Round 14

On a sporting weekend so huge it's taken me an extra day to recover, footy could hold its head high as the greatest of all ball games. If only the Poms played footy (yes, I know there's a BARFL but you know what I mean) we could pump them at it, too.

The issue circulating in footy at the moment is cash. Thanks to the new TV deal the AFL will have a truckload of it next year and the poorer Melbourne clubs - your St. Kildas, Norf Melbournes and Bulldogs - want more than an equal share. They have also suggested that when an official 'blockbuster' takes place - any combination of Collingwood/Carlton/Essendon/Richmond - they should get a cut of that gate money as well. The richer Melbourne clubs - them four just mentioned - laughed a bit, then said no although Essadun are keen on a 'summit' to discuss all financial issues. Those lovely folks at Carlton suggested that St. Kilda might have more money if they weren't paying
Blighty a squillion dollars, to which the Saints retorted that Carlton have about a dozen assistant coaches , so who were they to talk? On TV money the AFL reckons the clubs mightn't see any of it until 2004 because the league has to spend the next few years rectifying past mistakes, like Colonial and Waverley. Fun all around.

Fremantle are not doing much off the field, but there's a bit happening off it. The rumours have experienced club manager Cameron Schwab taking over as CEO, Swan coach Rodney Eade stepping into that job for the Dockers and Paul Roos taking over as Sydney coach. Eade's only comment is that he's contracted to Sydney for next year. Melbourne defender Anthony Ingerson retired upon learning he'll miss several games with injury, Ingerson played 151 games with the Crows and the Dees.

The National Under-18 Championships were played in Melbourne over the  last week, the final between Victoria Metro and Victoria Country was played as a curtain-raiser to the Richmond/Hawthorn game on Saturday. Vic Metro won 15.13 to 11.6, the Larke Medal for the best player in the championships was shared by Vic Metro's Sam Power, brother of Brisbane's Luke Power, and Western Australia's Steven Armstrong. There was much interest in Gary Ablett's son, Gary, playing for Vic Country. Dunno how he went, but he didn't make the All-Australian team.

At Colonial:

Once again the Bommers raised their game to squash a challenger, even if that challenge was nearly a year old. The Bulldogs aren't going too well this year but they were the only team to beat Essadun last season, so the Dons revved up and thumped 'em. Chief thumper was Gary 'Evil One II' Moorcroft, who kicked 5 goals in the second quarter and took a simply stupendous screamer. The Pups made four changes after the Princes Park mauling, backman Mitchell Hahn missed with an ankle injury while Nathan Eagleton, Kingsley Hunter and Robert Murphy were axed. Redoubtable Jose Romero returned after a lengthy absence with a knee injury, along with useful Simon Cox, ruckman Paul Dooley and forward Trent Bartlett. The Dons suffered the late withdrawals of Jason Johnson and Damien Hardwick, 'flu-stricken Dean Rioli spent most of the game on the bench. They were
also without skipper James Hird, a groin strain, while young ruckman David Hille was dropped. Danny Jacobs returned after injury while Judd Lalich, Marc Bullen and Jordan Bannister got chances.

The Dogs opened with the first two goals, Chris Grant doubled back to mark in the goalsquare for the first. Luke Darcy sent 'em forward from the subsequent bounce, Craig Ellis won a softish free kick and even spongier 50m penalty for an easy major. Essadun proceeded to boot 12 goals to 3 for the remainder of the half, powered from the centre by ruckman John Barnes and leather-magnet Joe Misiti. They attacked fast and long to Lloyd, Lucas and Evil One II to prevent the Bulldogs flooding back, not that the Bullies tried it much. Peroxided flanker Mark McVeigh played well too, his tumbling kick was marked strongly by Evil One II for the Dons' first sausage. Scott Lucas pumped a long shot home to put the Bombouts ahead, then McVeigh won a dubious free and Bulldog Todd Curley booted the ball away, ala Hunter last week, conceding a 50m penalty and goal. In fact the Pups didn't do well from the umps, not that it made much difference. Curley made good a moment later, ending a precise Doggy move with a mark and goal. Essadun's Misiti cleared the next centre-bounce, Matt Lloyd marked the high kick and converted. Misiti's tackle forced the hapless Curley to kick on-the-full, the free-kick led to a major for Lucas and the Dons led by
three goals at the first change. Evil One II was playing alongside Lloyd in a forward pocket and he kicked two quick goals to open the second term, marks from a quick lead and dropping back into space, respectively. Caracella's long running punt was shepherded through by Lloyd and suddenly the Dons led by five goals. Evil One II marked a long kick behind the pack, on a tight angle and he missed. As the players awaited the kick-in poor ol' Curley altercated with Evil One II, an easy free-kick shot was awarded to the Don. Terrific work from Misiti and Lloyd created a running goal for Adam Ramanauskas, Essadun led by 45 points. Evil One II missed another shot and Brad Johnson became his fourth opponent. The Pups managed a brief rally, Darcy pushed forward for a mark and goal, Paul Dooley's nice tap at the centre-bounce led to a snapped major for Paul Hudson and the gap was down to 33 points. However the Dons had dominated the centre and Chris Heffernan cleared the next one, Evil One II held the back position against Johnson to mark and convert again. Lloyd was staying out of his way by now.

