I pwn you. Game news.

AFL Round 11 - Remember it?

Of all the issues confronting footy, very few have addressed the most important: who can make the best joke involving Collywood's Brad Dick. The best one I've heard so far is Tim Lane's "McDonald had his hands full with Dick" last Monday, but I don't get the radio commentary up here so let us know if you've heard a better one.

At Docklands:

Richmond 4.2 12.2 12.4 14.5.89

Footscray 4.2 11.6 18.10 24.13.157

Plough's last game in charge of the Tiges followed a recent pattern for the Big Pu55ies; a competitive half, over-run in the other. Jade Rawlings, coach of the Tiges' VFL affiliate Coburg and Richo's brother-in-law, is going to be the caretaker. Was never a huge fan of Wallace, a used-car salesman type who's always had a clear eye out for no. 1. But he'd injected some intensity and mongrel into a mediocre Footscray side and achieved some success, so it was possible he could do the same for the Tiges. But he didn't. Most of Plough's Richmun-related obits pointed to his inability to recruit successfully. He'll forever be damned for drafting Richard Tambling ahead of Buddy Franklin in 2004, and sundry other errors, although it's easy and lazy to criticize draft choices in hindsight and others were involved in those decisions. Throwing lifelines to mid-career plodders, especially his old Bulldog mates Jordan McMahon and Patrick Bowden, was less forgivable. But really, Wallace's Tiges were performing more-or-less as expected until this season, when yet another poor start to the year was disastrous in face of hyped-up pre-season expectation. Plough used the attention garnered by his resignation announcement to claim primary responsibility for the Bulldogs' current list, something he's done several times before. And you can be sure he's got a media contract already signed. Looking out for no.1. Plough's final Tiger selection saw McMahon recalled - can you be fined for metaphorically 'flipping the bird'? - along with Mark Coughlan and Alex Rance, the last returning from his cheekbone fractured against the Lyin's. They replaced a trio injured in the win over Freo, Matt White (hamstring), Nathan Brown (groin strain) and Robin Nahas (thigh strain). One change for the Bullpups, debutant Brennan Stack, a pacy half-back from Perth, replaced Scott Welsh who was suspended for clattering Crouch last week.

Slow start, both sides playing man-on-man and trying to maintain an open forward-line. It led to heavy midfield congestion and multiple turnovers as both sides tried to move the ball with too much handpassing, the Tiggers especially. Bully Josh Hill missed the best early chance before the Tiggers scored the first goal, ten minutes in. Captain Chris Newman ran down Nathan Eagleton to force a turnover and soon Ben Cousins - fined 10K for his raised middle finger to a TV camera last week - kicked long where Mitch Morton marked alone in the goal-square and popped it through. The Dogs replied soon as Toig backman Luke McGuane's wobbly clearing kick was marked by Bully Jarrod Harbrow, he chipped inboard to Adam Cooney whose pass to leading Brad Johnson was spoiled by Will Thursfield, but roving Hill gathered and slotted. A long Eagleton shot hit the post and Commetti quipped that "Dogs love posts." The Tiggers put together a good rebound and Trent Cotchin ran ahead and directed some traffic before passing to leading Morton, who duly marked and booted his second. The Dogs replied again, ruckman Will Minson whacked a throw-in towards the corridor, Ryan Hargrave gathered and slipped a handball to Shaun Higgins who snapped a classy left-footed sausage. Bully Daniel 'Guido' Giansiracusa punted the Dogs into attack from the restart, the ball cleared Hill but running Callan Ward collected the pill and jabbed a goal. The Doggies led by 6 points. Back came the Tiges from a throw-in in their forward-pocket, Bulldog Matthew Boyd was tackled while kicking and his punt travelled about 5m, Shane Tuck gathered for the Tiges and handballed for the ubiquitous Morton to snap another. The Bullies went ahead again, an under-pressure Giansiracusa stabbed a low, mongrelled kick straight to Jason Akermanis, probably intentional, and Aker converted. The Tiges tied up the scores once more before korter-time, Brett Deledio dropped a mark on-the-lead but roving Cousins hooked a punt to the top o' the 'square where Jack Riewoldt judged it smartly to mark at the back of the pack and boot truly. Late in the term commentator Nathan Buckley mentioned the Tiges' propensity to start games well but drop off in intensity and effort later in the contest. Prescient. Come coach us, Bucks!

Into the second term and it appeared as though Bucks's prediction was coming true already. Richmun did bag an early major, Bulldog Ward's risky centering kick caused a turnover and Cotchin had a quick snap, it dropped short but the ball came to Riewoldt who poked it through. But the Bullpups scored six of the next seven goals, with cleaner handling and better disposal than the Tiges. They reclaimed the lead, Johnson missed a shot but the Tiges' untidy kick-in went to Daniel Cross just outside the 50, a quick switch-of-play and Boyd booted a running major. Following some volleyball in the centre Cooney escaped with the Sherrin, he kicked wide to Johnson who in turn punted quickly into space for Mitch Hahn to take a with-the-flight grab, Hahn ran on and dobbed a goal. The Bullies led by 8 points as the Tiggers answered, some scrap on the boundary-line saw the ball emerge with Morton, his centering kick was collected on-the-bounce by Troy 'Snake' Simmonds who jabbed a kick wide for unopposed McMahon to spear it through. Dogs by 2 and it was tough for a bit, before Akermanis roved a throw-in and lobbed a very high kick into CHF. Johnson hit hard into the marking contest and forced the ball towards the Dogs' goal, where Hargrave gathered and slotted a major. The Bullies scored three quick ones now, Harbrow won the ball from the following centre-bounce, his pass missed leading Minson but the Dogs forced the ball ahead, Eagleton gathered and hooked the ball across the sticks where Giansiracusa marked and booted the six-pointer. Tough tackling pressure won the ball for the Bulldogs in their back-line, Lindsay Gilbee booted wide to Akermanis, he punted for leading Minson to hold a good grab on the 50m line. Minson kicked quickly to the goal-square where Higgins marked behind Johnson and Newman. Higgins goaled but he'd also hyper-extended his knee taking the grab and departed for a few minutes. Higgins was okay, though. At the next centre-bounce Tige Cotchin coughed up possession in a tackle and Ward passed for leading Gilbee to mark and boot a major, the Bullies had skipped to a 26-point lead. Ward burst clear of the next centre-bounce but his shot hit the post. The Tiggers broke the run, Morton won the ball in a decent scrap at half-forward and fired a good handball through traffic for Tuck to collect and boot a noice goal from the flank. But the Dogs replied, with hard running from Hahn who passed to Akermanis, ran on to receive Aker's pass on the attacking side of the centre-square and Hahn lobbed a handball for Higgins to run inside 50 and punt truly. Footyscray led by 27 points, but the Tiges unleashed an unexpected scoring burst in the final five minutes of the stanza. At the restart following the Higgins goal, Bulldog Minson grabbed the ball cleanly from the ruck and was done for 'bawl', Daniel Jackson booted the Toigers into attack and Adam Pattison leaped for a strong grab over Dale Morris. Pattison majored. The Toiges also won the following centre-clearance and Nathan 'Axel' Foley stabbed a short pass for leading Tuck to mark, he punted long where Jackson roved the pack-spillage and handballed for Andrew Collins to snap truly. Coughlan roved a throw-in and his snap dropped short but Pattison roved Kel Moore's contest to soccer a goal. At another throw-in Bully Ryan Griffen was penalized for shepherding Tuck outta the contest, Tuck free-kicked a sausage and the Dogs' lead was down to 3 points. Hargrave snapped a behind for the Dogs and the Tiges advanced from the kick-in, a smart kick from Foley allowed Riewoldt to mark behind Stephen Tiller and boot the Big Pu55ies' fifth straight goal. Richmun led by 2 points at half-time.

The Dogs put their collective paws down after half-time. Their mistakes dried up, their tackling pressure went up, the Tiges dropped off and made more mistakes. Just as Bucks'd predicted, although you could factor in the Tiges' six-day break and Perth hangover. Hill missed an early, tight-angle chance before the Bullies reclaimed the lead, Gilbee led up to take a good mark in traffic and then steer a pass to leading Liam Picken, who proceeded to punt truly from the flank. Picken was tagging Deledio and had followed the Tigger into their back-line, where Deledio proved himself a poor defender. Cooney won the ball from the restart and handballed to Griffen, he produced a lovely pass to Hahn who was leading away from Griffen, towards the pocket. Hahn marked and converted and the Bullies led by 11 points. The Toigs tried to hang in, Riewoldt missed following a good grab in front of Tiller. Then a good Bullpup move saw Higgins pass to leading Johnson in the centre-square, Tigger Tambling over-committed allowing Johnson to play-on and find Picken marking alone, 20m out. Picken converted for his second goal of the korter. Bully "frontal pressure" brought about the next goal, Tige Joel Bowden was forced to hack a clearing kick away and it went to Boyd, he handballed for Griffen to bomb a long, running major. The Bullies led by 22 points now. Tige Kayne Pettifer postered following a mark on-the-lead, Johnson missed following a soft free-kick. A bit later Cross toe-poked the ball out of a pack to Hill, he slipped a short-range handpass to Johnson who ran right along the boundary-line and into the goal-square to blast it through. The Dogs were working harder, a tough effort to clear their defence set up the next goal, Eagleton juggled a grab between Toigs Tuck and Coughlan and handballed off to Gilbee, his pass found Cooney alone for a mark and major. A bit later Ward smothered Newman's kick in the centre of the ground and the agget rebounded to Akermanis, he produced a clever kick for Giansiracusa to mark 30m out and bag another goal. The Bullies had a stranglehold on the game at three-quarter-time, leading by 42 points. The Tiggers broke their goal-drought early in the final stanza, Simmonds won a tap from a throw-in on the wing and McMahon's centering pass found Dean Polo alone, Polo ran inside 50 with a bounce and raised the twin calicoes. No goal for the next ten-or-so minutes as the Tiges strived to hang in there, before a quick three-goal burst from the Dogs administered the cup of grass. Another risky Tigger clearing kick went to a contest, Giansiracusa collected the crumb and stabbed a short pass to Higgins, he sent a cross-field pass to unopposed Brad Johnson who booted truly. A bit later Boyd roved a contest on the wing and some quick handballs allowed Cross to pass ahead to Eagleton, a coupla short passes later set up the best possible shot for Gilbee to convert. Brian Lake marked in the last line of defence and chipped a pass to Akermanis, his three-bounce run ended with a handball to Eagleton, The Bald Man dished off to Higgins and ran on to receive a handball from Minson, Eagleton finished with a lovely kick from the flank to complete a terrific team goal. The Bullpups led by 55 points, a venturing Morris soon kicked long for Hill to mark and major and the diff was 60 points. Deledio scored one for the Tiges after a strong pack-mark, but the game ended with two goals from Hill, the first a classy collect and snap of an under-hit pass, the next snapped through from a throw-in courtesy Minson and Boyd's tough work. Wallace departed with applause from the Tigger players and a majority of supporters, it seemed.

