Bluey
27th July 2000, 03:47
AFL Round 20
Essadun/Carlton hype dominated the week, and it was indeed a very good
game. If you don't want to know the scores, look away later. The Age is
doing some sort of footy survey thing, they discoverted that 44% of
footy patrons attend a game less often than five years ago. Why so? Here
we are in the middle of winter and 50% of the teams were playing at
night. Surely that'd draw in more people? And if I ever go to court, I
want Blue Aaron Hamill's defence team. Last year he kneed Dean Wallis in
the head in the preliminary final and got off, last week Hamill
administered a solid boot straight to Tony Liberatore's Niagaras,
tribunal said you're free to leave Mr. Hamill. Naughty Mr. Umpire should
have charged him with tripping, not kicking. Aahh...
A couple more retirements, Geelong ruck-rover Liam Pickering was
conquered by injury and advancing age. Pickering played 102 games for
Geelong and 22 for North before that, winning Geelong's B & F and state
selection in 1997. But since then it's been mostly ailment,
osteo-arthritis of the shoulder the most significant. Up at Melbourne
full-back Jamie Shanahan retired, the 32-year-old was told at the start
of the year he'd be competing with Anthony Ingerson for a spot in the
side and he's not got a run, with a few injuries contributing. Shanahan
played 162 games, 125 with St. Kilda. Unfortunately for Shannas he'll be
remembered for being taken apart by Darren Jarman in the final quarter
of the 1997 Grand Final, he didn't kick a goal in his career either. And
Pie supporters of a certain age may be saddened to hear of the death of
Ray Gabelich, a ruckman famed for his comically inept but ultimately
successful "run" in the 1964 Grand Final. Gabelich also powered WA to
victory over Victoria in a state game in 1961, long before
State-of-Origin.
At the MCG:
Carlton 2.3 6.5 9.7 12.11.83
Essendon 4.4 6.6 9.9 16.13.109
See the Bommers win ev'ry thing
Hand over the premiership flag
The Blues had a go in this big game
But struggled once Braddles and Kouta went lame
Yes, a huge game in front of a massive 91,571 on Friday night saw the
Dons pull away inexorably in the final term. Post mortems said Carlton
could "take some heart" from the game by staying reasonably close,
"Essendon are beatable" was another commonly-heard statement. What a
crock, it's over, give the Dons the cup now. Essendon had one change to
the side going in but it was a biggy, full-back Dustin Fletcher
withdrawing with a hip injury, he was replaced by Jonathon Robran.
Carlton regained hard-heads Glenn Manton, Fraser Brown and Craig
Bradley. Brown's previous game had been against the Dons in round 5,
when he copped four weeks for whacking Joe Misiti. Since then it's been
injury, the twos and another suspension in the VFL. Bradley's "flu'" of
last week was in fact a hamstring problem, as became rapidly apparent.
Dropped Bloos were Adam Chatfield, Brendan Fevola and Kris Massie.
It mightn't have been pretty with lots of backline-flooding and
close-checking, but it was fast, tough and very good. After a brief
attacking start the Blues looked in trouble. Joe Misiti roved a throw-in
and dribbled the first goal for the Dons, Misiti kicked forward quickly
from the restart, Scott Lucas gathered and handballed for Mark Mercuri
to slot on the run. Blue Brownlow favourite Koutoufides did a posterior
cruciate in a collision with Jason Johnson and departed. Four to six -
possibly the season. A bit later Bradley's dodgy hamstring went again.
Two to three. Brown missed a shot and Scott Freeborn spilled an easy
mark within range as the Dons climbed all over 'em. Only stout Bloo
defence and crucifixion of Matt Lloyd by the umps stopped the Dons
scoring. Bet Lloydy won't criticise the officials publicly again.
Eventually Adam Ramanauskas intercepted a pass with a clever mark, he
passed for the busy Justin Blumfield to pot one from 50m on the run.
Essadun by 17 points, three goals to none. Shades of the Essadun/Norf
game before Brett Ratten's mongrel punt forward was gathered and
converted by Ryan Houlihan. Ratten cleared the restart, his kick cleared
the pack and Matt Lappin soccered it through, the Blues were up and
running. A nice, sharp turn from Dean Rioli allowed him to set up a late
mark and goal for Blumfield and the Dons led by 11 at the first change.
Carlton did better in term two, powered by Ratten. His high kick was
well-marked by ruckman Mark Porter over Robran and thumped home from
55m. Lance Whitnall's first shot postered - Sean Wellman was on him -
before Mercuri majored for the Dons from a woeful free kick. That put
'em 12 points up but immediately another Ratten kick forward was marked
and converted by Whitnall, then a perfect Bloo movement along the
Members' wing was completed by Ratten delivering to Whitnall again, gol
and the scores were level. Anthony Franchina behinded to put the Baggers
ahead before Porter marked in the goalsquare and majored again. The Dons
rallied late, following misses from Caracella and Blumfield a good
interchange between Mark Johnson and Mick Long led to a goal for Misiti,
it put the Dons a point ahead at the long break. Steve Silvagni,
Carlton's captain with Bradley off, had a long chat to the umps as they
departed.
Carlton shaded the Bommers in a tough, close start to the second half.
An early shot from Scott Camporeale was just touched through by Don ruck
John Barnes, a moment later Barnes appeared at the other end of the 'G
to mark Evil One's banana-kick and convert. Blue Heath Culpitt levelled
the scores with a long free-kick goal, Houlihan set up the next goal
with sharp roving and a handpass to Ratten who grubbed it through.
Bommer spearhead Lloyd had ventured all over the place chasing a kick,
he finally marked one near the goal but missed. A minute later Wellman
was done for a throw, Whitnall passed the free to Brown who kicked
truly. Blues by 10 points and they were going alright. With none of
Lloyd, Lucas or Jim Hird doing much - credit to opponents Manton,
Silvagni and Beaumont - Sheedy benched Lucas, allowed Lloyd to roam and
put Hird in the goalsquare. The Dons went forward from the centre bounce
after Brown's goal, Beaumont unluckily spilled a two-grabber and Hird
pounced. Jim wheeled away calling Beaumont a "funking banker", I think.
Essadun pinched the lead back with another late goal, Lloyd's first from
an overdue free kick against Manton. Someone was going to kick clear and
the Blues' injuries were going to tell. Both teams started the final
term with a loose man in defence, Rioli for the Dons and Silvagni for
the Bloos. Rioli made the first impact with an excellent attacking run,
Steve Alessio gathered the loose ball and snapped a gol. A terrible
clearing kick from Blue Aaron Hamill went straight to Ramanauskas, he
passed for Jason Johnson to mark and convert. Those two Dons had big
final quarters. Dons by 14 points, Carlton went forward from the bounce
and Silvagni, who'd gone to full forward now, marked and goaled. But the
Bombers started to stream through midfield, Jason Johnson missed
consecutive shots before Alessio's hooked kick led to an easy Long
sausage. Mark Johnson sent the pill forward from the restart, Hird did
very well to trap it and dish off to Ramanauskas, pass to Blumfield,
gol. Mercuri galloped downfield and punted towards Blumfield, a nice
inboard handpass and Jason Johnson bagged another. Essadun by a
match-deciding 28 points. Carlton fired one last shot, consecutive goals
to Whitnall and Silvagni, but Brown and Camporeale missed opportunities.
Fifteen points the diff and Ramanauskas created the sealer for Mercuri,
a simple tap-through. A Dean Solomon speccie and major confirmed the
Dons' twentieth.
Lanky Essadun flanker Justin Blumfield was one of the few players not
involved in backline-flooding or man-marking and he used the freedom to
maximum effect, with 3 goals from his 19 disposals with 8 marks. Young
winger Adam Ramanauskas, Docker Hasleby's main rival for the Rising Star
award, played very well for 21 disposals and in the midfield the
muscular Johnsons were very good, Mark had 22 touches in the middle and
off half-back, Jason had a huge final quarter with 14 disposals and 2
goals, he had 21 touches altogether. Rugged defender Damien Hardwick
played well again for 25 possies and Mark Mercuri provided a touch of
class with 3 goals from his 18 disposals. Joe Misiti kicked 2 goals but
was beaten convincingly by Ratten. Blue rover Brett Ratten ran himself
ragged and played very, very well for 36 disposals and a goal. Centreman
Scott Camporeale was also very busy with 32 possessions but without the
support of injured Bradley and Kouta, both he and Ratten tired
significantly towards the end which contributed to the result. Good
efforts from backmen Simon Beaumont on Hird, Glenn Manton on Lloyd and
Steve Silvagni on Lucas, two goals between the three Bombers and
Silvagni had 15 kicks, took 12 marks and kicked 2 final-term goals to
boot. Lance Whitnall worked hard for 3 goals from his 14 disposals, 5
marks, young rover Ryan Houlihan did a bit with 18 touches and a goal,
ruckman Porter made an impact with 31 hitouts, 8 marks and 2 goals.
Parkin was upbeat. "I think we battled along pretty well; I don't think
we regressed any because of the night. I think we will be looking
forward to the opportunity (of a rematch) if it arises. We will have to
work pretty hard". Parko's optimism was predicated on the absences of
Bradley, Kouta, Hickmott, Allan and Justin Murphy, poised for a return
after a few reserves games. Sheedy said "That game was what we needed,
more than anything. From the point of view of our wins of the last three
weeks it was a pretty ferocious contest. It was good for us."
At the MCG:
Hawthorn 3.1 8.4 11.10 15.11.101
Port Adelaide 5.3 8.7 10.8 12.8.80
A game which suffered in comparison with the previous evening, a modest
19,000 dragging themselves out into the cold, windy day to see a contest
of average-to-low standard. The Horks kept their season alive by
prevailing in unconvincing fashion over the feisty Port. In selection
the Hawks regained Jon Hay and Daniel Harford and recalled teenager
Chance Bateman, out went Angelo Lekkas, Richard Taylor and Richard
Vandenberg, all dropped. Not a good time of the year to be dropped,
especially for Lekkas and Taylor. The Power copped a hefty swag of
injuries in Brisbane, Gavin Wanganeen's miserable year continued with a
hamstring strain, big man Matthew Bishop's shoulder was injured in a
bump from Leppitsch, Jarrad Schofield strained a thigh and concussion
did for Scott Bassett. Replacements were Josh Carr, Nathan Steinberner
and youngsters Brent Guerra and Paul Koulouriotis.
Port started well, winning at ball-ups and throw-ins and attacking fast
and long. They goaled within 10 seconds of the start, Stu Dew pouncing
on Luke McCabe's fumble. A bit later Jared Poulton's high snap sailed
through. Port led 13 points to none before Aaron Lord opened the Hawks'
account with a typical opportunistic snap. Backman Trent Croad ran
afield and kicked long where John Barker marked unopposed by his
bewildered Port minder. Barker's goal made it a point the diff but Port
booted the next two majors, they cleared the following bounce, Hawk
defender Rawlings spilled a mark and Chad Cornes made him pay. A Poulton
shot wobbled horrendously off the boot but Dew gathered and goaled.
