NAB challenge squad

[peterss]

Thanks for that Peterss. Great to hear an unbiased account.

Don't forget that most of these guys are quite talented, they just haven't made their way into the team yet (need a preseason or two to build them up)
but it is good to see that they haven't been thrashed.

Yeah i know that they are talented and a fair few of the players that played for you today could be classified in the Fringe Player range.


The game overall was scrappy (By Both Teams) but I was surprised at how well your team went considering all your regulars didnt play. (Well most of them)

 

[BATTERY]

NAB REGIONAL CHALLENGE
WEST COAST 5.3 7.3 10.8 12.12 (84)
ST KILDA 0.3 5.5 9.9 11.10 (76)
Goals: West Coast: Q Lynch 5 M Seaby D Chick M Nicoski R Jones C Judd A Embley B Staker. St Kilda: S Milne 2 L Montagna 2 B Brooks 2 J Sweeney 2 A Fiora C Ackland D Pfitzner.
Best: West Coast: C Judd M Braun A Embley M Nicoski D Cox Q Lynch. St Kilda: S Milne L Montagna A Thompson T Schwarze J Gram A Fiora.
Injuries: West Coast: Nil. St Kilda: B Voss (ankle).
Crowd: 8283 at Rushton Park, Mandurah.

 

[peterss]

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,18353015-23210,00.html

 

[Kildonan]

Saints push Eagles hard
10:14:07 PM Sat 4 March, 2006
Justin Chadwick in Mandurah
Sportal for afl.com.au

The Saints overcame a slow start to push the Eagles all the way in their NAB Challenge match at Rushton Park in Mandurah on Saturday, before going down by eight points - 12.12 (84) to 11.10 (76).

Five goals to Quinten Lynch helped the Eagles to the scrappy victory.

The Saints went into the match without guns Nick Riewoldt, Luke Ball, Aaron Hamill, Fraser Gehrig, Robert Harvey, Lenny Hayes, Max Hudghton, Matt Maguire and Nick Dal Santo, but the young St Kilda side fought back from a 30-point quarter-time deficit to force the Eagles to grind out the match.


Just five points in favour of West Coast separated the sides at three-quarter time, but goals to Brent Staker and Lynch midway through the final term secured the win, before two late goals to the Saints closed the final margin to eight points.

Stephen Milne, Leigh Montagna, Barry Brooks and Justin Sweeney played well for the visitors, each kicking two goals.

Coach Grant Thomas praised his young side for their never-give-up attitude, believing the comeback after the poor first quarter showed the spirit of the side.

"I think West Coast got the jump on us early, but our guys stuck to the task," Thomas said after the match.

"I was very proud of how we went about it."

"I thought the guys did very, very well."

Lynch was a standout for the Eagles, providing a strong target up forward and combining well with Daniel Chick as the crumber.

Ben Cousins was named as an emergency after enduring a grueling training session on Friday, and the Eagles midfield struggled to find consistency throughout the match without the former captain.

Brent Staker received plenty of the ball along with Daniel Kerr, while Dean Cox and Andrew Embley lifted in the second half.

But it was Lynch who opened the account for West Coast, kicking truly from long range after taking a strong leading mark.

A minute later Mark Seaby doubled the margin, and when Daniel Chick chipped in with his first goal the Eagles were out to a three goal lead after just eight minutes.

Two more goals from West Coast late in the quarter saw them go into the first break five goals up, with the Saints held goalless and managing only three points for the term.

James Gwilt broke the shackles and stood up for the visitors early in the second, setting up Montagna and Brooks for goals in the opening five minutes as St Kilda began to rally.

Lynch steadied the ship for West Coast with his third goal of the match, but the Saints continued to push, with goals to stand-in captain Milne and Brooks reducing the margin to just 11 points.

Another goal to Lynch late in the quarter restored the Eagles' buffer, but Dylan Pfitzner reduced the margin to just 10 points at the long break with a goal seconds before half time.

Allan Murray had the opportunity to close the margin to four points early in the third, but his sprayed snap-shot proved costly as the Eagles rebounded the ball to Rowan Jones who kicked truly from his set shot.

However the young Saints would not give-in, and when Milne kicked his team's third goal in as many minutes, the visitors hit the front, before a late goal from Embley restored a slender five-point lead heading into the final term.

With the mercury reaching close to 40 degrees during the day, both sides looked exhausted in the sloppy final quarter, but the Eagles managed to tighten their defence to hold out the Saints and record their first win of the year.

Brett Voss was the only casualty of the night, injuring his ankle in the first half.

The teams meet again for the opening game of the season on March 30 at Subiaco Oval.