The Doggies' midfield dominated after half-time, led by Adam Cooney (33 disposals, 4 marks, a goal) whose recent lift in form has accompanied that of the Dogs' in general. Jarrod Harbrow (28 touches, 6 marks) is proving a handy on-baller and Shaun Higgins (20 possessions, 6 marks, 3 goals) is a class act. Liam Picken (15 touches, 3 marks, 2 goals) bettered Deledio and Callan Ward (17 touches, 4 marks, a goal) is establishing his spot in the side. Regular performers Matthew Boyd (28 possies, a goal) and Brad Johnson (21 disposals, 8 marks, 2 goals) were handy. Daniel Giansiracusa, Lindsay Gilbee and Mitch Hahn kicked 2 goals each, overall eighteen of the twenty-two Dogs kicked goals in the game. Best of the Tiges were their combative on-ballers Daniel Jackson (30 disposals, 8 marks) and Nathan Foley (30 possessions). Captain Chris Newman (25 possies, 5 marks) had a good battle with Johnson and Shane Tuck (32 disposals, 8 marks, 2 goals) won plenty of it as usual, youngster Andrew Collins (24 touches, 4 marks, a goal) played well again. Jack Riewoldt and Mitch Morton kicked 3 first-half goals each, Adam Pattison bagged 2 goals. Plough said "(Turnovers) have been the problem with the footy club more than any other problem. Until that can be rectified, that's by personnel or by practice, the club won't take the steps forward that it wants to take." You couldn't fix it in four-and-a-half years? "I can't remember a worse result than that. I think after half-time ten of their thirteen goals came from direct turnovers," continued Wallace. "It's very, very difficult to sit in the coaches' box and be able to do anything in regards to that. That's a long-term thing; it's a 'have you got the right people?'; 'do you need to have better decision makers and kickers involved in your team?' Or do you have to have strategies in place that don't allow you to be so flippant with your turnovers? . . . There are a lot of issues that the club has got to look at but we haven't run out games at all. [But] when you keep turning the footy over that makes you look like you're not running out games because it's all downhill running from there." 'Rocket' Eade said "Our execution early in the game was poor and at some stages in the second quarter but our execution in the third quarter matched our ability to put pressure on. We worked hard, and once you work hard the skill tends to follow . . . I thought some of the young players really set the scene there . . . I thought Picken, and I thought Ward's pressure and his hard-ball gets in that third quarter were terrific. Harbrow [was also good]. So I think those younger players were as much the catalysts as anybody." Rocket was asked if Plough's quitting had been a distraction.
"I think it gave us a bit more focus," he said. "I mean, coming off three or four good performances, you're always worried about players lapsing a bit, especially playing against a team that's second-last. I think with the focus on the departure of Terry, I think it just brought our players [together]. We spoke to them obviously on Monday - not in a big way. And there's obviously history between the two clubs and we spoke about that as well, but I think from that aspect it was probably a positive."

At Docklands:

North Melbourne 5.1 7.2 8.3 9.3.57

St. Kilda 1.3 4.7 8.10 15.13.103

Substitute players were on the agenda again after the Ruse finished this game with 17 men on the ground, and a couple of those limping about. Naturally, the Kangers were quick to claim the deflating accumulation of injuries as an excuse for the loss, but the Sainters were already on the way back from a slow start before Norf began to lose players. Then again, it's fair enough to say it might've been a different outcome had the Kangers maintained their aggressive first-term form through to the end. Sinkilda's eleventh consecutive win established a club-record winning streak and Justin Koschitzke put on a powerful display of marking to bag 6 goals, a personal best for him. The Kanga team here had four changes from the one beaten by Brisbun, Daniel Pratt, Matt Campbell and Sam Power returned from injury and Nathan Grima earned a recall. Jack Ziebell missed with 'flu while Levi Greenwood, Daniel Harris and Todd Goldstein were adzed. Two changes for the Stains, regular full-back Max Hudghton was in for his first game of the season and junior ruckman Ben McEvoy was given an opportunity, afforded by Michael Gardiner's lenient one-game suspension for elbowing Demun Jamar last week. Sam Gilbert was out with an ankle injury.

Norf came out fired-up and determined to 'get in the face' of the Sainters, collectively. Adam Simpson, Scott McMahon and Michael Firrito led the aggression, Simpson and Brady Rawlings won the contested ball, the Ruse put admirable pressure on the Sainter defenders and rode their luck to score some goals. Aaron Edwards, given a late reprieve by Ziebell's withdrawal, booted the opening goal after leading out to mark Drew Petrie's pass, good work from Gavin Urquhart on the boundary had led to the chance. Some tough minutes followed but the Kangers bottled up the Saints' rebound. Then Ben 'Milky' Warren dummied nicely in the centre and punted Norf into attack, Edwards was spoiled by Hudghton and fell on the ball but he forced it clear where Ben Ross was slung to the ground by Hudghton, without collecting the pill. A clear transgression and Ross free-kicked a major, his first of the season. Warren missed awfully after marking 30m out, a bit later the Ruse were advancing from half-back and Pratt chipped a pass to Simpson in the centre. Simpson marked and handballed immediately, grabbed by Lenny Hayes in the process. Looked like normal play-on, but the ump decided Hayes'd tackled Simpson before he'd called play-on, so it was a 50m penalty and Simpson accepted the gift to boot a sausage. Soon the Ruse were advancing again down the wing and Sam Power lobbed a very smart kick for Andrew Swallow to mark in front of the advancing pack, Swallow converted and the Kangers led by 24 points. Eyebrows were raised a bit. Sinkilda managed their second score, a behind from Jason Blake, but soon at the other end Stainer ruckman Steven King lobbed a bizarre kick on-the-full and Roo Daniel Wells stabbed the resulting free for Firrito to mark, 40m out. 'Dorito' booted a sausage roll and the Kangers led by 29 points, 5.1 to 0.2. The Stains finally scored a goal late in the term, Jason Gram punted long towards both Koschitzke and Nick Riewoldt in the pocket, the ball spilled over the back where Riewoldt reached it first and hooked a punt across the sticks where Nick Dal Santo was awarded a juggling grab against Gavin Urquhart. Not sure if Dal Santo touched it first, but he booted a goal anyway and reduced Norf's lead to 22 points at the first break. The Shinboners managed another goal early in the second term, Edwards again did well to force the ball clear after he'd been spoiled and Sam Wright kicked long, Petrie ran into the goal-square while battling with Sam Fisher and Petrie soccered it through for full points, Norf led by 28. More tough battle as the Saints began to win more of the ball and find some space to move it. Jarryn Geary missed a shot before the Saints scored from a forward-pocket throw-in, Leigh Montagna lobbed a handball clear to Adam Schneider who had a simple snap from 10m out. Adam Simpson punted the Ruse forward from the restart, Saint man Fisher punched the ball when he could've marked uncontested and after some handballs from Edwards and (Mrs.?) Simpson, Matt Campbell had a snap-shot which dropped into the goal-square for Warren to mark and slam through. Still the Kangers by 27 points. The Stainers hit back, Roo Josh Gibson was doing a good job on Riewoldt but Norf struggled to produce an effective match-up for Koschitzke. Rue Leigh Harding's clanger handpass to McQualter gave the Stains a chance, Hayes threaded a handball to Dal Santo who curled a left-foot kick to the goal-square where Koschitzke arrived to take a diving, with-the-flight grab and pop it through. A minute later 'Kosi' missed following a lead-and-mark out to the flank, a bit later Hayes bombed a kick to the top o' the 'square where Schneider held a good grab behind Ross, played-on and whipped it through for a goal. The Saints were 12 points down and coming, the Ruse had lost their first player by now with Sam Power crudely hit way off the ball by Steven King. A gutless act and King has since accepted a four-game suspension, fair enough as he'd been rubbed out for something very similar earlier in the season, against Port I think. Late in the term Norf lost Warren who collided heavily with Raphael Clarke as both dived for a chest-mark, Warren sustained a fractured cheekbone and was carried off. Harding made a complete mess of a set-shot too, just to compound the Ruse' problems. But they were still in front at half-time, by 13 points.

Sainters Luke Ball and Dal Santo lifted after half-time, but it was still a battle as the Kangers hung in. Gibson and Firrito led a tough Roo defence but their midfield rotations were in trouble with Power and Warren gone. Sainters Baker and Koschitzke missed shots, as did Roo Swallow and half the stanza had passed before the first goal came along. Ball appeared to shove Swallow in the back before marking on the wing, he handpassed ahead to Geary who did likewise to Hayes and Riewoldt led out to mark 35m from goal, he steered it through from the flank. Riewoldt soon reverted to type by slicing a shot on-the-full, but soon Ball lobbed a kick in and Koschitzke ran and leaped high to hold a terrific one-grab mark over Firrito and Scott Thompson, Kosi converted and scores were level. North weren't done and they reclaimed the lead a few minutes later, Hamish McIntosh directed a forward-pocket throw-in down perfectly for Swallow to gather and snap through from right in front. The Saints scored two late ones though, McQualter accepted Ball's pass wide on the flank and steered a centering kick for Koschitzke to take a strong chest-mark in traffic, Koschitzke's major had the Saints in front for the first time, by a point. With a minute remaining in the term Roo Urquhart lost the ball in the centre when tackled, Hayes gathered, weaved past tacklers and handballed to McQualter, he passed wide to Clint Jones on the 50m line who drove a long kick home, bouncing through ahead of Riewoldt and Gibson. The Saints by 7 points at the final break. By now the Ruse had lost Wright (knee injury) and Campbell had re-tweaked his delicate hamstring, Norf were in a bit o' trouble. The Stainers rolled over 'em in the last quarter. Gram missed an early shot but lumbering Roo David Hale (who did absolutely nothing in this game) didn't reach Thompson's kick-in and Dal Santo lobbed a pass to James Gwilt, who booted a goal. Ball punted the Saints into attack from the restart, Gwilt sped onto the bouncing ball, controlled it smartly and hooked a low kick to the goal-square where Koschitzke clutched a good, diving grab in front of the hapless Thompson. Kosi converted. A bit later Fisher lurked in an ocean of space on the wing to accept Dal Santo's pass, Fisher punted into the pocket where Riewoldt marked too easily over Grima, to Gibson's anguish. 'Rooey' slotted it through. From the following centre-bounce Dal Santo handballed wide to Brendon Goddard, he kicked long where Koschitzke won a free-kick for Thompson's arm-chopping. Koschitzke majored again and the Satiners'd scored four goals in ten minutes, they led by 32 points. Norf scored a belated major, Lindsay Thomas curling a great dribbly-kick through from a tight angle. But soon Koschitzke bagged his third goal of the quarter and sixth of the game, another free-kick against Thompson. Can't say this one was obvious, but the umpire was standing very close to their one-on-one contest. You'd think some other Ruse could've helped Thompson out. A bit later the Ruse were switching flanks in defence when Pratt suddenly found himself with no-one ahead, he ran tiredly along until tackled by Gram and Gram free-kicked a goal for 'bawl'. Pratt injured his calf in that play and now the Kangers were down to 17. Riewoldt kicked the final goal, marking unopposed on the 50m line, playing-on and coasting in to slot it.

