Bluey
11th June 2000, 13:38
AFL Round 13
I can't get that Joe Cocker song out of my head...
Bring back Royce Hart
And Tony Free
Because the Tigers
Have many injuries
Royce is on his farm, in Tassie
Freezer will be OK, with a new knee
Bring back Royce Haaarrrt
And Tony Free.
Biggest story of the week began last Monday morning at 3:30 AM outside
the Melbourne casino. Kangaroos Winston Abraham, Shannon Motlop and two
other blokes identified only as "AFL players" got into a fight with some
Maoris. Not too clever. Abraham copped a bit of a hiding and hopped on a
flight to Perth three hours later, only returning on Friday morning.
Needless to say he was dropped for the Sunday game against Essendon, and
played in Norf's VFL team on Saturday sporting a black eye and swollen
cheek. The matter's not over as one of the 'civilians' involved in the
fight had his jaw broken and is pressing charges, the entire incident
was captured on the casino's security video so Winny could be in
trouble.
More Colonial-bashing. Richmond made a loss on their round 4 game
against Fremantle, attended by 23,600. Clubs were told they'd need to
attract between 16 and 18 thousand to break even, but now the ground
managers are only paying out if over 28,000 turn up. That's well over
any other venue. At Melbourne president Joe Gutnick clarified his
position over Jewish players. The club can draft them, but he'd have to
quit as president on religious grounds. Hmm. He promised continuing
financial support should the situation arise. And ratbag journo Patrick
Smith, thankfully dispatched to The Australian, made allegations of
racism at Geelong when he reported the club had a list that
distinguished Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal players on draft day last
year. They club denied any such thing. On with the footy.
At Colonial:
Richmond 5.2 9.5 12.7 17.10.112
Adelaide 5.6 9.8 13.15 17.19.121
Bloody Ricciuto. Bloody Dragicevic. Bloody injuries. Bloody Cows. It's
hard to admit but the Crows just deserved to win as they fought back
against a freight-train Tiger finish to move closer to the eight. More
injuries for the Tigers, it'll be hard for them to maintain their form
at this rate. In selection the Tigers lost forward Matt Rogers for up to
six weeks with strained knee ligaments, Rory Hilton returned from
suspension to replace him. The Camrys were weakened by injuries to Kane
Johnson and Brett Burton, both hamstrings, in came Andrew Eccles and Kym
Koster. Nigel Smart played his 200th game for Aderlayed, the first man
to play 200 for the Crows.
Went along with the original footy report man Jeremy Leggoe, on a visit
back home with a few of his mates. We had a great night, apart from the
Tigers losing, of course. Jeremy sounds remarkably like Dennis Cometti.
Must be the Perth accent. The game was close most of the night with the
lead changing fifteen times. We missed the first few minutes, including
Tiger Campbell having his night ended abruptly by a heavy bump from
Bickley. Shoulder. It was virtually goal-for-goal all the first half,
Vardy kicked some early goals for the Cows while Ottens and Holland were
dangerous for Richmond. The Corollas missed a few set shots, Marsh,
Ricciuto and Vardy. The Tiges led late-on before Knights's poor
centering kick went to Vardy and he made no mistake. Knights atoned for
his error by snapping a couple of goals from the forward pocket to start
the second term, Smart was pushed back onto him. The Corollas kept pace
with goals from Goodwin, O'Loughlin and more for Vardy, James and
Edwards getting plenty of the ball.
For the second half Tiger coach Frawley placed Gaspar on Vardy. Early on
Tiger rover Clinton King's season came to an end with a broken leg.
Broderick kicked an early goal to put the Tigers in front, Vardy replied
with a long set shot for the Cressidas. More swapped majors before the
Camrys gained control. A long punt to the goalsquare saw an off-balance
Gaspar spoil Vardy, but the Crow recovered first and goaled to put
Adelaide in front by 4 points. A brief moment later Goodwin gallopped
downfield to collect a handpass and slot and the visitors led by 10
points, the biggest margin so far. Now the Camrys dominated and the
Tigres defended grimly, more wayward goalshooting from the croweaters
preventing the margin expanding much. Scott Welsh marked as the siren
honked, but his point left the door ajar for the Tigers. However the
Crows went further ahead in the early last, Bickley booted a goal and
Vardy's handpass saw Welsh snap truly (they combine very well), the Cows
sported a handy 26-point lead. But the Tiges fought back. Brendon Gale
marked strongly at CHF and after advice from his brother, the runner,
punted truly. Tivendale goaled from a set shot. Fiora raced downfield
with 3 bounces but got a little overexcited and kicked poorly. Torney
looked to give a handpass but decided on a snap and did it well. The
(Richmond) crowd was roaring now. Bowden went to play on after a mark,
looked to have messed it up but passed to Broderick, his major narrowed
the gap to a point. Knights's right-foot pass found Ben Holland, he
deliberated and put Richmond ahead. The Tiges were all over the Camrys,
Mark Dragicevic marked strongly 35m out, no angle. He missed, crucially.
Tiges by a goal. After Goodwin postered Ricciuto powered the Camrys to
victory, he won about five vital touches in the last 2 minutes. Clearing
a pack on the wing his kick found Crowell, he passed to Welsh alone 15m
out. Welsh's kick just squeezed through, Camrys by a point. Ricciuto
cleared the centre bounce - Adelaide's first of the quarter - Gaspar and
Vardy wrestled, ball spilled, Vardy gathered and was hauled down by
Gaspar but Welsh arrived just in time to collect Vardy's handpass and
thump it through. The Cows gained possession from the bounce again and
ran the clock down before Stenglein marked within range, the siren went.
Stenglein missed, but his team had won. I blame Jeremy...
It was quality rather than quantity which told in a fast, tough game.
Peter Vardy was very good with 6 goals from 8 kicks, plus a couple given
away. Mark Ricciuto was important, as mentioned, with 25 touches in the
middle and halfback Simon Goodwin continued his good form 26 disposals
and 2 goals. Nige Smart was serviceable in his milestone game with 19
touches while stopping Knights, Scott Welsh lurked for 4 goals, 3 in the
last quarter. Mark Bickley (23 touches) and Tyson Edwards (21, a goal)
worked hard in the packs, Eccles (20 touches) made a good return. Better
Tigers included hard-working winger Joel Bowden (26 disposals, 10 marks)
and reliable backman Leon Cameron (22 possies), unusually goals came
from veteran small men Matthew Knights (17 touches, 3 goals) and Paul
Broderick (22 disposals, 3 goals). Backmen Rory Hilton (22 disps) and
Mark Chaffey (24 touches) were good, Ben Holland (9 marks, 2 goals) was
handy in the air. James White (12 touches, a goal) looks useful. Two
goals each for Ottens, Torney and Tivendale. "We've won a lot of close
games but Adelaide were too good, too good all night and had we won the
game we would have pinched it," said Frawley. "Probably our style of
play was what I was disappointed in." He refused to concede injuries
were a problem. Ayres said "I suppose the main thing I wanted the
players to get out of the game tonight, besides the win, was some
respect...we've had it tarnished over what happened last year and
obviously the bad start to the season, but if we're going to get some
respect and credibility we have to beat sides like Richmond." With five
fit players...
At the MCG:
Melbourne 4.4 5.4 8.6 9.7.61
Carlton 5.2 9.4 15.8 25.9.159
No doubt the Blues are Essadun's biggest threat after they belted the
Demons, a team who've beaten Carlton regularly in recent seasons. Dee
coach Neale Daniher, who signed a new two-year contract during the week
(that's why they lost), made comparisons with 1998 when the Demons
copped a couple of mid-year thumpings before going on to a preliminary
final. In pickin' the Demons regained Cameron The Bruce and erratic
Travis Johnstone, out dropped went Brad Green and Alistair Nicholson.
The Blues made one change, axing kid Ryan Houlihan for fit-again Scott
Freeborn. Blue defender Michael Sexton, an All-Australian who's been
struggling for form recently, played his 200th game.
Melbourne's strategy was to crowd around the ball and prevent Ratten,
Camporeale, Bradley, McKay, Hickmott and the other Blues from their free
running. It made for dull but reasonably effective footy on their part.
Blue Whitnall scored the first goal, luckily after the ball tumbled
between five other players. Demon Peter Walsh, who did so well on
Camporeale early that the Blue was benched (for a minute), booted their
first gol with a great shot. Hamill goaled for Carton, Melbun ruckman
White levelled the scores with a long shot. The Demons attacked agin but
Koutoufides, who'd started in defence, marked about 15m out from his own
goal. Schwarz was 50m-penalised for encroachment, he whinged about it
and was done for another 50m. Koutoufides goaled from his mark at
full-back. But the Dees were going alright, good work from Neitz (at
CHB) and A. McDonald created a goal for Bruce, McDonald himself goaled
and the Dees led by 8 points. Carlton grabbed the quarter-time lead with
two late goals, a snap from Franchina and Hotton following a mark.
Melbourne continued their tactics into the second, after Neitz drifted
forward for a mark and goal from Farmer's pass there was no score for 17
minutes. Eventually the match turned when Walsh, the best afield to that
point, was forced off with injured ribs. Carlton banged on four goals in
as many minutes, Camporeale tidying up from Whitnall's poor pass, Hotton
with a handpass to Hickmott, then Hickmott turned provider for running
Beaumont, a clinical Blue build-up was completed with Ratten's pass to
leading Whitnall, sausage. Whitnall postered just before the mid-game
siren.
Melbourne started the second half brightly. Schwarz marked and goaled in
the first minute, cutting the Bloo lead to 3 goals, then Woewodin burst
through the centre and passed to White. But the Big Dee missed and that
was the last we saw of Melbun. A quick running goal from Ratten and
Hickmott's accurate snap extended the Bluebaggers' lead to 29 points.
Leoncelli pulled one back with a great snap, but direct from the restart
Bradley ran clear and found Fletcher on a flank, his excellent kick
raised the twin calicoes. Fletcher set up the next goal for Whitnall,
another archetypal hard-running, ball-sharing build-up saw Camporeale
extend the Bloo lead to 41 points. A Demon centre clearance and Schwarz
goal hicupped proceedings before Franchina bagged his second major. A
series of Blue misses was the only blemish as they dominated. Late in
the term Schwarz lobbed a shot from 50m to the top of the goalsquare,
teammate Robertson marked but postered from 15m. What appeared an easy
Blue win became a rout in the last quarter. Camporeale slotted one from
the boundary line, Kouta's handpass gave one to Hamill, Hickmott goaled
and the Blooze led by ten goals. Hickmott kicked another two sausages
for the quarter and Allan bagged three, including one after the final
siren, as Carlton massacred the Demons. Just as well Joe couldn't
attend.
