both sides using the ball awfully and being remarkably shot-shy. Norf's Drew Petrie was the best forward on display at CHF and his lead, mark and bomb to the goal-square led to the first goal, Hamish McIntosh flew high and roving handballs set up Brent 'Boomer' Harvey to poke a point-blank major. The Deez replied in similar fashion as Paul Johnson crashed a pack and Stefan Martin tapped-on for Nathan Jones to bag one. Norf got the next as Corey Jones wrestled off Petterd to gather a bouncing ball and scramble through a 'kick' with the inside of his ankle as he fell over on the goal-line. Dee skipper James 'Junior' McDonald snapped a shot on-the-full and the Kangers had a mystery 50m penalty added to the resultant free-kick, their Jones and Lindsay Thomas set up a mark and goal for Lachie Hansen. Norf led by 11 points. Michael Newton free-kicked a 50m goal for the Deez, shoved in the back by Roo punching-bag Scott Thompson. Back came the Kangers, a quick rebound and Harvey kicked long to set up what appeared a certain mark for big Todd Goldstein, Dee Lynden Dunn pushed back impressively to spoil Goldstein but the big Roo gathered the agate and snapped a major. The Deez were winning a bit of the ball, over-using it badly but they had some chances. A great running shot from Aaron Davey just shaved the inside of the post and of course Brad Miller missed a set-shot, but late in the term Martin led to mark Sylvia's pass and boot a very noice 45m goal from the flank. The Ruse led by 4 points at the first break. The quality barely improved in the second Mario Lanza, over-use of the ball, missed passes, dropped marks. Petrie still did well across half-forward, though. Norf slowly extended their lead, Andrew Swallow slotted an amazingly pressure-free running goal from the flank, Hansen missed a set-shot before Petrie marked again at half-forward and stabbed a pass for leading Brady Rawlings to mark and punt his second goal of the season. Rawlings was tagging Davey. A bit later Melbun's Johnson was hopelessly caught in possession in the centre - commentator 'Spud' Frawley rightly pointed out Johnson should've shepherded for team-mate Morton rather than calling for a handpass - and big Rue Goldstein kicked for fellow ruckman McIntosh to mark at CHF, McIntosh kicked ahead where Hansen marked alone in the goal-square and popped it through. The Kangers led by 23 points and the Demuns played some keepings-off to the siren, for some reason. Well, a tanking reason. "This must be part of the experimenting," dead-panned commentator 'Dwaynepipe' Russell.      

 

Things improved after half-time, for Norf fans at least. Roo Levi Greenwood had a free at the opening bounce of the third stanza, he sent it wide to Adams who passed for Daniel Harris to mark and goal. Shortly Dee Jones placed his lumbering ruckman Jake Spencer into bother with a hospital handball, Harris's tackle stripped the ball from Spencer and Harris handballed for Hansen to stab his third, easy, point-blank goal. Petrie roved his own marking contest to snap a very good left-footer, weird look on Petrie's face afterwards (as though he were upset somehow - I think he was going for cool understatement). Harris had a free-kick at the restart and kicked wide to McIntosh, who'd pushed forward impressively from that centre-bounce. McIntosh fired a long handball ahead for Swallow to collect and drill for a six-pointer, four unanswered sausages in nine minutes from the Ruse and they led by 47 points. Melbun broke the run, their Kyle Cheney assessed options for several months before chipping a hopeful kick to the top o' the 'square but Miller got a clean run at it to take a leaping grab and convert. Norf won another centre-clearance and Corey Jones produced a smart, measured pass for Goldstein to mark 20m out, play-on and boot a major. A minute later Kanger Michael Firrito, very effective as a loose defender, ran outta the back half to soccer a loose ball forward, Petrie gathered and handballed back to oncoming Firrito who booted a running goal. The Kangers were cruising along with a 53-point lead. The Dees improved a bit to the end of the korter, Matthew Bate ran along and drew some tacklers before handballing for Nathan Jones to thump a long sausage roll, then Jones produced a spearing pass for Newton to hug to his chest and kick another. Key forwards Miller and Newton scored points before Goldstein booted another Roo goal, courtesy a pretty weak 50m penalty against Davey for pushing Goldstein over following a grab. The events were simultaneous and Goldstein played it up. A square-up came soon afterwards as Melbun's Martin was paid a doubtful mark just outside the goal-square and punted truly, the Ruse led by 40 points at the last change. The Ruse scored three quick goals to start the final stanza, Thomas juggled a pass from Corey Jones and played-on to snap it through, a bit later Thomas's cross-goal snap was marked by a back-pedalling Petrie at full stretch, Petrie gave us a backwards-roll before going back and goaling. Petrie then kicked another with another good grab, over Lynden Dunn, and Norf led by 58 points. A few minutes later Corey Jones marked on the 50m line and jabbed a short pass to find Goldstein all alone 30m out, Goldstein gold and the Kangerz led by 63 points halfway through the stanza. Motions were gone through, Demun Morton booted a good, long running goal before Goldstein kicked his fifth major, from a very briefly-held mark over Dunn who wasn't very happy about it.