The in-form Lenny Hayes (32 disposals, 8 tackles) and 'fringe player' Jason Gram (31 handlings, 5 marks, a goal) were the Saints' best performers over the entire game, with Justin Koschitzke (10 marks, 14 disposals, 6 goals) doing some powerful finishing work in attack. Nick Dal Santo (26 touches, 6 tackles, a goal) and Luke Ball (22 handlings) came into it after half-time, as did Leigh Montagna (27 possessions). Clint Jones (19 disposals, a goal) did well on Wells and Andrew McQualter (21 possies, 7 tackles) was handy in the clinches, Nick Riewoldt (15 kicks, 14 marks, 3 goals) finished a handy contributor despite being beaten by Gibson for three quarters. Adam Schneider bagged 2 goals. Norf's fight was carried by Adam Simpson (21 disposals, a goal) and Michael Firrito (18 touches, 7 marks, a goal) in the middle and Josh Gibson (14 touches, 6 marks) on Riewoldt. Scott McMahon (21 touches, 6 marks) was very good running off half-back, for the first half anyway, and Daniel Pratt (18 possies, 10 marks) made a welcome return. Hamish McIntosh (8 disposals, 40 hit-outs) rucked solidly, Andrew Swallow kicked 2 goals. Dean Laidley's comments were justified if predictable. "We lost two players before half time and then ran around in the last quarter with seventeen players on the ground with two blokes who probably shouldn't have been out there. It's a monumental effort," Laidley said. "Benny Warren went down and Sam Power got whacked. We had Matty [Campbell] there and we needed to make sure that he got his game time, but we didn't want him to re-injure his hamstring, so we kept him off the ground. Then Sam Wright hurt himself and Daniel Pratt and Adam Simpson probably shouldn't have been out there . . . It was just super." But Laidley argued against having substitutes. "There are lots of issues and we probably need to sit down go through it all first before we really start jumping up and down. This is probably one out of the box. I'm not too sure how often this happens . . . You see from the way that we played in the first quarter and twenty minutes that, regardless of some of the results, we're going in the right direction. We set ourselves for the contested footy, we set ourselves to tackle them and I said that if we won that and we had a little bit of luck we'd be right in the ball game. But we didn't get any good luck; we had bad luck." Ross Lyon sort-of concurred. "We were certainly challenged," he said. "We went down at quarter time and we were winning the contested ball and winning the clearances, and our tackle numbers were a bit low, but it was more our ball use in defence. They kicked a couple of easier goals than we would like, and we wasted some opportunities again . . . Coming in at half time, inside-50s for the quarter were 18 to three, and they kicked two goals from the three so they scored a bit easier. We spoke about how can we score more, and we thought get it to the open side, spread it a bit more and take some more uncontested marks and isolate their key defenders and we'll either mark it or get a free kick or crumb it. We think our work rate is really high at the moment. We'd like to fix our accuracy but to be challenged and respond and not panic was a sign of maturity from the group . . . You need little goals along the way and it wasn't a goal, but we recognise that since 1897, no other St Kilda group has won eleven in a row. I said, 'Take it as a little milestone and now leave it behind as we start to prepare for Carlton Friday night'.

At the Gabba:

Brisbane 2.2 5.5 9.7 16.10.106

Carlton 3.6 7.10 13.13 16.16.112

The Fev booted 8 goals while Jonathan Brown could only manage 4 from ten shots as the Bluies scored a very handy win in Brisbun. The Blooze controlled possession for three quarters while the Lyin's were unusually sluggish, and by the time they got moving in the final stanza, it was too late. Lyin' coach Michael Voss struggled too. In his defence, the absence of three regular Lyin' defenders was exposed here. The Brisbun side had one change from the one which defeated the Ruse, Travis Johnstone was recalled at the expense of junior Matt Austin. The Blooze had three changes following the win over the Weegs, Jordan Russell was dropped at last along with youngsters Mitch Robinson and Mark Austin, in came regulars Heath Scotland, Andrew Carrazzo and Shaun Grigg.

Brisbane's had plenty of autumnal rain and the players here jogged out onto a heavy, damp surface. With Merrett and Patfull still missing, Voss deployed Daniel Bradshaw at full-back again, where he'd been alright in previous weeks. So Bradshaw was on Brendan Fevola. The Lyin's defensive problems worsened in the opening ten minutes as skilful rebound man Josh Drummond limped off with a calf-muscle problem, he didn't return. Brisbun did score an early goal, Jonathan Brown led up to the flank to mark Joel Macdonald's pass, Brown kicked in towards leading Jared Brennan who spilled the grab but recovered the ball on the ground and snapped a noice right-foot goal. Brennan missed his next chance and the Bluies advanced from the kick-in, Chris Judd involved twice as he kicked long to Ryan Houlihan on the attacking flank, Houlihan stabbed a pass for Brendan Fevola to mark and convert. The Lyin's responded as they forced and paddled the ball wide from the next centre-bounce, Ash McGrath gathered, ran inside 50 and bombed a long goal. The Bluies went on to control the ball for the remainder of the korter, but have trouble converting it into points. Fevola and Judd missed shots before Heath Scotland wobbled a pass inside 50, Setanta O'hAilpin gathered on-the-bounce and handballed to Jeff Garlett, he jabbed a quick under-pressure kick for on-running Scotland to gather and scramble through for a major. The Bluesers led by 2 points. Brad Fisher missed two set-shots, poorly, and Eddie Betts soccered into a post. We didn't have the usual Channel Carlton commentary team, thankfully, nevertheless Robbie Walls had a little, positive phrase each time a Bluebagger touched the ball; "Armfield, fast and feisty . . . Scotland, a wonderful competitor . . . O'hAilpin, can run and breathe simultaneously." In contrast, when a Lyin' touched the ball (in the first half, at least) Wallsy read out their (poor) stats; "Rich, only five disposals . . . Adcock, just six disposals so far . . . Luke Power's not going well, only twelve touches." Twelve in a half? What's wrong with that? But I digress. Late in the first quarter Bloo Marc Murphy was twice-involved in a decent move, Murphy stabbed a very good pass for Kade Simpson to mark and convert after the siren. The Bluesers led by 10 points at korter-time. Slow, slippery opening to the second korter, Fevola missed with a free-kick thanks to a ridiculously soft hands-in-the-back decision against Bradshaw, then Fev gave away a 50m-penalty which led to a chance for Brown, but he postered. With Bradshaw playing down back, Brown was the Lyin's only forward target and he either competed against multiple opponents in marking contests or led far and wide for the ball, resulting in tough-angle shots from distance. Eventually Bloo Fevola bagged a goal, he clutched a strong grab in front of Bradshaw and received a 50m penalty when Lyin' McGrath jogged through the mark, Fev popped it through from point-blank. Carton led by 17 points. Cheynee Stiller punted the Lyin's forward from the restart, Brown brought the ball to ground as he wrestled with Bret Thornton and got a handball away to Jared Brennan, who punted a lazy major off one step. The Blooze responded from a ball-up, the typically busy Judd handballed for Houlihan to punt to the 'square, O'hAilpin dropped a mark he shouldn't have, but managed to soccer a major anyway. A bit later Bryce Gibbs got a quick punt away from a ball-up and Murphy's roving handpass allowed Fisher to snap a left-footed sausage. The Bluesers led by 23 points, a fairer reflection of play. Brennan carried the Lyin's along, he led out to Simon Black's pass and Bloo Jamison got a good spoil in, but Brennan jumped up, collected the ball and booted a very good goal. Black tumbled a kick forward from the restart, Brown gathered on-the-bounce and handballed wide to Scott Harding, his kick went wide of leading Brennan but Brennan doubled-back, collected and steered a tight-angle major. The gap was back to 11 points. Fevola missed from distance and Brown missed two more shots after marking, one from tight in the pocket, the other from way out on the flank, bringing his tally to 0.4. Late in the stanza Judd finessed and delivered a pass to leading Fevola, who marked and punted truly. The Bluies led by 17 points at half-time.

The Blooze midfield continued to dominate into the third korter, while Black, Brennan and Brown played lone hands for the Lyin's. Voss rolled the dice by switching Bradshaw to full-forward to aid the beleaguered Brown, while Joel Macdonald picked up Fevola. A move Voss probably had to make, but it didn't really work out. Within thirty seconds of the korter starting Fevola had a goal, a free-kick for being held back on a lead by Macdonald. Soft, but it was there. Brown added to his points-tally by postering after noice work from Brennan to make the chance. Bluie Fisher executed a skilful pick-up and handball to O'hAilpin, the Irishman jabbed a short pass for leading Fevola to mark and thump through from 45m. The Bluies led by a healthy 28 points, now. The Lyin's hung in, Brown seized a very good mark in front of Thornton and finally managed to kick straight. Then Justin 'The Shermanator' Sherman, who'd done nothing to this stage, burst clear of a throw-in, had a bounce and kicked long to the 'square where Bradshaw wrestled two Bluies before managing to soccer a six-pointer. The Bloo lead was back to 16 points, but they surged ahead again. A smart, slick switch-of-play opened up the opposite flank and Steven Browne speared a pass for leading Fevola to mark again and boot his third goal of the term. A bit later Brisbun attempted to run the ball outta defence but Tim Notting was mown down by pursuing Bluie Jeff Garlett, 'bawl' it was and Garlett free-kicked a major. Betts's clever tap-back on the flank allowed Murphy to lob a high punt forward, Macdonald spoiled Fevola's marking attempt but Fev gathered and snapped a very noice over-the-shoulder sausage roll. Carton led by 34 points, going along well. The Lyin's responded with a brace of majors, Harding punted forward from the following centre-bounce and James Polkinghorne handballed for running Black to stab a low kick for a goal. Black was involved in the next one, he lurked wide on the flank to receive Johnstone's pass, Black then delivered a well-weighted kick for Brown to mark against Bloo Paul Bower. Brown converted and the Lyins' deficit was back to 23 points. But late in the stanza some good play from Fisher and Murphy got the ball to Houlihan out wide, Houlihan booted a terrific running goal from just inside the 50 and the Blooze took a 30-point lead into the final change.

The Brians mounted a challenge in the final term as Black finally received some midfield help from the likes of Adcock, Power and Sherman. Early on, ruckman Mitch Clark marked strongly on the wing and handballed to Adcock, he passed for leading Luke Power to mark and punt a major. Sherman missed with a long, running shot before Black's smart, delayed handball put Stiller into space, Stiller punted towards Brown who had a weak-ish free for holding against Jamison. Brown converted. As the Lyin's pressed forward their fans were angered when Bloo Browne wasn't penalized for 'bawl', nor was Grigg done for very deliberately slapping the ball out-of-bounds. But a square-up came from the resulting throw-in when a free was plucked out to Power for in-the-back, Power booted a goal. Power also cleared the following centre-bounce after intercepting Judd's handball, the agget went to Sherman who sped clear of the pack, swapped handpasses with Michael Rischitelli and went on to spear one of those low, wobbly but straight kicks for a typically Shermanesque goal. The gap was down to 6 points and the previously quiet local crowd made a lotta noise. But the Bluies, to their credit, steadied. They put some pressure on a Lyin' rebound move and Adcock was caught in possession by Carrazzo, he's not the best kick around but Carrazzo's free-kick from 40m just crept over the line for a goal. A minute later Fevola led out for a grab, dropped it cold but was then dragged back by a desperate Macdonald. A free-kick gift which Fevola accepted, his goal sending the Bluies 18 points ahead. The Lyin's responded immediately, Daniel Rich won the ball at the following centre-bounce, Rich swapped handballs with Rischitelli, punted long and as Bradshaw and Jamison wrestled, Rich's kick bounced through for full-points. But a minute later Brown sliced a shot horribly on-the-full, a momentum-killer as rain began to tumble down. Lyin' Albert Proud lobbed a kick forward from a throw-in and Bradshaw raced out to mark on the 50m line, Bradshaw booted a terrific long goal and reduced the Bluies' lead to 7 points. At the restart Lyin' Johnstone's handpass missed the target and O'hAilpin gathered, he handballed to Judd who ran clear, switched onto his left boot and stabbed a classy captain's goal. The Bluies led by 13 points, their Garlett snapped a point and at the other end Jonathan Brown scored yet another behind, an under-pressure, tight-angle snap. A bit later Thornton's under-pressure hack from defence went to Black, he passed for leading Brown to mark and boot a goal, this time. The Lyin's pressed forward but as time ticked down Rhan Hooper soccered a behind just on the siren. The Blooze held on.