Horforn lost Lord with a hamstring. Tony Woods, who'd been very busy,
roved a throw-in and snapped truly but Port took the early honours when
Matt Primus roved his own goalsquare pack and stabbed it through. Their
Warren Tredrea, the least reliable goalshooter in the AFL, missed from
30m dead in front. Hawks appeared to have shaken their torpor early in
the second, Chance Bateman slotted his maiden goal with a nice piece of
play. Tredrea grabbed the ball at a bounce and restored the Power's
2-goal lead, but a mystery 50m penalty saw Hawk rover Anthony Rock kick
the next goal, Ben Dixon roved Rock's long kick and snapped truly, Dan
Chick put the Horks in front for the first time as he capped off a
string of handballs. But the Powder hit back, Tredrea kicked a difficult
shot - he'll do that - to edge them ahead once more, another clean
possession from a bounce saw Josh Francou snap a sausage. Port by 9
points but a nice end-to-end move by the Mayblooms allowed Rock to pull
it back to 3. A long Fabian Francis shot postered and Nick Holland
missed after the siren.
It stayed tight into the third, the inability of either team to deliver
the ball making scoring tough. No score for a while before Port's Bowen
Lockwood converted a free kick, the very good Nick Stevens passed well
for Dew to mark and kick his third and Port led by 13 points. Hawthorn
benched the battling Salmon and put Nathan Thompson in the ruck, Croad
went forward. Croad immediately capitalised on John Barker's mark and
kick to boot a goal. The Hawthorn heirarchy were rather surprised when
Shane Crawford benched himself, a calf strain. Tredrea missed another
sitter, Hawks Holland and Thompson also behinded before Glen Bowyer
levelled the scores with an excellent mark, play-on and slot. Dan
Harford roved a pack and booted the Hawks 6 points to the good. Port
were stifled by a string of horrendous umpiring decisions against them,
on the siren Croad missed terribly and headbutted Primus in frustration.
Ben Dixon kicked the first sausage of the last quarter, well set-up by
Holland and Barlow to give Hawthorn a 14-point lead. The Power then had
a good spell but couldn't score, until Francis smacked a long bomb home.
Then Primus fired a handpass out to Nick Stevens, he thumped one through
and Horforn's lead was back to 3 points. This turn excited the listening
Tiger supporter, we cheered vociferously for Port. But Joel Smith got
the Hawks forward thanks to a shonky free against Derek Murray, Bowyer
gathered the ball and goaled. Barker converted a running shot and the
Hawks were 15 ahead into time-on. They attempted the keepings-off
although Lance Picioane broke with the plan to kick a late major.
The better Hawks were in the middle, winger Raydon Tallis (28 disposals)
and rover Anthony Rock who had just 13 disposals but kept the Hawks in
it before half-time and booted 2 goals. Daniel Chick's fine season
continued with 24 touches and a goal. John Barker is proving to be a
useful forward, he took 9 marks and booted 2 goals, Nathan Thompson's
performance in the ruck was handy. Ruck-rover Tony Woods got the ball 30
times and kicked a goal, Glen Bowyer had a good second half on the wing
for a total of 21 disposals and 2 goals. Ben Dixon booted 2 majors as
well. Port had good performances from ruckman Matt Primus (19 disposals,
a goal) although he got a bit tired towards the end. Nick Stevens worked
very hard for 36 disposals and kicked a goal, he was very good. Brett
Montgomery was alright, 23 touches, and stocky Stu Dew booted 3 goals
from 14 kicks. Warren Tredrea played well really, 11 marks, 23 touches
and 2 goals. Fabian Francis was solid again with 29 possies and a goal
off half-back. "I was really impressed with the way the guys fought the
game out," said Williams, "probably the last three or four minutes where
they kicked three goals wasn't a true indication of where the game
was...From our point of view, following up from last week it was a good,
credible loss." There can't be a Port Adelaide coach in all their
875-year history who's ever said that last sentence. Peter Schwab said
"I was disappointed in the first half, I just thought we were hanging in
there without much oomph...the guys on the bench had the most
spirit...so a few guys lifted their rating. They knew what was at stake
in the finish, so I was just pleased to win."
At the SCG:
Sydney 6.4 8.13 15.14 21.19.145
North Melbourne 3.1 5.5 11.7 14.7.91
Every time the Kangas begin to look good, something goes wrong. And so
it was here. With Corey McKernan injuring a calf at training and not
starting, the ordinary Roos went on to cop a hiding from a motivated
Sydney. The Swan selection suggested resignation, but the huge win
restored finals hopes. They chose new Blood (aha!) in 19-year-old
ruckman Stephen Doyle, a father-son draftee last November. He's from
South Adelaide. Rowan Warfe returned too, they replaced dropped pair Leo
Barry and Ben Fixter. The Roos also had a debutant in Brad Stephens from
the Murray Bushrangers. Tough defender Glenn Archer also returned after
a layoff with a broken foot, out went Kent Kingsley.
The Swans' last home game for the year and the Roos' pointless northern
venture was the source of some niggle. Swan skipper Kelly suggested the
Kangas should give up playing in Sydney; Roo coach Denis Pagan expressed
a desire to play a home final at the SCG "because of our record here".
It certainly can't be for the crowd. Sydney started quickly with Mick
O'Loughlin burning, he booted 3 goals in the first quarter from 5 marks
and 10 disposals, although two majors involved a bit of luck. A long
shot found its way through - not over - a 5-man goalsquare pack and the
other a close-range soccer after the agget pinballed around the
goalsquare. O'Loughlin also created one of Robbie AhMat's two first-term
goals, the other came from a Paul Kelly pass. The Swans were speeding
through the middle with Stuart Maxfield and Matthew Nicks doing well,
Norf fell into the trap of playing the flanks. You think they'd learn.
Wayne Carey, loudly booed, bombed a long goal and had a hand in one for
Peter Bell, an excellent kick from Dave King led to the Roos' other for
Brent Harvey. But they'd lost Martin Pike with a hammy. The Bloods
absolutely dominated the second term but failed to reap full dividend
with horrendous kicking for goal. Roo Adam Simpson kicked an early one
from a free kick against Swan ruck Greg Stafford, Stafford atoned
immediately with a very good goal. He seems a lot more interested
recently. The Bloods kicked six consecutive points, the worst misses
being from Adam Goodes, who kicked three of the six, and O'Loughlin.
Goodes and O'Loughlin also spoiled each other in a goalsquare contest
and Matthew Nicks behinded twice. "He couldn't possibly miss this," was
McAvaney's comment prior to Goodes's third point. Thank Danny we don't
have to hear Plugger, Roosy and Brooce 'til next year. Finally Stafford
plucked a grab in the teeth of goal and converted, Swans by 33 points.
Norf were playing as poorly as any time in the last six years, they were
gifted a late goal when David King was given a technical 50m penalty
against Andrew Schauble. "That's really DISGRACEFUL. You should be able
to BENCH the umpire for that," Brooce ranted.
The third quarter demonstrated the benefit of clean possession from the
centre bounce. After an early Sydney goal Roo ruckman Spider Burton won
three centre-bounce taps, Bell and Harvey sent the ball forward for
three goals, two from Carey marks and the other to Adam Lange. Norf
appeared on the way back as they trailed by 13 points. Then Kelly
appeared in the centre for Sydney and they won three centre clearances
and scored three goals. O'Loughlin, limping, marked and converted the
first, the others good snaps from Nic Fosdike and Wayne Schwass. Norf
kept challenging but Sydney always replied, Archer pushed forward to
join Carey and their consecutive sausages narrowed the margin to 20
points. But AhMat goaled from Schwass's pass and a Dale Lewis handpass
sent Jude Bolton in for a goal, the Swans were 5 goals ahead again at
the final change. And they put the Roos away early in the last,
O'Loughlin steamed out on a lead, failed to control the ball on the
half-volley but Kelly arrived and set up a tap-through for Troy Luff.
Robbie AhMat had the crowd roaring with a 3-bounce and 1-fumble run
which covered 100 metres before he punted it through. Swans by 43 points
and it was over. Goodes missed again before a goal umpire accidentally
soccered the ball back into play for Dan McPherson to kick a goal.
Blowout time as Stafford and Goodes (finally) majored, before Norf got a
couple of late consolations.
Greg Stafford has been behind much of the Swan resurgence, he had 19
touches, 9 marks and kicked 3 goals. Paul Kelly (17 touches) has been
handy too. But he wasn't among the best, those accolades belong to Mick
O'Loughlin (17 touches, 6 marks, 4 goals) and centreman Daryn Cresswell
who beat Bell and Harvey at the centre bounce and had 24 disposals with
2 goals. CHB Andrew Schauble did very well against Carey, although Carey
was probably the Roos' best player he wasn't as dominant as he can be.
Brad Seymour also played well down back 21 touches with 6 marks and
Robbie AhMat - a Magpie reject along with Schauble - had a big night
kicking 4 goals from his 6 kicks. Adam Goodes (18 kicks, 10 marks)
could've had a big night too if he'd done better than 1.5. Matthew Nicks
had 30 disposals and Stuart Maxfield 16 kicks. Dan McPherson kicked 2
goals and had 29 touches. Norf had few good players, Wayne Carey (15
kicks, 10 marks, 4 goals) did what he could and David King (18 kicks, a
goal) battled away. John Blakey was opposed to Kelly early and played
alright for 20 disposals and 8 marks, Brent Harvey (17 touches, 2 goals)
was decent. Shannon Grant - also booed every touch - kicked 2 goals.
Pagan was at a loss to explain the sudden shocker. "In the first ten
minutes of the game the Swans were very sharp and really wanted to make
something of it and we were probably the opposite." Eade said "From our
point of view we had our last three games against teams in the eight and
if we didn't make the eight we'd certainly like to shape it...We lost
six games by less than 12 points so we've only had three or four bad
games for the year. Unfortunately people look at the win-loss
ratio...The Kangaroos have won five by less than nine and we've lost
five by less than nine so we believe we're thereabouts..." Richmond and
Geelong, both away, to end their season. Who knows? If they play like
this again, they're a big chance in both.
At Colonial:
Collingwood 2.3 4.6 8.5 13.13.91
Footscray 3.2 9.5 14.9 15.10.100
The Bulldogs stumbled badly towards the end but a great goal in the last
minute from Paul Hudson secured their win and shored up their spot in
the eight. With the Bombers and Hawks to finish they needed to win this
one. Unusually the Pies made just one alteration to the side, Paul
Williams returning for injured Mark Richardson. The Bulldogs received a
boost with the returns of Chris Grant and Todd Curley from injury. Steve
Kolyniuk was recalled too, probably because of his record against the
Maggies. However Paul Dimattina might miss the remainder of the seaon
with his hamstring and Steven Kretiuk was out with injury, young ruckmen
Patrick Wiggins was dropped. Tough, dedicated Bulldog Jose Romero played
his 200th game, a great achievement for a bloke deemed to be finished
when North Melbourne delisted him after 40-odd games.
