Toast Chris Grant - A Retrospectus

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Sep 27, 2005
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How did Jon Anderson do his 'best country team of the AFL era' and not include Chris Grant?? Paddy Danger is in there, he is good but hasn't done a quarter yet in his career as Chris did!

I swear Anderson hates us. Always has a snide little swipe at us in his Superladder on a Monday.

Back to Grant - can't wait for the Essendon match.
 

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Game #235 - Round 5, 2001 vs Hawthorn at Docklands (28/4/2001)

Kicked 0.1 from 10k, 3hb in 29-point loss.

In the second half Chris Grant, overwhelmed by the size and numbers of the Hawk defenders (most notably his direct opponent, Jonathan Hay), was shifted deep to defence as the Dogs mounted an inspired but ultimately futile surge.

This game was notable for Todd Curley accidentally running into umpire Kieron Nicholls (which halted the third-quarter surge) and copping four weeks at the tribunal, later reduced to two. It's worth recapping the umpire's rather dramatic evidence about the incident:

Nicholls conceded that until he saw footage of the collision, at AFL headquarters on Monday evening, he was prepared to take the incident no further than he did on the day. Nicholls paid a free kick which resulted in a Hawthorn goal.

He described the contact as forceful and claimed to have finished out the match with a corked right arm and a tingling sensation in the fingers on his right hand. Minor neck soreness followed the next day.


It wasn't until watching the footage that Nicholls felt that the contact could and should have been avoided. "After seeing the footage I believe that the player had time to deviate off the line he took," Nicholls said. "That it was bordering on an intentional act in that he prepared himself for the bump on me just prior to contact."


Refuting defence advocate Iain Findlay's suggestion he had moved into Curley's path, Nicholls said: "I was in the centre corridor. I had as much right to be there as any of the players."


And this bloke was a policeman too. Poor old Todd.

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Warning: may cause tingling sensation.

The week leading up to the game had also seen a minor controversy with Dogs coach Terry Wallace, a triple premiership centreman, saying he was offended to have been left off the invitation list for Hawthorn's Team of the Century knees-up.
 

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Game #234 - Round 4, 2001 vs Brisbane at Docklands (21/4/2001)

Kicked 2.2 from 7k, 5hb in 53-point win over the eventual premiers. Grant provided an active and mobile target up forward, and produced a clever goal around the corner during the second term.

This game was notable for Paul Hudson kicking 8 goals (I nearly wrote "career best" but he'd actually kicked 9 on another occasion). Bravo, Huddo!

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TiAn_

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Game #234 - Round 4, 2001 vs Brisbane at Docklands (21/4/2001)

Kicked 2.2 from 7k, 5hb in 53-point win over the eventual premiers. Grant provided an active and mobile target up forward, and produced a clever goal around the corner during the second term.

This game was notable for Paul Hudson kicking 8 goals (I nearly wrote "career best" but he'd actually kicked 9 on another occasion). Bravo, Huddo!

72570421-apr-2001-the-western-bulldogs-celebrate-after-gettyimages.jpg

Was this the game where the ball was passed to Huddo and, instead of marking it the first time, he intentionally bobbled it and moved himself a few metres closer to goal?
 

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I'll see what I can find out. One article I read noted that during this game our Huddo was rather-- how you say?-- "hungry".

He was always starvin'.

His 1991 season for the Hawks is possibly one of the greatest ever seasons by a small forward. Was never that good again, but had some very solid years for us.
 

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Was this the game where the ball was passed to Huddo and, instead of marking it the first time, he intentionally bobbled it and moved himself a few metres closer to goal?

Couldn't find a reference to that but here are a few tidbits relating to Huddo's game and the "hunger" within:

Hudson's self-confidence was a shining light for the Bulldogs. He handballed only once, but why should he bother when he has such an uncanny degree of accuracy within the 50m arc.

Hudson clearly still thinks of kicking goals as his privilege, and sometimes his alone. Even after his seventh yesterday, he was demanding the ball on each forward thrust, seeking the space that Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews remarked was so vital to a forward's work, sniffing for that headiest of scents.

PLAY OF THE DAY: Scott West might feel hard done by after his wrongfooted, thirdquarter gem from the remand centre pocket, but there could be only one man take the spoils yesterday. Same quarter, opposite side of the ground, Nathan Eagleton found youknowwho all by himself. He straightened up, prepared to shoot, then rounded Martin Pike for good measure and kicked his fifth from 30 metres on the angle. Pure Huddo.


