The Pups started pacily, if that's a word. Their runners found plenty of
space on the dry, rough turf. Romero snapped the first goal, Smith
passed to Grant for the next, then Smith played a slick 1-2 with Garlick
for a major. Bartlett passed to Hudson as the Dogs booted clear and West
did similarly for Kolyniuk to kick a six-pointer. The Lions came back in
the second term, bringing young ruckman Beau McDonald and Michael Voss
into the centre and enjoying a big lift from Black. They took over
midfield, although not before Hudson had extended the Pups' lead to 35
points. Then came the Brisbane onslaught. Leppitsch caught young
Plunkett in possession and converted the free, from the next bounce
Black skipped away and passed to leading Bradshaw, another goal. Romero
pounced on a poor Daryl White kick-in to goal for the Dogs, but Luke
Power soccered a cheeky reply and a nice Brett Voss handpass created an
easy goal for Molloy. Black found Lappin who converted and from the next
centre bounce the Lions went forward where Bradshaw flew for a big grab
over Southern, he slotted and levelled the scores. Right on half time
Steve Lawrence put Brisbane ahead with a goal created by good work from
Mick Voss and Lynch.
The third quarter was tight as both sides packed their back half.
Brisbane missed two early chances before some farcical bumbling by a
trio of Doggies on the wing turned over possession, Chris Scott found
Bradshaw with a pass. Bradshaw was clattered after acceptance, copped a
50m penalty and goaled to put Brizzy 14 points up. Just to make things
worse for the Dogs Scott West limped off with a jarred knee. That dodgy
Colonial surface. Credit to Channel Seven, they didn't shy away from
highlighting lifted and damaged sections of the ground, or the number of
players forced off under the blood rule with grazed knees. Some
excellent play saw Scott major for the Brians and they were 20 points
up. A protracted scoreless spell ensued, the Bulldogs moved Chris Grant
to CHB to help their small and struggling backline. Eventually Eagleton
speared a long, low kick to find Smith drifting back, he gathered and
goaled for the Bullies. A bit later Kingsley Hunter gained the ball on
the Dogs' half-back line, had a bounce, exchanged handpasses with Wynd,
another bounce, ran on and smashed a huge goal from 60m. Dogs roaring
and they were 9 points down, although it's a worry when a defender has
to kick a miracle goal to get the scoreboard moving. Brisbane replied
when Akermanis sent Hart away for a goal, the Dogs responded when Smith
step-laddered Leppitsch for a big grab and goal. Might've been a free in
other seasons. Grant postered to send the Dogs in 8 points down at the
final change. But the Lions romped away in the last. A shonky free to
Brisbane at the opening bounce saw Power pass to leading Bradshaw, he
goaled, Bradshaw goaled again from a free after Croft whacked him, Croft
then spilled a difficult mark and Akermanis arrived to soccer a major,
Shaun Hart marked well under pressure and punted the bananabenders 33
points up. There were 9 more goals kicked after that but the Dogs were
never closer than 22 points and looked unlikely winners. Eagleton punted
a fantastic long goal and Bradshaw rode the pack for a huge screamer at
the other end, only to be denied as the ball was touched off the boot.
Daryl White snared Garlick with a great tackle which saved a goal,
despite the match being nearly over.
Brisbane forward Daniel Bradshaw returned from the wilderness to boot 7
goals from 8 marks. He didn't play a senior game last year and was
perhaps lucky to stay on the list, a few injuries, lack of favour from
Matthews and the strong Lion team keeping him out. Black had 26
disposals in the centre and Michael Voss 25 with a goal, they were the
architects of the win. Rover Ashcroft gathered the ball 25 times, mainly
in the backline, and Nigel Lappin had 22 touches and a goal from the
wing. Daryl White did an excellent job in defence, variously on Grant
and Darcy. Akermanis (2 goals) and Power were handy. Molloy also kicked
2 goals. The Bulldogs' skill level was low with a lot of mistakes under
no pressure. Rohan Smith sparked the forward line with 4 goals from 14
kicks and Hudson was useful with 3 goals from 21 disposals. They
struggled in the middle though, only Romero dug in, literally, for 23
disposals with 2 goals. West had a blitzing first quarter but did little
after until departing. Nathan Brown played well off a back flank for 24
possessions and Kretiuk was handy at both ends, 18 touches and a goal.
Steve Kolyniuk kicked 2 goals. Wallace said "We were awful. They (his
own players) were good in the pressure part of the game, I don't take
anything away from their efforts to pressure...Guys as skilful as what
we have were missing their targets 20 metres away from their blokes and
just not being able to hit the target. It just killed us." Matthews said
"We kept getting rebounded (early) because our blokes were getting too
far forward of the ball too aggressively and too optimistically and when
you don't hold possession, you know there's going to be a few Bulldogs
hanging back and that was killing us. Once the game was played in more
honest terms, then the game was a bit better." Nice insight.