Carrothead forward Adrian Hickmott was a fair pick-up for the Blues, his
three final-term goals gave him a total of 5 for the game, on top of 23
disposals on a forward flank. Koutoufides was almost omnipotent this
week, playing mainly in defence or on the ball against Neitz, Powell or
Leoncelli he amassed 31 diposals, 8 marks and 2 goals. Unbackable for
the Brownlow. Half-back Andy McKay was very good once more with 21
touches and the usual on-ball crew, Ratten (29 touches, a goal), Bradley
(32 possies) and Camporeale (26 disposals, 4 goals) were to the fore
again. Whitnall and Allan kicked 3 goals each, Allan winning rucks.
Wayne Brittain reckoned their best was skinny flanker Simon Fletcher (19
disposals, a goal), he was good in the tough first half. Hamill and
Franchina kicked 2 goals each. Melbourne midfielder Shane Woewodin (25
disposals) tried very hard, fellow runners Steve Febey (17 touches),
Stephen Powell (23) and Guy Rigoni (26) battled tenaciously, especially
before half time. Peter Walsh deserves a mention for his 13 disposals
and goal in less than a half. Schwarz was their only multiple goalkicker
with 2 but he was pretty ordinary, as was White. Daniher said "We are a
young side that has lost its way...we are probably not that strong a
club to be able to win games week after week after week, but what we
have to do is face the challenge that other clubs have." Parkin reckoned
"I was very nervous about Melbourne because over the last decade they
have been able to run us and manipulate us and match us up and beat us
on too many occasions. I think we are a better team than they and this
was the day we had to stand up and show that." Parko's much more upbeat
than last year, with reason.
At Football Park:
Port Adelaide 3.4 5.9 9.12 12.17.89
Collingwood 1.1 3.3 8.7 11.9.75
During the week someone was offering $1.76 million Australian ($4.50 US)
to solve some nerdy maths problems. Surely Eddie 'I'm Already A
Millionaire' McGuire would pay that much to solve the five year-old
Mystery Magpie Midyear Slump. The Power's improved form paid off while
the miserable Maggies recorded their eighth consecutive loss, the
longest losing streak of Mick Malthouse's career. Port had captain Gavin
Wanganeen back at last, but lost Shane Bond for the rest of the year
with torn knee ligaments. The Magpies had multiple droppings again,
Baynes, Jacotine, Smith and Wasley. Scott Burns returned from injury,
Ben Kinnear and Tyson Lane were promoted (like Wasley they're either
dropped or promoted each week) along with a first-gamer, Andrew
Dimattina from Essadun's supp list and the rookie list. He's the younger
brother of Bulldog Paul. Room was made for him by de-listing the hapless
Michael Clark. Still no Sav, whom I'd seen on TV earlier in the day
lumbering about against Frankston.
Cold, windy and wet at Foopall Park again. Port started with the breeze
and after Collinwood retained possession for the first few minutes, Port
kicked the first goal when feather-weight Burgoyne outbustled Lockyer
for a mark. The Pies' first came as busy Adkins passed well for Michael
to mark and kick very well from a tricky angle. But Port were generally
better with James and Francou getting plenty of the ball, Wanganeen ran
afield and kicked for Burgoyne to mark and convert again, Lockwood
marked and goaled too and James postered before the first siren. The
Real Magpies failed to make much impression with the wind in term two,
although Adkins gave them some drive and Gav Brown did a bit in attack.
Browny kicked a goal after Power's Francis turned it over, after that
not much happened for a while apart from a spectacular collision between
Powermen Montgomery and Bassett. They were OK. Eventually Montgomery
ventured forward and centered the ball for fellow backman Paxman to leap
for a big grab and goal, Port by 15 points. Buckley, again struggling,
was sent forward and responded with a mark and goal for the Pies as his
tagger, Kingsley, departed with an ankle injury. Wilson picked up Bucks.
Late in the term Port's Mead punted to the goalsquare where Tredrea
(remember him?) marked in a pack and hooked a goal, still Port by 15.
The first of several heavy showers arrived as Tredrea postered on the
big break.
The segend harf began with Tony Rocca toe-poking a left foot sausage but
Port then moved clear. In heavy rain young Guerra snapped a left-foot
major (he's from Bendigo in central Victoria, not the outer western
suburbs as I said last week). Chris Tarrant missed a set shot for the
Scraggies, a fairly crucial miss it seemed as a nice Francis handpass
sent Montgomery in for a running goal, then a Burgoyne grubber skidded
wide but the Pies' kick-in went wrong and Burgoyne atoned with a major.
The Pies trailed by 30 points and they'd only kicked 29, but dragged
themselves back into it with three quick goals. Orchard Daicosed one,
Adkins kicked a great goal with a mark, play-on and lovely into-the-wind
punt, from the bounce Williams booted forward, Brown chest-marked and
converted the margin back to 12 points. Tredrea had a long shot given a
touched-point but it appeared to be touched behind the line by lazy
Lane, although if Seven folk are serious about these things they could
get a camera in line with the goals. Port withstood some heavy Pie
pressure before Tredrea's handpass sent Guerra into the abandoned Pie
defensive 50m for an easy goal. The last korter now and after Power's
Lockwood booted an early sausage his team attacked constantly for no
reward. After a while a Pie kick-in was taken by Mark Richardson, he
worked it onto Ukovic, a long punt was collected by Leon Davis who
handballed to passing Brown, Pie gol. Back to 2 goals the diff. Port
cleared the centre bounce and Francou had a long shot which swung wide,
although the goal ump awarded full points. Luckily the field ump
over-ruled. Never mind, a bit later Francis steered a fantastic running
shot from the boundary and Port led by 19 points. Mal Michael gave the
Pies a sniff with a free-kick goal against Nick Stevens for bawwll, a
rule interpreted with a dreadful lack of consistency in this game.
Finally Lockwood sealed it for Port with a good snap from a throw-in,
Ukovic kicked a good goal for the Pies with 30 seconds remaining.
No standout player on view, but Port's disciplined and aggressive play
was typified by Michael Wilson (13 disposals) who flattened Tony Rocca
with a big bump early and went on to play well on Buckley. Across the
midfield Josh Francou (23 disposals), Nick Stevens (25) Roger James (25
touches, 10 in the first quarter) played well, rover Peter Burgoyne
continues to get the ball in attack, he kicked 3 goals from 15 kicks.
Brent Guerra showed a bit with 2 goals from 11 disposals, Brett
Montgomery played well again with 13 touches and sneaking down for a
goal. Bowen Lockwood bagged 3 goals from 8 kicks, Fabian Francis was
handy off half-back with 24 disposals and a goal. Wily Pie veteran Gav
Brown was their most dangerous player with 3 goals from 14 touches and 6
marks, he was the entire forward line it seemed. Damian Adkins (25
touches, a goal) was the other Pie spark, a bloke whose love of footy
oozes from every pore. Rupert Betheras played well out of defence for 18
disposals, Shane O'Bree got it 22 times in the centre but was of limited
effectiveness, as was Nathan Buckley (27 disposals, a goal). Bucks took
it upon himself during the week to improve, but he didn't really. Mal
Michael kicked 2 goals. Malthouse said "I thought we were pretty
disappointing at various stages right throughout the game. I didn't
think we really grabbed hold of the things we spoke about at half-time."
Mark Williams said "I thought in the scheme of things we could have won
by a lot tonight. Things didn't go our way but we still worked our way
through it and that was really pleasing for the players."
At the Gabba:
Brisbane 5.5 12.7 19.8 27.11.173
West Coast 5.4 6.8 11.9 13.11.89
Not much can be read into this result as the Eagles were forced to field
a very weak side. The sight of fresh-faced teenagers, bony shoulders
protruding from their guernseys, lining up alongside Lynch, Molloy, Voss
and other Brisbane veterans can't have been encouraging for your average
Weegle fan. And although the final margin was similar to last year's
fixture, this Lion side has some convincing to do before they can be
rated with vintage 1999. The Lions themselves had a few changes,
regaining Michael Voss, Chris Scott and Steve Lawrence from injured
spells, Dan Bradshaw was recalled from the QAFL to bolster the forward
line along with Richard Champion. But they missed midfielder Black with
a thigh strain and Picken with a knee, Kennedy, Shattock and Martin were
axed. Now the Weagles - they were without Fraser Gehrig (knee), Scott
Cummings (thigh), Peter Matera (hamstring), Phil Matera ('flu), Guy
McKenna (back), Drew Banfield (thigh) and Callum Chambers (dropped). The
entire forward line and most of the midfield, with Cousins and Wirrpunda
already missing. Replacements were Jaxon Crabb, Andrew Embley (back from
suspension), Chad Fletcher, Nick Stone, Todd Holmes and two debutants,
David Antonowicz from the Western Jets and North Warrnambool's David
Haynes. Eagles Daniel Metropolis and Chad Morrison played their 100th
games.
The Eagles did alright in the first quarter, with Metropolis and
Turnbull in the key forward spots, McIntosh and Jakovich supporting the
back. Goals alternated, for West Coast Gardiner, Metropolis, Morrison
and Turnbull majored from marks, Read punted his first goal of the year.
At the other end the Weegs had trouble with Bradshaw who booted three
first-term goals, one a good snap, one an easy tap-through created by
Lynch's hard work, the other from a lead and mark. Bolton capped off an
end-to-end move from a kick-in and Lynch needed two attempts to soccer
one. The expected Lion domination emerged in the second quarter.
Bradshaw marked Lawrence's miskick and goaled, Lynch spilled a mark on
the lead but Power arrived to rove and convert. Jakovich and Jones
missed shots in a brief spell of West Coast attacking as Kemp weaved
some magic, then Mick Voss goaled for the Brians. Channel Seven's
Brisbane man, Matthew Campbell, told us Voss's new nickname was
"Maximus" from the Gladiator movie, as he likes hanging about with lots
of other men wearing leather tunics. Allegedly. Metropolis sausaged from
a weak free kick cutting the margin back to 12 points, but the Lions
booted four unanswered sausage rolls to the end of the half, Lappin
(nice grab), Voss (mark and 50m penalty), Lynch (free for holding
against McIntosh) and Champion (mark).
Hart and Akermanis combined to create Bradshaw's fourth goal, early
third quarter and the Lyin's led by 41 points, the commentators started
talking percentage. But to the Wiggles' credit they raised an effort.