No doubt Brendan Fevola (18 disposals, 8 marks, 8.3) was the Bluies' main man here, with key midfield efforts from a cool Bryce Gibbs (27 disposals), consistent Chris Judd (28 touches, a goal) and battlin' Marc Murphy (25 possessions). Paul Bower (25 touches, 9 marks) did well at full-back and during some contests with Brown and Dennis Armfield (22 disposals, 4 marks) was indeed fast and feisty. Aaron Joseph (5 disposals) won kudos again, for his stopping effort on dangerous Rhan Hooper. Best of the Lyin's were Simon Black (33 disposals, 5 marks, a goal) and Jared Brennan (24 touches, 4 marks, 4 goals). Jonathan Brown (19 disposals, 13 marks) got the ball a lot but his final tally of 4.5 and an out-on-the-full didn't hurt the Bluies enough. Luke Power (26 disposals, 2 goals) played alright and Mitch Clark (15 handlings, 6 marks, 33 hit-outs) performed solidly in the ruck again. The papers give Justin Sherman (21 possies, a goal) a mention, but he didn't do much. Daniel Bradshaw kicked 2 goals. "We played a very safe brand of football, we didn't challenge the opposition in any way whatsoever and in some ways got dictated to in how the game was played," Voss said. "Once we decided to change that around and have a different attitude to how we moved the ball, then the game started to turn on its head and the pressure was back on Carlton. But we played too safe for too long. You've got to risk that to try and generate your own play and we didn't decide to risk anything for the night. The only time we decided to risk it was when we knew the game was absolutely on the line." Vossy was also asked about a 16-8 free-kick count in the Bluies' favour. "This is where it comes back to your parenting when your mum says, 'If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all' and I fall into that category right now," Voss said. Bloo man Ratten said "We changed a few little things this time around and it's paid handsome dividends. We just changed the training schedule for the ground. Instead of being in the day we changed it to night and it seemed to really help the players relax a bit more . . . I thought probably Brendan best-on-ground and then Chris. His form has been really outstanding so far this season . . . We thought Bradshaw at half time would go forward, just with the way the game was panning out so we sort of predicted that. Maybe it gave Brendan a bit more freedom. He's been in fairly good touch without getting a lot of reward. Tonight I thought that the delivery was to advantage and when you've got quality players, that's all they need - just to put it to their favoured sides and they do their thing." Ratts then challenged his lads to win three-in-a-row by beating the Saints next week. Good luck with that.

At Football Park:

Port Adelaide 3.3 7.6 13.6 14.10.94

Fremantle 4.2 8.2 10.4 11.4.70

Port did what they had to, winning a home game over a depleted Fremandle unit. But the Dokkers were plenty competitive in the first half and there were shades of the same fixture in 2008, when the Powder were turned-over by a Pavlich-less Freo who booted six goals to none in the first quarter. But the Flowers found some backbone and it didn't end like that, this time. In selection the Flowers dropped unfit men Chad Cornes and Matt Thomas (knee injuries both) while Nathan Krakouer was plain dropped and Robbie Gray missed with gastro. In came Justin Westhoff, first game back from a fractured ankle if I recall, Josh Carr, Toby Thurstans and Marlon Motlop - still no Daniel, though. The Dockulaters lost Des Headland (thigh strain), Luke McPharlin (corked hip), Michael Johnson (rolled ankle) and Antoni Grover (calf muscle strain) following the carnage against the Tiges. Their replacements were Kepler Bradley, Adam Campbell and two first-gamers, rookie-listed defender Clancee Pearce of Swan Districts and midfielder Michael Walters from Midvale, also via Swan Districts.

'Twas wet at Foopall Park. Freo put extra men back, did some rebound running and had Aaron Sandilands working very nicely in the ruck. They dominated the opening quarter-hour over a sluggish Port. Matty Pavlich bagged the first goal, doubling-back to rove his own contest and slot it through. Sandilands wobbled a punt forward from the restart, Scot Thornton gathered and handballed to Bradley, another to Dean Solomon and Solly steered a major. The Dokkers led by 13 points to nuthin'. Soon Warren Tredrea booted the Powders' first, a free-kick for being ridden into the wet turf by Pavlich. But the Shockers pushed ahead, Matt de Boer roved Andrew Foster's diving marking attempt and handballed to Adam Campbell in a huge amount of space, he sent one inside for running Thornton to slot it through. Short passes from Garrick Ibbotson to Byron Schammer to de Boer saw the skinny youngster boot another and Freo led by 20 points. The Power woke up, Brett Ebert ran out to gather a skidding ball and hook a mongrelly kick forward which dropped for Marlon Motlop to mark 45m out. Young Motlop had a coupla false starts before jabbing a pass for leading Justin Westhoff to mark and convert. There followed a series of Port misses, Freo had more injury trouble when Adam Campbell was KO'd in a collision with team-mate Sandilands as both went for the same mark. Campbell was stretchered off and didn't return. Late in the term Port's Nick Lower punted into the pocket and Freo's backpedalling Josh Head spilled a mark, roving David Rodan gathered and nipped away to stab it through from point-blank. Freo's lead was 5 points at the first break. But the sandgropers surged away again in the early second stanza, a strong tackling effort saw Pavlich rip the ball free and Foster lobbed a kick forward where Thornton marked comfortably in the goal-square, turned around and slammed it through. A bit later Solomon's smart tap-on allowed Stephen Hill to lob a high punt forward, Ibbotson had no hope of marking it but Thornton and Walters recovered the pill and Ibbotson snapped a sausage. The Shockerators led by 16 points. Port began to drag themselves into it, Sandilands's positioning at full-forward, other than for centre-bounces, allowed Port pair Dean Brogan and Brendon Lade some latitude. Freo's Brett Peake played-on from a kick-in but mongrelled an awful kick which Lade trapped with his shins before handballing to Rodan, he passed for unopposed Travis Boak to mark 40m out and convert. Then Head couldn't gather Paul Duffield's centering kick and Port's Josh Carr handballed to Steven Salopek, he gave the ball to Justin Westhoff who weaved a bit before booting a good, long goal in the wet. Handy player Westhoff, despite his unfortunate hair-cut. Lade led to mark Motlop's pass, out wide on the flank, and boot a terrific 50m goal and the Flowers led for the first time, by 3 points. The Dokkers hit back after Port's Jacob Surjan hacked a left-foot clearing kick along the ground, it skidded about 35m before Chris Tarrant gathered and passed towards Peake, it went straight through Peakey's gloved hands but roving handballs from de Boer and Schammer set up new lad Michael Walters to snap a goal. Not sure if it was his first kick. Then Port, after some scramble from a forward-pocket throw-in, where Kane Cornes smothered a Pavlich handball, Troy Chaplin (Pav's opponent) extracted the Sherrin and snapped high but true. Freo nudged ahead again, Bradley dribbled a kick from wing to corridor where two Dockerators were running onto it, Head gathered and handballed to Clancee Pearce who helicoptered it through from 48m. Port's Thurstans could've touched it if he'd tried. Freo led by 2 points at the long break.

Goals continued to alternate into the third, but Port pulled away late in the stanza, just after a torrential burst of rain hit the ground. In what was becoming the night of the rookies, Powderman Marlon Motlop ran onto a crumb from Ebert's contest and tip-toed into the goal-square to poke a sausage, his career-first goal following those of Freo's Walters and Pearce. Port led by 4 points. A bit later Sandilands punted the Doccers into attack, the ball spilled from Ibbotson's contest and the Powdermen laid some heavy tackles before Dokka de Boer got a handball to David Mundy, who booted a goal. Freo led by 3 points. Port at last managed consecutive goals, Justin Westhoff dithered hopelessly and was tackled while kicking but his brother Matthew collected the sprayed kick and lobbed a punt into the corridor, 20m out, where Danyle Pearce arrived to gather and snap a major. Then Rodan, whose best form is in wet weather, gathered Brogan's ruck-tap on the 50m line, sold a dummy, slipped another tackle and booted a tremendous running goal from 40m. That seemed to wake 'em up. Pavlich missed a shot before Port's Pearce ran hard to gather the ball just inside the boundary, he hooked a quick punt forward which Freo's Dodd fisted down but Matthew Westhoff soccered ahead, ran on to receive Tredrea's handball and Matthew Westhoff worked some space for himself before hooking a terrific snap for a great goal. Three straight majors for Port and they led by 14 points. Freo pulled one back, Pavlich out-bodied Chaplin to take a very good grab behind the Port man and boot a noice goal from 55m, albeit right in front. But then Motlop roved a throw-in at half-forward and slipped a handball to Kane Cornes, who ran clear and booted a six-pointer. The Flowers scrambled the ball forward from the restart and it was Rodan again, who eventually scooped up the ball on the attacking side of the centre-square, slipped diving Duffield's tackle and ran on to boot another very good sausage. Port led by 20 points at the final change and took firm charge with an early goal in the ultimate korter, a backwards-handballing Freo move came unstuck when Dodd was tackled by Tredrea, Dodd's wild one was gathered by Chaplin who handballed to Ebert, he snapped it through. Port led by 26 points now, a coupla behinds made it 28. Freo did manage a goal a few minutes later, Pord's Cornes slipped over deep in defence and fired a panicky handball away, there was some scrap before Lower's desperate clearing kick went straight to Mundy who booted the major. There were still thirteen minutes to go after that, but a coupla Port behinds were the only scores as the Powder locked it down.

Nuggetty rover David Rodan (19 disposals, 3 goals) provided the inspiration for Port, with the perspiration coming from Kane Cornes (34 touches, a goal) who had the better of Paul Hasleby. Ruckman Brendon Lade (17 possies, 12 marks, a goal) was a very useful around-the-ground performer and Troy Chaplin (14 touches, 4 marks, a goal) shaded Pavlich, the Freo talisman is not having the best of seasons. Dom Cassisi (27 disposals, 10 tackles) was also good in midfield and there were handy contributions from full-back Toby Thurstans (24 touches, 6 marks), half-back Jacob Surjan (25 handlings, 7 marks) and lean forward Justin Westhoff (13 kicks, 10 marks, 2 goals). Ruckman Aaron Sandilands (20 disposals, 6 marks, 27 hit-outs) was probably Freo's best although he didn't kick any goals. And took out a forward. Runnin' rebounder Paul Duffield (29 disposals) was good again, as was junior Greg Broughton (22 possies) who plays a similar role. Byron Schammer (22 handlings) and wingman Andrew Foster (13 touches) played well, David Mundy (22 disposals, 2 goals) lurked about as usual and left you with the feeling he could've done more. Debutants Michael Walters and Clancee Pearce had 14 and 16 disposals respectively and kicked a goal each, so that was good. Harvs focused on such positives. "I think that our younger group will in time more than hold its own. We've been through a lot in 18 months and it will hold us in good stead," Harvey said. "The more experience we get in these circumstances and the more experience we get into our younger players, you're going to see us emerge . . . Those two goals late in the third quarter there put some space in the game for Port and they were able to control things a bit better in that last quarter. We are finding that as the game goes on, we have to introduce different players who are just starting to get an understanding of the pressures of playing as a midfielder and that can cause us a few issues. It does give us a good look, a good insight, into guys that we might not have played until later in the year." Mark 'Choco' Williams could talk about a win. "Obviously, having lost the last two there was a bit of pressure on everyone and I thought the players really delivered on their efforts," he said. "We're in amongst the group [on the ladder]. We've got some massive games coming up in Darwin and down in Geelong and we knew that this period of time would be difficult for us . . . (Carr) waltzed into my office during the week and talked about how he hadn't started on the ground once this season. He thought he needed that sort of pressure on him. I nailed him before the start of the game [and said], 'You better make the most of this opportunity'. He knew what the stakes were and it was good that he delivered . . . Justin Westhoff was a key to our game coming back in having missed eight weeks. It was a brilliant return for him."