A tight first term, Bully Brad Johnson played on key Pie Nathan Buckley
but neither went much near the other, each got heaps of kicks. Bucks
booted a huge 60m goal to open scoring and set up the Pies' second for
Damien Adkins. Forwards from both sides had trouble getting the ball,
mainly because of extremely sloppy kicking from their midfielders. The
Bulldogs got two first-term goals from speedy half-back Mark Robbins,
including a miracle snap. Simon Garlick made one for himself again.
Scott West and Libber gave the Pups some consistent drive in the second
term, Rohan Smith kicked a couple of goals, so did Garlick and Johnson
got another. Trent Bartlett marked and smacked one home from a helluva
long way and the Dogs had a decent lead at the long break. Only Buckley
(another sausage in the second stanza), O'Bree and Nick Davis were doing
much for the Pies. The third korter was more even. Early goals from
Magpies Ben Johnson and Josh Fraser, found nicely by Buckley, were
answered by Robbins again and Hudson who benefitted from Smith's superb
gather and handpass. Consecutive Magpie majors cut the Dog lead to 16
points, a great burst and long kick from Leon Davis marked and converted
by Nick Davis, then a good effort from Anthony Rocca set up Paul
Williams for a grab and goal. But the Pups rallied with two quick,
running, left-foot goals from Nathan Eagleton, both due to centre
clearances. Ben Kinnear missed a shot before a poor Lockyer kick-in was
sent back for a goal by Steve Kolyniuk. The Dogs had extended their
half-time lead.
The Maggies commenced the final stanza with Mal Michael at full-forward.
He booted the first goal from a lead to Nick Davis's kick, then Shane
O'Bree and Heath Scotland combined in finding Williams for a mark and
conversion. And the Pies scored the next two goals, each from Michael
getting on the end of Tony Rocca kicks. One was a tight angle snap as
Mal collected Rocca's mongrel, the other a mark beside the point-post
and banana-kick. The Scraggies were only 10 points in arrears and
Seven's Robbo was losing his marbles. Bulldogs Eagleton and Kolyniuk
should have had frees within scoring range but perhaps, like Robbo, the
umps were enthralled by the Pie comeback. Buckley kicked forward,
Michael clutched a great diving mark and booted his fourth for the
fourth. Dogs by just 4 points, they went forward from the restart and
now Kolyniuk did get a free kick, against Scott Burns, Kolyniuk's point
was the Bulldogs' first score of the quarter. Time ran short as a
Bartlett shot wobbled out on the full, a long Buckley effort missed. A
series of short passes from Brad Johnson to Jose Romero to Hudson saw
the Pup flanker line up 40m out on the right-hand boundary. He drilled
it, that was it.
Best Bulldog was winger Brad Johnson, who never went near Bucks but did
get the ball 36 times and took 9 marks, kicked a goal. On the ball Scott
West (30 disposals with 21 handballs) and Tony Liberatore (21 touches)
were very good, Simon Garlick did his job again with 3 goals from 8
kicks and speedy back-flanker Mark Robbins bagged 3 goals from his 16
touches. But many Dogs contributed a bit, Eagleton with his handy 2
goals and 11 kicks, Rohan Smith (13 kicks, 2 goals), milestone man
Romero (29 disposals). Coach Wallace paid tribute to aging Scott Wynd
who rucked all game, Paul Hudson kicked 2 goals. It was all Nathan
Buckley for the Pies, a massive 41 disposals with 11 marks and 2 goals.
With Kouta out for the rest of the home-and-aways, Bucks could make a
late charge for The Medal. Mal Michael's 4 final-term goals nearly
pinched it for the Pies, he had 8 marks and 8 kicks altogether. Paul
Williams (12 kicks, 2 goals) was okay and Anthony Rocca did his best
work across half-forward with 7 marks, 13 touches and a goal. Shane
O'Bree (18 kicks) was handy. Malthouse reckoned "We had some chances at
the end, and we probably blew a lot of chances we had early in the game
when we should have been a lot closer than we were...We showed a lot of
fight to stay in the contest." They've North on the rebound and then the
Dons to finish, that last one could be a biggie. Wallace said "We've
arrived at the scene and done the job we came here to do, probably not
in the fashion that we would have liked to have performed it, but the
result's there." Indeed, although a bit of percentage would've been
handy with their tough finish.
At Subiaco:
West Coast 4.2 5.3 8.5 12.6.78
Geelong 3.4 5.12 9.19 14.24.108
Geelong are in, barring an extraordinary sequence of events and will
face Melbourne for a top-four berth and double-chance next weekend.
Woeful goalshooting might've ruined it but the Cats got enough
possession after half-time to always seem comfortable. The Western derby
will determine whether the Eagles finish above or below the Dockers. In
selection the Eagles rotated youngsters again, Laurie Bellotti, Jaxon
Crabb and Paul Symmons were axed for David Antonowicz, Callum Chambers
and Andrew Embley. The Cats lost key forward David Mensch with a broken
jaw sustained in his clash with Jason McCartney last weekend, Hamish
Simpson was dumped. Replacements were Barry Stoneham, back from a
buttock injury, and young forward Cameron Ling.
We tuned in, third quarter, to see the Cats on 7.16. How they'd got
there became immediately apparent as Cameron Mooney came up with a
horrible Lingesque miss from 2m out, then Ronnie Burns sprayed wide
after David Spriggs's good work recovered the kick-in. Spriggs missed
one himself and the Cats were 7.19. Away back at the start Geelong had a
decent breeze, but were outscored in the first quarter as Eagle Chads
Fletcher and Morrison gathered much ball. Morrison and Chambers booted
sausages, the Cats had Garry Hocking and Glen Kilpatrick getting a bit
of it. In quartier du the Cats were against the wind but lifted,
particularly ruckman Steven King. They kicked a load of points, not
ideal but it did have the advantage of locking the ball in their forward
line for long periods, preventing the Wiggles from using their
atmospheric assistance. Back to when we were watching, after those three
misses Ronnie Burns roved a contest and kicked truly at last, extending
the Cat lead to 26 points. Kilpatrick cleared the centre bounce and a
Darren Milburn snap bounced thru', Geelong had cleared out by 32 points.
The Weegs were almost buried but two good late goals from Fletcher
reduced the gap to 20 points at the final change. The locals were coming
home on the wind but they couldn't establish the momentum, it was
goal-for-goal all the way. Phil Matera roved a throw-in an snapped the
first major, at the other end Mooney scored in identical fashion. After
a couple more Cat behinds, one a juggle-through by Clint Bizzell, Eagle
Rowan Jones marked teammate Embley's miskick and goaled. But a good, low
mark from King and Brad Sholl's long kick saw Milburn reply for the
Cats. Phil Matera edged the Eegs within 3 goals again with a free-kick
against Sanderson, Burns replied for Geelong with a freakish running
left-foot banana. Hocking kicked into Sholl's path for the rugged Cat to
score the next, all over with the margin 29 points. Young David Haynes
was allowed a goal following a mark he dropped before Catter
Scarlett.completed the scoring.
Steven King dominated the ruck and was the most important Cat, he had 33
hitouts and 24 disposals. On the back of his efforts Hocking (29
disposals, a goal) and Kilpatrick (29 too) had good games while tagger
Carl Steinfort kept primary Eagle ball-winner Dean Kemp very quiet.
Darren Milburn was a very busy forward-flanker with 31 disposals, 11
marks and 2 goals, big man Ben Graham was handy in defence with 18 kicks
and 10 marks. The work was shared up front with two goals each for
Burns, Bizzell and Mooney, in addition to Milburn. Brad Sholl enjoyed
the last quarter with 10 disposals and a goal, 27 touches for him in
total. For the Eagles much work was done in midfield by Ben Cousins (26
touches, a goal), Chad Morrison (28 disposals, a goal) and Chad Fletcher
(14 kicks, 2 goals). Giant backman Glen Jakovich was good once more with
26 possies and tall flanker Andrew Williams played a nice game with 22
touches. Some praise for Callum Chambers (15 disposals, 2 goals) and
Drew Banfield, who was on Burns. Phil Matera snaggled 3 goals and
hopefully will be rewarded with All-Australian selection in a forward
pocket this year, although Jeff Farmer will probably edge him out. No
quotes in the eastern press.
At Football Park:
Adelaide 2.3 5.6 6.11 11.12.78
Brisbane 4.5 7.7 13.8 17.13.115
The Camrys' chances of participating in the finals nose-dived as they
were beaten at home by the Lions, who won consecutive games at last. In
picking the Camrys lost Ian Perrie with a strained shoulder and dropped
James Byrne, Kym Koster and Andrew Eccles returned from injury. Brisbane
made one alteration, forward Tim Notting back from injury at Des
Headland's expense.
The Brians' sources of inspiration were centremen Michael Voss and Simon
Black, who flat-out beat the Camry pairing of Andrew McLeod and Mark
Ricciuto. In fact Marcus Ashcroft and Shaun Hart were involved in
tagging Ricciuto and McLeod respectively, but you get the idea. It was
windy in Adelaide too and the Lions had it first, although Corolla
skipper Mark Bickley kicked the first goal after catching Chris Scott in
a tackle. But soon Luke Power and spearhead Al Lynch had majors on the
board for the banana-benders. The Lions worked particularly hard in the
second term to restrict the Crows, those mentioned previously and Steve
Lawrence playing well. Back with the breeze in the third term the Lions
sealed the game with six goals to one, one of the six coming when Tyson
Edwards attempted to switch play in the teeth of his defensive goal,
only to kick the ball straight to Al Lynch, he gave the handpass to
Power for a simple tap-through. A bit later Bickley was off with
concussion received off the ball, the Camrys focussed heavily on Lion
Tim Notting. The Crows had Tyson Edwards playing well and Simon Goodwin,
Kane Johnson was moved onto the ball for the last quarter and gave them
a lift there. But the Cows really battled to kick goals, while the
visitors had defender Jason Akermanis kicking 'em. Some final-term goals
from Dan Bradshaw sealed an important win.
As mentioned the Lions won the midfield, where Michael Voss (34
disposals, 2 goals) and Simon Black (just the 34 disposals) were big
winners. They had excellent support from the in-form Nigel Lappin (26
possies) and Steven Lawrence (25 touches). The tagging jobs of Hart and
Ashcroft were well-performed. Akermanis sprinted forward as per usual
for 4 goals from his 18 kicks and Daniel Bradshaw continued with his
new-found consistency for 4 goals from his 8 marks. Chris Johnson (20
touches) has slotted nicely into defence. Handy contributions from Luke
Power (11 disposals, 3 goals), Al Lynch (2 goals) and ruckman Beau
McDonald. Edwards was Aderlayed's best gathering 23 kicks with 8 marks
and a goal, nominally on a forward-flank but venturing all over. What
midfield possession they had was won by Simon Goodwin (28 disposals) and
Kane Johnson (22, a goal), ruck Shaun Rehn played a good game with 18
disposals, 7 marks and 2 goals. Few other Camrys did much though, Scott
Welsh lurked for 4 goals from 7 kicks. They've an outside chance at best
now, Hawthorn at the 'G and the Showdown to finish. "They nutted us in
the midfield and that's where the game was shut down from our point of
view," was Ayres's brief summary. He did point out they'd improved from
last year's 6-16 record. Matthews was understandably happy. "The part of
the game we were very good with was the run of guys to receive handballs
and to run with the ball, with and against the wind." With two very
easy-looking home games to finish, they're certs.