At Subiaco:
West Coast 2.2 7.5 8.6 10.10.70
Sydney 2.5 7.6 10.9 12.10.82
The future of Sydney's season beckons after this slogging win over the
Eegs. For now the Bloods have five consecutive home games, and only
travel away once in the next nine. Two of those SCG games are "away"
fixtures against North and the Dogs, but who are they kidding, eh? The
Eagles reverted to type after last week's goalfest, with Cummings and
Phil Matera held they struggled to kick goals and relied on their
backmen. Andrew Embley missed for the Eagles with cracked ribs, Laurie
Bellotti replaced him. The Swans also had a forced change, Jon Stevens
free now the Mardi Gras is over to replace Peter Filandia, out with a
hand injury.
Tight all the way through with backmen on top. Eagle ruckman Ryan
Turnbull, who like Bradshaw didn't play a game last season, snapped the
first goal and Cummings got his only major of the game with a 50m
penalty. The Swans were rotating a series of players through their
forward line, ruckman Stafford giving them a quarter-time lead. Sydney
opened a gap with the first three goals of the second quarter, from
Ahmat, Schwass and gangly Fitzgerald. Lewis snapped the Swans into a
four-goal lead before the Eagles responded, two goals each from Williams
and Phil Matera cutting the margin to a point at the long break.
Frustrated Cummings was benched late in the term after hammering Swan
Rohan Warfe. The Siddey edged clear in the third, despite losing Jason
Ball with a twisted ankle. Eagle Dean Kemp didn't reappear after
half-time. We got to see the last quarter. Craig O'Brien's good snap
early on sent the Bloods 21 points clear. Turnbull's long kick was
well-marked by Gehrig, who played on and casually booted a goal for the
Eegs. But Gehrig seemed to have a lot of trouble with the lights.
Turnbull had a purple patch hovering on a wing, gathering 5 touches in
about 3 minutes. Jakovich grabbed the ball from a bounce in the Eegs'
attack and snapped a great goal, they were 9 points down. Jako then
missed a snap, Gardiner fluffed an uncontested chest mark in the
goalsquare, a Phil Matera snap missed and it was exactly a goal the
difference. The clock ticked down, the Weevils were going forward when
Peter Matera donged a Swan behind play. You can rely on him, eh? From
the free the Swans retained possession with the chip-around before Dale
Lewis found some space on half-forward and slotted a superb running
left-footer with 30 seconds to go. That was it.
Wayne Schwass is enjoying a good start to the year, he picked up 32
disposals (23 kicks) and a goal at Subi. Lanky Fitzgerald impressed
again, giving Jakovich the run-around for 6 marks and 2 goals. Daryn
Cresswell had 29 touches in the middle and ruckman Stafford was also
very good, 11 marks and a goal cruising about the park. Wingers Warfe
(17 touches, a goal) and Saddington (20 handlings) were also good. Lewis
kicked 2 goals. For the West Ghost back-pocket David Wirrpunda was very
good with 20 kicks running outta defence, 9 in the first quarter. Peter
Matera played well again - apart from his late error - with 24 disposals
and Chad Morrison was handy with 18 touches. Promising performance from
Bellotti in defence and Belgrave's Andy Williams was handy with 2 goals.
Drew Banfield drove off the back flank for 23 possies. Two goals each
for Gehrig and Phil Matera. No coach's quotes again, these Sunday night
games interstate are going to make it pretty hard to get that sort of
stuff over here. Blame the AFL.
Ladder after Round Two:
Pts. % Next week
Essendon 8 191.9 Fremantle (WACA, Sunday night)
Carlton 8 136.6 Collingwood (MCG, Sunday)
Collingwood 8 136.5 Carlton (MCG, Sunday)
Geelong 8 130.1 Adelaide (Football Park, Sat. night)
Sydney 8 127.1 Melbourne (SCG, Sunday)
West Coast 4 116.1 St. Kilda (Colonial, Sat. night)
Melbourne 4 110.7 Sydney (SCG, Sunday)
Fremantle 4 107.4 Essendon (WACA, Sunday night)
-------------------------------------
Footscray 4 97.6 Port Adelaide (Colonial, Sunday night)
Brisbane 4 95.8 Hawthorn (MCG, Saturday)
Richmond 4 81.5 North Melbourne (MCG, Friday night)
Adelaide 0 85.5 Geelong (Football Park, Sat. night)
North Melbourne 0 77.3 Richmond (MCG, Friday night)
St. Kilda 0 72.9 West Coast (Colonial, Saturday night)
Hawthorn 0 67.3 Brisbane (MCG, Saturday)
Port Adelaide 0 53.0 Footscray (Colonial, Sunday night)
Cheers, Tim
e-mail: t.murphy@rmit.edu.au
space on the dry, rough turf. Romero snapped the first goal, Smith
passed to Grant for the next, then Smith played a slick 1-2 with Garlick
for a major. Bartlett passed to Hudson as the Dogs booted clear and West
did similarly for Kolyniuk to kick a six-pointer. The Lions came back in
the second term, bringing young ruckman Beau McDonald and Michael Voss
into the centre and enjoying a big lift from Black. They took over
midfield, although not before Hudson had extended the Pups' lead to 35
points. Then came the Brisbane onslaught. Leppitsch caught young
Plunkett in possession and converted the free, from the next bounce
Black skipped away and passed to leading Bradshaw, another goal. Romero
pounced on a poor Daryl White kick-in to goal for the Dogs, but Luke
Power soccered a cheeky reply and a nice Brett Voss handpass created an
easy goal for Molloy. Black found Lappin who converted and from the next
centre bounce the Lions went forward where Bradshaw flew for a big grab
over Southern, he slotted and levelled the scores. Right on half time
Steve Lawrence put Brisbane ahead with a goal created by good work from
Mick Voss and Lynch.