 

Big Todd Goldstein (16 disposals, 7 marks, 25 hit-outs, 5 goals) played the best game of his nascent career. He's not been too impressive so far but the Ruse rate him highly. Michael Firrito (24 touches, 7 marks, a goal) was very good running from defence and Drew Petrie (17 possessions, 9 marks, 3 goals) played very effectively across half-forward. Scott Thompson (22 disposals, 5 marks) put in a solid effort at full-back and Lachie Hansen (14 handlings, 8 marks, 3 goals) was handy up forward. Amongst the midfielders Brent Harvey (26 possessions, a goal) and Daniel Harris (27 touches, 6 marks, a goal) were most prominent, Andrew Swallow kicked 2 goals. For the Deez, Matthew Bate (27 disposals, 9 marks) worked hard from a wing and skipper James McDonald (27 touches, 6 marks) is in decent form, Nathan Jones (26 possies, 8 marks, 2 goals) played well and Ricky Petterd (24 disposals, 5 marks) was good off a back-flank, Shane Valenti (21 touches, 5 marks, 9 tackles) was good in defence too. Stefan Martin and Michael Newton kicked 2 goals each. More questions about tanking for Bailey. "What's read and said in the papers is just part of being under the scrutiny and the microscope of playing AFL footy. Whether you're a player or coach, if you're involved in the football department, you're always going to get scrutinized," he said. "We still changed players around in positions . . . Three games to go and we've still got some opportunities. They (Dee players) support each other really well, they really do . . . they're pretty loyal with each other and very honest with each other and they certainly trust each other. Underneath it all there are a few resilient players who are really good leaders and some of them are not necessarily our senior blokes, who have been great, but some of our younger players, who are really keen to improve." Crocker turned up to the press conference soaking wet. "When you break your duck and get your first win, you've got to jump in the circle and get sprayed with Powerade so I'm nice and sticky at the moment," Crocker said. "But I'll take that any day after a win. I was just rapt for the playing group because they've been really, really good since I took over. I couldn't have been more pleased with the way they've applied themselves throughout the week and also their effort in a lot of our games. Brisbane is the aberration . . . but other than that we've been in most games that we've played and it's great for them to get some reward for the effort and commitment they've shown since I took over." Crocker went on to give Goldstein a wrap.

 

At the MCG:

Richmond  3.3   5.5     7.6     10.8.68

Sydney    4.6   9.10   17.10   18.15.123

 

Sydderney celebrated Michael O'Loughlin's 300^th game by belting the abject Tigger kiddies at the 'G. The win and associated percentage-boost, coupled with Pordaddelaid's typical away-game flop in Perth, gives the Bloods renewed hope of September action. Slim hope, as they face Geelong at the Olympic ground, bogey side Collywood at the MCG and then Brisbun at the SCG, and there's a few sides ahead of them. But hope. The Tiges were shown to be a long way behind both contenders and pretenders. The Toigs made more news off-field, Jade Rawlings delivered a scathing condemnation of the Richmun 'culture' after this game, the day before the club signed former player Brendon Gale as their new CEO. Matthew Richardson ruled a line under the season following an unsuccessful comeback in the VFL - more hamstring trouble - but Richo was re-signed for 2010 despite no coach being in place. The meedya harrumphed about this but it's no big deal. Trent Cotchin's season came to a premature end with a hip problem, he was out of the Toiga side which squeaked by Melbun along with the formless Adam Pattison. In came Alex Rance and ruckman Angus Graham. Ben Cousins played his 250^th AFL game, and twelfth for the Tiges. One change for the Swans with junior Matt O'Dwyer in for his first game of the season, replacing Craig Bird (shoulder).