At Docklands:

Essendon 5.3 10.4 16.4 18.6.114

Adelaide 3.0 9.0 15.2 21.4.130

Amazing, straight-shooting goal-fest at the Docklands in which the Camrys just out-stayed the Bommers. Last year it would've taken three games for the Cows to score 24 goals but they and Craig deserve some credit for finally managing some more attacking football, and unearthing some apparently reliable forwards. Bomba coach Knights has always maintained an 'attack and enjoy now, learn defence later' philosophy which has brought some exciting wins for his young side, but also some very frustrating losses, like this one. Coming in, the Dons made four changes to the side slaughtered by Geelong, former Geelong backman Brent Prismall made his Essadun debut after recovering from a knee reconstruction and Kyle Reimers also played his first game of the season, forward Scott Lucas was recalled and Courtenay Dempsey returned from injury. They replaced Henry Slattery (hamstring), Jason Winderlich (ankle) and ruckman Tom Bellchambers, who has a serious knee injury. Leroy Jetta was dropped. No change to the Addelaide side which beat the Awks. Their Tyson Edwards played his 300^th game here, the greyhound-like midfielder has been a very good and amazingly reliable player for them over the years, including in this game.

The Dons made the early running in the shootout. Sole remaining ruckman Paddy Ryder kicked the first goal after marking Dempsey's pass, then Jobe Watson booted the Bummers into attack from the restart and Don supporters were gladdened as Scott Lucas, sporting a new 'serious' haircut, collected the ball on-the-bounce and bagged a goal. Tight for a while but the Dons were tackling hard and exerting much pressure, curbing the Camrys' new desire for attacking run. Camry Bernie Vince free-kicked a goal after he was tackled without the ball, but the Dons went forward from the restart and Sam Lonergan handballed for Watson to punt a running major from outside (or maybe just on) the 50m line. Now that's uncanny. Matty Lloyd missed a shot but soon Watson kicked another goal, slipping forward to be found by Alwyn Davey's smart pass. A bit later leading Kyle Reimers had a free after being shoved in the back Corolla defender Graham 'Stiffy' Johncock, Reimers dished off to Ricky Dyson who thumped a major from 55m. The Dons led by 26 points, 5.2 to Vince's goal for the Camrys. But the visitors bagged a coupla late ones, Scott Thompson lobbed a hopeful kick in where Pat Dangerfield out-maneuvered McPhee to mark on his chest and actually kick a goal from a difficult spot. Then Edwards's kick found Camry big man Kurt Tippett in a huge amount of space, Tippett lumbered onto the ball, dummied around Ryder in slow-motion and snapped a sausage roll. The Donnies led by 15 points at korter-time. Someone inside the Docklands' bowels messed up, as rain tumbled down through the open roof during the second quarter. The Camrys' midfield got moving in the second term led by a huge effort from Edwards and supported by some great forward play from Tippett. But the Dons stayed in front for quite a while. Lucas booted the first goal of the second stanza after Camry ruckman Ivan Maric was penalized for slapping a ball-up through for a rushed Bommer behind. That seemed a very wrong decision, but in the spirit of the rule I 'spose it was correct. The Cows scored the next two goals though, Johncock's pass found Tippett lurking alone in the pocket for a mark and goal, then, in what's becoming a weekly highlight, running Camry Chris Knights thundered a kick from inside the centre-square for anuge sausage, the ball bounced right on the goal-line. Great tackle from Michael Doughty on Watson to create that one. The Bommer lead was reduced to 9 points, Lloyd missed a shot before Adam McPhee gathered Monfries's kick superbly on the half-volley, McPhee's tumbling snap from the forward pocket bounced and rolled through for a great goal. But the Cressidas closed further with two more goals from Tippett, the first was banana-ed - sorry, check-sided through from the boundary-line after leading to mark Bock's pass, a minute later Tippett steered a conventional drop-punt between the big poles from the opposite pocket, following a with-the-flight grab ahead of Lucas and McPhee. The Dons' lead was just 4 points now but they stayed ahead as the goal-scoring alternated to half-time. Former Camry Hayden Skipworth free-kicked a goal for the Dons after being slung to the ground by Scott Thompson at a throw-in, a bit later Tippett lined-up again from 55m, his shot dropped short but roving Jason Porplyzia handballed for Andrew McLeod to snap a major. Bombout Watson then snapped his third goal, thanks to a great handpass from Lonergan. At the other end Tippett tapped a throw-in down to Knights who snapped truly, but the stanza ended with another Bomma goal as Lloyd picked off Edwards's centering kick and Brent Stanton passed for unopposed Lucas to mark 30m out and dob a major. Dons by 10 points at the long rest.

The frenetic and highly accurate scoring continued into the third term, both sides obviously happy to engage in a shootout. The roof was closed now. First it was the Corollas, Bommer Andrew Lovett slipped which allowed Knights an easy mark of Stevens's kick and typically long goal. A bit later Lucas did very well to engage in some handball receive-and-give on the wing, then run forward to call for and receive a pass from Monfries. Lucas goaled, Bommers by 10. Adderlayed scored their first behind at this stage, a rushed one to boot. Essadun drew away a bit, Camry Richard Douglas gathered a loose ball deep in defence but fired a hot handball which went through McLeod's hands, Bomma Lonergan's handpass allowed Mark McVeigh to curl a great left-foot snap through from the pocket. A bit later Jay Neagle was clattered as he led to a pass but the ump waved play-on, to advantage as Lonergan gathered the ball and handballed ahead for 'cheating' Lovett to stab an easy six-pointer. The Dons led by 21 points, the largest differential for a while. Back came the Coronas though, Tippett led out to clutch a strong grab in front of poor ol' Cale Hooker and punt a goal, a bit later McPhee's terrible handpass at half-back went straight to Camry Vince and he handballed for Taylor Walker to score full points with a great left-foot snap. Essadun by 9 points but they scored the next goal, Corolla Andy Otten's great tackle on Davey forced the ball loose but Bomma Kyle Reimers gathered and snapped truly. The Camrys drew closer again with the next two goals, great running from Maric for the first as he rucked at the centre-bounce following the Reimers goal, then ran down to the goal-square as Moran roved Knights's long kick and got a handball away for Maric to snap a sausage. Then it was Tippett again, clattered head-on by the hapless Hooker as Johncock's long kick came in. A free-kick and 50m penalty for Tippett as Hooker whinged, Tippett duly slotted his sixth goal and the Don lead was reduced to 3 points. The Dons found something again, Camry man Bock did very well to smother Lonergan's kick but he followed up by diving on Monfries's back and Monfries free-kicked a goal. Addleaid's Walker thumped a huge kick home from 50m after a mark, but with 30 seconds remaining in the term Essadun's Davey lurked behind the pack to mark Watson's punt and boot a goal himself. The Bombouts led by 8 points at the final change. The feeling was growing that if the Camrys could claim the lead, they'd go on to win. It happened within four minutes of the final stanza commencing. A risky centering kick from the Dons' half-back spot caused a turnover, Vince's kick forward found Douglas in an ocean of space and he marked, played-on and raced into the 'square to stab it through. A minute later a well-worked move saw Johncock kick towards Porplyzia in the pocket, McVeigh spoiled well but Porplyzia gathered the spillage and dribbly-stabbed a short kick for a major, while being tackled by McVeigh. The Camrys led for the first time, by 4 points. Stanton missed a shot for the Dons and the Cows extended their lead, McLeod smothered Don backman Tayte Pears's handball and Thompson got one away for running Douglas to boot a great, if ar5ey, running, check-side goal. Then it was Tippett again, accepting a short pass from Vince after Tippett'd won a ruck contest at CHF. Tippett's seventh sausage roll had the Cressidas 15 points ahead and the Dons in trouble. Monfries kicked a goal for the Dons, direct from the next centre-bounce, and we had a rare scoring lull for five-or-so minutes as the Dons strived to narrow the gap. But just before time-on Knights ran onto a loose ball and snapped truly, sending the Camrys 16 points clear. A few minute later Knights completed a sweeping handballing move with an ugly left-foot snap which bounced very kindly for a goal. The sealer as the Cows led by 22 points. Skipworth scored a consolation goal for the Bommers.

Tyson Edwards (41 disposals, 8 marks, 10 tackles) played a beauty on his milestone and Kurt Tippett's 7 goals (from 9 marks, 11 kicks) were hailed as a breakthrough, although it remains to be seen if he can be a consistent goal-scorer. Certainly Chris Knights (22 touches, 5 marks, 5 goals) has been that since the Cows adopted their new style. Bernie Vince (36 possies, 7 marks, a goal) and Scott Thompson (33 handlings, 6 marks) played well in midfield while backmen Nathan Bock (25 disposals, 5 marks) and Graham 'Stiffy' Johncock (22 possies, 6 marks) engaged in plenty of aggressive rebound running, Bock also kept Matty Lloyd goal-less. Taylor Walker and Richard Douglas kicked 2 goals each. For the Dons, running midfielders Brent Stanton (31 disposals, 6 marks) and Andrew Lovett (31 touches, 3 marks, a goal) enjoyed the open, attacking game and Jobe Watson (26 disposals, 5 marks, 3 goals) was very good, especially early before Doughty established some degree of control. Hayden Skipworth (21 touches, 2 goals) enjoyed playing against his old side and Ricky Dyson (17 disposals, a goal) would appear to have improved. But go easy. Brent Prismall (19 touches, 4 marks) made a handy debut, Sam Lonergan (21 possies) did some tough work and Bachar Houli (26 possies) was handy again as a running back-pocket. Scott Lucas (18 disposals, 6 marks) bagged 4 opportunistic goals as he swapped between the forward-line and being Tippett's opponent, Angus Monfries kicked 2 goals. Matty Knights was asked to comment on the fact that neither Lloyd nor Neagle kicked a goal. "Lloydy had his hands full (with Bock) there and he'll live to fight another day. But Lloydy has been really good for us in the first half of the year," Knights said. "He's done an enormous amount of work and we have to pay him and McPhee a lot of credit, because they're the two senior players that we've had one at either end [of the ground], playing with the younger guys . . . (Neagle) was disappointing today, but . . . he's a really promising player in my view. We felt in last week's game his meaningful leads were up and he worked really hard against the best defence in the competition in Geelong . . . It was very pleasing from my perspective to see Scott (Lucas) come back and have an impact. He's been through a tough period over the last month playing in the VFL. When you've been such an amazing player in this league and then to go back and play in the VFL at this stage of the year can be really tough, so he's handled it well and full credit to him today. I was rapt to see him get a couple of goals and contribute. I've got no doubt he'll be able to make an impact for us in the second half of the year." Neil Craig said "From a longer term perspective it's good for our footy club that we're finally starting to get a forward line that we can invest in for down the track. They're still very inexperienced so to be able to play in a real high standard of footy and experience that sort of win today is very good for them. I think Kurt Tippett has been threatening, for a period of time, to do that. He's got a great competitive attitude so it's great reward for his persistence to keep going with that attitude [after] a couple of games where he hasn't had a lot of involvement . . . Our biggest issue early in the game was around the stoppages. At the centre bounces Essendon was fantastic, but we eventually clawed our way back into that situation and we probably got more than our share as the game went on. That certainly had a big effect on the game. For our group to hang in there and keep persisting and keep playing attacking footy, and not just hang in there and not let the margin blow out, I think it says a lot about the group. They're pretty pleased with themselves."