Tarrant got his own paragraph, so what the heck. The Dons went forward from the restart again, Lucas gathered the loose ball and snapped a weak punt forward on his non-natural right foot. It appeared set to clear Johnson and Moorcroft, but Moorcroft launched himself extraordinarily on Brad Johnson's shoulders and stretched back to pluck the ball from the
air. An extra lift saw Moorcroft soar even higher, ball in hands, before Johnson crumpled and Moorcroft fell heavily, but safely, to earth. Quite an incredible effort. He kicked the goal, his fifth of the korter and sixth for the half. Ben Harrison prevented Evil One II kicking another goal in the remaining minute.

The other big incident of the game occurred early in the third stanza, Bulldog Rohan Smith crouched under a high ball, which turned out to be literally a hospital kick. Just after Smith marked it he was crashed by Don Sean Wellman. Wellman's hip crunched Smith's head and Smith's head smacked into the very firm surface. He was unconscious and stretchered
off to hospital for observation, he's OK but has a bruised spine. "Wellman had to go for that ball, he couldn’t pull out," opined TV's Brereton. Not sure about thatneither was the ump, Wellman's since been reported for charging. Nathan Brown goaled from Smith's mark. The Bulldogs proceeded to play a bit better in a free-scoring term, but the Bommers answered every goal and then some. Four consecutive mid-stanza majors, from Lloyd, Mark Johnson roving a throw-in, Barnes and Mark Johnson again sent the Bommers 62 points clear but some good efforts from Chris Grant and Brad Johnson, the latter kicking three goals for the quarter, enabled the Dogs to claw it back to 50. Nevertheless Lloyd marked Heffernan's pass and booted a lovely 55m punt through the big sticks to end the term. The Bulldogs had slowed the Dons' run through midfield and flooded back more effectively, Evil One II's influence waned and he was benched late in the term without a kick for the period. Praise to Ben Harrison, too. The contest was well over, I switched to Wimpleton. A following division of Ivanisevic, Agassi and Rafter would be pretty handy. Henman could come off the bench. In the twos.

Evil One II was the icing but Joe Misiti was the flour (I'll work on that one), gathering 29 disposals (21 kicks) and comprehensively beating the Dogs' on-ballers. Evil One II booted 6 first-half goals from 11 kicks and 9 marks - also all in the first half, he didn't touch the ball again. John Barnes rucked energetically, won hitouts, gathered 13 touches around the ground and kicked a goal. The other Don forwards played well, elusive Blake Caracella with 17 touches and 2 goals, honest Matty Lloyd booted 5 goals from 12 marks and 12 kicks and Mark Mercuri, puffing hard at the finish, ran about for 26 possessions and 11 marks. The running and long kicks of Adam Ramanauskas (14 kicks, a goal) were important in the first half and half-forward Mark McVeigh (18 possies, 2 goals) played well too. Mark Johnson had a run in the midfield for 27 touches and 2 goals, Scott Lucas kicked 3 goals and Paul Barnard was busy with 19 disposals. Should also mention Dustin Fletcher, who stopped Chris Grant in the air although Grant worked hard up the field. As per usual Bulldog ruckman Luke Darcy battled for the Pups to gather 17 disposals, take 6 marks and kick 2 goals. Hard to find another winner, back pocket Matthew Robbins (13 possies) wasn’t bad although he was Evil One II's first opponent. Brad "The Back Upon Which Evil One II Jumped" Johnson went forward after that incident and ended with 3 goals from 15 kicks. Chris Grant fought hard for his 16 disposals and goal, although he took only 3 marks. Scott West had 28 disposals, 10 in the meaningless last quarter and he didn't have much influence, spending the third quarter at full-forward. Similarly, Nathan Brown had 22 touches and a goal but little effect. Wallace said "We were walloped by a pretty terrific side...Moorcroft smashed his opponents. Without being flippant I think Sportsbook picked the wrong week to have a competition between one player and a team." Kevin Sheedy lied "We didn't actually speak about last year at all. If anything I thought last year's loss probably helped us to win the premiership, to be quite honest."