The third quarter was tight as both sides packed their back half.
Brisbane missed two early chances before some farcical bumbling by a
trio of Doggies on the wing turned over possession, Chris Scott found
Bradshaw with a pass. Bradshaw was clattered after acceptance, copped a
50m penalty and goaled to put Brizzy 14 points up. Just to make things
worse for the Dogs Scott West limped off with a jarred knee. That dodgy
Colonial surface. Credit to Channel Seven, they didn't shy away from
highlighting lifted and damaged sections of the ground, or the number of
players forced off under the blood rule with grazed knees. Some
excellent play saw Scott major for the Brians and they were 20 points
up. A protracted scoreless spell ensued, the Bulldogs moved Chris Grant
to CHB to help their small and struggling backline. Eventually Eagleton
speared a long, low kick to find Smith drifting back, he gathered and
goaled for the Bullies. A bit later Kingsley Hunter gained the ball on
the Dogs' half-back line, had a bounce, exchanged handpasses with Wynd,
another bounce, ran on and smashed a huge goal from 60m. Dogs roaring
and they were 9 points down, although it's a worry when a defender has
to kick a miracle goal to get the scoreboard moving. Brisbane replied
when Akermanis sent Hart away for a goal, the Dogs responded when Smith
step-laddered Leppitsch for a big grab and goal. Might've been a free in
other seasons. Grant postered to send the Dogs in 8 points down at the
final change. But the Lions romped away in the last. A shonky free to
Brisbane at the opening bounce saw Power pass to leading Bradshaw, he
goaled, Bradshaw goaled again from a free after Croft whacked him, Croft
then spilled a difficult mark and Akermanis arrived to soccer a major,
Shaun Hart marked well under pressure and punted the bananabenders 33
points up. There were 9 more goals kicked after that but the Dogs were
never closer than 22 points and looked unlikely winners. Eagleton punted
a fantastic long goal and Bradshaw rode the pack for a huge screamer at
the other end, only to be denied as the ball was touched off the boot.
Daryl White snared Garlick with a great tackle which saved a goal,
despite the match being nearly over.
Brisbane forward Daniel Bradshaw returned from the wilderness to boot 7
goals from 8 marks. He didn't play a senior game last year and was
perhaps lucky to stay on the list, a few injuries, lack of favour from
Matthews and the strong Lion team keeping him out. Black had 26
disposals in the centre and Michael Voss 25 with a goal, they were the
architects of the win. Rover Ashcroft gathered the ball 25 times, mainly
in the backline, and Nigel Lappin had 22 touches and a goal from the
wing. Daryl White did an excellent job in defence, variously on Grant
and Darcy. Akermanis (2 goals) and Power were handy. Molloy also kicked
2 goals. The Bulldogs' skill level was low with a lot of mistakes under
no pressure. Rohan Smith sparked the forward line with 4 goals from 14
kicks and Hudson was useful with 3 goals from 21 disposals. They
struggled in the middle though, only Romero dug in, literally, for 23
disposals with 2 goals. West had a blitzing first quarter but did little
after until departing. Nathan Brown played well off a back flank for 24
possessions and Kretiuk was handy at both ends, 18 touches and a goal.
Steve Kolyniuk kicked 2 goals. Wallace said "We were awful. They (his
own players) were good in the pressure part of the game, I don't take
anything away from their efforts to pressure...Guys as skilful as what
we have were missing their targets 20 metres away from their blokes and
just not being able to hit the target. It just killed us." Matthews said
"We kept getting rebounded (early) because our blokes were getting too
far forward of the ball too aggressively and too optimistically and when
you don't hold possession, you know there's going to be a few Bulldogs
hanging back and that was killing us. Once the game was played in more
honest terms, then the game was a bit better." Nice insight.