At Colonial:
Melbourne 8.2 12.4 20.7 25.10.160
Fremantle 2.2 4.4 8.7 11.11.77
Melbourne can eye off third following the Kangas' surprise loss and
their own massacre of a terrible Fremantle, although a big battle with
Geelong for a double-chance looms next. The Dees went in without
hamstrung pair James McDonald and Paul Wheatley, struggling Brent Grgic
was dropped. But captain David Neitz returned after straining knee
ligaments two months ago, Daniel Ward got another chance and the Dees
had a first-gamer, 19-year-old pre-season draftee Simon Godfrey from the
Eastern Ranges. Unhappy Drum wielded the axe at Freo, dropping Greg
Harding, Brodie Holland, Jess Sinclair and Leigh Brown, Antoni Grover
was out with a thigh strain. Replacements were James Clement, Ashley
Prescott, Daniel Schell, Brad Dodd and Craig Callaghan. Clement and
Prescott, at least, were playing for their place on the list you'd
reckon.
Didn't see much but the ABC's Len Thompson said Fremantle looked
half-asleep in the first quarter. With the usual Demon suspects -
Powell, Leoncelli, Yze, Rigoni - winning the agget midfield the forwards
had plenty of chances. Neitz was a bit too good for young Pavlich,
hauling in 3 grabs and converting each into a goal, Jeff Farmer kicked
an easy one, dropping a mark, re-gathering, baulking a couple of
Shockers and slotting from the boundary line 35m out. The Dockers did a
little better in the second term, capitalising on the good defensive
rebounding of Brad Bootsma and better efforts afield from Black, Cook
and Hasleby. Farmer kicked two of Melbourne's four goals for the term,
Neitz's lack of match-fitness began to tell. But the hammer was put down
again after half-time, Yze and Woewodin monstering possession. The
Wizard booted another three, one audaciously stealing the ball out of
Brad Dodd's grasp - Dodd didn't quite know what had happened. Dave
Schwarz came to the party as the Dees gave their percentage a healthy
boost. Clive Waterhouse provided something for Dokkers to cheer with
some good play, Modra held by Alistair Nicholson of all people. But
folks were just interested in Farmer by now. He kicked two more in the
final term,, the first of which started with him trapped against the
boundary, 70m out. Jeff ran directly across the ground, handballed
ahead, slipped away from tacklers, scooped the ball up and turned to
bounce the kick home from 45m. Whadda guy. Even better than Phil Matera.
Or Phil Gilbert, whom The Age tells us the Dockers received in a trade
for Farmer with the Demons before Jeff'd played a game. Peter Bell, Matt
Lloyd, Jeff Farmer. Boy did they get ripped off.
Jeff Farmer booted 8 goals from 12 kicks, 4 marks. Lots of Dee
midfielders had big games although the standouts were Adem Yze (33
disposals, 2 goals) and Shane Woewodin (21 touches). But Stephen Powell
(24, 2 goals), Andrew Leoncelli (23) and Anthony McDonald (23, a goal)
were all good. David Schwarz actually did something with 3 goals from
his 15 disposals - just the one mark although the wind swirled inside
Colonial too - and David Neitz began and finished well, 3 goals from his
6 marks. Baby-faced Brad Green looked useful again with 3 goals from his
10 kicks, kudos went to Nicholson for holding Modra to one goal and just
the one mark. Better Dockers included Waterhouse, who kicked 3 goals
from his 15 touches and 7 marks, lithe Brad Bootsma with 27 disposals
and a goal, his best game to date and the reliable toddler Paul Hasleby
(19 disposals, a goal). Fair efforts came from Troy Cook (22 handlings,
a goal), winger Heath Black (24 possies) and Brad Dodd (18 touches). The
only Drum quote here is "Early in the game we made some unbelievable
errors." If they can drag themselves off the carpet to beat the Eagles
next week, they should finish above the local rivals. Then off to
Brisbane for their last game...Neale Daniher said "It was a good win.
They (his players) were ready to go today and we...didn't really give
Freo a sniff." They've the tricky Geelong next week, then journey west
to play the Eagles in round 22. Any slip-up by the Roos, two wins will
see them grab third.
At the MCG:
Richmond 5.4 10.6 17.8 18.11.119
St. Kilda 4.1 5.3 6.7 12.7.79
Easy victory for the Tigers allowed them to strengthen their finals
chances, although they still need to beat the reborn Swans next weekend
to be certain. St. Kilda were terrible for much of the game but roused
themselves to kick the final six goals. The Tigers made one change from
last week, giving a debut to draftee Ty Zantuck, son of former North,
South and Melbourne player Shane. Lionel Proctor was dropped. Saint
rookie Brett Moyle's season came to a premature end during the week as
he was suspended three weeks for crunching Demon Johnstone, Caydn
Beetham and Chad Davis were axed for ex-Tiger Justin Plapp, Gavin
Mitchell and ruckman Peter Everitt, returning after a layoff with knee
trouble. During the week Everitt opined that Essendon "won't even make
the Grand Final".
As per last week, the Tigers enjoyed plenty of early possession but
conceded the first three goals, Saints Nathan Burke and Stew Loewe with
drilled shots from loose play and Barry Hall converting a strong grab. A
blustery, swirling northerly made marking and accurate kicking
difficult, especially at the Punt Road end. Mark Chaffey roved to Ben
Holland for the Tigers' first goal, then Holland out-manouvred Daryl
Wakelin for a grab and sausage. Joe McLaren put the Saints two goals
ahead again, converting a pass from Brett Knowles. Richmond scored
fifteen of the next seventeen goals to 3/4 time. Joel Bowden raced
forward from the restart, his shot sprayed wide but Knowles's kick-in
hovered perfectly for Bowden to intercept and goal. Paul Broderick and
Nick Daffy steered shots through from the stand-sheltered right pocket.
Tiges scored the first five goals of the second term, Holland with two,
Matty Knights completed an end-to-end move from a kick-in and Greg
Tivendale's long punt bounced through. He and Mark Chaffey were getting
plenty of kicks. It's harsh to say a team isn't trying but that's the
way St. Kilda looked, apart from Andy Thompson and David Sierakowski.
It continued to rain majors for Richmond throughout the third, both
Holland and Matt Rogers were able to fall down, get up and run into an
open goal, Wayne Campbell goaded Everitt into conceding a free-kick
goal. That was fair enough but the Saints overall had a shocking deal
from the officials, frees at 3/4 time were 24-7 the Tigers' way and
finished 28-12. Still, when you're second to the ball and hitting blokes
out of frustration, that'll happen. Aussi Jones made two bad handling
errors, one led to a goal for Richmond when the ball went between
Jones's legs, a minute later Jones fumbled the ball out-of-bounds and
booted it into the fence in frustration. Another Tiger free. Right on
the three-quarter siren Campbell marked and goaled thanks to Zantuck
shoving Plapp out of the way, right in front of the ump. The Saints
copped a few like that. Stew Loewe was so unhappy at being thrashed by
Andy Kellaway he smacked the young Tiger in the head, resulting in a
report and probable early end to season 2000 for Stewie. Ben Holland
caught Hall in possession and free-kicked the first goal of the final
stanza, Richmond led by 73 points and a hefty percentage boost looked
certain. But the Saints re-organised and the Tiges benched key men
Gaspar, Gale and Knights for a rest. Saints Loewe and Sean Charles went
forward and Hall was at full-back now. Charles kicked consecutive goals,
Loewe did likewise from good grabs and kicks, Loewe set majors up for
Gavin Mitchell and Tony Brown to give some sort of pleasure for Saint
fans.
Last week it was the Tigers' A-team, this time the much-improved younger
brigade got involved. Joel Bowden (28 disposals, 6 marks, a goal) and
Mark Chaffey (28 disposals, 2 goals) were very good wingers, at
full-forward Ben Holland was resourceful to kick 5 goals in tough
conditions for big men. Andrew Kellaway played terrifically on Loewe
(Royce Vardy picked him up in the final term) and had 28 possessions
with 10 of those heart-in-mouth backwards marks in defence. Leon Cameron
mopped up nicely in the last line. Matt Rogers booted 4 goals, Greg
Tivendale played a good first half with 14 disposals and a goal, he
ended with 17 altogether. Wayne Campbell kicked 2 goals. Best for the
Saints were the hyper-honest Andrew Thompson with a hefty 31 disposals,
tireless ruckman David Sierakowski (19 disposals, 9 marks) and Steven
Sziller deserves praise for tagging Campbell out of it after the Tiger
had 12 touches in the first quarter, Sziller had 14 possessions to
Campbell's 10 after then. Loewe's stats looked alright after a big last
quarter, 17 kicks, 10 marks and 4 goals. Rover Steven Baker tagged
Knights reasonably and had 15 touches, winger Matthew Carr (19 kicks, 8
marks) was alright. Hall and Charles kicked 2 goals each. Watson wasn't
impressed by the late fightback. "Richmond put their cue in the rack.
From our perspective we had some real desire to make a contest late in
the game, but it was all over. I thought it was a really disappointing
afternoon." Up to Brisbane, then North at Colonial to finish for Timmy.
Frawley said "When the game was there to be won, I thought the boys were
sensational. The last quarter was pretty disappointing to fade out like
that." Ah well.
Ladder after Round Twenty:
Pts. % Next week
Essendon 80 164.9 Footscray (Colonial, Fri. night)
Carlton 60 133.7 Port Adelaide (Football Park, Sunday)
North Melbourne 52 105.5 Collingwood (Colonial, Sunday)
Melbourne 48 115.9 Geelong (MCG, Sunday)
Geelong 46 97.2 Melbourne (MCG, Sunday)
Footscray 44 104.0 Essendon (Colonial, Fri. night)
Richmond 44 96.1 Sydney (Colonial, Saturday)
Brisbane 40 108.7 St. Kilda (Gabba, Sat. night)
-------------------------------------
Hawthorn 40 95.3 Adelaide (MCG, Saturday)
Sydney 36 101.9 Richmond (Colonial, Saturday)
Adelaide 36 99.3 Hawthorn (MCG, Saturday)
West Coast 30 94.7 Fremantle (Subiaco, Sunday)
Fremantle 28 73.5 West Coast (Subiaco, Sunday)
Collingwood 24 84.9 North Melbourne (Colonial, Sunday)
Port Adelaide 22 80.2 Carlton (Football Park, Sunday)
St. Kilda 10 72.7 Brisbane (Gabba, Sat. night)
Cheers, Tim
e-mail: t.murphy@rmit.edu.au
Essadun/Carlton hype dominated the week, and it was indeed a very good
game. If you don't want to know the scores, look away later. The Age is
doing some sort of footy survey thing, they discoverted that 44% of
footy patrons attend a game less often than five years ago. Why so? Here
we are in the middle of winter and 50% of the teams were playing at
night. Surely that'd draw in more people? And if I ever go to court, I
want Blue Aaron Hamill's defence team. Last year he kneed Dean Wallis in
the head in the preliminary final and got off, last week Hamill
administered a solid boot straight to Tony Liberatore's Niagaras,
tribunal said you're free to leave Mr. Hamill. Naughty Mr. Umpire should
have charged him with tripping, not kicking. Aahh...