WEST COAST: 5.3, 7.3, 10.8, 12.12 (84)
ST KILDA: 0.3, 5.5, 9.9, 11.10 (76)

GOALS –
West Coast: Lynch 5, Seaby, Chick, Nicoski, Jones, Judd, Embley, Staker 1
St Kilda: Brooks, Montagna, Milne, Sweeney 2, Pfitzner, Ackland, Fiora 1
BEST –
West Coast: Lynch, Chick, Kerr, Staker, Cox
St Kilda: Brooks, Gwilt, Montagna, Milne, Gram
INJURIES –
West Coast: Nil
St Kilda: Voss (ankle)
CROWD - Approx 8000 at Rushton Park

 

[Kildonan]

Eagles win over young Saints
04 March 2006 Herald Sun
By Chris Pike of AAP

TWO sides heavily favoured for the 2006 AFL Premiership met in a practice match at Mandurah's Rushton Park and West Coast was victorious over an undermanned St Kilda by eight points.

Playing under Chris Judd as captain for the first time, the Eagles capitalised on a five goal to nil opening term to eventually win 12.12 (84) to 11.10 (76) in near 40-degree heat, which led to shortened quarters and extended breaks.

The Saints hit back after quarter-time and won the next three quarters by 22 points, but the five-goal deficit at the first break was too much to reign in.

However, given the youth of the side fielded, St Kilda has great depth coming into the season.

In the absence of their stars, including skipper Luke Ball, dynamic forward Stephen Milne led the Saints and spent most of the game on the ball, to be their best.

Andrew Thompson was another to lead the young Saints well, with James Gwilt, Jason Gram, Leigh Montagna and Troy Schwarze all showing they are keen to become regular team members.

The Eagles new-look forward-line, consisting of Quinten Lynch, Brent Staker, Ashley Hansen and Rowan Jones, among others worked well, Lynch leading the way with five goals.

Judd led from the front while Steven Armstrong impressed with his endeavour to break onto the senior list after crossing from Melbourne.

Michael Braun, Andrew Embley, Mark Nicoski and Dean Cox all looked in fine form.

Ben Cousins and Ashley Sampi were among those missing from the West Coast side, both have had a hectic time off the field of late.

Cousins relinquished his captaincy over the booze bus affair, while Sampi has been charged with assault and possessing a weapon. The only sour note for the Saints was an apparent ankle injury to Brett Voss, the full result of which will be determined in the coming days.

NAB REGIONAL CHALLENGE
WEST COAST 5.3 7.3 10.8 12.12 (84)
ST KILDA 0.3 5.5 9.9 11.10 (76)
Goals:
West Coast: Q Lynch 5 M Seaby D Chick M Nicoski R Jones C Judd A Embley B Staker.
St Kilda: S Milne 2 L Montagna 2 B Brooks 2 J Sweeney 2 A Fiora C Ackland D Pfitzner.
Best:
West Coast: C Judd M Braun A Embley M Nicoski D Cox Q Lynch.
St Kilda: S Milne L Montagna A Thompson T Schwarze J Gram A Fiora.
Injuries:
West Coast: Nil.
St Kilda: B Voss (ankle).
Crowd: 8283 at Rushton Park, Mandurah.

 

[Kildonan]

Voss injury rubs salt into Saints' wounds
By Mark Duffield, Mandurah
March 5, 2006

AN ANKLE injury to experienced defender Brett Voss marred a competitive effort from a vastly undermanned St Kilda line-up in searing heat against West Coast in Mandurah, south of Perth, yesterday.

In temperatures approaching 40 degrees, the Saints, without 13 of their best 22, overcame a sluggish start to draw close to the Eagles at half-time and even snatched the lead briefly in the third quarter before the Eagles drew on their greater experience and steadied to win 12.12 (84) to 11.10 (76).

Voss, one of the key backmen in the Saints' line-up, rolled an ankle in the second quarter and is likely to miss two to three weeks.

The courageous defender was sandwiched between a teammate and Eagle Mark LeCras in a second quarter marking contest and went to ground clutching his right ankle. The injury was iced immediately but Voss, who spent the second half watching his teammates from the bench, appeared unable to put any weight on the foot.

The Saints were up against it from the start. Coach Grant Thomas had publicly expressed his displeasure at being sent on another pre-season road trip in the first place and selected a team minus the club's marquee players Nick Riewoldt, Luke Ball, Fraser Gehrig, Robert Harvey, Lenny Hayes and Nick Dal Santo.


Also absent were Aaron Hamill, Max Hudghton, Matt Maguire, Sam Fisher, Justin Koschitzke and Stephen Powell.

West Coast wasn't quite at full strength, resting Brownlow medallist Ben Cousins, who put himself through a searching solo training session on Friday night. But the bulk of the team's stellar midfield was intact.