Fletcher roved a throw-in and snapped truly, Turnbull booted consecutive
goals from skilful marks, Donnelly snapped a major and the Lion lead had
been slashed to 17 points. A terrific roving goal from Brisbane junior
Cupido halted the Eagle advance, but Embley replied quickly with a great
snap. Brisbane ended the contest with the next five goals, starting with
Bradshaw's one-handed mark against Glass. Mal Blight was fairly critical
of Bradshaw. Must have a link with Richmond. Bradshaw's handpass set up
an easy goal for Molloy, just on, then Lynch found Cupido alone in the
goalsquare and he added to the tally, Champion tapped on for Hart to
major and Akermanis got one. Dull last quarter in which it rained soft
goals for the Lions. McIntosh was off with a knee injury, leaving a very
undersized and inexperienced Eagle eighteen on the field.
Most Lions got plenty of the ball, but standouts included winger Nigel
Lappin (26 disposals, 2 goals), tagger Shaun Hart (21 touches, a goal)
who kept Kemp generally quiet and Mal's mate Dan Bradshaw who booted 7
goals from 10 kicks, 5 marks. To be fair to Mal, Bradshaw is a
frontrunner and his opponents in this game were second-stringer Nick
Stone and skinny rookie Darren Glass, hardly testing. Speedy Jason
Akermanis (22 touches, a goal) was good and Damien Cupido (9 disposals,
3 goals) opened a full box of tricks once coming on in the third
quarter, one-handed marks, blind-turns, speedy dashes etc. Al Lynch
booted 4 goals and did alright against McIntosh, Voss, Power and Molloy
booted 2 each as twelve Lions got on the scoresheet. For the Eegs Glen
Jakovich (20 possessions, 10 marks) boxed on stoically against Champion
at CHB and did well, Josh Wooden (27 touches) battled in the middle and
ruckman Michael Gardiner played better than Lion McDonald. Ryan Turnbull
did alright as a makeshift forward with 4 goals and Metropolis was
decent in his milestone game, bagging 2 goals from full forward before
shifting to defence later. Chad Rintoul (22 disposals) began well. Of
the rookies David Haynes (1 goal) showed a bit. Judge said "I thought we
were pretty good until the twenty-minute mark of the third quarter.
Whether it was inexperience or a lack of effort I was disappointed with
the end result." Matthews concurred. "They certainly were at us early
and it took a fair while to get clear. The margin blew out when all hope
was gone."
At the SCG:
Sydney 4.2 7.3 13.7 16.13.109
Hawthorn 4.3 8.7 10.9 11.12.78
At last the Swans managed a full four quarters at home, triumphant over
the inconsistent Hawks. A win would've pushed the Hawks up into seventh,
but they didn't win. The Bloods had made noises during the week about a
huge spending spree come the off-season. Wonder where they're getting
the handout - er - money for that. In picking for this game the Swans
regained skipper Dunkley and defender Daniel McPherson for his first
game of the year I think. Dropped were Gerard Bennett and somebody else.
The Hawks dumped Michael Collica and brought in Lance Picioane for his
first game with the club, he played four with the Camrys.
Goal-for-goal first half with no clear pattern. Shane Crawford capped
off a good Hork build-up for the first, then Salmon's comically bad
handpass led to Swan Nicks snapping their opening sausage. Nathan
Thompson, allegedly a target for the Blood money, marked and converted
for Hawthorn and a terrific 25m handpass from Dixon at the next bounce
sent Joel Smith in for a goal, Horforn by 12 points. Sydney centreman
Cresswell, sporting an ordinary peroxide job on the hair, cleared the
next restart and found O'Loughlin for a mark and goal. Jude Bolton
snapped the first of several good majors and scores were level. Rock
punted the Hawks ahead again before another excellent Bolton poaching
effort all but tied it up at the first break. The Mayblooms' Dixon
missed a couple of shots to start term two before Ball marked and goaled
for Siddey, putting them 3 points up. They attacked again but two Swans
spoiled each other going for the same mark, the turnover led to an easy
goal for Hawk Barlow. The next two centre clearances led to goals
directly, Sydney's O'Loughlin with a mark, Harford's handpass sent Smith
away for Hawthorn. The Hawks led by 9 points after Salmon majored but a
terrific back-pedalling mark by Swan Schauble in the teeth of the Hawk
goal ended up in a good running major for Robbie AhMat. Some nice Rock
roving allowed Thompson to restore the 2-goal Hawk lead at the long
break.
The third quarter commenced with Bolton sweeping up a loose pill for his
third goal, but soon enough Hawk Dan Chick roved brilliantly and snapped
truly to keep the Hawks 11 points up. They seemed to have an answer to
every Swan move. Would the Swannies collapse after half-time again? Nup.
Nicks sped along a flank to spear a good sausage, Crouch lurked
downfield to kick one and the Swans led by a point. Bolton crashed into
Lekkas and forced the ball forward for Barry to goal, Swans by 7 points.
O'Loughlin extended the lead with a couple of goals and it looked like
the Swans were going to break through at last. Barker's late goal, after
Dunkley clocked him and got reported, seemed a last gasp. Holland was at
CHB after Schauble thrashed him and Thompson couldn't get it, Croad
weren't a factor either. Swans cruised in as Adam Goodes grabbed a
series of marks up forward in the last quarter, but kicked 1.2. At least
he started getting it.
Many fine contributors for the winners. Winger Jason Saddington played
his best game in a while for 27 disposals, Jude Bolton was compared to
Paul Kelly after his tough, aggressive game earned him 22 touches and 3
goals. Wayne Schwass had 37 disposals and together with Jared Crouch
(18, a goal) teamed up to contain Crawford. Andrew Schauble played
arguably the most important part, beating Holland. Matthew Nicks had 22
disposals and booted 2 goals, Mick O'Loughlin bagged 5 goals from 11
kicks with 6 marks. Hawthorn's better players were their runners,
half-forward Kris Barlow (27 disposals, a goal), midfielders Dan Harford
(27 touches) and Anthony Rock (19, a goal) and Shane Crawford (17
disposals, a goal) wasn't bad. Forward flanker Joel Smith's good form
continued with 13 kicks and 2 goals, winger Glen Bowyer was alright. But
their much-fabled 'spine' let 'em down, Thompson bagged 2 goals but held
only 4 marks. "We could have jumped to seventh on the ladder so it was
very disappointing that we wasted the opportunity," said Schwab, "It was
not good from a team with a lot to play for. I don't think we had a
clear winner today." A relieved Eade said "Except for last week - which
was an aberration with our effort - we've only had two poor games. We
copped a bit of flak but today was just reward for the players sticking
together and for the commitment that they've shown."
At the MCG:
Essendon 7.5 10.13 13.17 17.17.119
North Melbourne 0.0 3.1 7.4 11.4.70
The quarter-time score tells you all need to know about The Grand Final
That Should Have Been, as this game was billed. Today's papers have a
picture of the premiership cup with the words "Here Dons, Take It". Arr,
there's some work to go yet. North had a go, in every sense of the word,
during the third quarter but seem to be behind the Blues and Dons this
year. It's assumed the Bombers will go through unbeaten, their next
challenge (barring 'hangover' from this) would appear to be the round 20
game against Carlton. Just the one change for the Bommernaut, Dean
Wallis available again after injury, youngster Henneman made way for
him. As well as Abraham the Roos lost Leigh Colbert for a month with
strained knee ligaments, replacements were Adam Lange and John Spaull, a
tall first-gamer from Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula.
In the build-up, overshadowed by Abraham's antics, Don coach Sheedy
tried to claim underdog status, while Roo assistant Tony Elshaug (why
him?) launched the Dons-are-suspect-under-pressure line. Carey fulfilled
pre-match predictions by starting in defence, but there could've been
three of him out there for all it mattered. It were all Bommers. They
tackled hard, harassed the Roo midfielders and with no Carey up forward,
were too tall and strong for the Roo attackers. Blumfield chipped
forward for Lucas to mark and boot the opening goal. Kanga backman
McCartney's centering kick went to Bommer Barnes, Jim Hird licked his
fingers before marking Barnes's kick and converting. The Harbourroos'
first attack turned into and end-to-end Bommer move begun and completed
by Jason Johnson with a long goal, an advantage decision allowed Barnard
to find Barnes alone in the goalsquare. Long wobbled a kick forward but
Mercuri tidied and found Alessio all alone, 35m out. Essadun firty-five,
Norf nuffin. Hird, everywhere with Blakey trailing, kicked for Caracella
to mark and sausage. Roo Grant tumbled a blind kick from the back,
straight to Hird who punted long for Mercuri to mark and six-point from
point blank.
Predictably the Kangas worked much harder in the second stanza and
managed a couple of early goals, but the Dons could've romped away had
they kicked straight. Ramanauskas, Moorcroft and Lucas all pointed from
relatively straightforward shots. Carey, now at CHF, marked strongly,
played on and launched a long shot which bounced wide. Hird was benched
- very briefly - for a poor kick which led to a major for Roo Bell. But
late Don majors from Lucas and Ramanauskas meant they won the quarter.
Skip forward to the third term and after some Hird class created a goal
for Lucas, putting the Bummers 68 points up, the Kangas gave a yelp.
McKernan got a rare kick, Carey shunted Fletcher aside to grab it, told
Fletch all about it and goaled. Lange caught Heffernan in tackle, won a
free and converted, some tough work from Carey led to an easy goal for
Rawlings. The Roos were still 50 points down but they started to run
harder, tackle harder, sledge harder. Rawlings marked in the centre and
was dragged down by Barnard, a 50m penalty and as players jogged
forward, it as on. Carey, Wallis, McKernan and Fletcher started brawling
in the goalsquare. Rawlings sprayed his kick out on the full, but the
umps allowed play to continue and as the ball lobbed towards the goals,
the blue-ing quartet broke and McKernan marked and sausaged. It started
again and players came from everywhere to join in. The Dons are
sensitive to the 'soft' allegations and it was interesting to see three
or four of 'em take on Carey. Reports for Roos McCartney and Archer and
Don Hardwick. No surprise there, but more might be forthcoming. North
continued to go alright, Carey marked again within range but postered.
The 3/4 siren allowed the Dons to regain their composure and they
coasted in as both teams booted four goals in the final term. Final
siren confirmed the Dons as just the fifth team in VFL/AFL history to
start a season with thirteen straight wins and the first to do so for 44
years. The Kangas will take that little third quarter spell away.
Gotta hand it to Jim Hird again, dominant at the beginning when the game
was won he ended with 31 disposals, 10 marks and a goal. Also in the
middle Joe Misiti got the ball 34 times and booted a goal as he saw off
Simpson and Bell, Blake Caracella eluded opponents again across
half-forward for 22 touches, 9 marks and 2 goals. The much-improved
Justin Blumfield was great either on the ball or pushing forward for 22
possessions and a goal, tough Mark Johnson had 21 handlings. Praise also
to the rugged backline, Fletcher, Hardwick and Wellman. Scott Lucas
booted 3 goals but he and Caracella were the Dons' only multiple
goalscorers, they still managed 17 despite Lloyd (7 marks, 1.4) being
well-held by Mick Martyn. Martyn was about North's best player on the
day along with fellow defender Byron Pickett (18 touches, 8 marks).