And here's a longer article about where his career stood at that point (he was traded to Richmond at the end of the year):

PAUL HUDSON'S eight-goal game for the Bulldogs against Brisbane yesterday was a return to simpler times when kicking goals was regarded as a joy, not what it has become, a burdensome responsibility.


Whether this was ultimately for the Bulldogs' good is a moot point; doubtlessly, they would rather have a 20-year-old at the dawn of his career kicking bags of goals than a 30-year-old so far into his twilight that it seemed at the end of last season that the sun had set for him altogether.

Hudson kicks goals not because he should and must, but because he can. One of the few skills of the game that has not improved with evolution is the fundamental of kicking the ball between the goalposts. It was a crucial matter on Friday night, and a talking point before the game yesterday.


Hudson kicked 8.2 yesterday, while at the other end, Brisbane hit the post five times. No wonder Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews was left with what he admitted was an incongruous feeling that this match was a closer contest than it appeared on the scoreboard.


Hudson has always had the sort of deadly eye for goal that can neither be taught nor bought. It runs in the family, of course. It means he has had days out, once kicking nine for Hawthorn against Collingwood. It means he has averaged more than two a game over a career now 12 seasons, 224 games, one change of club and several changes of hair dye long, without ever having played a key position.


It is how he has created a name in the game separate from his father's, a considerable achievement. It is why, when his form had ebbed away to the point of crisis at the end of last season, and both he and Terry Wallace knew it, the coach persevered.


"I put him under a fair bit of pressure at the end of last season," said Wallace."He worked extremely hard over the summer, and is probably at his fittest ever. He's such a great finisher that providing he keeps his mobility in his game, he's going to be very advantageous."


Hudson had scarcely been sighted against Collingwood the previous week, but Wallace readily forgave him, saying he typically worked his way into seasons rather than tore them apart from the start, had had only 40 minutes of ground time and had scant opportunities in a team performance so bad the coach could only think of it now as an aberration.


Hudson's first few approaches to play yesterday were fruitless; Marcus Picken, eight years his junior, cut him out. It was suggested then that Hudson was a metaphor for his team: their era was passing. One press-box wiseguy was foolish enough to say so. But a goal late in the first quarter and three in the second were rejuvenating to all.


When Brisbane drew to within a point in the second quarter, Hudson, Brad Johnson and Chris Grant quickly kicked goals to establish a break the Lions would never recover. All three were memorable: Hudson's was an exquisite snap, Johnson's threaded from the boundary and Grant's cleverly hooked.


Not only did the Bulldogs kick more goals yesterday, they kicked better goals. In the third term, Nathan Eagleton kicked one after selling the most artful of dummies to Chris Scott. Immediately, Hudson danced around Martin Pike, no one's idea of Fred Astaire, to kick his fifth. Not to be upstaged, Scott West snapped one from the boundary line with his rarely used right foot. All were inspiring.


Hudson clearly still thinks of kicking goals as his privilege, and sometimes his alone. Even after his seventh yesterday, he was demanding the ball on each forward thrust, seeking the space that Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews remarked was so vital to a forward's work, sniffing for that headiest of scents.


It meant sometimes positioning himself ahead of the play, but it did not mean forsaking his team duties: once he ran down Pike from behind, discovering long forgotten legspeed. It is amazing what sort of lift a few goals can provide a player, team and club, and that surely is their value. There is nothing like making points six at a time.


The Bulldogs began this season on an ominous threshold. They have been regarded for a number of seasons as a serious contender, but have not made it even to a grand final, and know that as their list ages, the window of opportunity will not stay open forever. Moreover, when it shuts for the Dogs, it might well be for good.

If Hudson personifies the club's state-of-play, he was there yesterday to say that where there is still a goal, there is still a way.
 

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Game #233 - Round 3, 2001 vs Collingwood at Docklands (14/4/2001)

Kicked 2.1 from 7k 4hb in 72-point loss.

Long before the Collingwood floodgates opened, Chris Grant's drought had begun. The Bulldog skipper, the essential ingredient to a functional attack, had little to bark about as he watched his side be systematically shredded by the unfancied Magpies.

Two first-quarter goals - the first when he was the final recipient of a fast break after a Collingwood turnover, and second when an untimely slip by his opponent Mark Richardson made for a fortunate snap from close in - were the only times Grant had any impact on the game. The frugal Richardson and his defensive compatriots conspired to make a lousy night for the Bulldog trump.