 

O'Loughlin became the first bloke to play 300 games for South Melbourne / Sydney and it's a fine achievement for a fine man. Fingers crossed, Mick has at least three games remaining in his estimable career. Toiger Cousins snapped the opening goal of the game, from a ball-up, but the Swans took charge with their hard-tackling, stoppage-dominated style. The aim was to stop the speedy but skinny young Toigs from using their pace and it worked very well. The Swarns' first major was demonstrative, from a fourth consecutive ball-up in their forward-line Jarrad McVeigh got a handball away and Jarred Moore snapped truly. From another ball-up Jude Bolton tumbled a kick forward and Adam Goodes marked on his chest in front of Luke McGuane, Goodesy majored. Goodes played at CHF here and did as he pleased. A fairly bizarre lobbed kick from Goodes, 35m out, led to the next goal as Kieren Jack swept up the crumb and bagged one and the Swans led by 13 points. Jack was tagging Cousins. The Tiges enjoyed some luck to stay in touch as an interchange mess-up by Swan Ed Barlow gifted Tige Jake King a point-blank goal, then Jude Bolton missed an absolute sitter. Tigger Brett Deledio converted following a strong mark in front of the pack to reduce the Siddey lead to a point, but Swon Brett 'Captain' Kirk had a free-kick at the following centre-bounce when ploughed into the ground by Daniel Jackson, plus a 50m penalty against Dean Polo for mark-encroachment. Kirk sausaged but the Bloods followed up with behinds from Luke Ablett (a woeful miss), Darren Jolly and Goodes to have them 9 points up at the first break. The Bloods bumped along to 4.8 after Jesse White hit the post with a set-shot early in the second term, but the Tiges blundered into trouble from the kick-in and Richard Tambling was caught in possession by McVeigh, who free-kicked a major. Replays showed McVeigh's tackle was horrendously high. Tiggers Chris Newman and Matt White combined to win the next centre-clearance and Mitch Morton marked 40m out, he jabbed a pass to Polo who'd been left alone 15m out and Polo played-on and poked it through. But the Swans were controlling play and opened an overdue gap now, Jude Bolton hooked a free-kick through from a tight angle after Tambling was done for 'bawl' again and Jesse White converted from a mark and/or free-kick against Kel Moore, noice work from young Blood Daniel Hannebery to create that one. Siddey's White had a bit of a purple patch, missing from a set-shot but then majoring again from a mark on-the-lead to a pass from O'Loughlin. The Swans led by 29 points as the Tiges got a goal against the run, Alex Rance soccering goal-square spillage following a tortuous build-up. Siddey replied quickly as Goodes marked against struggling McGuane and kicked smartly for Ablett to mark behind Will Thursfield, Ablett majored. The Bloods were worth every bit of their 29-point lead at the long break.

 

Young Tige Jayden Post, who, as a forward, hadn't worried the statistician in the first half, started the third Mario on Goodes - fair enough. But the Swans began to convert their general dominance into points, as the Tiges began to wilt. Some fierce tackling led to an early goal for Jack, a great pass from Nathan Brown saw King marking and booting a reply for the Tiges. Siddey's Moore broke some weak Richmun tackling and passed to Ryan O'Keefe, he kicked for Goodes to jump, mark over Post and boot a major. A minute later Swan fans - there were plenty present - cheered when O'Loughlin kicked a sausage roll, playing-on from a clever mark against Richmun's Moore. Goodes stayed down at a marking contest and, after Toigs Post and Tyrone Vickery collided, Goodesy gathered and snapped it through. Goodes also booted the next six-pointer, another grab over back-pedalling Polo. O'Loughlin converted a free-kick, held back by McGuane, and the Swans led by 58 points on the back of five unanswered goals. The Tiges scored, surprisingly, as Matt White finally managed to run clear of tacklers and pass for leading Vickery to mark and punt truly. McVeigh twanged a hamstring there as he chased White and McVeigh's day was over, the Swans'd also lost Jared Crouch who'd suffered a heavy cork thigh in a collision with team-mate Jude Bolton. McVeigh's injury, in particular, may be a problem for the Bloods in the next few weeks, but not here. A flukey bounce allowed Rhyce Shaw to win the ball against Cousins and pass to Goodes again, Goodes handballed for Ed Barlow to boot a major. Siddey's big stanza was completed by a goal for youngster Matt O'Dwyer, set up by Lewis Roberts-Thomson intercepting a Matt White kick. A hefty 64-point margin in the Swans' favour at three-korter time. Goodes had his fourth opponent to start the fourth quarter, Jack Riewoldt who'd managed one handpass to this stage. But it was a difficult day to be a Richmun forward. The Swans eased up in the final quarter, the TV folk commented Siddey's rugged style is an energy-sapping one to maintain on a larger ground like the 'G. The Swans also faded alarmingly against Carton a few weeks ago. A free-kick plus 50m penalty to Jude Bolton led to an early goal for the Bloods, Jarred Moore marked Bolton's kick and sausaged as neither Deledio nor Cousins deigned to pick him up. But the Siddey pressure waned thereon and the Tiges found space to run. Morton snapped a goal after Heath 'Reg' Grundy dropped a mark, Matt White kicked one on-the-run and King converted following a goal-line mark.    