Wayne Carey (9 marks, 15 disposals, a goal) put himself about at least
and John Blakey got a few good touches (21) once relieved of the Hird
job. But they were beaten in the middle again. Lange ended with 2 goals
in the last quarter for a total of 3, Bell and McKernan kicked 2 each
and Spaull joined the list of blokes to boot a goal with their first
kick in league footy, a great left-foot snap. Pagan said "We were pretty
disappointing at the start." No kidding. "We have got a lot of work to
do. We reckon we can turn it around, we have been in situations like
this in 1997...there is so much scope for improvement. There are some
sides that are not going to improve much more...we know we can improve.
Sheedy reckoned "We haven't had a start like that against a class team
like the Kangaroos...we are really pleased with that." He then made the
usual attempts to keep the lid on it, they "hadn't achieved anything
yet", history says they are "certain" to lose a game at some stage, etc.
We'll keep an eye out.
At Colonial:
Geelong 8.3 14.7 16.11 19.12.126
Footscray 4.4 7.8 13.8 18.11.119
A dollop of good fortune helped the Cats withstand another withering
Bulldog comeback and hop into third spot. If only the Bullies could play
that way all the game. The Cats made one change from their massive win
over the Pies, James Rahilly came in as a late replacement for David
Spriggs. The Pups must've read last week's report because they selected
a lad to make his AFL debut, Luke Penney from Oakleigh. But they did
drop a youngster, Mark Alvey.
The Cats powered out courtesy a winning midfield of King, Riccardi and
Hocking. The Bullies scored the first goal, Darcy's handpass to Smith
who twisted and turned before a good left-foot shot. But the Cats seemed
keener, faster and more committed. Riccardi roved a bounce at CHF to
snap one, Mooney marked (!), sold the dummy and sausaged, Clarke's speed
away from the centre saw him dob a beauty. Jason Snell lurked near the
sticks to cap off upfield winners. Bartlett and busy Eagleton ,managed
some majors for the Bullies, but King tapped perfectly for Adam Houlihan
to finish a good quarter for the Cats. And so it continued in the second
term, Bizzell opened with a roving goal. Bulldog Nathan Eagleton,
playing well, banged a running major but soon Ling's lightening handpass
allowed Riccardi to boot a right-foot goal and Snell extended the lead
to 47 points. A couple more classical running left-footers from Eagleton
narrowed that margin before Bizzell again marked King's tumbling kick to
give the Cats a seven-goal half-time lead. As per last week the Pups got
going in the second half, Romero, West, Liberatore (13 possessions in
the third quarter) and Johnson lifted while Eagleton kept on kicking
goals. Quick goals to Romero, Eagleton and Grant got them moving. Ling
combined with Riccardi for a running left-foot goal but Eagleton bagged
another, then West centered the ball for Eagleton who ran in a very wide
circle to get on his trusty left boot and drill yet another major. From
the restart Darcy punted forward, Wynd spilled a one-handed marking
attempt but Brad Johnson arrived to volley through spectacularly. The
margin was down to 15 points before Darcy's poor kick created a turnover
for Cat King to mark and goal just before the final break.
On came the Bulldogs. First goal of the final term came from Hudson via
Grant's dinked pass. Houlihan restored the Cats' 21-point buffer with a
lovely left-foot snap from the boundary line, but at the other end Wynd
fisted a throw-in towards a vacant goalsquare, Eagleton arrived to blast
it through. Johnson took a terrific wrong-way mark, onto Dimattina, pass
to leading Smith and he punted the gap down to 9 points. Eagleton
finally missed a shot before the Cats steadied courtesy a free kick to
Mensch, his punt to the goalsquare was marked far too easily by
Houlihan, goal. Dimattina wasted a Puppy chance with a bad kick and
Smith should've had a free when placed in a headlock before Eagleton
swooped again, handballing for Andy Wills to race into an open goal.
Nine points the diff and soon Dimattina made it three, capping off some
great lead-up work from Chris Grant. The Bullies attacked again but were
held up by a soft free to Cat Tom Harley. Like last week Garry Hocking
provided the Cats' ninth life with an admirably determined rover's goal
from a bounce. Back to 9 points up and they clung on doggedly. Grant
might've had a free kick when held, Bizzell dived full-length to touch
Johnson's goalbound dribbler, as the Cats played keepings-off Sanderson
fell over in his own goalsquare, panicked and lost the ball but someone
- couldn't see who - managed a great smother on Rohan Smith. The Cats
prevailed.
The hardy Cat followers won the game with their first-half efforts, ol'
Buddha Hocking (22 disposals, a goal), ruckman Steven King (35 hitouts,
16 disposals, a goal) and Peter Riccardi (19 disposals, 3 goals). Lively
forward Clint Bizzell was handy with 9 marks, 18 touches and 4 goals,
Adam Houlihan's sudden burst of form continued with 4 goals from 17
touches including two handy majors in the last quarter. Brenton
Sanderson was generally good despite his late error (blame the surface),
he had 18 touches. Jason Snell poached 3 goals. Special mention for
James Rahilly who had 8 of his 11 touches in the last quarter and
provided plenty of run for the tiring Cats. Full-back Ben Graham had 22
touches and Harley did a good job on Grant, but the Bulldog CHB still
contributed. Did I mention Nathan Eagleton? He booted 7 goals from 15
kicks for the Bulldogs. Why did the Power get ridda him? Otherwise it
was the Bulldog midfielders who almost pinched it, Scott West (35
disposals) again, Jose Romero with 30 disposals and a goal, 21 after
half-time, the excellent Brad Johnson with 24 touches and a goal, ol'
Tony Liberatore with 25 possies. Chris Grant struggled with just 4 marks
against Harley but still managed 3 goals and gave a couple away, Smith
bagged 2 goals. Brown and Curley were alright. Wallace called his
players "lazy" for their first-half efforts. "For a side to kick
fourteen goals in a half really is an indictment on our group. We had a
pretty poor start to the season and had just started to make our way in
the competition and to come out and do that is bitterly
disappointing...our supporters ought to be very, very disappointed with
what they were served up today." Like the Cat fans last week. Thompson
said "On a few occasions this year under pressure our guys have handled
that same situation very well. I think it's great to win games by big
margins but you don't learn much by them...When you play games like
this, under pressure, it's when you find out what your men are made
of..."
At Subiaco:
Fremantle 3.3 9.6 11.10 14.16.100
St. Kilda 0.2 1.4 5.7 8.8.56
The Dockers ended their horror streak with a win over a much-depleted
St. Kilda in a poor game. With the Power's win the Saints tumbled back
to the ladder's foot and might stay there given their injuries. They
went in without big men Peter Everitt, out for possibly the rest of the
season with a knee injury, Stewart Loewe who copped three weeks for
biffing Jason Johnson last Friday although he broke his hand in the same
incident and will miss four weeks anyway, and defender Daryl Wakelin who
received a two-week suspension for clouting Steven Alessio, upheld on
appeal. Replacements were David Sierakowski, Joe McLaren and Brad
Campbell. The Dockers lost forward Clive Waterhouse (hamstring) and
winger Luke Toia (back) from last weekend but regained spearhead Tony
Modra and Brad Bootsma earned a recall.
Like the line in today's Age. "These two crippled teams went at it in
the brilliant sunshine at Subiaco and some of us had to watch". Freo
attacked the ball a bit harder while the poor old Saints were fairly
dreadful. Saw Troy Cook boot the first goal for Freo before going out
for a drink, he and Troy Longmuir were busy in the first half as was
Jason Norrish with 12 touches in the first quarter. By half time it was
more-or-less over with Freo's nine goals to one. The Saints made some
sort of charge in the third quarter, youngsters Beetham and Knowles won
some kicks, Hall and Sierakowski booted some goals from the key forward
positions. Dokker Hasleby wore a heavy bump to set up a goal for Dodd to
steady the home team and they managed to stay ahead of Stinklilda to the
end.
Plaudits won by Docker rover Troy Cook, who worked hard for his 31
possessions and 3 goals, forward flanker Troy Longmuir with 25
disposals, 11 marks and goal and winger James Walker, who gave Jones a
bit of a hiding with 28 possies. Paul Hasleby (27 touches, a goal)
showed his natural ability again. Big men Dan Bandy, 12 marks and 26
disposals at CHB and ruckman Clem Michael (20 hitouts, 14 disposals)
were handy contributors. Fewster and Modra booted 2 goals each. Few to
mention for the Sainters, Sierakowski did alright in attack to boot 4
goals from 9 marks, 12 kicks. Rob Harvey (30 disposals) and Nathan Burke
(24) worked against the tide on the ball, Max Hudghton did well to keep
Modra down to 4 marks and 2 goals although Mods missed three. Caydn
Beetham impressed a bit with 16 disposals. Barry Hall kicked 2 goals.
Watson tried to define rock-bottom. "It is difficult to differentiate
when you actually hit the bottom. I think the first half was as poor as
we've played." At least they had one bit of good news last week,
president Andrew Plympton promising to stay on for a few more years
after making noises about quitting. Freo coach Drum said "It is good to
be back winning, but the season is still looking pretty sick. The good
thing was that the boys learnt to push themselves really hard." Jeremy
reckons John Worsfold is a certainty to replace Drummy at the end of the
year. Barring nine consecutive wins, of course.
Ladder after Round Thirteen:
Pts. % Next week
Essendon 52 161.2 Sydney (SCG, Sunday)
Carlton 40 133.1 Geelong (Princes Park, Sunday)
Geelong 34 103.1 Carlton (Princes Park, Sunday)
Richmond 32 102.8 Footscray (MCG, Monday)
North Melbourne 32 99.5 Brisbane (Colonial, Fri. night)
Footscray 28 110.4 Richmond (MCG, Monday)
West Coast 26 103.5 Port Adelaide (Subiaco, Sat. night)
Melbourne 24 103.0 Collingwood (MCG, Saturday)
-------------------------------------
Brisbane 24 101.3 North Melbourne (Colonial, Fri. night)
Adelaide 24 99.0 Fremantle (Football Park, Sun. night)
Hawthorn 24 94.7 St. Kilda (Colonial, Sat. night)
Sydney 20 94.9 Essendon (SCG, Sunday)
Collingwood 20 94.6 Melbourne (MCG, Saturday)
Fremantle 20 74.4 Adelaide (Football Park, Sun. night)
Port Adelaide 10 73.6 West Coast (Subiaco, Sat. night)
St. Kilda 6 75.6 Hawthorn (Colonial, Sat. night)
Cheers, Tim
e-mail: t.murphy@rmit.edu.au
I can't get that Joe Cocker song out of my head...