At the MCG:

Hawthorn 4.5 7.5 9.11 12.14.86

Sydney 2.5 4.7 8.7 11.9.75

Big, Bad, Bustlin', Brain-snappin' Barry Hall grabbed all the headlines here, coughing up three consecutive 50m penalties with a series of verbals and arm-flailing handbags in the last quarter which handed the Orcs a goal and virtually the game, in what was a tight one at the 'G. Hall was a bit hard done-by but his reputation precedes him, and the Hawthorn players wound him up expertly. Afterwards team-mates Adam Goodes and Brett Kirk singled out the incident as game-deciding. But it was a gutsy win from the Hawks, as they continue to struggle to put players on the ground; Luke Hodge returned here but Campbell Brown (corked thigh) and Thomas Murphy (gastro) were late withdrawals, during the game Cyril Rioli suffered a bad hamstring injury which may keep him out for two months. Ruckman Brent Renouf also returned for the Awks, Travis Tuck and Ryan Schoenmakers were recalled while Brendan Whitecross and Jarryd Morton were dropped. Sydney again suffered from a lack of support for their in-form stars. They made one change to the side embarrassed by the Bulldogs, Craig Bird returning at the expense of Luke Ablett.

At a grey, drizzly 'G the Hawks started well as Lance 'Buddy' Franklin ran off the back of the centre-square to gather and run inside 50, he handballed poorly to Rioli who was scragged anyway by Jared Crouch. Rioli dished off his free by handballing to Jarryd Roughead, who booted a long goal. But the Swans, victors over the Hawks earlier in the year, responded well, if inaccurately. Adam Goodes and Darren Jolly missed shots before Marty Mattner bombed a long goal, after Jude Bolton roved pack-spillage. The wet, slippery conditions didn't help and about now Rioli tore his hamstring, bumped low and slipping over as he roved a pack. There's been speculation since that Rioli's increased midfield workload, caused by the Awks' other injuries, had increased wear-and-tear on the teenagers' body. Maybe, it's hard to know. After a few more points some slither led to the next goal, a carnival of slipping and fumbling on Horforn's forward-flank ended with Swan Ted Richards coat-hangering Mark Williams, Williams opened the angle and hooked his free-kick for a goal. Goodes missed again before Swan Rhyce Shaw chased down a long Horforn kick into his own backline, Shaw gathered and hooked a punt clear but only as far as Williams, who produced a smart hook-kick of his own for Franklin to mark and convert. The Hawks led by 9 points after that. There followed a classic Swans goal, Jolly tapping a ball-up 25m from goal down for Jarrad McVeigh to snap truly. Now it was the Awks' turn to miss shots as Franklin, Roughead and Brad Sewell kicked behinds, late in the stanza Sam Mitchell collected junior Liam Shiels's gutsy knock-on to bounce a left-foot snap for six points. The Orcs led by 12 points at the first break. Horforn profited from some aggression in packs and long-kicking to forwards in the second stanza. But first there was a lot of scoreless, pack-bound slog in the wet. Halfway through the korter Blood Mick O'Loughlin ran out to gather the ball on-the-bounce and give Jarred Moore a hospital handball, Moore was crunched but got a handpass away and Jude Bolton bagged a major. A bit later Franklin sat under Williams's high punt into CHF, he was spoiled heavily from behind by Craig Bolton and Richards but roving Roughead read the crumb perfectly to gather and snap accurately off his non-preferred right boot. Ben McGlynn extracted the ball from a pack and drove low, mongrelly kick forward, Franklin stooped to gather the skidding, bouncing ball and snapped a quick major, all the while with a kneeling Craig Bolton hanging on. A fair effort from Buddy, it must be said. A bit later Jordan Lewis juggled a good mark on the wing, played-on immediately and kicked long, again Franklin couldn't mark against Richards and Bolton but this time Mark Williams did the roving and his dribbly-kick skidded through. Three straight goals for the Orcs and they led by 24 points. The Swans managed a reply, Ryan O'Keefe clutched a good grab and drove a long punt in and Barry Hall found himself with three opponents to deal with, the ball spilled but O'Loughlin gathered in the pocket and hooked a pass for the doubling-back Hall to mark 20m out and pop through. A coupla Swan behinds followed and they trailed by 16 points at the long break.

Into the third term and the Swans began to grind back into the contest, led by Goodes and Ryan O'Keefe. In the opening minute O'Loughlin seized a strong grab of Jude Bolton's free-kick and booted a major. A few minutes later O'Loughlin led wide to take a great mark under pressure from Hodge and Brent Guerra, O'Loughlin played-on immediately and punted to the goal-square, Orc Simon Taylor couldn't hold a juggling grab and Goodes grabbed the pill to snap a major. Horforn's lead was reduced to 5 points. Taylor and Franklin missed shots for the Horks before Michael Osborne ran onto the flank to take a with-the-flight grab of McGlynn's kick, Osborne passed quickly for leading Franklin to mark and steer a major from the pocket. Sewell punted the Awks into attack from the following centre-bounce, Swan Mattner slipped over allowing Xavier Ellis to take an uncontested grab, Ellis played-on immediately and slotted. A brace of rushed behinds had the Orcs 22 points ahead, but the Swans scored two late sausage rolls. Hall had been denied an earlier mark-and-goal for tugging Robert Campbell's guernsey and now Bazza dropped Moore's handpass, but Hall re-gathered, ducked a coupla tackles and kicked to the goal-square, Goodes couldn't mark under pressure from Hodge but Kirk grabbed the spilled ball and snapped it through, he roared and engaged in much fist-pumping. A bit later Heath 'Reg' Grundy had a free-kick from a marking contest and punted long, Hall leaped for a fairly easy mark as the Hawkers looked about at each-other. Hall converted and the Horforn lead was reduced to 10 points at the final change. Early in the final Mario Goodes put a solid bump on McGlynn, causing the Hawk man to drop the ball and Goodes then dived to force the agget over to Shaw, he chipped a pass for Jolly to mark and boot a good, long major. A minute or two later Kirk handballed for Kieran Jack to punt long and Goodes was awarded a free for Hodge's arm-chopping in the marking contest, Goodes converted and Siddey were in-front, by 2 points, having scored the last four goals of the game. Some rugged minutes followed before Williams sent the Hawks ahead again, in the centre Franklin executed a superb one-handed scoop of the ball at pace and weaved onto his left boot before kicking long, as they wrestled Williams was placed in a momentary head-lock by Paul Bevan and Williams free-kicked the goal. Hawks by 4. The Bloods attacked almost directly from the following centre-bounce, Jude Bolton had a free-kick on the attacking wing and he kicked long. Roughead dropped back to mark in front of grappling Hall and Campbell, Hall turned to the ump and yelled to the effect he'd been held back by Campbell. The replay supported Hall's case, and showed that Bazza didn't use any naughty words. But the official penalized Hall 50m for 'demonstrative dissent' or something. Hall flung out his arms in exasperation and Roughead quite deliberately cannoned in Hall's back, so Bazza slung Roughead to the ground. The second 50. As Hall jogged grumpily up the ground, Mitchell decided to get in his face and Hall delivered a short right jab to Mitchell's chin. The third 50. Roughead thumped a goal from point-blank after marking 20m out from his defensive posts, and Hall trudged to the bench. A bit later the Awks had a ball-up 20m from goal and Roughead tumbled a quick punt goal-wards, Ellis ran onto it and soccered it through. The Hawks led by 16 points and had killed the Siddey momentum, or Hall had. Hall did return to the ground a few minutes later, but the game was over. The under-done Hodge had been off the ground a bit with cramping calves but he returned to take a terrific with-the-flight mark running into a pack. But he couldn't stop Goodes kicking another goal, a great left-foot snap after twisting and turning his way clear from a goal-mouth ball-up. But that was with four minutes remaining and the game ended with a coupla behinds each.

Hawk ruck-rover Brad Sewell (24 disposals) enjoyed the wet conditions and up forward Lance 'Buddy' Franklin (17 disposals, 9 marks, 3 goals) attacked the ball better than he has done for much of the season. Sam Mitchell (20 touches, 6 marks, a goal) worked hard in and around the many packs, Brent Guerra (11 touches) did some rebound running and Luke Hodge (23 disposals, 6 marks) had a great battle with Goodes, although the Siddey man shaded him in the end. Jordan Lewis (20 possies, 6 marks) did well around the ground and Robert Campbell deserves credit for holding Hall to 2 goals. Jarryd Roughead (15 touches, 6 marks) and Mark Williams were handy in booting 3 goals each, Xavier Ellis bagged 2 handy goals. Adam Goodes (23 disposals, 4 marks, 3 goals) is having a great year for Siddey, and he's a renowned Brownlow vote-collector. Ryan O'Keefe (26 touches, 6 marks) played very well again, ruckman Darren Jolly (17 handlings, 6 marks, 35 hit-outs, a goal) and rover (I suppose he is) Jude Bolton (17 possies, 12 tackles, a goal) were good and Jarrad McVeigh (21 disposals, 6 marks, a goal) was handy. Michael O'Loughlin (15 touches, 7 marks, a goal) played well in attack, could've kicked more goals, maybe. Barry Hall kicked 2 goals. And conceded one. Everyone wanted to ask about Hall's madness. Were you going to win, Roosy? "We were never over-confident because they're the premiership team and they've got some really good players that are hungry at the moment. They've got some good forwards as well. I didn't think we'd get overrun, but we certainly had the momentum and looked good early in the last quarter." Adam Goodes wasn't as cagey. "We had them in the last quarter. We had them running all over the place, we were getting it in our forward line, we looked really dangerous and we were creating scoring opportunities," Goodes said. "The game was definitely there to be won, and once we hit the lead I felt really positive about kicking on. I know other players did as well. We're definitely playing good enough football but there are a lot of areas where we can improve." Hmm. Al Clarkson reflected on a good win but more injuries. "It's a very, very fine line between pleasure and pain, isn't it," Clarkson said. "Fortunately for us, we were in front at the right time . . . we showed a fair amount of character and spirit to fight our way back into the contest in the last quarter when we had some pretty sore and sorry players and it looked like Sydney were running across the ground a bit better than us." Clarkson was asked if he greeted the Barry Hall gift-goal with 'elation'. That got Clarko to laugh. "Elation? We were pretty happy to get an easy goal at that stage of the game. But of course you'd rather score goals as a result of your own good play than opposition mistakes." Of course.

At Subiaco:

West Coast 1.3 5.6 8.9 11.11.77

Geelong 5.1 7.5 12.7 15.9.99

The Cats sprang outta the blocks but struggled after korter-time, facing up to a committed effort from the Weegs. Or you could accept the view of several meedya pundits, that the Cats coasted in third gear for the remainder. The Weegs' poor disposal going forward was again a problem but they tackled hard and produced a much better performance then the corresponding fixture in 2008, in which Geelong humiliated 'em by 135 points. So they're going somewhere, at least. The Cats could be satisfied with a solid effort prior to the mid-season break, on their mission to go through undefeated. Still counting down to their round-14 clash with the Saints. In pickin' the Eegs had to replace David Wirrpanda (hamstring) and Daniel Kerr, suspended for punching Bloo Murphy in the stomach last week. In came Matt Priddis and defender Matt Spangher. The Cats regained Paul Chapman, Mathew Stokes and Ryan Gamble from injury, and called up Tom Lonergan. They replaced injured defenders Harry Taylor (ankle) and Tom Harley (hamstring), Max Rooke (concussion) was absent and poor ol' David Johnson was dropped. Forgot to note the Geelong debut of Nathan Djerrkura last week (he's from Wanderers in the NT).