 

Swan man Adam Goodes (25 disposals, 12 marks, 4 goals) was far-and-away the best player on the ground at CHF, and he missed three easy shots too. Ryan O'Keefe (22 disposals) was good and Kieren Jack (16 handlings, 2 goals) was useful against Cousins. The rugged, idiosyncratic styles of Jude Bolton (19 possessions, a goal) and Brett Kirk (14 touches, 14 tackles, a goal) were highly effective. Craig Bolton (12 possies, 6 marks) gave Riewoldt a hiding and likewise Heath Grundy (13 disposals, 7 marks) did very well at CHB. Matt O'Dwyer (16 handlings, 5 marks, a goal) was impressive. Jarred Moore, Michael O'Loughlin and Jesse White kicked 2 goals each. Best Tiger from a small field of candidates was probably captain Chris Newman (19 disposals, 6 marks) who at least used the ball okay. Jake King (13 touches, 8 marks, 3 goals) was praised by the press for his 'passion'; the same blokes who routinely turn on King when his clangers cost the Tiges. But King did a good job on Rhyce Shaw. Ben Cousins (24 disposals, a goal) was alright as were Dean Polo (11 touches, a goal) and Richard Tambling (23 possies, 7 marks, 9 tackles). Rawlings laid it on the line. ''I could not have been more disappointed with the group, to have a challenge put to them and to show very little, if any, resistance to it,'' Rawlings said. ''We had too many players across the course of the day [who thought] it was just too hard. It's all mental. It's players who get challenged the way they do today at certain stages and go back to old habits where they just can't fight through it. And when one or two of them can't fight through it, it leads to four or five. Next thing it infiltrates through the team and we didn't have enough people prepared to challenge the course of the game and do something to change it. People have talked about cultural issues at Richmond for a long time, however long they think it has been going on for. Unfortunately our players go back to habits which are bad reflections on them because they can't, when it gets tough, fight through it to do something to help a mate . . . We have people who pick and choose what they bring to the game every week. Who is going to turn up and that is a question mark on a lot of our players at the moment." Mick O'Loughlin did the press conference for the Swans. "To come out today and do what we did was a great effort, again," O'Loughlin said. "I'm exhausted now, exhausted. Mentally, it was a big week . . . All the well-wishers I've had throughout the week has just been amazing . . . The club's been around for so long and had its ups and downs. This is not just about me, this 300th is about all the players that have come to this club and worn the red and white . . . That's what our club's about, that emotion … I think that's why we won the grand final that year (2005). It just brought about so much respect and pride for each other . . . thank God I came to this club." Paul Roos said "I think it was a symbolic day for the club. We wanted to put on a very, very good show for our fans and obviously a show for Mick but also for the past players and everyone that's come before us."

 

At Subiaco:

Fremantle      7.2   11.7   15.11   17.14.116

Port Adelaide  2.2    4.4    6.5     11.8.74

 

Jekyll-n-Port did it again, another gutless away-performance, another away-loss. It's difficult to believe a finals side being been beaten by three of the bottom four, but that's the way it may well eventuate for the schizo-Flowers. Mark 'Choco' Williams agreed. "It seems ridiculous that we're still in the finals race. We beat Hawthorn a week ago, and they're still in the race, Essendon are still in the race; we might as well take it if we can." Freo obviously smelled blood in the water as the gaily-attired Powder jogged out in their white-socked away-guernsey and the Dokkers duly tore in to record an emphatic win. In doing so the Shokkers lost their priority draft-pick in what was a good weekend for tanking-deniers. Freo made three changes to the team beaten by the Bulldogs, Hayden Ballantyne was suspended for clattering Liam Picken's head while Michael Walters and Scot Thornton were axed, in came Brett Peake, Byron Schammer and rarely-seen tall man Marcus Drum. No change to the Port side which'd vanquished the Horks.