At the MCG:

Credit to the Hawks who responded to a bad run and some early injuries with a predictably tough effort, but the Tigers were dreadful really. It's as though they were trying to lose. After Hawthorn's horrendous belting at the Gabba last Friday Hork members flooded talkback radio with angry bow-wows and miaows. Director of coaching David Parkin
suggested the game-plan needed changing which upset Peter Schwab, the coach who'd come up with the plan. Schwabby suggested that in future Parko might like to raise any concerns with him first instead of the press. There was limited blood-letting at selection with Bill Nicholls, Chance Bateman and Tim Clarke being dropped. Lance Picioane's nose was badly shattered last week, he missed out too. Incoming Hawks were midfielders Brett Johnson, Glenn Bowyer and Adrian Cox plus a first-gamer, solid forward-flanker Tim Hazell from Tasmania. Hazell was drafted in 1999. The comparatively serene Tigers recalled Nick Daffy, junior Mark Coughlan made way. Hawk Angelo Lekkas played his 100th game.

The Hawks were none too confident at the start and looked in even more trouble after Nick Holland dislocated his right 'good' shoulder in the first few minutes, rapidly followed by a knee injury to ruckman Brett O'Farrell. Richmond enjoyed a welter of possession but steadfastly refused to do anything with it. Inside 50s went about 35-10 Richmond's way in the first half but sloppy delivery and good Hork defending saw the Hawks lead by the long break. The umpires joined in the atmosphere of doubt with a bizzarely erratic performance. They seemed very uncertain as to what a "mark" was. Matt Richardson missed his first two shots at goal, a long set effort from 50m and a hilariously awkward attempt at a running banana-kick. Leon Cameron pressed forward and had six kicks in the first quarter, but nearly every one missed the target. The Tiges had that sort of day. Hawthorn majored first, a downfield free converted by Aaron Lord. A skilful gather, turn and pass from Clinton King to Matthew Rogers got the Tiges on the board, Wayne Campbell banged a long free-kick home. The Hawkers were sticking with their excruciatingly slow short-passing game, but it paid off for the next goal, an easy shot for Tim Hazell. Tigre ruckman Brad Ottens marked and sausaged before korter-time. In the second the Hawks, emboldened by the fact they weren't being thrashed, played better. Nathan Thompson bullocked about in the ruck, his long early kick was marked in the goalsquare by Ben Dixon and punted through, then Shane Crawford's good cross-field kick picked out Angelo Lekkas for a major. The Hawks led by 4 points, the Tiges pinched the lead back with a good mark and goal from Ottens. Daniel Chick manufactured an excellent solo goal and Dixon bagged another as the Hawks started to impose themselves. Matt Richardson was working hard for the Tiges across CHF, overcoming his team-mates poor service. Two marks and smart centering kicks created
goals for Joel Bowden and Matty Knights, but Thompson booted a team-lifter for the Horks. He won the centre-bounce, ran forward to receive Trent Croad’s handpass and loft it home from 50m. Might've been handy if someone taller than Steve Sziller was on the goal-line for the Tiges.

The Hawks just got better, the Tigers ever-worse. Two quick Horforn goals to start the third, a good snap from Chick and a confident running bomb from Adrian Cox, sent them 13 points up. Bowden pulled one back for the Tigres but two more Hawker majors arrived and they cleared out to an 18-point lead. The Tigers now made their final challenge, Richardson managed a rare outmarking of Jonathan Hay and goaled, then a long 3-bounce run from Bowden ended with a handpass and sausage for Leon Cameron. Those two majors cut the Hawks' lead to 7 points,but they roused themselves again for the last two gols of the stanza. Forget who scored 'em, Lekkas and Luke McCabe I think. The Tigers had more chances at the start of the final term but Knights and Ben Holland missed, then  Andrew Mills kicked on-the-full. They fell apart, actually aiding the Hawks with some terrible disposal which turned over the ball regularly. Tackles were missed, shepherds not applied, it was horrible stuff. It sounds as though I'm bitter and not giving the Hawks sufficient
credit...well, the first part's true. Hawthorn duly romped away, the best of their final-term goals being a strong goalsquare grab from the deserving Thompson, a lovely long slot from Hazell and another for the very good Daniel Chick. If the finality of the siren was bad enough, I had to fight my way home through crowds of fat, drunken Poms.