The Pu55ies fired outta the blocks, just like 2008. Cameron Ling was given a free-kick secondary to the opening bounce, he handballed for Joel Selwood to pass for diving 'Tomahawk' Tom Hawkins to mark and boot a goal. A minute later Jimmy Bartel gathered on the wing and passed to leading Steve Johnson, he lobbed a handball for Gary Ablett to run inside 50 and assess options before potting the major himself. The Wiggles hung in there for a bit, before a slick Pu55y move ended with Hawkins goaling from a free-kick. Catter ruckman Shane Mumford had a free at the restart, he handballed off to Selwood who lobbed one into space for either Paul Chapman or Shannon Byrnes to collect, Byrnes got there first, ran inside the 50, dummied 'round Eric Mackenzie and speared another Catter major. A minute later Mumford and Selwood won the agget again from a ball-up, Chapman lobbed a kick forward which Ryan Gamble gathered and snapped a goal. The Cats led by 31 points, 5.1 to nought-nought. But the Eegs began to get into it, led by Dean 'Big' Cox and Matt Priddis. Tyson Stenglein was assigned the job on Steve Johnson and the Weeg veteran went on to do a very good job. Cox and Andrew Embley scored behinds for the Weegs, before Cox grabbed the ball cleanly from a throw-in an snapped a major. Geelagong still led by 22 points at the first break, though. Into quartier le deuxieme and a flurry of early goals, Weegle Josh Kennedy was paid a backpedalling chest-mark which he and Cat Tom Lonergan (deployed as a defender here) appeared to grab simultaneously, but Kennedy's it was and he booted a simple goal. The Katz replied as Joel Selwood ambled forward, swapped handballs with Ling and passed for leading Cameron Mooney to take a diving mark, Moons majored. Then it were the Weegs again, Mark LeCras won the ball well against Matty Scarlett and tumbled a quick punt forward, Quinten Lynch held off Milburn to juggle a one-handed grab and steer it through from the boundary-line. The Pu55ies goaled in turn, Embley was hopelessly caught in possession near his defensive point-post and Travis Varcoe hooked the resulting free for a major. Cats by 22 points still after those, but at least the Weegs were scoring now. They crept closer, Chris Masten ran down the flank and lobbed a punt to the top o' the 'square where Mitch Brown, normally a backman, took an uncontested grab as the Cat defenders looked at each-other. Brown popped it through. A couple of misses each over the next ten minutes before the Weegs' Brown bagged another goal, the Weegs had the classical loose men everywhere as Scott Selwood punted forward and Embley chipped a centering pass for Brown to mark in-stride, run-on and spear it through. The Weevils had reduced their deficit to 11 points at half-time.

The low sun was a problem for Wiggle forwards (and Cat backmen) into the third term, they were looking into it as the ball came in. Lynch dropped a mark as he was confounded by the sun, roving Kennedy snapped a behind. Catter James Kelly was also troubled by the sun as he stabbed the resulting kick-in straight to LeCras, who missed awfully. The Wiggles were putting good pressure on though, as they tried to run outta defence Cats Scarlett and Ablett made a mess of things and Lynch gathered to loosed ball to snap truly, it bounced through reducing the Pu55ies' lead to 3 points. The Cats replied as David Wojcinski's long clearing kick found Gamble on the wing, he handballed ahead to Byrnes who delivered a pass to leading Steve Johnson, Johnson steered a major from the flank. Tight for a while as the Weegs had a crack, before the Cats manufactured a goal. Jimmy Bartel hacked an under-pressure kick forward which Hawkins marked, he handballed off to running Nathan Djerrkura whose low, wobbly punt found Ablett in front of his man for a mark and goal. Mathew Stokes missed poorly, to have the Katz 15 points up. The Weevils hit back after some tough work from Darren Glass to clear the backline, Brad Ebert roved LeCras's contest and lobbed a punt for Ben McKinley to mark against Kelly. McKinley goaled and the gap was back to 9 points. But the Catters now produced another punishing burst of scoring, Varcoe's great, long run from the very last line of defence sent the ball towards leading Johnson, Stenglein spoiled but Stokes roved the contest and kicked towards Paul Chapman who bullocked his way past two Wiggle backmen and snapped a major. The Pu55ies won the following centre-clearance and Mooney led up to mark on the 50m line, he kicked smartly for Chapman to mark behind the pack and slot another. Chapman, having a purple patch, then missed a fairly easy snap which he wasn't happy about. A bit later Eeg Jamie McNamara gathered the ball from a throw-in on the wing and took off, he had a bounce and approached the 50 - his side's defensive 50, McNamara was going the wrong way! Despite the yelling of his team-mates and the crowd, McNamara actually kicked 'forward', at which point he realized his mistake. McNamara sprinted down and tried to recover the ball, but too late, Catter Byrnes bagged a goal. Oops. Geelong led by a healthy 28 points after that, and the Eegs had lost Embley with an ankle injury, team-mate Kennedy had trodden on it. The Eegs pulled one back, a tight-angle Kennedy snap bounced just short of the line and back into play, Wojcinski collected and tried to weave clear of trouble but was caught by Scott Selwood. 'Bawl' it was and Selwood free-kicked a major. The Pu55ies led by 22 points and ran the clock down to the final break. Early in the final stanza the Eegs drew closer, leading Lynch had a free as he was shoved in the back by Scarlett, Lynch stabbed his kick to McKinley who booted a sausage from 45m. There followed a rushed point for the Eegs and a poor miss-on-the-run from Chris Masten, bringing the Wiggles within 14 points. The Cats then showed their skill and confidence again, Ling punted towards an out-numbered Scarlett on the wing, but Scarlett reeled in a very good grab. He kicked long towards leading Hawkins who leaped and seized an equally good, probably better mark over Johnson and Stenglein. Hawkins converted and the Catterers led by 20. The Eegs pressed but again cruelled themselves going forward, Hurn drove a kick straight to Tom Lonergan, Ebert's attacking kick floated for Scarlett to pick off (weak effort from Cox to mark it, though) and an Adam Hunter punt went down the throat of Lonergan again. But from the last of those the ump slaughtered Lonergan with a very rapid call of play-on, lurking LeCras tackled Lonergan and the ump did the Cat for 'bawl'. Very tough but LeCras free-kicked a major and the Weegs trailed by 14 points again. Mooney missed for the Katz before another Weeg turnover, Adam Selwood kicking to Scarlett on the wing, brought about a Jahlong goal. Scarlett handballed to Bartel who wobbled a kick forward, it bounced past Spangher and Ablett gathered, he handballed for Stokes in the goal-square to ram it through. Cats by 22. Mooney marked 15m out but missed appallingly, before the Weegs finally put an attacking move together. Advancing Priddis 'lowered his eyes' and stabbed a short pass to Cox on the 50m line, Cox dished off a handball to running Matt Rosa who thumped a running punt for a six-pointer. The Wiggles trailed by 16 points with right on 3 minutes remaining, a tough ask. Especially when the Cats resorted to some keepings-off. As the clock ticked down ruckman Shane Mumford chanced an attacking handball instead of a backwards pass, Byrnes kicked long and Chapman out-maneuvered Spangher to mark on his chest and pop it through. The Cats won by 22 points.

Joel Selwood (26 disposals, 5 marks) was once again a terrific ball-winner for the Catters. Paul Chapman (24 disposals, 5 marks, 3 goals) was crucial in the second half in keeping the Cats ahead and Gary Ablett (43 touches, 10 marks, 2 goals) collected a phenomenal amount of touches, but not all of them were especially damaging with all the Cats' heavy handball circle-work. Matty Scarlett (21 possessions, 8 marks) was terrific in an unusually under-manned Cat back-line with good efforts coming from Corey Enright (26 touches, 6 marks) and David Wojcinki (14 disposals) too, Shannon Byrnes (19 handlings, 2 goals) and Travis Varcoe (23 touches, a goal) did some good things further afield. Encouraging signs from Tom Hawkins (11 possies, 7 marks, 3 goals). Responding to accusations of kick-chasing, Weegle ruckman Dean 'Big' Cox (28 disposals, 7 marks, 32 hit-outs, a goal) asserted himself more and Tyson Stenglein (21 disposals) did a great job on Cat match-winner Steve Johnson. Matt Priddis (21 possessions) and Brad Ebert (16 touches, 9 tackles) did solid jobs in midfield and Adam Hunter (26 disposals) showed improved form as he stayed more in defence this time. Shannon Hurn (22 possessions) was handy running from defence and Darren Glass held Mooney to one goal and few marks, Adam Selwood (23 disposals) battled away against Ablett. Mitch Brown, Quinten Lynch and Ben McKinley kicked 2 goals each. John Worsfold confessed to being worried after the opening quarter-hour. "Once the game settled, the boys were very good. There were a lot of really positive things in the game that the players deserve credit for, but there's a lot of areas that we need to keep working (on). The players' resolve to not get flustered by the bad start and to keep taking it up to Geelong was where we want to maintain our intensity . . . Overall I thought (Cox) was solid, and he didn't have to bounce far back. He wasn't disgraceful the last two weeks and struggling to get a kick; he was solid without being close to (best-on-ground). I don't agree with it, but (the criticism) didn't surprise me. It's one of those things that gathers momentum after someone says something and people think it's a good idea to talk about for the next week. Some people don't do their research and just talk about what they heard somebody else say. It's called lazy journalism." Noice one Woosha. He praised Stenglein's effort and some of the youngsters, before being asked about the Weegs' next game, against Ben Cousins and his sideshow, the Richmond Football Club. "'Cuz' is not a focus, but going to Etihad Stadium (i.e. Docklands) and maintaining our intensity of performance is our total focus. We've got some good challenges in the Richmond side, and Ben is certainly one of those. Players will get an opportunity to match up on him and test themselves out. We believe that if our boys go with the attitude and intensity that they expect from each other, they will win the game." Cat man Mark 'Bomber' Thompson offered a warning to the Dockers, their next opponents who 'went the knuckle' against Geelong last year. "Sometimes when you have a start like that it's probably the wrong thing, and I thought today it was," Thompson said. "I actually said in the box, 'I don't like the way we've started, it's a bit easy'. It sort of then forces you into playing a relaxed style of footy, which we did. We struggled with our forward set-ups, we didn't expect Stenglein to go onto Stevie-J, and Glass has also been a good player and had the measure of his opponent. So their pressure and their defenders' work was first-class, and it made it hard. Chapman and Ablett, I think, had a bit of an impact as forwards today and helped us get over the line . . . We're going to go back to Geelong for two days, recover the boys and send them away. Then we're going to focus right on Fremantle and kick their butts."

At the MCG:

Melbourne 0.4 5.6 6.9 8.12.60

Collingwood 7.4 10.7 16.11 19.12.126

The Dees'd built up the annual Queen's Birthday contest with the Poise as their Grand Final, true enough as it's usually their biggest crowd and exposure of the season, being live on TV and all. But it was a cold, wet and miserable day all 'round for the Demuns as they were thumped by the Maggies. The Poise were singin' in the rain (or given their typical fan, brayin' might be a better word) as they were too good for a sloppy and predictable Melbun. The Poise jumped up to fifth with their third straight win since the awful effort against the Bluesers. Mick might have to revise that target of ten wins . . . the Pies are also supposed to be reviewing Malthouse's position over the break, so these emphatic wins over the Weegs, Powder and Deez have been timely. In pickin' the Deez used the big stage to debut their no. 1 draft pick of last year, tall forward Jack Watts of Brighton Grammar. Russ Robertson and Kyle Cheney were also recalled, they replaced dropped trio Brad Miller, Stefan Martin and Jamie Bennell. The Maggies regained Travis Cloke, ruckman Cameron Wood made way.