From quarter-time Grant could manage just three more kicks for the game and only 11 possessions in all as Collingwood turned the contest into the proverbial cakewalk. The close-checking Richardson emerged a clear winner in the one- on-one duel, collecting 15 touches and never allowing Grant to get seriously involved. During the Pies extraordinary burst in the the third term when they piled on 10 unanswered goals, the Bulldog star remained kickless as his sides sporadic thrusts forward were repelled by Richardson and his teammates. No latitude, no space, no joy. For Grant, close encounters of the worst kind.

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Game #232 - Round 2, 2001 vs Richmond at MCG (7/4/2001)

One of our best, kicking 4.2 to move to the top of the AFL goalkicking table from 11k, 1hb in 42-point win over the Tigers.

The Dogs gave their forwards the ball with precision, the main beneficiary being skipper Chris Grant, whose six marks and four goals often came against two or three opponents. Grant's sure hands and quick leading caught Richmond's premier defender, Darren Gaspar, out of position several times, and Grant hurt the Tigers by finishing accurately. He made a valuable contribution with a major in each quarter and some time down back as well.

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This game was notable for Tony Liberatore collecting Matthew Knights high in a reflex action of self-defence. Richmond proceeded to completely embarrass themselves in response, with Knights coming in like Peter McNeeley and coach Danny Frawley warning that "payback" would come. Still waiting, Spud.

Richmond later slanderously claimed that Terry Wallace had told his players to nullify Knights "whatever the cost" and even accused him of "ruffling Liberatore's head" in glee at the end of the game! Wayne Campbell of course turned stool pigeon at the tribunal and Libba got 5 weeks.

An interesting point of trivia is that it was this incident that sparked the Sheedy-Walls feud, when Sheeds implied that Robert Walls was a "sniper" for suggesting that Libba retire if found guilty. Have another drink Sheeds.

Footage of the brawl, including Richo standing around like a concussed netballer, can be found below:

 
I'm pretty sure that the above incident was a major factor for introducing the Match Review Panel, because a tribunal setting allowed for many people to have an input and have their voices heard which was just bickering and arguing rather than independentally adjudicating what happened.
 

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Game #231 - Round 1, 2001 vs St Kilda at Docklands (31/3/2001)

Our best, kicking 4.2 from 8k, 4hb in 5-point loss to the Saints as the teams battled it out for the Liberty Financial Challenge Trophy.

Grant's performance came after an awkward appearance on The Footy Show during the week. Turtle, always the gentleman, kept his composure while trying to come to grips with an "upside down" question from Sam Newman about under-achieving. You would not have blamed the All-Australian for lashing out at Newman with harsh criticisms of his own. Meanwhile, seething Bulldogs administrators said Grant had no reason whatsoever to justify what has been an enormous contribution to the club.

This game was notable for:
  • being Malcolm Blight's first game as St Kilda coach; and
  • St Kilda star Barry Hall spending the night in the lock-up after getting arrested for being drunk in a public place.

mar-2001-chris-grant-of-the-bulldogs-and-max-hudghton-of-st-kilda-in-picture-id931828


 
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Game #230 - Elimination Final, 2000 vs Brisbane at the Gabba (12/8/2000)

Kicked 3.0 from 9k, 5hb, despite spending the bulk of the night in defence in the 34-point loss to the Lions.

From the surrounds of a 21st birthday party, I watched as the Dogs went down without a whimper in the final games for Scott Wynd and Steve Kolyniuk. Also from memory following the game Nathan Brown headbutted somebody in a KFC in Brisbane.

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This was to be the Bulldogs last final appearance until 2006. Looking back, the end of the decade coincided with the end of the resurgence Terry Wallace had brought to the club. The wave which once felt so powerful, would crash to the shore over the next two years.

In 2000, the Doggies finished 7th with 12 wins, 10 losses. But at times, such as the immortal Round 21 game against the previously undefeated Bombers, they showed that the could still match it with the very best.

Granty had a solid year punctuated by his trademark moments of brilliance. He kicked 40.20 from 17 games, including two bags of seven goals and that performance against Essendon.
 
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Game #229 - Round 22, 2000 vs Hawthorn at Docklands (4/8/2000)

Kicked 1.0 from 12k, 7hb in 15-point loss to the Hawks.