A couple more retirements, Geelong ruck-rover Liam Pickering was
conquered by injury and advancing age. Pickering played 102 games for
Geelong and 22 for North before that, winning Geelong's B & F and state
selection in 1997. But since then it's been mostly ailment,
osteo-arthritis of the shoulder the most significant. Up at Melbourne
full-back Jamie Shanahan retired, the 32-year-old was told at the start
of the year he'd be competing with Anthony Ingerson for a spot in the
side and he's not got a run, with a few injuries contributing. Shanahan
played 162 games, 125 with St. Kilda. Unfortunately for Shannas he'll be
remembered for being taken apart by Darren Jarman in the final quarter
of the 1997 Grand Final, he didn't kick a goal in his career either. And
Pie supporters of a certain age may be saddened to hear of the death of
Ray Gabelich, a ruckman famed for his comically inept but ultimately
successful "run" in the 1964 Grand Final. Gabelich also powered WA to
victory over Victoria in a state game in 1961, long before
State-of-Origin.
At the MCG:
Carlton 2.3 6.5 9.7 12.11.83
Essendon 4.4 6.6 9.9 16.13.109
See the Bommers win ev'ry thing
Hand over the premiership flag
The Blues had a go in this big game
But struggled once Braddles and Kouta went lame
Yes, a huge game in front of a massive 91,571 on Friday night saw the
Dons pull away inexorably in the final term. Post mortems said Carlton
could "take some heart" from the game by staying reasonably close,
"Essendon are beatable" was another commonly-heard statement. What a
crock, it's over, give the Dons the cup now. Essendon had one change to
the side going in but it was a biggy, full-back Dustin Fletcher
withdrawing with a hip injury, he was replaced by Jonathon Robran.
Carlton regained hard-heads Glenn Manton, Fraser Brown and Craig
Bradley. Brown's previous game had been against the Dons in round 5,
when he copped four weeks for whacking Joe Misiti. Since then it's been
injury, the twos and another suspension in the VFL. Bradley's "flu'" of
last week was in fact a hamstring problem, as became rapidly apparent.
Dropped Bloos were Adam Chatfield, Brendan Fevola and Kris Massie.
It mightn't have been pretty with lots of backline-flooding and
close-checking, but it was fast, tough and very good. After a brief
attacking start the Blues looked in trouble. Joe Misiti roved a throw-in
and dribbled the first goal for the Dons, Misiti kicked forward quickly
from the restart, Scott Lucas gathered and handballed for Mark Mercuri
to slot on the run. Blue Brownlow favourite Koutoufides did a posterior
cruciate in a collision with Jason Johnson and departed. Four to six -
possibly the season. A bit later Bradley's dodgy hamstring went again.
Two to three. Brown missed a shot and Scott Freeborn spilled an easy
mark within range as the Dons climbed all over 'em. Only stout Bloo
defence and crucifixion of Matt Lloyd by the umps stopped the Dons
scoring. Bet Lloydy won't criticise the officials publicly again.
Eventually Adam Ramanauskas intercepted a pass with a clever mark, he
passed for the busy Justin Blumfield to pot one from 50m on the run.
Essadun by 17 points, three goals to none. Shades of the Essadun/Norf
game before Brett Ratten's mongrel punt forward was gathered and
converted by Ryan Houlihan. Ratten cleared the restart, his kick cleared
the pack and Matt Lappin soccered it through, the Blues were up and
running. A nice, sharp turn from Dean Rioli allowed him to set up a late
mark and goal for Blumfield and the Dons led by 11 at the first change.
Carlton did better in term two, powered by Ratten. His high kick was
well-marked by ruckman Mark Porter over Robran and thumped home from
55m. Lance Whitnall's first shot postered - Sean Wellman was on him -
before Mercuri majored for the Dons from a woeful free kick. That put
'em 12 points up but immediately another Ratten kick forward was marked
and converted by Whitnall, then a perfect Bloo movement along the
Members' wing was completed by Ratten delivering to Whitnall again, gol
and the scores were level. Anthony Franchina behinded to put the Baggers
ahead before Porter marked in the goalsquare and majored again. The Dons
rallied late, following misses from Caracella and Blumfield a good
interchange between Mark Johnson and Mick Long led to a goal for Misiti,
it put the Dons a point ahead at the long break. Steve Silvagni,
Carlton's captain with Bradley off, had a long chat to the umps as they
departed.
Carlton shaded the Bommers in a tough, close start to the second half.
An early shot from Scott Camporeale was just touched through by Don ruck
John Barnes, a moment later Barnes appeared at the other end of the 'G
to mark Evil One's banana-kick and convert. Blue Heath Culpitt levelled
the scores with a long free-kick goal, Houlihan set up the next goal
with sharp roving and a handpass to Ratten who grubbed it through.
Bommer spearhead Lloyd had ventured all over the place chasing a kick,
he finally marked one near the goal but missed. A minute later Wellman
was done for a throw, Whitnall passed the free to Brown who kicked
truly. Blues by 10 points and they were going alright. With none of
Lloyd, Lucas or Jim Hird doing much - credit to opponents Manton,
Silvagni and Beaumont - Sheedy benched Lucas, allowed Lloyd to roam and
put Hird in the goalsquare. The Dons went forward from the centre bounce
after Brown's goal, Beaumont unluckily spilled a two-grabber and Hird
pounced. Jim wheeled away calling Beaumont a "funking banker", I think.
Essadun pinched the lead back with another late goal, Lloyd's first from
an overdue free kick against Manton. Someone was going to kick clear and
the Blues' injuries were going to tell. Both teams started the final
term with a loose man in defence, Rioli for the Dons and Silvagni for
the Bloos. Rioli made the first impact with an excellent attacking run,
Steve Alessio gathered the loose ball and snapped a gol. A terrible
clearing kick from Blue Aaron Hamill went straight to Ramanauskas, he
passed for Jason Johnson to mark and convert. Those two Dons had big
final quarters. Dons by 14 points, Carlton went forward from the bounce
and Silvagni, who'd gone to full forward now, marked and goaled. But the
Bombers started to stream through midfield, Jason Johnson missed
consecutive shots before Alessio's hooked kick led to an easy Long
sausage. Mark Johnson sent the pill forward from the restart, Hird did
very well to trap it and dish off to Ramanauskas, pass to Blumfield,
gol. Mercuri galloped downfield and punted towards Blumfield, a nice
inboard handpass and Jason Johnson bagged another. Essadun by a
match-deciding 28 points. Carlton fired one last shot, consecutive goals
to Whitnall and Silvagni, but Brown and Camporeale missed opportunities.
Fifteen points the diff and Ramanauskas created the sealer for Mercuri,
a simple tap-through. A Dean Solomon speccie and major confirmed the
Dons' twentieth.
Lanky Essadun flanker Justin Blumfield was one of the few players not
involved in backline-flooding or man-marking and he used the freedom to
maximum effect, with 3 goals from his 19 disposals with 8 marks. Young
winger Adam Ramanauskas, Docker Hasleby's main rival for the Rising Star
award, played very well for 21 disposals and in the midfield the
muscular Johnsons were very good, Mark had 22 touches in the middle and
off half-back, Jason had a huge final quarter with 14 disposals and 2
goals, he had 21 touches altogether. Rugged defender Damien Hardwick
played well again for 25 possies and Mark Mercuri provided a touch of
class with 3 goals from his 18 disposals. Joe Misiti kicked 2 goals but
was beaten convincingly by Ratten. Blue rover Brett Ratten ran himself
ragged and played very, very well for 36 disposals and a goal. Centreman
Scott Camporeale was also very busy with 32 possessions but without the
support of injured Bradley and Kouta, both he and Ratten tired
significantly towards the end which contributed to the result. Good
efforts from backmen Simon Beaumont on Hird, Glenn Manton on Lloyd and
Steve Silvagni on Lucas, two goals between the three Bombers and
Silvagni had 15 kicks, took 12 marks and kicked 2 final-term goals to
boot. Lance Whitnall worked hard for 3 goals from his 14 disposals, 5
marks, young rover Ryan Houlihan did a bit with 18 touches and a goal,
ruckman Porter made an impact with 31 hitouts, 8 marks and 2 goals.
Parkin was upbeat. "I think we battled along pretty well; I don't think
we regressed any because of the night. I think we will be looking
forward to the opportunity (of a rematch) if it arises. We will have to
work pretty hard". Parko's optimism was predicated on the absences of
Bradley, Kouta, Hickmott, Allan and Justin Murphy, poised for a return
after a few reserves games. Sheedy said "That game was what we needed,
more than anything. From the point of view of our wins of the last three
weeks it was a pretty ferocious contest. It was good for us."
At the MCG:
Hawthorn 3.1 8.4 11.10 15.11.101
Port Adelaide 5.3 8.7 10.8 12.8.80
A game which suffered in comparison with the previous evening, a modest
19,000 dragging themselves out into the cold, windy day to see a contest
of average-to-low standard. The Horks kept their season alive by
prevailing in unconvincing fashion over the feisty Port. In selection
the Hawks regained Jon Hay and Daniel Harford and recalled teenager
Chance Bateman, out went Angelo Lekkas, Richard Taylor and Richard
Vandenberg, all dropped. Not a good time of the year to be dropped,
especially for Lekkas and Taylor. The Power copped a hefty swag of
injuries in Brisbane, Gavin Wanganeen's miserable year continued with a
hamstring strain, big man Matthew Bishop's shoulder was injured in a
bump from Leppitsch, Jarrad Schofield strained a thigh and concussion
did for Scott Bassett. Replacements were Josh Carr, Nathan Steinberner
and youngsters Brent Guerra and Paul Koulouriotis.
Port started well, winning at ball-ups and throw-ins and attacking fast
and long. They goaled within 10 seconds of the start, Stu Dew pouncing
on Luke McCabe's fumble. A bit later Jared Poulton's high snap sailed
through. Port led 13 points to none before Aaron Lord opened the Hawks'
account with a typical opportunistic snap. Backman Trent Croad ran
afield and kicked long where John Barker marked unopposed by his
bewildered Port minder. Barker's goal made it a point the diff but Port
booted the next two majors, they cleared the following bounce, Hawk
defender Rawlings spilled a mark and Chad Cornes made him pay. A Poulton
shot wobbled horrendously off the boot but Dew gathered and goaled.