Bring back Royce Hart
And Tony Free
Because the Tigers
Have many injuries
Royce is on his farm, in Tassie
Freezer will be OK, with a new knee
Bring back Royce Haaarrrt
And Tony Free.
Biggest story of the week began last Monday morning at 3:30 AM outside
the Melbourne casino. Kangaroos Winston Abraham, Shannon Motlop and two
other blokes identified only as "AFL players" got into a fight with some
Maoris. Not too clever. Abraham copped a bit of a hiding and hopped on a
flight to Perth three hours later, only returning on Friday morning.
Needless to say he was dropped for the Sunday game against Essendon, and
played in Norf's VFL team on Saturday sporting a black eye and swollen
cheek. The matter's not over as one of the 'civilians' involved in the
fight had his jaw broken and is pressing charges, the entire incident
was captured on the casino's security video so Winny could be in
trouble.
More Colonial-bashing. Richmond made a loss on their round 4 game
against Fremantle, attended by 23,600. Clubs were told they'd need to
attract between 16 and 18 thousand to break even, but now the ground
managers are only paying out if over 28,000 turn up. That's well over
any other venue. At Melbourne president Joe Gutnick clarified his
position over Jewish players. The club can draft them, but he'd have to
quit as president on religious grounds. Hmm. He promised continuing
financial support should the situation arise. And ratbag journo Patrick
Smith, thankfully dispatched to The Australian, made allegations of
racism at Geelong when he reported the club had a list that
distinguished Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal players on draft day last
year. They club denied any such thing. On with the footy.
At Colonial:
Richmond 5.2 9.5 12.7 17.10.112
Adelaide 5.6 9.8 13.15 17.19.121
Bloody Ricciuto. Bloody Dragicevic. Bloody injuries. Bloody Cows. It's
hard to admit but the Crows just deserved to win as they fought back
against a freight-train Tiger finish to move closer to the eight. More
injuries for the Tigers, it'll be hard for them to maintain their form
at this rate. In selection the Tigers lost forward Matt Rogers for up to
six weeks with strained knee ligaments, Rory Hilton returned from
suspension to replace him. The Camrys were weakened by injuries to Kane
Johnson and Brett Burton, both hamstrings, in came Andrew Eccles and Kym
Koster. Nigel Smart played his 200th game for Aderlayed, the first man
to play 200 for the Crows.
Went along with the original footy report man Jeremy Leggoe, on a visit
back home with a few of his mates. We had a great night, apart from the
Tigers losing, of course. Jeremy sounds remarkably like Dennis Cometti.
Must be the Perth accent. The game was close most of the night with the
lead changing fifteen times. We missed the first few minutes, including
Tiger Campbell having his night ended abruptly by a heavy bump from
Bickley. Shoulder. It was virtually goal-for-goal all the first half,
Vardy kicked some early goals for the Cows while Ottens and Holland were
dangerous for Richmond. The Corollas missed a few set shots, Marsh,
Ricciuto and Vardy. The Tiges led late-on before Knights's poor
centering kick went to Vardy and he made no mistake. Knights atoned for
his error by snapping a couple of goals from the forward pocket to start
the second term, Smart was pushed back onto him. The Corollas kept pace
with goals from Goodwin, O'Loughlin and more for Vardy, James and
Edwards getting plenty of the ball.
For the second half Tiger coach Frawley placed Gaspar on Vardy. Early on
Tiger rover Clinton King's season came to an end with a broken leg.
Broderick kicked an early goal to put the Tigers in front, Vardy replied
with a long set shot for the Cressidas. More swapped majors before the
Camrys gained control. A long punt to the goalsquare saw an off-balance
Gaspar spoil Vardy, but the Crow recovered first and goaled to put
Adelaide in front by 4 points. A brief moment later Goodwin gallopped
downfield to collect a handpass and slot and the visitors led by 10
points, the biggest margin so far. Now the Camrys dominated and the
Tigres defended grimly, more wayward goalshooting from the croweaters
preventing the margin expanding much. Scott Welsh marked as the siren
honked, but his point left the door ajar for the Tigers. However the
Crows went further ahead in the early last, Bickley booted a goal and
Vardy's handpass saw Welsh snap truly (they combine very well), the Cows
sported a handy 26-point lead. But the Tiges fought back. Brendon Gale
marked strongly at CHF and after advice from his brother, the runner,
punted truly. Tivendale goaled from a set shot. Fiora raced downfield
with 3 bounces but got a little overexcited and kicked poorly. Torney
looked to give a handpass but decided on a snap and did it well. The
(Richmond) crowd was roaring now. Bowden went to play on after a mark,
looked to have messed it up but passed to Broderick, his major narrowed
the gap to a point. Knights's right-foot pass found Ben Holland, he
deliberated and put Richmond ahead. The Tiges were all over the Camrys,
Mark Dragicevic marked strongly 35m out, no angle. He missed, crucially.
Tiges by a goal. After Goodwin postered Ricciuto powered the Camrys to
victory, he won about five vital touches in the last 2 minutes. Clearing
a pack on the wing his kick found Crowell, he passed to Welsh alone 15m
out. Welsh's kick just squeezed through, Camrys by a point. Ricciuto
cleared the centre bounce - Adelaide's first of the quarter - Gaspar and
Vardy wrestled, ball spilled, Vardy gathered and was hauled down by
Gaspar but Welsh arrived just in time to collect Vardy's handpass and
thump it through. The Cows gained possession from the bounce again and
ran the clock down before Stenglein marked within range, the siren went.
Stenglein missed, but his team had won. I blame Jeremy...
It was quality rather than quantity which told in a fast, tough game.
Peter Vardy was very good with 6 goals from 8 kicks, plus a couple given
away. Mark Ricciuto was important, as mentioned, with 25 touches in the
middle and halfback Simon Goodwin continued his good form 26 disposals
and 2 goals. Nige Smart was serviceable in his milestone game with 19
touches while stopping Knights, Scott Welsh lurked for 4 goals, 3 in the
last quarter. Mark Bickley (23 touches) and Tyson Edwards (21, a goal)
worked hard in the packs, Eccles (20 touches) made a good return. Better
Tigers included hard-working winger Joel Bowden (26 disposals, 10 marks)
and reliable backman Leon Cameron (22 possies), unusually goals came
from veteran small men Matthew Knights (17 touches, 3 goals) and Paul
Broderick (22 disposals, 3 goals). Backmen Rory Hilton (22 disps) and
Mark Chaffey (24 touches) were good, Ben Holland (9 marks, 2 goals) was
handy in the air. James White (12 touches, a goal) looks useful. Two
goals each for Ottens, Torney and Tivendale. "We've won a lot of close
games but Adelaide were too good, too good all night and had we won the
game we would have pinched it," said Frawley. "Probably our style of
play was what I was disappointed in." He refused to concede injuries
were a problem. Ayres said "I suppose the main thing I wanted the
players to get out of the game tonight, besides the win, was some
respect...we've had it tarnished over what happened last year and
obviously the bad start to the season, but if we're going to get some
respect and credibility we have to beat sides like Richmond." With five
fit players...
At the MCG:
Melbourne 4.4 5.4 8.6 9.7.61
Carlton 5.2 9.4 15.8 25.9.159
No doubt the Blues are Essadun's biggest threat after they belted the
Demons, a team who've beaten Carlton regularly in recent seasons. Dee
coach Neale Daniher, who signed a new two-year contract during the week
(that's why they lost), made comparisons with 1998 when the Demons
copped a couple of mid-year thumpings before going on to a preliminary
final. In pickin' the Demons regained Cameron The Bruce and erratic
Travis Johnstone, out dropped went Brad Green and Alistair Nicholson.
The Blues made one change, axing kid Ryan Houlihan for fit-again Scott
Freeborn. Blue defender Michael Sexton, an All-Australian who's been
struggling for form recently, played his 200th game.
Melbourne's strategy was to crowd around the ball and prevent Ratten,
Camporeale, Bradley, McKay, Hickmott and the other Blues from their free
running. It made for dull but reasonably effective footy on their part.
Blue Whitnall scored the first goal, luckily after the ball tumbled
between five other players. Demon Peter Walsh, who did so well on
Camporeale early that the Blue was benched (for a minute), booted their
first gol with a great shot. Hamill goaled for Carton, Melbun ruckman
White levelled the scores with a long shot. The Demons attacked agin but
Koutoufides, who'd started in defence, marked about 15m out from his own
goal. Schwarz was 50m-penalised for encroachment, he whinged about it
and was done for another 50m. Koutoufides goaled from his mark at
full-back. But the Dees were going alright, good work from Neitz (at
CHB) and A. McDonald created a goal for Bruce, McDonald himself goaled
and the Dees led by 8 points. Carlton grabbed the quarter-time lead with
two late goals, a snap from Franchina and Hotton following a mark.
Melbourne continued their tactics into the second, after Neitz drifted
forward for a mark and goal from Farmer's pass there was no score for 17
minutes. Eventually the match turned when Walsh, the best afield to that
point, was forced off with injured ribs. Carlton banged on four goals in
as many minutes, Camporeale tidying up from Whitnall's poor pass, Hotton
with a handpass to Hickmott, then Hickmott turned provider for running
Beaumont, a clinical Blue build-up was completed with Ratten's pass to
leading Whitnall, sausage. Whitnall postered just before the mid-game
siren.
Melbourne started the second half brightly. Schwarz marked and goaled in
the first minute, cutting the Bloo lead to 3 goals, then Woewodin burst
through the centre and passed to White. But the Big Dee missed and that
was the last we saw of Melbun. A quick running goal from Ratten and
Hickmott's accurate snap extended the Bluebaggers' lead to 29 points.
Leoncelli pulled one back with a great snap, but direct from the restart
Bradley ran clear and found Fletcher on a flank, his excellent kick
raised the twin calicoes. Fletcher set up the next goal for Whitnall,
another archetypal hard-running, ball-sharing build-up saw Camporeale
extend the Bloo lead to 41 points. A Demon centre clearance and Schwarz
goal hicupped proceedings before Franchina bagged his second major. A
series of Blue misses was the only blemish as they dominated. Late in
the term Schwarz lobbed a shot from 50m to the top of the goalsquare,
teammate Robertson marked but postered from 15m. What appeared an easy
Blue win became a rout in the last quarter. Camporeale slotted one from
the boundary line, Kouta's handpass gave one to Hamill, Hickmott goaled
and the Blooze led by ten goals. Hickmott kicked another two sausages
for the quarter and Allan bagged three, including one after the final
siren, as Carlton massacred the Demons. Just as well Joe couldn't
attend.