Terrible first quarter for the Deez, who handballed too often and not very well. Plus the Pies' midfielders, led by leather-magnet Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury, controlled the contested ball and the Pies used it longer and smarter. Dee ruckman Paul Johnson snapped the opening score, a behind, and Poi Heath Shaw drove the kick-in long to Swan on the back flank. Swan played on and thumped a long punt for Tarkyn Lockyer to mark 60m out, Lockyer played-on, ran inside 50 and booted a long sausage. The length of the ground in three kicks. The first of several showers arrived as new Dee Jack Watts entered the fray, the ball came towards him immediately and Watts gathered and got a handball away before being gang-tackled by O'Bree, Maxwell and Shaw. Free-kick for Watts. A few behinds were scored as the Deez did okay, but again struggled forward of the centre. Brad Green had started at the spearhead, alongside Robertson, but Green missed an early shot. Then a handball-heavy move at half-back came unstuck as the Dees attempted to give the ball to designated user Aaron Davey. Alan Didak intercepted Johnson's handball to Davey, Didak finessed a bit and thumped a 48m goal. Swan won the following centre-clearance and Didak gathered again, but dribbly-kicked into the post. Signs were ominous for the Deez. O'Bree steered an excellent centering kick for running Lockyer to mark in-stride, Lockyer passed for leading Didak to mark 40m out. Didak The Murderer's Mate lobbed a pass ahead for Swan to mark alone 20m out, Swan played-on and dobbed it. The Maggies led by 17 points. Melbun skipper James 'Junior' McDonald - terrible in this one - was done for 'bawl' at the restart and Poi Josh Fraser passed to Pendlebury 45m out, Pendlebury's shot didn't make the distance but John Anthony marked on the point-line and hooked it through. Watts roved Robertson's contest at half-forward but his shot missed, disappointingly anti-climactic. Didak missed a tight-angle shot but Dee Matthew Whelan's kick-in went to a contest and Swan gathered, his wobbly kick went straight to Dee Cameron Bruce who dropped it and roving Poi Brad Dick lobbed a kick to the goal-square where Cloke marked alone and popped it through. The Scraggies led by 29 points and the Dees still didn't have a goal, but a poor first term for the Fuchsias soon became a disaster with two late Maggie sausage rolls. 'Neon' Leon Davis fumbled the greasy ball in the centre but was allowed time to pick it up and lob a kick forward where Dick rose impressively in front of Whelan to mark and convert. Davis kicked the Poise into attack from the following centre-bounce, Anthony couldn't hold a grab but roving Dick collected the ball and dribbly-kicked a major. The Pies led by 42 points at korter-time but had lost defender Nathan Brown.

Dee coach Dean Bailey gave his lads a big spray during the break and they did better in the second term. Midfielders Brock McLean, Nathan Jones and Colin Sylvia began to win some ball, they received some help from the Pies as Swan, who'd managed 14 disposals in the opening Mario, was shifted to a forward-pocket. There was speculation he'd injured something. Initially the Pies carried on into the second stanza, Swan and Pendlebury scored behinds before Steele Sidebottom hacked a quick punt forward, Didak scooped it up smartly and tumbled a kick into the goal-square where Lockyer marked behind the pack and lobbed it through. A 50-point gap yawned between the teams, the assembled Dee supporters stunned into silence. But their lads now did a bit, aided initially by Poi Shaw who slipped while trying to hook a pass to Maxwell and instead dragged his kick out-on-the-full. Addam Maric took the free quickly, a short pass to Bruce who booted Melbun's opening goal. Hurrah! Robertson postered from the boundary-line, a bit later Pie Sidebottom collected the ball from a back-pocket throw-in and tried to run clear, he was mown down by Robertson who punted the resulting free-kick for a goal. The Pies were doing some odd things, from another defensive throw-in Davis lobbed a bizarre left-foot kick into the CHB spot and Demun Sylvia marked, with the added bonus of kneeing Maxwell in the Niagaras. Sylvia raised the twin calicoes and the Deez had three in-a-row, they trailed by 31 points. The Magpoise' Fraser hacked the agget forward from the following centre-bounce, the ball bounced neatly past Dee backman Warnock and Anthony gathered to snap a goal. The Demuns answered from a throw-in again, Johnson tapped it down and Jones gathered, he was sort-of pushed in the back by Shaw and received a free-kick, plus a 50m penalty as Shaw whinged about it. Jones majored and the Deez trailed by 31 points again. Melbun soon helped out the Poise, McLean's very high, lobbed kick across half-back set up Jones to be clobbered by O'Bree, Cloke gathered the spilled ball and jabbed a short pass to Sidebottom who booted a goal. No idea what McLean was thinking there. The Demuns pulled one back before the long rest, Daniel Bell's terrific spoil and chase, followed by Jones's hit on Pendlebury, allowed Brent Moloney to collect the pill and find Matthew Bate alone, 40m out. Rust-head Bate booted a goal and the Dees were 30 points behind, they'd won the korter. Hoo-rah! they cried in the MCC Members'.

The Dees continued to be competitive in the early third term, in general play at least. Their forward-line was still struggling. Watts's rare time on the ground saw him operate from a forward-flank. Didak postered and Maric missed poorly following a great mark 30m out. At one point TV's Tim Lane commented that "McDonald had his hands full with Dick." Oh Tim, the ABC is a distant memory now, eh? Then a heavy shower burst over the ground and you figured this wouldn't help Melbun. It didn't. The ball squirted clear of a throw-in on the Pies' forward flank and Dick gathered, his quick snap bounced through for a goal. A bit later the Dees were slipping and scrambling on their back flank until Leigh Brown collected the ball for the Maggies, his wobbly shot was marked by Fraser next to the point-post, Fraser chipped back for Pendlebury to mark and convert. Anthony missed a shot following a very good Poi move to set him up, coming from a Dee turnover. But Melbun soon obliged again, Johnson took a saving grab in the back-pocket, played-on by running back into the goal-square and then fired a panicky handball which was intercepted by Swan. Swan lobbed a quick handball back to the 'square where Didak arrived to soccer-volley a major and the Poise led by 51 points. On they went, the Poise scrambled the soggy ball forward from the restart and Dick gathered, he handpassed for Davis to run into the open goal and slam it through. The Dees broke the run, Davey roved smartly at half-back and found rare space for a two-bounce run, he speared a pass to leading Robertson which dropped short but Robbo scooped it superbly on the half-volley and got a handball away for running Bate to punt a long goal. The rain stopped now but the Pies didn't, Anthony free-kicked a major after tumbling to earth underneath Warnock, then some good interplay between Didak, Lockyer and Anthony set up a snapped goal for Marty Clarke. The Maggies led by 62 points at the final break. More rain drenched the 'G into the last korter and the bedraggled Deez helped the Magpies build their percentage. Young Cheney's wayward handpass was picked off by Didak, he handballed to Fraser and another to Dick allowed Dick to slot one. Lockyer's mark and major had the Pies 73 points ahead, before Melbun managed one as Johnson's long centering kick allowed running Sylvia to mark with-the-flight and run on to slot the goal. The Pies replied in standard manner, Pendlebury read the play superbly to smother McLean's handball and chase the ball down, Pendles slapped it wide to Dick who scooped up the ball and bagged another, his fifth. The Poise led by 73 points again but Melbun scored the game's final goal, Sylvia collected Davey's centering pass and thundered a huge kick home for a goal from inside the centre-square, it bounced through and as Wallsy commented, Sylvia'd used the 'skid factor' brought about by the wet. The game ended with consecutive behinds from Robertson, both set-shots following marks. Like his team-mates, he'll want to forget the day.

Skinny but agile Pie forward Brad Dick (16 disposals, 5 marks, 5 goals) was the star of the game but Scott Pendlebury (39 possessions, 11 marks, a goal) and Dane Swan (32 disposals, 7 marks, a goal) provided the Poise drive from midfield. Alan Didak (33 disposals, 4 marks, 2 goals) was very good, wandering about from half-forward and Josh Fraser (27 touches, 7 marks) played well as an extra midfielder, more than a ruckman. Heath Shaw (30 possies, 10 marks) produced another solid game in defence, Sharrod Wellingham (19 touches, 5 marks) and Shane O'Bree (25 possies) were good and 'Neon' Leon Davis (25 disposals, a goal) always looked dangerous. John Anthony and Tarkyn Lockyer bagged 3 goals each, doing some handy finishing work. For the Dees, Colin Sylvia (32 possessions, 11 marks, 3 goals) maintained his good recent form and Nathan Jones (26 handlings, 6 marks, a goal) worked hard on-the-ball, Brock McLean (24 touches) inspired their better moments. Aaron Davey (21 handlings) and Cameron Bruce (28 touches, 9 marks, a goal) did a bit. Matthew Bate kicked 2 goals. Dean Bailey attempted to be both realistic and encouraging. "We're a long way off - that's why we've won one game (for the season)," he said. "That's where we are. It is what it is, and we've going to continue to work with it and work with the players. I think it's disappointing how we represented the support we've had for the whole year. We've got a lot of support and our membership is fantastic, and we really let those people down who are supporting us from the outside. Having said that, it is a year of rebuild still, and we've still got to play young players and we're going to give them some experience and games to play with each other. Patience is something we've all got to grab hold of at some stage, [because] there are young players today who will learn from the experience . . . We've been more competitive this year . . . it was a big game for us, but probably the last couple of weeks, we've showed a couple of signs where we were just starting to come off the boil a bit. We got a lesson in pressure and we got a lesson in the ability of creating turnovers and not taking the opportunities. They (Magpoise) were pretty clean in wet conditions. I thought they were very good . . . [they] really showed us how to play a competitive game in a big game. I thought their experience really showed out today." Mick Malthouse said "We've got a little bit of momentum; we've got a few experienced players back. I've always said 'no-one remembers who you've got out', so it's just a matter of making sure that you try to get yourself competitive, which we weren't for a couple of weeks four and five weeks ago . . . (Dick) is just reaping the rewards of hard work and an appetite for football. He loves the game . . . it's not going to happen for him every week, but at least the effort is there." Hard-workin' Dick.

Ladder after Round 11

Pts. % Next Week

St. Kilda 44 183.3 Carlton (Docklands, Fri. night)

Geelong 44 153.0 Bye

Footscray 28 116.0 Port Adelaide (Marrara Oval, Sat. night)

Carlton 24 117.0 St. Kilda (Docklands, Fri. night)

Collingwood 24 107.7 Bye

Brisbane 24 101.4 Hawthorn (York Park, Sunday)

Hawthorn 24 98.5 Brisbane (York Park, Sunday)

Port Adelaide 24 96.9 Footscray (Marrara Oval, Sat. night)

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

Adelaide 24 95.9 North Melbourne (Football Park, Sunday)

Sydney 20 96.4 Bye

Essendon 20 94.0 Bye

North Melbourne 16 78.9 Adelaide (Football Park, Sunday)

West Coast 12 87.2 Richmond (Docklands, Sat. night)

Fremantle 12 79.7 Bye

Richmond 8 77.3 West Coast (Docklands, Sat. night)

Melbourne 4 70.4 Bye

Cheers, Tim.

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Collingwood Fixture 2008

Thursday, June 11, 2009

[AFL-Preview] Round 12

[AFL-Review] AFL Round 11