 

Port's performance bore the key hallmark of most of their away-from-home efforts, they simply don't try hard enough. Contested ball is their main let-down, but chasing, tackling and manning-up are all pretty weak too. Tipsters who'd selected the Powder - there were plenty - had that sinking feeling early as Freo piled on the goals. Port actually scored the opening goal, Robbie Gray out-maneuvered Chris Tarrant to gather Tredrea's bouncing kick and snap it through. Freo bagged the next six goals, with first-year men Stephen Hill and Greg Broughton heavily involved. Matty Pavlich was tagged by Dom Cassisi and the captains cancelled each other out. Anyway, the Dockulaters cleared the centre-bounce following that Gray goal and a string of handballs ended with Paul Hasleby dobbing a running sausage. A bit later Jay Van Berlo led, marked and converted. Van Berlo seems to have grown taller in the last fortnight. Des Headland, playing at full-forward, led to David Mundy's pass but was shoved in the back before he could mark it, Headland free-kicked a goal. Kepler Bradley tumbled a punt forward and Aaron Sandilands gathered, he got a handball away and Clancee Pearce bagged a major. Brett Peake executed his favourite running banana-kick to nobody as he galloped down the wing, but Broughton gathered smartly and handballed to Nick Suban who had a bounce and bagged a six-pointer. Chris Mayne scored Freo's first behind before Antoni Grover hooked a tight-angle snap through from a ball-up and the locals led by 31 points, it was over already. Port veteran Warren Tredrea broke the run with a mark and goal but Dokker Dean Solomon tumbled a kick forward from the subsequent centre-bounce and Bradley roved his own contest to whack a great goal from 50m. Headland added to the highlight reel by riding Jacob Surjan for a spectacular grab in the centre. Bradley missed with a tight-angle banana-kick following a one-handed mark as Freo led by 30 points at the first break. Choco Williams tore into his lads but it seemed even his heart wasn't in it. The Powder did score the opening goal of the second quartier, roving Danyle Pearce dobbing one. But the Dokkers were keen, David Mundy missed a shot after Port's David Rodan was mown down, a minute later Garrick Ibbotson roved Grover's contest and handballed for Mayne to snap it through. Sandilands barged through the following centre-bounce and forced the ball out to Byron Schammer, from his kick Mayne held a strong grab against Chad Cornes and booted a very good goal from the flank. The lad Mayne has some ability, you thought, as the Shockerators led by 38 points. Port hung in there, Burgoyne missed a shot before Nick Salter held a strong grab on the 50m line and handballed off to Cassisi, who booted a goal. Mayne then kicked another goal to keep the collective Docker boot on the collective Flower throat, Freo advanced from a kick-in, Paul Duffield went for a three-bounce run and Mayne led up to mark his pass 60m out, Port's Carlile wandered dopily beyond the Freo man, allowing Mayne to jump up, play-on and thump the sausage. The term ended with Dokka Steven Dodd's run off half-back leading to a mark and goal for Headland, thundered home from 55m. Freo led by 43 points at half-time.

 

Prior to the third term commencing, the TV folk made the usual noises about Port needing to lift, season on the line etc. But history and the momentum didn't inspire you regarding their chances. Once again they scored the opening goal of the stanza, Dodd decided to 'take on' Shaun Burgoyne in his own defensive goal-square and was hopelessly caught, Burgoyne free-kicked the major. Burgoyne played pretty well here, he just needed more mates. Freo led by 37 points and really did decide the contest with the next three goals. Broughton tried to answer criticism that he's just a receiver, he dived zealously into a pack to win the ball, fired off a poor handball, won the ball back and bagged a goal. Schammer collected the agate from a throw-in and handballed to Headland, who went for a run and passed for leading Grover to mark and boot truly. From the restart Hill sent the ball wide to Schammer in a lot of space and as TV's 'Gerhard' Healy railed against the Powder's slack defending, Schammer booted long to the goal-square where Headland marked as Chadley Cornes arrived a bit too late. Headland's sausage had the Dockulaters 58 points in front and the 'Freeee-oooo' chant went up from their supporters. They've been waiting a long time to do that. Both sides dropped the intensity in acknowledging the game was over and not much happened for a bit, eventually Burgoyne kicked another goal for Port with the aid of a 50m penalty against Broughton, still trying to prove his 'hardness' as he knocked down Tom Logan off-the-ball. Late in the term Freo coasted forward on a pressure-free move and Paul Duffield passed for Peake to mark and punt a 40m-goal after the siren, the Dokkers by 10 goals exactly at the final change. Matty Pavlich snapped a terrific round-the-body goal in the early final term to have the Dokkers 66 points ahead but that was the extent of their lead as the cue went into the rack and the Flowers scored some belated majors. Robbie Gray marked on a strong, straight lead to Kane Cornes's pass and booted a goal, a bit later Brendon Lade free-kicked a six-pointer after Bradley tackled him 'round the head. Mayne kicked another goal for Fremandle, found by a smart short pass from Bradley who had a good, possibly career-saving game at CHF. Freo led by 58 points following that Mayne goal, Port scored some junk-time goals from Gray, Tredrea and lastly Salter following a decent grab and huge kick.      