Carrothead forward Adrian Hickmott was a fair pick-up for the Blues, his
three final-term goals gave him a total of 5 for the game, on top of 23
disposals on a forward flank. Koutoufides was almost omnipotent this
week, playing mainly in defence or on the ball against Neitz, Powell or
Leoncelli he amassed 31 diposals, 8 marks and 2 goals. Unbackable for
the Brownlow. Half-back Andy McKay was very good once more with 21
touches and the usual on-ball crew, Ratten (29 touches, a goal), Bradley
(32 possies) and Camporeale (26 disposals, 4 goals) were to the fore
again. Whitnall and Allan kicked 3 goals each, Allan winning rucks.
Wayne Brittain reckoned their best was skinny flanker Simon Fletcher (19
disposals, a goal), he was good in the tough first half. Hamill and
Franchina kicked 2 goals each. Melbourne midfielder Shane Woewodin (25
disposals) tried very hard, fellow runners Steve Febey (17 touches),
Stephen Powell (23) and Guy Rigoni (26) battled tenaciously, especially
before half time. Peter Walsh deserves a mention for his 13 disposals
and goal in less than a half. Schwarz was their only multiple goalkicker
with 2 but he was pretty ordinary, as was White. Daniher said "We are a
young side that has lost its way...we are probably not that strong a
club to be able to win games week after week after week, but what we
have to do is face the challenge that other clubs have." Parkin reckoned
"I was very nervous about Melbourne because over the last decade they
have been able to run us and manipulate us and match us up and beat us
on too many occasions. I think we are a better team than they and this
was the day we had to stand up and show that." Parko's much more upbeat
than last year, with reason.
At Football Park:
Port Adelaide 3.4 5.9 9.12 12.17.89
Collingwood 1.1 3.3 8.7 11.9.75
During the week someone was offering $1.76 million Australian ($4.50 US)
to solve some nerdy maths problems. Surely Eddie 'I'm Already A
Millionaire' McGuire would pay that much to solve the five year-old
Mystery Magpie Midyear Slump. The Power's improved form paid off while
the miserable Maggies recorded their eighth consecutive loss, the
longest losing streak of Mick Malthouse's career. Port had captain Gavin
Wanganeen back at last, but lost Shane Bond for the rest of the year
with torn knee ligaments. The Magpies had multiple droppings again,
Baynes, Jacotine, Smith and Wasley. Scott Burns returned from injury,
Ben Kinnear and Tyson Lane were promoted (like Wasley they're either
dropped or promoted each week) along with a first-gamer, Andrew
Dimattina from Essadun's supp list and the rookie list. He's the younger
brother of Bulldog Paul. Room was made for him by de-listing the hapless
Michael Clark. Still no Sav, whom I'd seen on TV earlier in the day
lumbering about against Frankston.
Cold, windy and wet at Foopall Park again. Port started with the breeze
and after Collinwood retained possession for the first few minutes, Port
kicked the first goal when feather-weight Burgoyne outbustled Lockyer
for a mark. The Pies' first came as busy Adkins passed well for Michael
to mark and kick very well from a tricky angle. But Port were generally
better with James and Francou getting plenty of the ball, Wanganeen ran
afield and kicked for Burgoyne to mark and convert again, Lockwood
marked and goaled too and James postered before the first siren. The
Real Magpies failed to make much impression with the wind in term two,
although Adkins gave them some drive and Gav Brown did a bit in attack.
Browny kicked a goal after Power's Francis turned it over, after that
not much happened for a while apart from a spectacular collision between
Powermen Montgomery and Bassett. They were OK. Eventually Montgomery
ventured forward and centered the ball for fellow backman Paxman to leap
for a big grab and goal, Port by 15 points. Buckley, again struggling,
was sent forward and responded with a mark and goal for the Pies as his
tagger, Kingsley, departed with an ankle injury. Wilson picked up Bucks.
Late in the term Port's Mead punted to the goalsquare where Tredrea
(remember him?) marked in a pack and hooked a goal, still Port by 15.
The first of several heavy showers arrived as Tredrea postered on the
big break.
The segend harf began with Tony Rocca toe-poking a left foot sausage but
Port then moved clear. In heavy rain young Guerra snapped a left-foot
major (he's from Bendigo in central Victoria, not the outer western
suburbs as I said last week). Chris Tarrant missed a set shot for the
Scraggies, a fairly crucial miss it seemed as a nice Francis handpass
sent Montgomery in for a running goal, then a Burgoyne grubber skidded
wide but the Pies' kick-in went wrong and Burgoyne atoned with a major.
The Pies trailed by 30 points and they'd only kicked 29, but dragged
themselves back into it with three quick goals. Orchard Daicosed one,
Adkins kicked a great goal with a mark, play-on and lovely into-the-wind
punt, from the bounce Williams booted forward, Brown chest-marked and
converted the margin back to 12 points. Tredrea had a long shot given a
touched-point but it appeared to be touched behind the line by lazy
Lane, although if Seven folk are serious about these things they could
get a camera in line with the goals. Port withstood some heavy Pie
pressure before Tredrea's handpass sent Guerra into the abandoned Pie
defensive 50m for an easy goal. The last korter now and after Power's
Lockwood booted an early sausage his team attacked constantly for no
reward. After a while a Pie kick-in was taken by Mark Richardson, he
worked it onto Ukovic, a long punt was collected by Leon Davis who
handballed to passing Brown, Pie gol. Back to 2 goals the diff. Port
cleared the centre bounce and Francou had a long shot which swung wide,
although the goal ump awarded full points. Luckily the field ump
over-ruled. Never mind, a bit later Francis steered a fantastic running
shot from the boundary and Port led by 19 points. Mal Michael gave the
Pies a sniff with a free-kick goal against Nick Stevens for bawwll, a
rule interpreted with a dreadful lack of consistency in this game.
Finally Lockwood sealed it for Port with a good snap from a throw-in,
Ukovic kicked a good goal for the Pies with 30 seconds remaining.
No standout player on view, but Port's disciplined and aggressive play
was typified by Michael Wilson (13 disposals) who flattened Tony Rocca
with a big bump early and went on to play well on Buckley. Across the
midfield Josh Francou (23 disposals), Nick Stevens (25) Roger James (25
touches, 10 in the first quarter) played well, rover Peter Burgoyne
continues to get the ball in attack, he kicked 3 goals from 15 kicks.
Brent Guerra showed a bit with 2 goals from 11 disposals, Brett
Montgomery played well again with 13 touches and sneaking down for a
goal. Bowen Lockwood bagged 3 goals from 8 kicks, Fabian Francis was
handy off half-back with 24 disposals and a goal. Wily Pie veteran Gav
Brown was their most dangerous player with 3 goals from 14 touches and 6
marks, he was the entire forward line it seemed. Damian Adkins (25
touches, a goal) was the other Pie spark, a bloke whose love of footy
oozes from every pore. Rupert Betheras played well out of defence for 18
disposals, Shane O'Bree got it 22 times in the centre but was of limited
effectiveness, as was Nathan Buckley (27 disposals, a goal). Bucks took
it upon himself during the week to improve, but he didn't really. Mal
Michael kicked 2 goals. Malthouse said "I thought we were pretty
disappointing at various stages right throughout the game. I didn't
think we really grabbed hold of the things we spoke about at half-time."
Mark Williams said "I thought in the scheme of things we could have won
by a lot tonight. Things didn't go our way but we still worked our way
through it and that was really pleasing for the players."
At the Gabba:
Brisbane 5.5 12.7 19.8 27.11.173
West Coast 5.4 6.8 11.9 13.11.89
Not much can be read into this result as the Eagles were forced to field
a very weak side. The sight of fresh-faced teenagers, bony shoulders
protruding from their guernseys, lining up alongside Lynch, Molloy, Voss
and other Brisbane veterans can't have been encouraging for your average
Weegle fan. And although the final margin was similar to last year's
fixture, this Lion side has some convincing to do before they can be
rated with vintage 1999. The Lions themselves had a few changes,
regaining Michael Voss, Chris Scott and Steve Lawrence from injured
spells, Dan Bradshaw was recalled from the QAFL to bolster the forward
line along with Richard Champion. But they missed midfielder Black with
a thigh strain and Picken with a knee, Kennedy, Shattock and Martin were
axed. Now the Weagles - they were without Fraser Gehrig (knee), Scott
Cummings (thigh), Peter Matera (hamstring), Phil Matera ('flu), Guy
McKenna (back), Drew Banfield (thigh) and Callum Chambers (dropped). The
entire forward line and most of the midfield, with Cousins and Wirrpunda
already missing. Replacements were Jaxon Crabb, Andrew Embley (back from
suspension), Chad Fletcher, Nick Stone, Todd Holmes and two debutants,
David Antonowicz from the Western Jets and North Warrnambool's David
Haynes. Eagles Daniel Metropolis and Chad Morrison played their 100th
games.
The Eagles did alright in the first quarter, with Metropolis and
Turnbull in the key forward spots, McIntosh and Jakovich supporting the
back. Goals alternated, for West Coast Gardiner, Metropolis, Morrison
and Turnbull majored from marks, Read punted his first goal of the year.
At the other end the Weegs had trouble with Bradshaw who booted three
first-term goals, one a good snap, one an easy tap-through created by
Lynch's hard work, the other from a lead and mark. Bolton capped off an
end-to-end move from a kick-in and Lynch needed two attempts to soccer
one. The expected Lion domination emerged in the second quarter.
Bradshaw marked Lawrence's miskick and goaled, Lynch spilled a mark on
the lead but Power arrived to rove and convert. Jakovich and Jones
missed shots in a brief spell of West Coast attacking as Kemp weaved
some magic, then Mick Voss goaled for the Brians. Channel Seven's
Brisbane man, Matthew Campbell, told us Voss's new nickname was
"Maximus" from the Gladiator movie, as he likes hanging about with lots
of other men wearing leather tunics. Allegedly. Metropolis sausaged from
a weak free kick cutting the margin back to 12 points, but the Lions
booted four unanswered sausage rolls to the end of the half, Lappin
(nice grab), Voss (mark and 50m penalty), Lynch (free for holding
against McIntosh) and Champion (mark).
Hart and Akermanis combined to create Bradshaw's fourth goal, early
third quarter and the Lyin's led by 41 points, the commentators started
talking percentage. But to the Wiggles' credit they raised an effort.