This game was notable for the Bulldogs setting up with the same flooding tactics that had waterboarded Essendon so effectively the week before... then abandoning that gameplan during the second quarter.

As happened so often with the Doggies, the game revolved around Grant.

In the first quarter, he played the role in which he was so effective the previous week, sweeping majestically around the Bulldogs' flooded backline. Hawthorn, like the Bulldogs' three previous opponents, could not find a way past.

But in the second, Terry Wallace waved his hand, Grant went forward and the flood was suddenly off. It was as if Wallace was figuring that the Bulldogs were safe in the finals anyway, might play Hawthorn again next week and did not want to give too much away. But few coaches dare to flirt with form.

At any rate, the game changed style instantly. Briefly, Grant was recalled to defence when the Bulldogs slipped 20 points behind. Then he crumpled on a half-forward flank and made his way gingerly from the ground, and into the change rooms, after jarring his neck while taking a sliding mark.

Thereafter, the Hawks had the run of the game. Angelo Lekkas had just run down Nathan Eagleton, and won a free kick, and a 50-metre penalty, and kicked a goal to put the Hawks 23points in front when Grant reappeared. Like the Old Testament king, it seemed he only had to hold his hands up for his army to prevail. He now had that sort of presence on a football ground.

It might nearly have been, too, for Paul Hudson and Rohan Smith both missed straightforward shots, and later Eagleton hit the post from a metre out. As it was, Grant kicked the last goal of the match with a brilliant snap, but it was too little and too late.

aug-2000-chris-grant-for-the-bulldogs-kicks-clear-of-daniel-chick-for-picture-id1026232
 

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Game #228 - Round 21, 2000 vs Essendon at Docklands (28/7/2000)

BOG, kicking 2.0 from 27k (career-high), 3hb, 9m, 7r50s in 11-point win over the previously unbeaten Bombers. This is the big one.

The Game

The team lauded as perhaps the best to have played in more than 100 years of Australian football were finally beaten when the Bulldogs brought off the biggest upset of the season in front of a sell-out crowd of 45,725 and viewing audience of over a million.

The Bulldogs smashed Essendon's 20-match winning streak with a gutsy, gritty, come-from-behind victory that not even their most ardent supporters would have believed possible. In a bitterly contested struggle, tempers flared and passions boiled over throughout the four quarters. A fierce fracas was sparked 28 minutes into the second term when Bomber ruckman John Barnes crunched Bulldog Brad Johnson with a hip-and-shoulder off the ball. It left Johnson in the hands of trainers and sparked wild confrontations between players that continued for minutes after the half-time siren.

The Bulldogs kicked the last five goals of the match; the second-last putting them in front was kicked by one of the night's star performers, Chris Grant, with 90 seconds to go. As Rohan Smith lined up for the last kick of the match that was already won, a jubilant Johnson ran the length of the ground to remonstrate with Barnes.

Ending Carlton's 13-game winning streak at Optus Oval two weeks ago might have been one out of the box for the Bulldogs, but no one seriously contemplated a repeat of such a giant-killing feat against the Dons. The injury-ravaged Dogs also guaranteed themselves a finals berth with the triumph that finally proved Essendon was beatable.

I was lucky enough to attend this game. For some reason, I had a good feeling about it and placed a bet on the Doggies to win. The atmosphere at the game was incredibly tense, as both sets of supporters could barely believe what was happening. After the game, Bulldogs supporters were hugging and high-fiving strangers while Bombers fans were in tears at their "perfect" season coming to an end.

Highlights of the game are below:






And you can also watch the full game:






The Man


In what was an Olympian contest it was fitting that the dominant player was Chris Grant. Over the years, Grant's reputation had hovered uncertainly. Three years previously, with characteristic modesty and good grace, he made no issue over the Brownlow Medal which many people felt was rightfully his after a field umpire was pushed into reporting him for the most marginal of offences. Even so, the criticism of him has been that for a player of his great talent he hasn't taken enough games, pulled them apart and re-assembled them in a pattern appropriate for his team.

On Friday night, he was the best player on the ground for four quarters. For most of that time, he was the presence in defence Essendon couldn't find a way past. Trailing by 21points in the opening minutes of the final quarter - the biggest margin of the night - and apparently headed for defeat, Grant pushed forward.