Nathan Thompson's move into the ruck was the catalyst, although it was hard to see his influence directly the Hawks started winning on-the-ball when he went there. Thompson was clearly excellent around the ground though, with 21 disposals (17 kicks), 9 big grabs and 3 goals. Much kudos belongs to the Hawk defence, in particular tall man Jade Rawlings with many spoils and 9 marks as well, together with 19 disposals. The clean-up men, Joel Smith (19 disposals), Mark Graham (19 touches, 9 marks) and Rayden Tallis (18 touches, 6 marks) were crucial down there, particularly early. The Hawk midfield isn't brilliant, but it was effective. Shane Crawford was solid with 28 disposals and a goal, Trent Croad moved in there for 17 kicks and a late goal and Angelo Lekkas enjoyed his milestone to gather 21 kicks and bag 2 goals. Adrian Cox (14 kicks, 2 goals) relished his first game for nearly 2 years. Up front Daniel Chick was excellent, Horforn's second-best after Thompson with 3 goals from his 15 possies and Ben Dixon also booted 3 goals from 8 marks and 11 kicks. Tim Hazell kicked 2 goals on debut. Not many worth mentioning for the Tigers. Rover Clinton King was their best in the first half and probably finished that way, despite his disposal falling away in the second half - he had plenty of mates in that regard. King had 25 disposals. Skipper Wayne Campbell plugged away for 23 touches and a goal despite Richie Vandenberg's tag. Joel Bowden (21 disposals, 2 goals) played well again. Nick Daffy picked up 17 touches after coming on during the second quarter. Matthew Rogers and Brad Ottens kicked 2 goals each. Could Richmond take any positives from the game, Danny Frawley was asked. "No...our ball-use compounded the fact of how many times we had to defend easy possession...we didn't use the ball well, our forwards didn't mark the ball, absolutely nothing worked today." A rapt Schwabby said "Probably one of the best wins we've had in my short time here...I put up on the board today question-marks from the footy world on our leadership and credibility and probably each time we've faced a really big challenge we haven't been able to meet it, and that's something we had to do and do it in emphatic style."

At the Gabba:

Lions did the necessary and now face a big test against the Pies at the MCG next Sunday. TV viewing was delayed while we watched some other team called "Lions". You've gotta hand it to them rugger folks. Not only can they fly in the players from four separate countries, they can fly in all the supporters as well. Perhaps the Saints should ask them for a loan. One necessary team change for the Real Lions, Chris Scott was suspended three games for biffing Shane Crawford last weekend and replaced by Ben Robbins, who thus played his 50th game. Chris Johnson's attempted kicking charge was dismissed. The battling Sainters lost Lenny Hayes (shoulder) while Justin Plapp and Brett Knowles were axed. Harsh
on Plappy, I thought. In came ruckman Matthew Capuano and small man Robbie Powell plus a debutant in defender Daniel Wulf, a 21-year-old from Doveton via Footscray.

Blighty experimented with defender Max Hudghton at CHF and Mark Gale at full-back on Lyin' Daniel Bradshaw. Hudghton kicked St. Kilda's first goal, from a free-kick. However Bradshaw already had one himself by then and he went on to kick two more majors in the first term, leading quickly and marking with strong hands. Upfield Michael Voss had the ball
on a string again and Clark Keating gave Sainter Everitt some trouble in the ruck. Brisbun's other goal came from the now-standard Horrendous St. Kilda Kick-In, Shaun Hart bagged it. Nice work from Caydn Beetham created the Saints' second goal in the first stanza, for Barry Hall. It was a while before the Saints scored another. A massacre seemed
inevitable as the Brians poured forward in early quartier du, but they kicked points only before Nigel Lappin cleared the congestion by passing back and across to Martin Pike, he goaled. Young forward Jonathan Brown was collected heavily and carried off and Al Lynch came on for his first run, immediately he marked Daryl White's pass and converted. Brizzy by 29 points. The Saints defended doggedly for a period, debutant Wulf had picked up Bradshaw effectively, the rest was flooding. However the undermanned Saint forward line, and their own poor delivery, prevented them catching up at all. Eventually Tim Notting's long kick spilled from the pack and big Lion Keating stabbed a close-range sausage. At the other end Lyin' backman Chris Johnson gave away a free off-the-ball, but the Stains fluffed the chance and Johnson took off to grab a tough with-the-flight mark 40m out from the other goal and kick it. Didn't stop him being dragged, though. Some sharp handpassing allowed Jason Akermanis to boot a long major and leave Brisbane 46 points ahead at the half, handy given that was more than double what the Saints had scored so far.