Fletcher roved a throw-in and snapped truly, Turnbull booted consecutive
goals from skilful marks, Donnelly snapped a major and the Lion lead had
been slashed to 17 points. A terrific roving goal from Brisbane junior
Cupido halted the Eagle advance, but Embley replied quickly with a great
snap. Brisbane ended the contest with the next five goals, starting with
Bradshaw's one-handed mark against Glass. Mal Blight was fairly critical
of Bradshaw. Must have a link with Richmond. Bradshaw's handpass set up
an easy goal for Molloy, just on, then Lynch found Cupido alone in the
goalsquare and he added to the tally, Champion tapped on for Hart to
major and Akermanis got one. Dull last quarter in which it rained soft
goals for the Lions. McIntosh was off with a knee injury, leaving a very
undersized and inexperienced Eagle eighteen on the field.
Most Lions got plenty of the ball, but standouts included winger Nigel
Lappin (26 disposals, 2 goals), tagger Shaun Hart (21 touches, a goal)
who kept Kemp generally quiet and Mal's mate Dan Bradshaw who booted 7
goals from 10 kicks, 5 marks. To be fair to Mal, Bradshaw is a
frontrunner and his opponents in this game were second-stringer Nick
Stone and skinny rookie Darren Glass, hardly testing. Speedy Jason
Akermanis (22 touches, a goal) was good and Damien Cupido (9 disposals,
3 goals) opened a full box of tricks once coming on in the third
quarter, one-handed marks, blind-turns, speedy dashes etc. Al Lynch
booted 4 goals and did alright against McIntosh, Voss, Power and Molloy
booted 2 each as twelve Lions got on the scoresheet. For the Eegs Glen
Jakovich (20 possessions, 10 marks) boxed on stoically against Champion
at CHB and did well, Josh Wooden (27 touches) battled in the middle and
ruckman Michael Gardiner played better than Lion McDonald. Ryan Turnbull
did alright as a makeshift forward with 4 goals and Metropolis was
decent in his milestone game, bagging 2 goals from full forward before
shifting to defence later. Chad Rintoul (22 disposals) began well. Of
the rookies David Haynes (1 goal) showed a bit. Judge said "I thought we
were pretty good until the twenty-minute mark of the third quarter.
Whether it was inexperience or a lack of effort I was disappointed with
the end result." Matthews concurred. "They certainly were at us early
and it took a fair while to get clear. The margin blew out when all hope
was gone."
At the SCG:
Sydney 4.2 7.3 13.7 16.13.109
Hawthorn 4.3 8.7 10.9 11.12.78
At last the Swans managed a full four quarters at home, triumphant over
the inconsistent Hawks. A win would've pushed the Hawks up into seventh,
but they didn't win. The Bloods had made noises during the week about a
huge spending spree come the off-season. Wonder where they're getting
the handout - er - money for that. In picking for this game the Swans
regained skipper Dunkley and defender Daniel McPherson for his first
game of the year I think. Dropped were Gerard Bennett and somebody else.
The Hawks dumped Michael Collica and brought in Lance Picioane for his
first game with the club, he played four with the Camrys.
Goal-for-goal first half with no clear pattern. Shane Crawford capped
off a good Hork build-up for the first, then Salmon's comically bad
handpass led to Swan Nicks snapping their opening sausage. Nathan
Thompson, allegedly a target for the Blood money, marked and converted
for Hawthorn and a terrific 25m handpass from Dixon at the next bounce
sent Joel Smith in for a goal, Horforn by 12 points. Sydney centreman
Cresswell, sporting an ordinary peroxide job on the hair, cleared the
next restart and found O'Loughlin for a mark and goal. Jude Bolton
snapped the first of several good majors and scores were level. Rock
punted the Hawks ahead again before another excellent Bolton poaching
effort all but tied it up at the first break. The Mayblooms' Dixon
missed a couple of shots to start term two before Ball marked and goaled
for Siddey, putting them 3 points up. They attacked again but two Swans
spoiled each other going for the same mark, the turnover led to an easy
goal for Hawk Barlow. The next two centre clearances led to goals
directly, Sydney's O'Loughlin with a mark, Harford's handpass sent Smith
away for Hawthorn. The Hawks led by 9 points after Salmon majored but a
terrific back-pedalling mark by Swan Schauble in the teeth of the Hawk
goal ended up in a good running major for Robbie AhMat. Some nice Rock
roving allowed Thompson to restore the 2-goal Hawk lead at the long
break.
The third quarter commenced with Bolton sweeping up a loose pill for his
third goal, but soon enough Hawk Dan Chick roved brilliantly and snapped
truly to keep the Hawks 11 points up. They seemed to have an answer to
every Swan move. Would the Swannies collapse after half-time again? Nup.
Nicks sped along a flank to spear a good sausage, Crouch lurked
downfield to kick one and the Swans led by a point. Bolton crashed into
Lekkas and forced the ball forward for Barry to goal, Swans by 7 points.
O'Loughlin extended the lead with a couple of goals and it looked like
the Swans were going to break through at last. Barker's late goal, after
Dunkley clocked him and got reported, seemed a last gasp. Holland was at
CHB after Schauble thrashed him and Thompson couldn't get it, Croad
weren't a factor either. Swans cruised in as Adam Goodes grabbed a
series of marks up forward in the last quarter, but kicked 1.2. At least
he started getting it.
Many fine contributors for the winners. Winger Jason Saddington played
his best game in a while for 27 disposals, Jude Bolton was compared to
Paul Kelly after his tough, aggressive game earned him 22 touches and 3
goals. Wayne Schwass had 37 disposals and together with Jared Crouch
(18, a goal) teamed up to contain Crawford. Andrew Schauble played
arguably the most important part, beating Holland. Matthew Nicks had 22
disposals and booted 2 goals, Mick O'Loughlin bagged 5 goals from 11
kicks with 6 marks. Hawthorn's better players were their runners,
half-forward Kris Barlow (27 disposals, a goal), midfielders Dan Harford
(27 touches) and Anthony Rock (19, a goal) and Shane Crawford (17
disposals, a goal) wasn't bad. Forward flanker Joel Smith's good form
continued with 13 kicks and 2 goals, winger Glen Bowyer was alright. But
their much-fabled 'spine' let 'em down, Thompson bagged 2 goals but held
only 4 marks. "We could have jumped to seventh on the ladder so it was
very disappointing that we wasted the opportunity," said Schwab, "It was
not good from a team with a lot to play for. I don't think we had a
clear winner today." A relieved Eade said "Except for last week - which
was an aberration with our effort - we've only had two poor games. We
copped a bit of flak but today was just reward for the players sticking
together and for the commitment that they've shown."
At the MCG:
Essendon 7.5 10.13 13.17 17.17.119
North Melbourne 0.0 3.1 7.4 11.4.70
The quarter-time score tells you all need to know about The Grand Final
That Should Have Been, as this game was billed. Today's papers have a
picture of the premiership cup with the words "Here Dons, Take It". Arr,
there's some work to go yet. North had a go, in every sense of the word,
during the third quarter but seem to be behind the Blues and Dons this
year. It's assumed the Bombers will go through unbeaten, their next
challenge (barring 'hangover' from this) would appear to be the round 20
game against Carlton. Just the one change for the Bommernaut, Dean
Wallis available again after injury, youngster Henneman made way for
him. As well as Abraham the Roos lost Leigh Colbert for a month with
strained knee ligaments, replacements were Adam Lange and John Spaull, a
tall first-gamer from Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula.
In the build-up, overshadowed by Abraham's antics, Don coach Sheedy
tried to claim underdog status, while Roo assistant Tony Elshaug (why
him?) launched the Dons-are-suspect-under-pressure line. Carey fulfilled
pre-match predictions by starting in defence, but there could've been
three of him out there for all it mattered. It were all Bommers. They
tackled hard, harassed the Roo midfielders and with no Carey up forward,
were too tall and strong for the Roo attackers. Blumfield chipped
forward for Lucas to mark and boot the opening goal. Kanga backman
McCartney's centering kick went to Bommer Barnes, Jim Hird licked his
fingers before marking Barnes's kick and converting. The Harbourroos'
first attack turned into and end-to-end Bommer move begun and completed
by Jason Johnson with a long goal, an advantage decision allowed Barnard
to find Barnes alone in the goalsquare. Long wobbled a kick forward but
Mercuri tidied and found Alessio all alone, 35m out. Essadun firty-five,
Norf nuffin. Hird, everywhere with Blakey trailing, kicked for Caracella
to mark and sausage. Roo Grant tumbled a blind kick from the back,
straight to Hird who punted long for Mercuri to mark and six-point from
point blank.
Predictably the Kangas worked much harder in the second stanza and
managed a couple of early goals, but the Dons could've romped away had
they kicked straight. Ramanauskas, Moorcroft and Lucas all pointed from
relatively straightforward shots. Carey, now at CHF, marked strongly,
played on and launched a long shot which bounced wide. Hird was benched
- very briefly - for a poor kick which led to a major for Roo Bell. But
late Don majors from Lucas and Ramanauskas meant they won the quarter.
Skip forward to the third term and after some Hird class created a goal
for Lucas, putting the Bummers 68 points up, the Kangas gave a yelp.
McKernan got a rare kick, Carey shunted Fletcher aside to grab it, told
Fletch all about it and goaled. Lange caught Heffernan in tackle, won a
free and converted, some tough work from Carey led to an easy goal for
Rawlings. The Roos were still 50 points down but they started to run
harder, tackle harder, sledge harder. Rawlings marked in the centre and
was dragged down by Barnard, a 50m penalty and as players jogged
forward, it as on. Carey, Wallis, McKernan and Fletcher started brawling
in the goalsquare. Rawlings sprayed his kick out on the full, but the
umps allowed play to continue and as the ball lobbed towards the goals,
the blue-ing quartet broke and McKernan marked and sausaged. It started
again and players came from everywhere to join in. The Dons are
sensitive to the 'soft' allegations and it was interesting to see three
or four of 'em take on Carey. Reports for Roos McCartney and Archer and
Don Hardwick. No surprise there, but more might be forthcoming. North
continued to go alright, Carey marked again within range but postered.
The 3/4 siren allowed the Dons to regain their composure and they
coasted in as both teams booted four goals in the final term. Final
siren confirmed the Dons as just the fifth team in VFL/AFL history to
start a season with thirteen straight wins and the first to do so for 44
years. The Kangas will take that little third quarter spell away.
Gotta hand it to Jim Hird again, dominant at the beginning when the game
was won he ended with 31 disposals, 10 marks and a goal. Also in the
middle Joe Misiti got the ball 34 times and booted a goal as he saw off
Simpson and Bell, Blake Caracella eluded opponents again across
half-forward for 22 touches, 9 marks and 2 goals. The much-improved
Justin Blumfield was great either on the ball or pushing forward for 22
possessions and a goal, tough Mark Johnson had 21 handlings. Praise also
to the rugged backline, Fletcher, Hardwick and Wellman. Scott Lucas
booted 3 goals but he and Caracella were the Dons' only multiple
goalscorers, they still managed 17 despite Lloyd (7 marks, 1.4) being
well-held by Mick Martyn. Martyn was about North's best player on the
day along with fellow defender Byron Pickett (18 touches, 8 marks).