The fightback started with a goal from Grant, plucked masterfully from a ruck contest. Two majors to goalsneak Steven Kolyniuk pulled the margin back to five points. Then five times the Dogs knocked on the door of victory. Paul Hudson, who rarely misses, did so three times in six minutes. Johnson hit the post, Nathan Eagleton missed everything. And thus, in the 27th minute, the game's entire drama came to rest upon Grant's shoulders after his opponent, Dustin Fletcher, toe-poked a ball and saw it go out on the full.

It had been a tense battle all night, but the pressure just kept rising. Paul Hudson missed twice, Brad Johnson hit the post, Nathan Eagleton couldn't even score a point. The Bulldogs were going to do this the hard way - in points. But it was then that Grant, who had starred in defence for most of the night and had switched to full-forward when goals were needed to win the game, took centre stage.

At the climactic moment of the climactic match of the year, Grant found himself in the right forward pocket on the boundary line. He chose to bend the ball with his left foot. Given that he is naturally a right-footer, the degree of difficulty for this shot could not have been higher but his execution was perfect. Displays of skill of this order which simultaneously have the impact of a killer punch cause soccer stadiums around the globe to erupt.

jul-2000-brad-johnson-and-chris-grant-for-the-bulldogs-celebrate-win-picture-id1022785


How Granty didn't get a Brownlow vote for this game is absolutely baffling.

The Goal

Try the high-risk banana kick, or run out wide and go for the trusty but less flamboyant left-foot snap? The conundrum raced through Chris Grant's mind as he stood outside the boundary line, deep in Colonial Stadium's right forward pocket and deep into the last quarter.

Despite the bile being hurled at him from Essendon supporters leaning over the fence, Grant's thinking remained clear: a left-foot snap was the percentage kick. Even if it missed, the chances were it would not miss by much and probably guarantee the Dogs, who trailed by a point, a draw. A banana kick, while in vogue, was too risky. It could slew well wide or float across the face of goals, depriving the Dogs of any result at all.

So there Grant was, with not just the ball resting in the palm of his hands but, with 91seconds left to play in the epic, also the result. "Originally, I was going to do a banana, but there's more risk," Grant said the day after the game, the euphoria of the magical night having barely subsided.

"It could either go out on the full, or might even spray across the face of goals. So I decided to go back on my left foot to open the goals up a bit and there was probably more chance of scoring a point even if it just missed. Then, we'd at least tie the game up. But, luckily enough, the bloody thing went through, so I was pretty happy with that."

The irony of the matchwinning kick, replayed dozens of times on weekend television, is that Grant did not want to take it, preferring instead that teammate Steve Kolyniuk accept the free-kick after Dustin Fletcher had accidentally tapped the ball out on the full. "Steve and I were virtually in the same position and I sort of quickly walked off because I was hoping he would take it," Grant said. "He's a pretty good kick in those conditions and from those sort of angles, so I let him have it, but the umpire called me back to take it. `Billy' handed it over and I had to take the kick."

A couple of a years ago, the task may have been beyond Grant, an observation made publicly - and controversially - by Channel Seven's respected caller Bruce McAvaney, after he missed an important shot for goal after the half-time siren against West Coast. But this time - cometh the hour, cometh the man - Grant delivered. The game had found its hero. And, in the grand tradition of Footscray heroes, this one had a granite jaw and wore a No.3 blue, red and white guernsey.

Perhaps we should not have been surprised by the assured display under pressure: it was not the first time Grant had performed such heroics in 2000. Late in the round-nine game against St Kilda, Grant kicked a goal from 50metres to tie the scores, and moments later, kicked a behind to give the Dogs an improbable one-point win.

As football manager Paul Armstrong noted, that result "kick-started" the Bulldogs' season. Now, with Grant at the fore again, it is positively purring along. "The satisfaction of winning a game that nobody expects you to win, and doesn't give you a hope in hell of winning, is huge," he said. "The icing on the cake, personally, was to be able to kick that last shot at goal. It's nice to know you can do it when, as a team leader, you're required to."



The Fight

Of course one of the highlights of the evening was the mellee that broke out at half-time, which Essendon started and the Bulldogs finished.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feMysq8osDU

Best of all is the little wave Huddo gives Mark Johnson at the 1:10 mark.
 
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Game #227 - Round 20, 2000 vs Collingwood at Docklands (22/7/2000)

Kicked 0.2 from 13k, 3hb in 9-point win, spending plenty of time deep in defence.