Horforn lost Lord with a hamstring. Tony Woods, who'd been very busy,
roved a throw-in and snapped truly but Port took the early honours when
Matt Primus roved his own goalsquare pack and stabbed it through. Their
Warren Tredrea, the least reliable goalshooter in the AFL, missed from
30m dead in front. Hawks appeared to have shaken their torpor early in
the second, Chance Bateman slotted his maiden goal with a nice piece of
play. Tredrea grabbed the ball at a bounce and restored the Power's
2-goal lead, but a mystery 50m penalty saw Hawk rover Anthony Rock kick
the next goal, Ben Dixon roved Rock's long kick and snapped truly, Dan
Chick put the Horks in front for the first time as he capped off a
string of handballs. But the Powder hit back, Tredrea kicked a difficult
shot - he'll do that - to edge them ahead once more, another clean
possession from a bounce saw Josh Francou snap a sausage. Port by 9
points but a nice end-to-end move by the Mayblooms allowed Rock to pull
it back to 3. A long Fabian Francis shot postered and Nick Holland
missed after the siren.
It stayed tight into the third, the inability of either team to deliver
the ball making scoring tough. No score for a while before Port's Bowen
Lockwood converted a free kick, the very good Nick Stevens passed well
for Dew to mark and kick his third and Port led by 13 points. Hawthorn
benched the battling Salmon and put Nathan Thompson in the ruck, Croad
went forward. Croad immediately capitalised on John Barker's mark and
kick to boot a goal. The Hawthorn heirarchy were rather surprised when
Shane Crawford benched himself, a calf strain. Tredrea missed another
sitter, Hawks Holland and Thompson also behinded before Glen Bowyer
levelled the scores with an excellent mark, play-on and slot. Dan
Harford roved a pack and booted the Hawks 6 points to the good. Port
were stifled by a string of horrendous umpiring decisions against them,
on the siren Croad missed terribly and headbutted Primus in frustration.
Ben Dixon kicked the first sausage of the last quarter, well set-up by
Holland and Barlow to give Hawthorn a 14-point lead. The Power then had
a good spell but couldn't score, until Francis smacked a long bomb home.
Then Primus fired a handpass out to Nick Stevens, he thumped one through
and Horforn's lead was back to 3 points. This turn excited the listening
Tiger supporter, we cheered vociferously for Port. But Joel Smith got
the Hawks forward thanks to a shonky free against Derek Murray, Bowyer
gathered the ball and goaled. Barker converted a running shot and the
Hawks were 15 ahead into time-on. They attempted the keepings-off
although Lance Picioane broke with the plan to kick a late major.
The better Hawks were in the middle, winger Raydon Tallis (28 disposals)
and rover Anthony Rock who had just 13 disposals but kept the Hawks in
it before half-time and booted 2 goals. Daniel Chick's fine season
continued with 24 touches and a goal. John Barker is proving to be a
useful forward, he took 9 marks and booted 2 goals, Nathan Thompson's
performance in the ruck was handy. Ruck-rover Tony Woods got the ball 30
times and kicked a goal, Glen Bowyer had a good second half on the wing
for a total of 21 disposals and 2 goals. Ben Dixon booted 2 majors as
well. Port had good performances from ruckman Matt Primus (19 disposals,
a goal) although he got a bit tired towards the end. Nick Stevens worked
very hard for 36 disposals and kicked a goal, he was very good. Brett
Montgomery was alright, 23 touches, and stocky Stu Dew booted 3 goals
from 14 kicks. Warren Tredrea played well really, 11 marks, 23 touches
and 2 goals. Fabian Francis was solid again with 29 possies and a goal
off half-back. "I was really impressed with the way the guys fought the
game out," said Williams, "probably the last three or four minutes where
they kicked three goals wasn't a true indication of where the game
was...From our point of view, following up from last week it was a good,
credible loss." There can't be a Port Adelaide coach in all their
875-year history who's ever said that last sentence. Peter Schwab said
"I was disappointed in the first half, I just thought we were hanging in
there without much oomph...the guys on the bench had the most
spirit...so a few guys lifted their rating. They knew what was at stake
in the finish, so I was just pleased to win."
At the SCG:
Sydney 6.4 8.13 15.14 21.19.145
North Melbourne 3.1 5.5 11.7 14.7.91
Every time the Kangas begin to look good, something goes wrong. And so
it was here. With Corey McKernan injuring a calf at training and not
starting, the ordinary Roos went on to cop a hiding from a motivated
Sydney. The Swan selection suggested resignation, but the huge win
restored finals hopes. They chose new Blood (aha!) in 19-year-old
ruckman Stephen Doyle, a father-son draftee last November. He's from
South Adelaide. Rowan Warfe returned too, they replaced dropped pair Leo
Barry and Ben Fixter. The Roos also had a debutant in Brad Stephens from
the Murray Bushrangers. Tough defender Glenn Archer also returned after
a layoff with a broken foot, out went Kent Kingsley.
The Swans' last home game for the year and the Roos' pointless northern
venture was the source of some niggle. Swan skipper Kelly suggested the
Kangas should give up playing in Sydney; Roo coach Denis Pagan expressed
a desire to play a home final at the SCG "because of our record here".
It certainly can't be for the crowd. Sydney started quickly with Mick
O'Loughlin burning, he booted 3 goals in the first quarter from 5 marks
and 10 disposals, although two majors involved a bit of luck. A long
shot found its way through - not over - a 5-man goalsquare pack and the
other a close-range soccer after the agget pinballed around the
goalsquare. O'Loughlin also created one of Robbie AhMat's two first-term
goals, the other came from a Paul Kelly pass. The Swans were speeding
through the middle with Stuart Maxfield and Matthew Nicks doing well,
Norf fell into the trap of playing the flanks. You think they'd learn.
Wayne Carey, loudly booed, bombed a long goal and had a hand in one for
Peter Bell, an excellent kick from Dave King led to the Roos' other for
Brent Harvey. But they'd lost Martin Pike with a hammy. The Bloods
absolutely dominated the second term but failed to reap full dividend
with horrendous kicking for goal. Roo Adam Simpson kicked an early one
from a free kick against Swan ruck Greg Stafford, Stafford atoned
immediately with a very good goal. He seems a lot more interested
recently. The Bloods kicked six consecutive points, the worst misses
being from Adam Goodes, who kicked three of the six, and O'Loughlin.
Goodes and O'Loughlin also spoiled each other in a goalsquare contest
and Matthew Nicks behinded twice. "He couldn't possibly miss this," was
McAvaney's comment prior to Goodes's third point. Thank Danny we don't
have to hear Plugger, Roosy and Brooce 'til next year. Finally Stafford
plucked a grab in the teeth of goal and converted, Swans by 33 points.
Norf were playing as poorly as any time in the last six years, they were
gifted a late goal when David King was given a technical 50m penalty
against Andrew Schauble. "That's really DISGRACEFUL. You should be able
to BENCH the umpire for that," Brooce ranted.
The third quarter demonstrated the benefit of clean possession from the
centre bounce. After an early Sydney goal Roo ruckman Spider Burton won
three centre-bounce taps, Bell and Harvey sent the ball forward for
three goals, two from Carey marks and the other to Adam Lange. Norf
appeared on the way back as they trailed by 13 points. Then Kelly
appeared in the centre for Sydney and they won three centre clearances
and scored three goals. O'Loughlin, limping, marked and converted the
first, the others good snaps from Nic Fosdike and Wayne Schwass. Norf
kept challenging but Sydney always replied, Archer pushed forward to
join Carey and their consecutive sausages narrowed the margin to 20
points. But AhMat goaled from Schwass's pass and a Dale Lewis handpass
sent Jude Bolton in for a goal, the Swans were 5 goals ahead again at
the final change. And they put the Roos away early in the last,
O'Loughlin steamed out on a lead, failed to control the ball on the
half-volley but Kelly arrived and set up a tap-through for Troy Luff.
Robbie AhMat had the crowd roaring with a 3-bounce and 1-fumble run
which covered 100 metres before he punted it through. Swans by 43 points
and it was over. Goodes missed again before a goal umpire accidentally
soccered the ball back into play for Dan McPherson to kick a goal.
Blowout time as Stafford and Goodes (finally) majored, before Norf got a
couple of late consolations.
Greg Stafford has been behind much of the Swan resurgence, he had 19
touches, 9 marks and kicked 3 goals. Paul Kelly (17 touches) has been
handy too. But he wasn't among the best, those accolades belong to Mick
O'Loughlin (17 touches, 6 marks, 4 goals) and centreman Daryn Cresswell
who beat Bell and Harvey at the centre bounce and had 24 disposals with
2 goals. CHB Andrew Schauble did very well against Carey, although Carey
was probably the Roos' best player he wasn't as dominant as he can be.
Brad Seymour also played well down back 21 touches with 6 marks and
Robbie AhMat - a Magpie reject along with Schauble - had a big night
kicking 4 goals from his 6 kicks. Adam Goodes (18 kicks, 10 marks)
could've had a big night too if he'd done better than 1.5. Matthew Nicks
had 30 disposals and Stuart Maxfield 16 kicks. Dan McPherson kicked 2
goals and had 29 touches. Norf had few good players, Wayne Carey (15
kicks, 10 marks, 4 goals) did what he could and David King (18 kicks, a
goal) battled away. John Blakey was opposed to Kelly early and played
alright for 20 disposals and 8 marks, Brent Harvey (17 touches, 2 goals)
was decent. Shannon Grant - also booed every touch - kicked 2 goals.
Pagan was at a loss to explain the sudden shocker. "In the first ten
minutes of the game the Swans were very sharp and really wanted to make
something of it and we were probably the opposite." Eade said "From our
point of view we had our last three games against teams in the eight and
if we didn't make the eight we'd certainly like to shape it...We lost
six games by less than 12 points so we've only had three or four bad
games for the year. Unfortunately people look at the win-loss
ratio...The Kangaroos have won five by less than nine and we've lost
five by less than nine so we believe we're thereabouts..." Richmond and
Geelong, both away, to end their season. Who knows? If they play like
this again, they're a big chance in both.
At Colonial:
Collingwood 2.3 4.6 8.5 13.13.91
Footscray 3.2 9.5 14.9 15.10.100
The Bulldogs stumbled badly towards the end but a great goal in the last
minute from Paul Hudson secured their win and shored up their spot in
the eight. With the Bombers and Hawks to finish they needed to win this
one. Unusually the Pies made just one alteration to the side, Paul
Williams returning for injured Mark Richardson. The Bulldogs received a
boost with the returns of Chris Grant and Todd Curley from injury. Steve
Kolyniuk was recalled too, probably because of his record against the
Maggies. However Paul Dimattina might miss the remainder of the seaon
with his hamstring and Steven Kretiuk was out with injury, young ruckmen
Patrick Wiggins was dropped. Tough, dedicated Bulldog Jose Romero played
his 200th game, a great achievement for a bloke deemed to be finished
when North Melbourne delisted him after 40-odd games.