Wayne Carey (9 marks, 15 disposals, a goal) put himself about at least
and John Blakey got a few good touches (21) once relieved of the Hird
job. But they were beaten in the middle again. Lange ended with 2 goals
in the last quarter for a total of 3, Bell and McKernan kicked 2 each
and Spaull joined the list of blokes to boot a goal with their first
kick in league footy, a great left-foot snap. Pagan said "We were pretty
disappointing at the start." No kidding. "We have got a lot of work to
do. We reckon we can turn it around, we have been in situations like
this in 1997...there is so much scope for improvement. There are some
sides that are not going to improve much more...we know we can improve.
Sheedy reckoned "We haven't had a start like that against a class team
like the Kangaroos...we are really pleased with that." He then made the
usual attempts to keep the lid on it, they "hadn't achieved anything
yet", history says they are "certain" to lose a game at some stage, etc.
We'll keep an eye out.
At Colonial:
Geelong 8.3 14.7 16.11 19.12.126
Footscray 4.4 7.8 13.8 18.11.119
A dollop of good fortune helped the Cats withstand another withering
Bulldog comeback and hop into third spot. If only the Bullies could play
that way all the game. The Cats made one change from their massive win
over the Pies, James Rahilly came in as a late replacement for David
Spriggs. The Pups must've read last week's report because they selected
a lad to make his AFL debut, Luke Penney from Oakleigh. But they did
drop a youngster, Mark Alvey.
The Cats powered out courtesy a winning midfield of King, Riccardi and
Hocking. The Bullies scored the first goal, Darcy's handpass to Smith
who twisted and turned before a good left-foot shot. But the Cats seemed
keener, faster and more committed. Riccardi roved a bounce at CHF to
snap one, Mooney marked (!), sold the dummy and sausaged, Clarke's speed
away from the centre saw him dob a beauty. Jason Snell lurked near the
sticks to cap off upfield winners. Bartlett and busy Eagleton ,managed
some majors for the Bullies, but King tapped perfectly for Adam Houlihan
to finish a good quarter for the Cats. And so it continued in the second
term, Bizzell opened with a roving goal. Bulldog Nathan Eagleton,
playing well, banged a running major but soon Ling's lightening handpass
allowed Riccardi to boot a right-foot goal and Snell extended the lead
to 47 points. A couple more classical running left-footers from Eagleton
narrowed that margin before Bizzell again marked King's tumbling kick to
give the Cats a seven-goal half-time lead. As per last week the Pups got
going in the second half, Romero, West, Liberatore (13 possessions in
the third quarter) and Johnson lifted while Eagleton kept on kicking
goals. Quick goals to Romero, Eagleton and Grant got them moving. Ling
combined with Riccardi for a running left-foot goal but Eagleton bagged
another, then West centered the ball for Eagleton who ran in a very wide
circle to get on his trusty left boot and drill yet another major. From
the restart Darcy punted forward, Wynd spilled a one-handed marking
attempt but Brad Johnson arrived to volley through spectacularly. The
margin was down to 15 points before Darcy's poor kick created a turnover
for Cat King to mark and goal just before the final break.
On came the Bulldogs. First goal of the final term came from Hudson via
Grant's dinked pass. Houlihan restored the Cats' 21-point buffer with a
lovely left-foot snap from the boundary line, but at the other end Wynd
fisted a throw-in towards a vacant goalsquare, Eagleton arrived to blast
it through. Johnson took a terrific wrong-way mark, onto Dimattina, pass
to leading Smith and he punted the gap down to 9 points. Eagleton
finally missed a shot before the Cats steadied courtesy a free kick to
Mensch, his punt to the goalsquare was marked far too easily by
Houlihan, goal. Dimattina wasted a Puppy chance with a bad kick and
Smith should've had a free when placed in a headlock before Eagleton
swooped again, handballing for Andy Wills to race into an open goal.
Nine points the diff and soon Dimattina made it three, capping off some
great lead-up work from Chris Grant. The Bullies attacked again but were
held up by a soft free to Cat Tom Harley. Like last week Garry Hocking
provided the Cats' ninth life with an admirably determined rover's goal
from a bounce. Back to 9 points up and they clung on doggedly. Grant
might've had a free kick when held, Bizzell dived full-length to touch
Johnson's goalbound dribbler, as the Cats played keepings-off Sanderson
fell over in his own goalsquare, panicked and lost the ball but someone
- couldn't see who - managed a great smother on Rohan Smith. The Cats
prevailed.
The hardy Cat followers won the game with their first-half efforts, ol'
Buddha Hocking (22 disposals, a goal), ruckman Steven King (35 hitouts,
16 disposals, a goal) and Peter Riccardi (19 disposals, 3 goals). Lively
forward Clint Bizzell was handy with 9 marks, 18 touches and 4 goals,
Adam Houlihan's sudden burst of form continued with 4 goals from 17
touches including two handy majors in the last quarter. Brenton
Sanderson was generally good despite his late error (blame the surface),
he had 18 touches. Jason Snell poached 3 goals. Special mention for
James Rahilly who had 8 of his 11 touches in the last quarter and
provided plenty of run for the tiring Cats. Full-back Ben Graham had 22
touches and Harley did a good job on Grant, but the Bulldog CHB still
contributed. Did I mention Nathan Eagleton? He booted 7 goals from 15
kicks for the Bulldogs. Why did the Power get ridda him? Otherwise it
was the Bulldog midfielders who almost pinched it, Scott West (35
disposals) again, Jose Romero with 30 disposals and a goal, 21 after
half-time, the excellent Brad Johnson with 24 touches and a goal, ol'
Tony Liberatore with 25 possies. Chris Grant struggled with just 4 marks
against Harley but still managed 3 goals and gave a couple away, Smith
bagged 2 goals. Brown and Curley were alright. Wallace called his
players "lazy" for their first-half efforts. "For a side to kick
fourteen goals in a half really is an indictment on our group. We had a
pretty poor start to the season and had just started to make our way in
the competition and to come out and do that is bitterly
disappointing...our supporters ought to be very, very disappointed with
what they were served up today." Like the Cat fans last week. Thompson
said "On a few occasions this year under pressure our guys have handled
that same situation very well. I think it's great to win games by big
margins but you don't learn much by them...When you play games like
this, under pressure, it's when you find out what your men are made
of..."
At Subiaco:
Fremantle 3.3 9.6 11.10 14.16.100
St. Kilda 0.2 1.4 5.7 8.8.56
The Dockers ended their horror streak with a win over a much-depleted
St. Kilda in a poor game. With the Power's win the Saints tumbled back
to the ladder's foot and might stay there given their injuries. They
went in without big men Peter Everitt, out for possibly the rest of the
season with a knee injury, Stewart Loewe who copped three weeks for
biffing Jason Johnson last Friday although he broke his hand in the same
incident and will miss four weeks anyway, and defender Daryl Wakelin who
received a two-week suspension for clouting Steven Alessio, upheld on
appeal. Replacements were David Sierakowski, Joe McLaren and Brad
Campbell. The Dockers lost forward Clive Waterhouse (hamstring) and
winger Luke Toia (back) from last weekend but regained spearhead Tony
Modra and Brad Bootsma earned a recall.
Like the line in today's Age. "These two crippled teams went at it in
the brilliant sunshine at Subiaco and some of us had to watch". Freo
attacked the ball a bit harder while the poor old Saints were fairly
dreadful. Saw Troy Cook boot the first goal for Freo before going out
for a drink, he and Troy Longmuir were busy in the first half as was
Jason Norrish with 12 touches in the first quarter. By half time it was
more-or-less over with Freo's nine goals to one. The Saints made some
sort of charge in the third quarter, youngsters Beetham and Knowles won
some kicks, Hall and Sierakowski booted some goals from the key forward
positions. Dokker Hasleby wore a heavy bump to set up a goal for Dodd to
steady the home team and they managed to stay ahead of Stinklilda to the
end.
Plaudits won by Docker rover Troy Cook, who worked hard for his 31
possessions and 3 goals, forward flanker Troy Longmuir with 25
disposals, 11 marks and goal and winger James Walker, who gave Jones a
bit of a hiding with 28 possies. Paul Hasleby (27 touches, a goal)
showed his natural ability again. Big men Dan Bandy, 12 marks and 26
disposals at CHB and ruckman Clem Michael (20 hitouts, 14 disposals)
were handy contributors. Fewster and Modra booted 2 goals each. Few to
mention for the Sainters, Sierakowski did alright in attack to boot 4
goals from 9 marks, 12 kicks. Rob Harvey (30 disposals) and Nathan Burke
(24) worked against the tide on the ball, Max Hudghton did well to keep
Modra down to 4 marks and 2 goals although Mods missed three. Caydn
Beetham impressed a bit with 16 disposals. Barry Hall kicked 2 goals.
Watson tried to define rock-bottom. "It is difficult to differentiate
when you actually hit the bottom. I think the first half was as poor as
we've played." At least they had one bit of good news last week,
president Andrew Plympton promising to stay on for a few more years
after making noises about quitting. Freo coach Drum said "It is good to
be back winning, but the season is still looking pretty sick. The good
thing was that the boys learnt to push themselves really hard." Jeremy
reckons John Worsfold is a certainty to replace Drummy at the end of the
year. Barring nine consecutive wins, of course.
Ladder after Round Thirteen:
Pts. % Next week
Essendon 52 161.2 Sydney (SCG, Sunday)
Carlton 40 133.1 Geelong (Princes Park, Sunday)
Geelong 34 103.1 Carlton (Princes Park, Sunday)
Richmond 32 102.8 Footscray (MCG, Monday)
North Melbourne 32 99.5 Brisbane (Colonial, Fri. night)
Footscray 28 110.4 Richmond (MCG, Monday)
West Coast 26 103.5 Port Adelaide (Subiaco, Sat. night)
Melbourne 24 103.0 Collingwood (MCG, Saturday)
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Brisbane 24 101.3 North Melbourne (Colonial, Fri. night)
Adelaide 24 99.0 Fremantle (Football Park, Sun. night)
Hawthorn 24 94.7 St. Kilda (Colonial, Sat. night)
Sydney 20 94.9 Essendon (SCG, Sunday)
Collingwood 20 94.6 Melbourne (MCG, Saturday)
Fremantle 20 74.4 Adelaide (Football Park, Sun. night)
Port Adelaide 10 73.6 West Coast (Subiaco, Sat. night)
St. Kilda 6 75.6 Hawthorn (Colonial, Sat. night)
Cheers, Tim
e-mail: t.murphy@rmit.edu.au