 

Wanderin' Freo half-back Greg Broughton (37 disposals, 11 marks, a goal) has been a positive out of this wreck of a Freo season as has speedy, smooth Stephen Hill (22 touches, 6 marks). Paul Hasleby (25 touches, 4 marks, a goal) performed well again off half-forward and Des Headland (16 handlings, 8 marks, 3 goals) gave the forward-line some focus, Chris Mayne (15 possies, 5 marks, 4 goals) was very good too. Matt de Boer (22 handlings, 4 marks) and Paul Duffield (30 disposals, 7 marks) played well, Antoni Grover kicked 2 goals. A few Port guys did alright, small forward Robbie Gray (21 touches, 6 marks, 2 goals) was handy and Travis Boak (27 disposals) continued his fine season. Dean Brogan (12 possessions, 3 marks, 19 hit-outs) nullified Sandilands's influence and Shaun Burgoyne (29 touches, 5 marks, 2 goals) played well again. Danyle Pearce (22 possies, a goal) and David Rodan (18 possies) were okay, Warren Tredrea kicked 2 goals. To repeat Choc's statement, "It seems ridiculous that we're still in the finals race. We beat Hawthorn a week ago, and they're still in the race, Essendon are still in the race; we might as well take it if we can. We're an average team - there's no doubt about that - and unless we play to the absolute top of our game, that's the sort of result we get . . . We win clearances, we win hits, we win hard balls, I think [the sides] were equal in tackles . . . that was a joke, they outplayed us . . . With three games to go, we need to get our players feeling good. Probably half of them are feeling like they did okay today, and they probably did. But the other half were so far from it that we'll certainly look at the available selections to try and change the side around." Mark Harvey lapped it up. "I thought we outplayed the Bulldogs last week after half-time. We had eight days' break, made a few changes, and have been working on a lot of things around the club that are starting to pay off. You can see where we are going when we play like that," he said. "We haven't been able to beat sides like that yet. We've beaten the bottom-tier sides on the ladder, and we have three weeks to go now. We aim to win them, and now the other issue (tankin') that has been spoken about heavily has been thrown out the window. That's satisfying for the people that have followed Fremantle for a long period of time, and, more importantly, our playing group . . . The stability, composure and tempo that the young players are starting to pick up now is a lot more apparent. When you have Headland and Mayne come back in, who we haven't had all year, and can add McPharlin and Ballantyne, then you can start to understand what we are starting to do."

 

Ladder after Round 19

                Pts.       %    Next Week

St. Kilda        76    163.8    Essendon (Docklands, Sunday)

Geelong          64    129.8    Sydney (Stadium Australia, Sat. night)

Collingwood      52    118.3    Richmond (MCG, Saturday)

Footscray        48    122.7    Brisbane (Gabba, Sat. night)

Brisbane         46    107.6    Footscray (Gabba, Sat. night)

Carlton          44    110.3    Port Adelaide (Football Park, Sunday)

Adelaide         44    109.1    Hawthorn (MCG, Fri. night)

Port Adelaide    36     90.7    Carlton (Football Park, Sunday)

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

Essendon         34     99.3    St. Kilda (Docklands, Sunday)

Sydney           32     95.1    Geelong (Stadium Australia, Sat. night)

Hawthorn         32     91.4    Adelaide (MCG, Fri. night)

West Coast       24     90.0    North Melbourne (Subiaco, Saturday)

North Melbourne  22     82.8    West Coast (Subiaco, Saturday)

Richmond         22     79.8    Collingwood (MCG, Saturday)

Fremantle        20     76.3    Melbourne (MCG, Sunday)

Melbourne        12     72.5    Fremantle (MCG, Sunday)

 

Cheers, Tim.

 

 

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