A tight first term, Bully Brad Johnson played on key Pie Nathan Buckley
but neither went much near the other, each got heaps of kicks. Bucks
booted a huge 60m goal to open scoring and set up the Pies' second for
Damien Adkins. Forwards from both sides had trouble getting the ball,
mainly because of extremely sloppy kicking from their midfielders. The
Bulldogs got two first-term goals from speedy half-back Mark Robbins,
including a miracle snap. Simon Garlick made one for himself again.
Scott West and Libber gave the Pups some consistent drive in the second
term, Rohan Smith kicked a couple of goals, so did Garlick and Johnson
got another. Trent Bartlett marked and smacked one home from a helluva
long way and the Dogs had a decent lead at the long break. Only Buckley
(another sausage in the second stanza), O'Bree and Nick Davis were doing
much for the Pies. The third korter was more even. Early goals from
Magpies Ben Johnson and Josh Fraser, found nicely by Buckley, were
answered by Robbins again and Hudson who benefitted from Smith's superb
gather and handpass. Consecutive Magpie majors cut the Dog lead to 16
points, a great burst and long kick from Leon Davis marked and converted
by Nick Davis, then a good effort from Anthony Rocca set up Paul
Williams for a grab and goal. But the Pups rallied with two quick,
running, left-foot goals from Nathan Eagleton, both due to centre
clearances. Ben Kinnear missed a shot before a poor Lockyer kick-in was
sent back for a goal by Steve Kolyniuk. The Dogs had extended their
half-time lead.
The Maggies commenced the final stanza with Mal Michael at full-forward.
He booted the first goal from a lead to Nick Davis's kick, then Shane
O'Bree and Heath Scotland combined in finding Williams for a mark and
conversion. And the Pies scored the next two goals, each from Michael
getting on the end of Tony Rocca kicks. One was a tight angle snap as
Mal collected Rocca's mongrel, the other a mark beside the point-post
and banana-kick. The Scraggies were only 10 points in arrears and
Seven's Robbo was losing his marbles. Bulldogs Eagleton and Kolyniuk
should have had frees within scoring range but perhaps, like Robbo, the
umps were enthralled by the Pie comeback. Buckley kicked forward,
Michael clutched a great diving mark and booted his fourth for the
fourth. Dogs by just 4 points, they went forward from the restart and
now Kolyniuk did get a free kick, against Scott Burns, Kolyniuk's point
was the Bulldogs' first score of the quarter. Time ran short as a
Bartlett shot wobbled out on the full, a long Buckley effort missed. A
series of short passes from Brad Johnson to Jose Romero to Hudson saw
the Pup flanker line up 40m out on the right-hand boundary. He drilled
it, that was it.
Best Bulldog was winger Brad Johnson, who never went near Bucks but did
get the ball 36 times and took 9 marks, kicked a goal. On the ball Scott
West (30 disposals with 21 handballs) and Tony Liberatore (21 touches)
were very good, Simon Garlick did his job again with 3 goals from 8
kicks and speedy back-flanker Mark Robbins bagged 3 goals from his 16
touches. But many Dogs contributed a bit, Eagleton with his handy 2
goals and 11 kicks, Rohan Smith (13 kicks, 2 goals), milestone man
Romero (29 disposals). Coach Wallace paid tribute to aging Scott Wynd
who rucked all game, Paul Hudson kicked 2 goals. It was all Nathan
Buckley for the Pies, a massive 41 disposals with 11 marks and 2 goals.
With Kouta out for the rest of the home-and-aways, Bucks could make a
late charge for The Medal. Mal Michael's 4 final-term goals nearly
pinched it for the Pies, he had 8 marks and 8 kicks altogether. Paul
Williams (12 kicks, 2 goals) was okay and Anthony Rocca did his best
work across half-forward with 7 marks, 13 touches and a goal. Shane
O'Bree (18 kicks) was handy. Malthouse reckoned "We had some chances at
the end, and we probably blew a lot of chances we had early in the game
when we should have been a lot closer than we were...We showed a lot of
fight to stay in the contest." They've North on the rebound and then the
Dons to finish, that last one could be a biggie. Wallace said "We've
arrived at the scene and done the job we came here to do, probably not
in the fashion that we would have liked to have performed it, but the
result's there." Indeed, although a bit of percentage would've been
handy with their tough finish.
At Subiaco:
West Coast 4.2 5.3 8.5 12.6.78
Geelong 3.4 5.12 9.19 14.24.108
Geelong are in, barring an extraordinary sequence of events and will
face Melbourne for a top-four berth and double-chance next weekend.
Woeful goalshooting might've ruined it but the Cats got enough
possession after half-time to always seem comfortable. The Western derby
will determine whether the Eagles finish above or below the Dockers. In
selection the Eagles rotated youngsters again, Laurie Bellotti, Jaxon
Crabb and Paul Symmons were axed for David Antonowicz, Callum Chambers
and Andrew Embley. The Cats lost key forward David Mensch with a broken
jaw sustained in his clash with Jason McCartney last weekend, Hamish
Simpson was dumped. Replacements were Barry Stoneham, back from a
buttock injury, and young forward Cameron Ling.
We tuned in, third quarter, to see the Cats on 7.16. How they'd got
there became immediately apparent as Cameron Mooney came up with a
horrible Lingesque miss from 2m out, then Ronnie Burns sprayed wide
after David Spriggs's good work recovered the kick-in. Spriggs missed
one himself and the Cats were 7.19. Away back at the start Geelong had a
decent breeze, but were outscored in the first quarter as Eagle Chads
Fletcher and Morrison gathered much ball. Morrison and Chambers booted
sausages, the Cats had Garry Hocking and Glen Kilpatrick getting a bit
of it. In quartier du the Cats were against the wind but lifted,
particularly ruckman Steven King. They kicked a load of points, not
ideal but it did have the advantage of locking the ball in their forward
line for long periods, preventing the Wiggles from using their
atmospheric assistance. Back to when we were watching, after those three
misses Ronnie Burns roved a contest and kicked truly at last, extending
the Cat lead to 26 points. Kilpatrick cleared the centre bounce and a
Darren Milburn snap bounced thru', Geelong had cleared out by 32 points.
The Weegs were almost buried but two good late goals from Fletcher
reduced the gap to 20 points at the final change. The locals were coming
home on the wind but they couldn't establish the momentum, it was
goal-for-goal all the way. Phil Matera roved a throw-in an snapped the
first major, at the other end Mooney scored in identical fashion. After
a couple more Cat behinds, one a juggle-through by Clint Bizzell, Eagle
Rowan Jones marked teammate Embley's miskick and goaled. But a good, low
mark from King and Brad Sholl's long kick saw Milburn reply for the
Cats. Phil Matera edged the Eegs within 3 goals again with a free-kick
against Sanderson, Burns replied for Geelong with a freakish running
left-foot banana. Hocking kicked into Sholl's path for the rugged Cat to
score the next, all over with the margin 29 points. Young David Haynes
was allowed a goal following a mark he dropped before Catter
Scarlett.completed the scoring.
Steven King dominated the ruck and was the most important Cat, he had 33
hitouts and 24 disposals. On the back of his efforts Hocking (29
disposals, a goal) and Kilpatrick (29 too) had good games while tagger
Carl Steinfort kept primary Eagle ball-winner Dean Kemp very quiet.
Darren Milburn was a very busy forward-flanker with 31 disposals, 11
marks and 2 goals, big man Ben Graham was handy in defence with 18 kicks
and 10 marks. The work was shared up front with two goals each for
Burns, Bizzell and Mooney, in addition to Milburn. Brad Sholl enjoyed
the last quarter with 10 disposals and a goal, 27 touches for him in
total. For the Eagles much work was done in midfield by Ben Cousins (26
touches, a goal), Chad Morrison (28 disposals, a goal) and Chad Fletcher
(14 kicks, 2 goals). Giant backman Glen Jakovich was good once more with
26 possies and tall flanker Andrew Williams played a nice game with 22
touches. Some praise for Callum Chambers (15 disposals, 2 goals) and
Drew Banfield, who was on Burns. Phil Matera snaggled 3 goals and
hopefully will be rewarded with All-Australian selection in a forward
pocket this year, although Jeff Farmer will probably edge him out. No
quotes in the eastern press.
At Football Park:
Adelaide 2.3 5.6 6.11 11.12.78
Brisbane 4.5 7.7 13.8 17.13.115
The Camrys' chances of participating in the finals nose-dived as they
were beaten at home by the Lions, who won consecutive games at last. In
picking the Camrys lost Ian Perrie with a strained shoulder and dropped
James Byrne, Kym Koster and Andrew Eccles returned from injury. Brisbane
made one alteration, forward Tim Notting back from injury at Des
Headland's expense.
The Brians' sources of inspiration were centremen Michael Voss and Simon
Black, who flat-out beat the Camry pairing of Andrew McLeod and Mark
Ricciuto. In fact Marcus Ashcroft and Shaun Hart were involved in
tagging Ricciuto and McLeod respectively, but you get the idea. It was
windy in Adelaide too and the Lions had it first, although Corolla
skipper Mark Bickley kicked the first goal after catching Chris Scott in
a tackle. But soon Luke Power and spearhead Al Lynch had majors on the
board for the banana-benders. The Lions worked particularly hard in the
second term to restrict the Crows, those mentioned previously and Steve
Lawrence playing well. Back with the breeze in the third term the Lions
sealed the game with six goals to one, one of the six coming when Tyson
Edwards attempted to switch play in the teeth of his defensive goal,
only to kick the ball straight to Al Lynch, he gave the handpass to
Power for a simple tap-through. A bit later Bickley was off with
concussion received off the ball, the Camrys focussed heavily on Lion
Tim Notting. The Crows had Tyson Edwards playing well and Simon Goodwin,
Kane Johnson was moved onto the ball for the last quarter and gave them
a lift there. But the Cows really battled to kick goals, while the
visitors had defender Jason Akermanis kicking 'em. Some final-term goals
from Dan Bradshaw sealed an important win.
As mentioned the Lions won the midfield, where Michael Voss (34
disposals, 2 goals) and Simon Black (just the 34 disposals) were big
winners. They had excellent support from the in-form Nigel Lappin (26
possies) and Steven Lawrence (25 touches). The tagging jobs of Hart and
Ashcroft were well-performed. Akermanis sprinted forward as per usual
for 4 goals from his 18 kicks and Daniel Bradshaw continued with his
new-found consistency for 4 goals from his 8 marks. Chris Johnson (20
touches) has slotted nicely into defence. Handy contributions from Luke
Power (11 disposals, 3 goals), Al Lynch (2 goals) and ruckman Beau
McDonald. Edwards was Aderlayed's best gathering 23 kicks with 8 marks
and a goal, nominally on a forward-flank but venturing all over. What
midfield possession they had was won by Simon Goodwin (28 disposals) and
Kane Johnson (22, a goal), ruck Shaun Rehn played a good game with 18
disposals, 7 marks and 2 goals. Few other Camrys did much though, Scott
Welsh lurked for 4 goals from 7 kicks. They've an outside chance at best
now, Hawthorn at the 'G and the Showdown to finish. "They nutted us in
the midfield and that's where the game was shut down from our point of
view," was Ayres's brief summary. He did point out they'd improved from
last year's 6-16 record. Matthews was understandably happy. "The part of
the game we were very good with was the run of guys to receive handballs
and to run with the ball, with and against the wind." With two very
easy-looking home games to finish, they're certs.