Needless to say it showed early. Small forward Stephen Milne not only led the Saints team onto the field but also into the centre square.

He engineered the first clearance of the game but it was pretty much one-way traffic the other way from then on until quarter-time as the Eagles' more seasoned midfield took over and set up five first quarter goals.

The main thing for West Coast to get out of this match, aside from important match practice and conditioning, was some form for their tall forwards and to that end Quinten Lynch kicked two first-quarter goals, resting ruckman Mark Seaby kicked one and Daniel Chick capitalised on a poor St Kilda turnover for a fifth.

The visitors did manage a second-quarter rally, with big man Barry Brooks leading impressively and kicking straight for two goals while resting at full-forward on Jaymie Graham. James Gwilt set up two of St Kilda's five goals for the quarter to be arguably his team's best player at half-time. At the other end of the ground Lynch capitalised on the combination of a winning Eagles midfield and an inexperienced St Kilda defence to add two more goals.

Two of his four first-half goals yesterday came after good strong leads.

Lynch kicked 31 goals from 23 games playing mainly at full-forward in 2005 before being dropped in the preliminary and grand final teams.

Milne and Leigh Montagna played strongly in the midfield for the Saints while Andrew Embley and Brent Staker were the two Eagles players who appeared to sense the danger of a boilover win. Staker led hard and kicked an important last-quarter goal while Embley ran tirelessly in the midfield.

 

[Kildonan]

Big step forward: Lynch kicks five as heat takes its toll
By DAVID DAVUTOVIC (Sunday Times)
05mar06

AUSTRALIA'S two leading betting agencies have West Coast breathing down St Kilda's neck for flag favouritism, but yesterday's NAB Challenge fixture was anything but a dress rehearsal for the last Saturday in September.

Fans eager to see a revamped Eagles forward structure witnessed few changes as coach John Worsfold opted for a tried and tested formula in oppressive heat.

In the end it worked, as the Eagles prevailed 12.12 (84) to 11.10 (76).

It was only three games ago that Quinten Lynch was axed from the preliminary and Grand Final sides after playing 23 games and booting 31 goals – only Phil Matera (38) kicked more.

Lynch spent the summer down back, but Andrew McDougall's form slump, Brad Smith's season-ending injury and Michael Gardiner's banishment to the WAFL saw him thrown back to full-forward.

Lynch responded, kicking four first-half goals, three from set pieces – two from marks and one a deserved free-kick – while he was rewarded for some hard running for another when he received a handpass from Daniel Chick.

He finished with five.

The 23-year-old looked sharp and grabbed the ball cleanly, but his opponents were Matthew Ferguson (eight AFL games) and Fergus Watts (four), with senior defenders Max Hudghton, Matt Maguire and Sam Fisher rested.


Adam Hunter played at full-back in the absence of Darren Glass (knee), but the Saints went goal-less in the opening term as West Coast piled on five.

Chick moved forward to line up in a pocket, with Mark Seaby in the other, while Ashley Hansen played centre half-forward with Brent Staker and Steven Armstrong flanking him.

With temperatures nearing 40C, Worsfold rotated stars Chris Judd and Dean Cox in attack regularly.

The pair had little impact on the scoreboard, but Cox dominated in the ruck.

It was a game the Eagles were taking quite seriously after last week's 62-point drubbing, but the four-hour flight, followed by an hour-long drive to Mandurah, was draining on St Kilda.

But Grant Thomas' side still managed to claw its way back to within 10 points at the main break, despite losing Brett Voss just before the siren with an ankle injury.

Ben Cousins was rested after a gruelling extra running session on Friday, Beau Waters and Brett Jones played for Claremont against Swan Districts and Damien Adkins was left out.

The first-choice midfield combo – Chad Fletcher (fractured collarbone) aside – of Cox, Judd, Daniel Kerr and Tyson Stenglein contested most centre bounces, while Michael Braun had a successful return from surgery.

Andrew Embley enjoyed a good hit-out on the wing.

Kerr, Embley, Nicoski, Mark LeCras and Hunter were solid.

Staker was the go-to man across half-forward in the second half, kicking the first goal of the last term, which put the game out of reach.

The bounce was delayed by 30 minutes and the first two quarters were reduced to 20 minutes, with the quarter-time and half-time breaks extended.

The Eagles donned ice vests before heading into a refrigerated container at quarter-time, while St Kilda went into its changerooms.

Barry Brooks rucked, but was more impressive up forward, while James Gwilt, Jason Gram, Leigh Montagna and Aaron Fiora provided some zip through the middle to keep the Saints in the contest.

St Kilda's former bad boy Stephen Milne showed a new-found maturity and led by example as captain, kicking two from the midfield.

The Eagles can expect more hot weather this week when they head to Alice Springs to take on Carlton.