The Doggies fell asleep at the wheel and after getting out to a 34-point lead, let the Pies back within a kick as Mal Michael kicked 4 last quarter goals. In the final minute, Paul Hudson slotted a set shot from 45m out on the boundary to ensure victory for his team

This game is also notable for being Jose Romero's 200th match.

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Game #226 - Round 14, 2000 vs Richmond at MCG (12/6/2000)

6k, 5hb in 35-point loss to the Tigers.

Grant was blanketed by Darren Gaspar. Grant had been battling hamstring soreness for several weeks and aggravated it during the game, which would see him sidelined for the next five weeks.

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Game #225 - Round 13, 2000 vs Geelong at Docklands (4/6/2000)

Kicked 3.1 from 7k, 2 hb in 7-point loss.

This game was notable for Nathan Eagleton kicking a career-high 7 goals.

Also, Mark West was fined by the club for going "AWOL" for two days while he was dealing with "domestic problems".

 
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Game #224 - Round 12, 2000 vs Melbourne at Docklands (28/5/2000)

Kicked 3.2 from 9k, 1hb in 25-point win over eventual grand finallists.

Grant played well, kicking straight and marking strongly, but a combination of Anthony Ingerson's pressure and limited opportunities meant the star was unable to break open the match. Grant kicked one in the first, third and fourth quarters but was generally well held by Ingerson.

 
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Game #223 - Round 11, 2000 vs Fremantle at Subiaco (20/5/2000)

Kicked 2.1 from 10k, 4hb as Dogs fell over the line by 93 points against the Dockers in the West.

This game was notable for Paul Hudson kicking 6 goals. From memory, after one of the goals he and Rohan Smith did a little Pride of Erin-style dance together.

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Game #222 - Round 10, 2000 vs Sydney at SCG (14/5/2000)

BOG
, kicking an equal career-high 7 goals (for the second time this season), from 18k, 2hb and 12 marks in the 58-point win over the Swans.

After sealing victory for the Dogs the previous week against St Kilda, Grant put the Swans' defence to the sword. He was devastating, not only because he was able to beat his opponent Andrew Dunkley on the lead, but because he converted from all angles, finishing with seven goals straight. It was a harsh result for Dunkley, who did well in several body-on-body duels, but the Bulldogs' delivery and his lack of pace eventually led to the Sydney captain being replaced by Andrew Schauble.

 
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Game #221 - Round 9, 2000 vs St Kilda at Docklands (5/5/2000)

One of our best, helping to sink the Saints by a point in the last quarter.

Grant, quiet up forward in the first half and moved back to try to stem Stewart Loewe in the third quarter, was the hero of the last. Returning to attack, he booted three goals, the last bringing the scores level. He had another chance soon afterwards and missed, but the point gave the Dogs the lead with just over a minute to play and St Kilda was unable to score again.

This game was notable for being the one where Max Hudghton cried after the siren (understandable given his direct opponent won the Doggies the game), and for entry to the game being free of charge courtesy of Liberty Financial (crowd of 35,505).

Also, during the week:
  • Tony Libba and Nathan Brown were fined $2,000 each for calling WCE's Fraser Gehrig a "rapist" during the previous week's game (four Eagles were under investigation at the time but Gehrig was not one of them); and
  • the Bulldogs computer system being hit by the "LoveLetter" email virus.

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Game #220 - Round 8, 2000 vs WCE at WACA (29/4/2000)

One of our best, with 14k, 5hb in 6-point loss to the Eagles.

Grant starred in a surprise role in defence, before Ashley McIntosh eventually quelled his influence.

The Doggies and Eagles provided their usual share of controversy and spite - including a free shot at goal before the first bounce, an umpire nearly KO'd by an errant punch from Fraser Gehrig, and another football gone flat, in one of the most intense games of the season.

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Lucky Star

Club Legend
Nov 10, 2003
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Western Bulldogs
Game #219 - Round 7, 2000 vs Hawthorn at MCG (22/4/2000)

Kicked 2.0 from 11k, 4hb in 31-point loss to the Hawks.

Apart from a burst in the second quarter, Grant played below his peak for the second week running, as Hawthorn centre half-back Jonathan Hay got the better of him.

Indeed, Grant was one of a number of forwards named and shamed by Plough after the game. "We did not have a contested mark from (Trent) Bartlett, (Simon) Cox, (Luke) Darcy, (Craig) Ellis, (Chris) Grant, (Daniel) Southern, not one contested mark between them. That is the difference between winning and losing," lamented Wallace.

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