At Colonial:
Melbourne 8.2 12.4 20.7 25.10.160
Fremantle 2.2 4.4 8.7 11.11.77
Melbourne can eye off third following the Kangas' surprise loss and
their own massacre of a terrible Fremantle, although a big battle with
Geelong for a double-chance looms next. The Dees went in without
hamstrung pair James McDonald and Paul Wheatley, struggling Brent Grgic
was dropped. But captain David Neitz returned after straining knee
ligaments two months ago, Daniel Ward got another chance and the Dees
had a first-gamer, 19-year-old pre-season draftee Simon Godfrey from the
Eastern Ranges. Unhappy Drum wielded the axe at Freo, dropping Greg
Harding, Brodie Holland, Jess Sinclair and Leigh Brown, Antoni Grover
was out with a thigh strain. Replacements were James Clement, Ashley
Prescott, Daniel Schell, Brad Dodd and Craig Callaghan. Clement and
Prescott, at least, were playing for their place on the list you'd
reckon.
Didn't see much but the ABC's Len Thompson said Fremantle looked
half-asleep in the first quarter. With the usual Demon suspects -
Powell, Leoncelli, Yze, Rigoni - winning the agget midfield the forwards
had plenty of chances. Neitz was a bit too good for young Pavlich,
hauling in 3 grabs and converting each into a goal, Jeff Farmer kicked
an easy one, dropping a mark, re-gathering, baulking a couple of
Shockers and slotting from the boundary line 35m out. The Dockers did a
little better in the second term, capitalising on the good defensive
rebounding of Brad Bootsma and better efforts afield from Black, Cook
and Hasleby. Farmer kicked two of Melbourne's four goals for the term,
Neitz's lack of match-fitness began to tell. But the hammer was put down
again after half-time, Yze and Woewodin monstering possession. The
Wizard booted another three, one audaciously stealing the ball out of
Brad Dodd's grasp - Dodd didn't quite know what had happened. Dave
Schwarz came to the party as the Dees gave their percentage a healthy
boost. Clive Waterhouse provided something for Dokkers to cheer with
some good play, Modra held by Alistair Nicholson of all people. But
folks were just interested in Farmer by now. He kicked two more in the
final term,, the first of which started with him trapped against the
boundary, 70m out. Jeff ran directly across the ground, handballed
ahead, slipped away from tacklers, scooped the ball up and turned to
bounce the kick home from 45m. Whadda guy. Even better than Phil Matera.
Or Phil Gilbert, whom The Age tells us the Dockers received in a trade
for Farmer with the Demons before Jeff'd played a game. Peter Bell, Matt
Lloyd, Jeff Farmer. Boy did they get ripped off.
Jeff Farmer booted 8 goals from 12 kicks, 4 marks. Lots of Dee
midfielders had big games although the standouts were Adem Yze (33
disposals, 2 goals) and Shane Woewodin (21 touches). But Stephen Powell
(24, 2 goals), Andrew Leoncelli (23) and Anthony McDonald (23, a goal)
were all good. David Schwarz actually did something with 3 goals from
his 15 disposals - just the one mark although the wind swirled inside
Colonial too - and David Neitz began and finished well, 3 goals from his
6 marks. Baby-faced Brad Green looked useful again with 3 goals from his
10 kicks, kudos went to Nicholson for holding Modra to one goal and just
the one mark. Better Dockers included Waterhouse, who kicked 3 goals
from his 15 touches and 7 marks, lithe Brad Bootsma with 27 disposals
and a goal, his best game to date and the reliable toddler Paul Hasleby
(19 disposals, a goal). Fair efforts came from Troy Cook (22 handlings,
a goal), winger Heath Black (24 possies) and Brad Dodd (18 touches). The
only Drum quote here is "Early in the game we made some unbelievable
errors." If they can drag themselves off the carpet to beat the Eagles
next week, they should finish above the local rivals. Then off to
Brisbane for their last game...Neale Daniher said "It was a good win.
They (his players) were ready to go today and we...didn't really give
Freo a sniff." They've the tricky Geelong next week, then journey west
to play the Eagles in round 22. Any slip-up by the Roos, two wins will
see them grab third.
At the MCG:
Richmond 5.4 10.6 17.8 18.11.119
St. Kilda 4.1 5.3 6.7 12.7.79
Easy victory for the Tigers allowed them to strengthen their finals
chances, although they still need to beat the reborn Swans next weekend
to be certain. St. Kilda were terrible for much of the game but roused
themselves to kick the final six goals. The Tigers made one change from
last week, giving a debut to draftee Ty Zantuck, son of former North,
South and Melbourne player Shane. Lionel Proctor was dropped. Saint
rookie Brett Moyle's season came to a premature end during the week as
he was suspended three weeks for crunching Demon Johnstone, Caydn
Beetham and Chad Davis were axed for ex-Tiger Justin Plapp, Gavin
Mitchell and ruckman Peter Everitt, returning after a layoff with knee
trouble. During the week Everitt opined that Essendon "won't even make
the Grand Final".
As per last week, the Tigers enjoyed plenty of early possession but
conceded the first three goals, Saints Nathan Burke and Stew Loewe with
drilled shots from loose play and Barry Hall converting a strong grab. A
blustery, swirling northerly made marking and accurate kicking
difficult, especially at the Punt Road end. Mark Chaffey roved to Ben
Holland for the Tigers' first goal, then Holland out-manouvred Daryl
Wakelin for a grab and sausage. Joe McLaren put the Saints two goals
ahead again, converting a pass from Brett Knowles. Richmond scored
fifteen of the next seventeen goals to 3/4 time. Joel Bowden raced
forward from the restart, his shot sprayed wide but Knowles's kick-in
hovered perfectly for Bowden to intercept and goal. Paul Broderick and
Nick Daffy steered shots through from the stand-sheltered right pocket.
Tiges scored the first five goals of the second term, Holland with two,
Matty Knights completed an end-to-end move from a kick-in and Greg
Tivendale's long punt bounced through. He and Mark Chaffey were getting
plenty of kicks. It's harsh to say a team isn't trying but that's the
way St. Kilda looked, apart from Andy Thompson and David Sierakowski.
It continued to rain majors for Richmond throughout the third, both
Holland and Matt Rogers were able to fall down, get up and run into an
open goal, Wayne Campbell goaded Everitt into conceding a free-kick
goal. That was fair enough but the Saints overall had a shocking deal
from the officials, frees at 3/4 time were 24-7 the Tigers' way and
finished 28-12. Still, when you're second to the ball and hitting blokes
out of frustration, that'll happen. Aussi Jones made two bad handling
errors, one led to a goal for Richmond when the ball went between
Jones's legs, a minute later Jones fumbled the ball out-of-bounds and
booted it into the fence in frustration. Another Tiger free. Right on
the three-quarter siren Campbell marked and goaled thanks to Zantuck
shoving Plapp out of the way, right in front of the ump. The Saints
copped a few like that. Stew Loewe was so unhappy at being thrashed by
Andy Kellaway he smacked the young Tiger in the head, resulting in a
report and probable early end to season 2000 for Stewie. Ben Holland
caught Hall in possession and free-kicked the first goal of the final
stanza, Richmond led by 73 points and a hefty percentage boost looked
certain. But the Saints re-organised and the Tiges benched key men
Gaspar, Gale and Knights for a rest. Saints Loewe and Sean Charles went
forward and Hall was at full-back now. Charles kicked consecutive goals,
Loewe did likewise from good grabs and kicks, Loewe set majors up for
Gavin Mitchell and Tony Brown to give some sort of pleasure for Saint
fans.
Last week it was the Tigers' A-team, this time the much-improved younger
brigade got involved. Joel Bowden (28 disposals, 6 marks, a goal) and
Mark Chaffey (28 disposals, 2 goals) were very good wingers, at
full-forward Ben Holland was resourceful to kick 5 goals in tough
conditions for big men. Andrew Kellaway played terrifically on Loewe
(Royce Vardy picked him up in the final term) and had 28 possessions
with 10 of those heart-in-mouth backwards marks in defence. Leon Cameron
mopped up nicely in the last line. Matt Rogers booted 4 goals, Greg
Tivendale played a good first half with 14 disposals and a goal, he
ended with 17 altogether. Wayne Campbell kicked 2 goals. Best for the
Saints were the hyper-honest Andrew Thompson with a hefty 31 disposals,
tireless ruckman David Sierakowski (19 disposals, 9 marks) and Steven
Sziller deserves praise for tagging Campbell out of it after the Tiger
had 12 touches in the first quarter, Sziller had 14 possessions to
Campbell's 10 after then. Loewe's stats looked alright after a big last
quarter, 17 kicks, 10 marks and 4 goals. Rover Steven Baker tagged
Knights reasonably and had 15 touches, winger Matthew Carr (19 kicks, 8
marks) was alright. Hall and Charles kicked 2 goals each. Watson wasn't
impressed by the late fightback. "Richmond put their cue in the rack.
From our perspective we had some real desire to make a contest late in
the game, but it was all over. I thought it was a really disappointing
afternoon." Up to Brisbane, then North at Colonial to finish for Timmy.
Frawley said "When the game was there to be won, I thought the boys were
sensational. The last quarter was pretty disappointing to fade out like
that." Ah well.
Ladder after Round Twenty:
Pts. % Next week
Essendon 80 164.9 Footscray (Colonial, Fri. night)
Carlton 60 133.7 Port Adelaide (Football Park, Sunday)
North Melbourne 52 105.5 Collingwood (Colonial, Sunday)
Melbourne 48 115.9 Geelong (MCG, Sunday)
Geelong 46 97.2 Melbourne (MCG, Sunday)
Footscray 44 104.0 Essendon (Colonial, Fri. night)
Richmond 44 96.1 Sydney (Colonial, Saturday)
Brisbane 40 108.7 St. Kilda (Gabba, Sat. night)
-------------------------------------
Hawthorn 40 95.3 Adelaide (MCG, Saturday)
Sydney 36 101.9 Richmond (Colonial, Saturday)
Adelaide 36 99.3 Hawthorn (MCG, Saturday)
West Coast 30 94.7 Fremantle (Subiaco, Sunday)
Fremantle 28 73.5 West Coast (Subiaco, Sunday)
Collingwood 24 84.9 North Melbourne (Colonial, Sunday)
Port Adelaide 22 80.2 Carlton (Football Park, Sunday)
St. Kilda 10 72.7 Brisbane (Gabba, Sat. night)
Cheers, Tim
e-mail: t.murphy@rmit.edu.au