Jonathan Brown returned for the second half, his clever recovery and handpass allowed Shaun Hart to snap the Lions 52 points up early in the third. Inexplicably, the Saints rallied and booted the next four goals. Andy Thompson and Beetham in the midfield fired a bit. Craig Callaghan kicked the first of those, a lovely set shot from the junction of 50m and boundary lines, then James Begley's vision picked out Beetham across the ground, he played on to boot a 50m sausage. A quick attack found Barry Hall with less than four opponents, he majored and Thompson's rapid clearance of the next centre-bounce enabled Barry to reel in another grab and goal. The margin was cut to 29 points and the Sainters
had a mild sniff. The Brians responded with the next four goals, Lappin passed to Brown for numero uno. Craig McRae poached perfectly from a throw-in and some off-ball aggro from Aaron Hamill, not having a good night, gifted a goal to Dan Bradshaw. Lynch's remarkable turn and centering kick saw Brown mark strongly and complete the restoration.
Lynchy took steroids during his recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and sports a superb physique now. Not that I'm drawing any link. At all. Difficult to be interested in the final stanza, Bradshaw held a good goalsquare mark for the first goal. Callaghan replied for the Saints with the aid of a 50m penalty - there were a lot of little after-the-fact and off-ball niggles in the game. The final incident of note was Lion Hart (wasn't that a Mel Gibson movie?) being awarded a goal which was clearly touched through. These things happen when you're down the ladder.

On his 26th birthday Michael Voss collected 31 possessions in another matchless ruck-roving display. The Lions' other top performer was forward Daniel Bradshaw, booting 5 goals and taking a hefty 14 marks thanks to some very good passing. Bradshaw missed 4 times too. Other Lions made solid contributions, Chris Johnson again running from the back with 27 disposals and a goal, CHB Daryl White with 23 possessions and without an opponent for much of the time, Jason Akermanis had 20 touches and slotted 2 goals. Handy efforts too from wingmen Tim Notting (16 disposals, 7 marks) and Nigel Lappin (21 possies). Shaun Hart kicked 3 goals - his first goals of the season - and Jonathan Brown booted 2.
Once again Saint skipper Andrew Thompson led from the front with 27 disposals, although Voss was his direct opponent. Fellow midfielder Caydn Beetham wasn't bad with 21 disposals, 10 marks and a goal and small man Steven Baker produced a good tagging effort on Brisbane's Simon Black, gathering 23 touches (with 15 handpasses) of his own. In
attack another vertically-challenged bloke, Craig Callaghan, bagged 4 goals from 13 kicks and Barry Hall worked hard for 3 goals, he took 6 marks and had 9 kicks. Aussi Jones (21 touches) did some good things off half-back. Blighty's going to examine the list. "Brisbane put us under enormous pressure tonight, particularly in that second quarter. Our decision-making is a bit of a problem when you're under pressure. There were a lot of players new to the club this year. Some have done well, some haven't and some of the young blokes actually played alright tonight, so we'll continue in that vein. Over the next two or three weeks every bloke on the list will play, and we'll sort them out." Leigh Matthews said "We weren't perfect tonight but we certainly were solid. I thought we didn't move the ball quickly enough and often enough. We tried to be too creative and that is one area we need to tighten up."