At Subiaco:
West Coast 2.2 7.5 8.6 10.10.70
Sydney 2.5 7.6 10.9 12.10.82
The future of Sydney's season beckons after this slogging win over the
Eegs. For now the Bloods have five consecutive home games, and only
travel away once in the next nine. Two of those SCG games are "away"
fixtures against North and the Dogs, but who are they kidding, eh? The
Eagles reverted to type after last week's goalfest, with Cummings and
Phil Matera held they struggled to kick goals and relied on their
backmen. Andrew Embley missed for the Eagles with cracked ribs, Laurie
Bellotti replaced him. The Swans also had a forced change, Jon Stevens
free now the Mardi Gras is over to replace Peter Filandia, out with a
hand injury.
Tight all the way through with backmen on top. Eagle ruckman Ryan
Turnbull, who like Bradshaw didn't play a game last season, snapped the
first goal and Cummings got his only major of the game with a 50m
penalty. The Swans were rotating a series of players through their
forward line, ruckman Stafford giving them a quarter-time lead. Sydney
opened a gap with the first three goals of the second quarter, from
Ahmat, Schwass and gangly Fitzgerald. Lewis snapped the Swans into a
four-goal lead before the Eagles responded, two goals each from Williams
and Phil Matera cutting the margin to a point at the long break.
Frustrated Cummings was benched late in the term after hammering Swan
Rohan Warfe. The Siddey edged clear in the third, despite losing Jason
Ball with a twisted ankle. Eagle Dean Kemp didn't reappear after
half-time. We got to see the last quarter. Craig O'Brien's good snap
early on sent the Bloods 21 points clear. Turnbull's long kick was
well-marked by Gehrig, who played on and casually booted a goal for the
Eegs. But Gehrig seemed to have a lot of trouble with the lights.
Turnbull had a purple patch hovering on a wing, gathering 5 touches in
about 3 minutes. Jakovich grabbed the ball from a bounce in the Eegs'
attack and snapped a great goal, they were 9 points down. Jako then
missed a snap, Gardiner fluffed an uncontested chest mark in the
goalsquare, a Phil Matera snap missed and it was exactly a goal the
difference. The clock ticked down, the Weevils were going forward when
Peter Matera donged a Swan behind play. You can rely on him, eh? From
the free the Swans retained possession with the chip-around before Dale
Lewis found some space on half-forward and slotted a superb running
left-footer with 30 seconds to go. That was it.
Wayne Schwass is enjoying a good start to the year, he picked up 32
disposals (23 kicks) and a goal at Subi. Lanky Fitzgerald impressed
again, giving Jakovich the run-around for 6 marks and 2 goals. Daryn
Cresswell had 29 touches in the middle and ruckman Stafford was also
very good, 11 marks and a goal cruising about the park. Wingers Warfe
(17 touches, a goal) and Saddington (20 handlings) were also good. Lewis
kicked 2 goals. For the West Ghost back-pocket David Wirrpunda was very
good with 20 kicks running outta defence, 9 in the first quarter. Peter
Matera played well again - apart from his late error - with 24 disposals
and Chad Morrison was handy with 18 touches. Promising performance from
Bellotti in defence and Belgrave's Andy Williams was handy with 2 goals.
Drew Banfield drove off the back flank for 23 possies. Two goals each
for Gehrig and Phil Matera. No coach's quotes again, these Sunday night
games interstate are going to make it pretty hard to get that sort of
stuff over here. Blame the AFL.
Ladder after Round Two:
Pts. % Next week
Essendon 8 191.9 Fremantle (WACA, Sunday night)
Carlton 8 136.6 Collingwood (MCG, Sunday)
Collingwood 8 136.5 Carlton (MCG, Sunday)
Geelong 8 130.1 Adelaide (Football Park, Sat. night)
Sydney 8 127.1 Melbourne (SCG, Sunday)
West Coast 4 116.1 St. Kilda (Colonial, Sat. night)
Melbourne 4 110.7 Sydney (SCG, Sunday)
Fremantle 4 107.4 Essendon (WACA, Sunday night)
-------------------------------------
Footscray 4 97.6 Port Adelaide (Colonial, Sunday night)
Brisbane 4 95.8 Hawthorn (MCG, Saturday)
Richmond 4 81.5 North Melbourne (MCG, Friday night)
Adelaide 0 85.5 Geelong (Football Park, Sat. night)
North Melbourne 0 77.3 Richmond (MCG, Friday night)
St. Kilda 0 72.9 West Coast (Colonial, Saturday night)
Hawthorn 0 67.3 Brisbane (MCG, Saturday)
Port Adelaide 0 53.0 Footscray (Colonial, Sunday night)
Cheers, Tim
e-mail: t.murphy@rmit.edu.au