At Football Park:

Channel Seven declined to show us any of what was clearly an absolute genital-tearer of a contest. Footballing geniuses Judge and Ayres going head-to-head with an awesome array of forward firepower at their disposal on a not-at-all slippery Footy Park at night - who wouldn't want to see that? The four points at least keep the Camrys in contention for finals, although their percentage is low and with their current rate of goal-scoring it 'aint gonna increase soon. Just one change in selection for the Camrys, a handy one with Matthew Robran returning from a knee problem. Hayden Skipworth made way. West Coast's appalling run with injury continued as Chad Morrison became the fourth Eagle this season to suffer a season-ending knee injury, in addition Ashley McIntosh re-strained his thigh, Michael Gardiner had an unspecified 'leg' and Travis Gaspar a sprained ankle. Peter Matera was back from a hamstring though, along with ruckmen Dean Cox and Ryan Turnbull and Jeremy Humm.

Once again the absolute pointlessness of night football was evident as thick dew on the ground ruined the spectacle, then rain throughout the second half made it worse. At Colonial okay, it's got a roof, but anywhere else it's plain stupid. Because of TV though, it's not going away. You've gotta hand it to those hardy 31,534 Camry fans for showing up. They must love their footy. The Camrys started with the breeze but kicked inaccurately. Darren Jarman, at full-forward again, booted two first-term goals thanks to quick leads and good passes. Judgey had Peter Matera on him. The Eagles did well enough to kick three goals in the opening period, including one for Scotty Cummings in conditions that weren't helpful. Despite the attentions of the Corollas' meistertagger Tyson Stenglein, West Coast captain Ben Cousins was going very well. The standard sank below ordinary in the second term, the simple act of kicking or handpassing to a team-mate successfully drawing ironic cheers from the crowd, according to the paper. Twenty-three minutes in Mark Ricciuto kicked a goal for the Camrys but within a minute Phil Matera replied for the visitors. The rain arrived during the long break but the Cows took hold of the game with 3.4 to a point in the third. Jarman
snapped a classy major on his left foot early in the stanza and Ian Perrie played impressively across half-forward, grabbing seven marks for the quarter. Facing a 30-point deficit in steady rain mustn't have helped the Weegs' motivation, but they did well enough to boot three goals to none with wind-aid. The paper says Mark Merenda, who played alright on the night, booted a miraculous left-foot goal for the Wiggles. Trouble is he likes to do those things at the exclusion of regular footy.

The Camrys defended stoutly in the greasy conditions and had the upper hand midfield. Down back Ben Hart (19 disposals), Nathan Bassett (16 touches, 6 marks) and Mark Stevens (20 disposals, 8 marks) restricted the Weegs to 16 shots at goal for the game. In the middle hard-working Mark Ricciuto gathered 22 disposals and kicked 2 goals, classy Andrew McLeod had 20 kicks and also potted 2 goals. At the focal point Darren Jarman bagged 3 goals from 8 kicks, 4 marks. Tall man Ian Perrie finished up with 10 marks at CHF, with Jakovich as his opponent, and 13 disposals. Promising although he kicked 0.2. Rookie James Gallagher impressed a bit with 17 touches and a goal from a wing. Once again Wiggle captain Ben Cousins tried extraordinarily hard, shrugging off Stenglein for 36 possessions, 22 kicks and 14 handballs. Some reckon he doesn't hurt the opposition enough, though. Cousins had support from Richard Taylor (21 kicks) and Josh Wooden (21 possies, a goal) while in defence David Wirrpunda (19 touches) played well again and Glen Jakovich proved reliable with 21 disposals and 6 marks ? got the run-around from Perrie though. Tagger Rowan Jones did the job on Kane Johnson. In attack Mark Merenda managed 2 goals from his 17 touches, Phil Matera kicked 2 goals as well. "I don't think it will go down in the annals of AFL history," proffered Ken Judge. "We've been far more competitive," he continued, "I'd like to think the way we're going about things at the moment is what people can expect from us for the rest of the year." Gary Ayres reckoned "We can only improve. You make things happen if your attitude's right. Possibly our attitude wasn't as sharp as it could have been." On next week's clash with Blighty he said "We're going to have to play better than we did tonight. We've got to get back to playing some good footy, so that's all I'll be interested in...getting that into the guys' minds."

At Colonial:

As Lance from Lara says, "C'mon the Moidy Cats!" Geelong are harder to follow than a Pommy sports fans' excuses, but blokes like Clint Bizzell and Mitchell White, who fire about once every Ashes series, did just that to steer Geelong to victory (aren't the Ashes on at the minute?). Or as their coach Bomber Thompson put it, "We had to win today. We're
playing Essendon next week." Without tall defenders Richardson and Wakelin, the Poise had a problem down back. In selection the Cats had Ronnie Burns back from suspension, Adam Houlihan made way. Collingwood were able to recall Anthony Rocca following his withdrawal last week, but another 'tall' in Shane Wakelin missed with an achilles problem. Big man Ben Kinnear got a chance while Damien Adkins was dropped.

It loo ked like a Pie cakewalk early as Anthony Rocca fired to boot two early goals, converting passes from Nick Davis and Brodie Holland. After a couple of quiet weeks Shane O'Bree was back to his best in the middle for the Maggies, while Nathan Buckley collected a lazy seven kicks by quarter-time. Running David Clarke bagged Geelong's first major but the Pies stormed on, Cat defender Matthew Scarlett swarmed all over Pie Chris Tarrant - illegally, but Tarrant missed twice from free kicks before getting on target late in the term. Brodie Holland bagged a couple of goals too. Geelong clung on, thanks in part to Pie ruckman Steven McKee who jogged dopily between Mitchell White and the mark, gifting the Cat forward a 50m penalty and goal. The Cats were powered back into it in the second term by a generalised increase in intensity and the forward play of White and Bizzell. White took marks at CHF and provided a target, Bizzell soared in the goalsquare for a terrific screamer and play-on snap. After early Cat goals the Maggies strode clear again, majors from Tarrant, Rocca and a Josh Fraser bomb sent them 26 points clear. But late-on some goals from Ben Graham and the aforementioned Bizzell beauty closed the gap. Bizzell rode the pack for another terrific screamer in the shadows of half-time - not as outrageously brilliant as Moorcroft's, but more classically correct. He dished to passing Scarlett, onto Ronnie Burns to boot the Cats ahead.

Rocca lead, marked and sausaged the Scraggies back into the lead early in the third, but Clint Bizzell had the taste now. Two more strong grabs and three more goals helped establish the Cat ascendancy one more. Poi coach Mick Malthouse had Rupert Betheras on Bizzell, rather a poor height mis-match. What the heck. Further majors from White and Scarlett sent the Cats ahead while James Rahilly started to slow O'Bree. Collenwood steeled themselves for one last effort. Their Ben Johnson opened the final quarter with a mark and lovely long punt for a goal, then the estimable Tarkyn Lockyer set himself for a very good pack mark and goal. Geelong's lead cut from 23 points to 10. A couple of misses at
either end before Cat Mitchell White marked in the centre square and was stupidly hammered late by Ben Johnson. Johnson was reported for charging and White received a 50m penalty, but he postered from 15m. Rampant Bizzell came to the rescue, another athletic leap and mark on the forward flank and he spotted back-pocket Brad Sholl in acres of space, a pass and Sholly speared it through to put the Cats 17 points up. The Pies ran into some injury trouble, Josh Fraser fell awkwardly in a marking contest and rammed his knee into the goalpost. Hopelessly biased TV commentator Tony Shaw ranted embarrassingly about an alleged push on Fraser. Then Nathan Buckley departed with an ankle problem. Nevertheless a good kick from James Clement picked out Tarrant on the lead, the Pie gun punted truly and the margin was down to 11 points. Now the Cats decided to run the clock down with lots of keeping-off short passing, despite the fact there were 5 minutes remaining. Eventually they went forward, Cameron Mooney missed a shot but within 30 seconds Mooney had another chance, he was accurate this time and the Cats were home.

Bomber Thompson rued Clint Bizzell's inconsistency but he couldn't fault this effort, 5 goals from 7 marks and 15 possessions. Mitchell White wasn't outstanding but he did what he was recruited for, kicking 3 goals from 18 possies and 7 marks. In the midfield Justin Murphy loped about for 25 possessions and lanky youngster Corey Enright did some good
things, he had 16 disposals. Cameron Ling, opposed to Buckley, didn't slow Bucks that much but he did get the ball 22 times hisself. Stand-in ruck duo Ben Graham and Cameron Mooney did well, Graham won a few taps, took 7 marks and kicked 2 goals, Mooney had 13 handpasses and kicked a goal. Half-back Darren Milburn collected 22 possies and took 9 marks while closing down Nick Davis, Matthew Scarlett recovered from his early madness to be an effective defender with 13 touches with a goal. Ronnie Burns had a quiet but effective return with 2 goals from 11 touches. Tony Rocca played well again for Collingwood, although he only managed the one goal after half-time he kept getting the agget, final total 4 goals from 8 marks and 12 kicks. His effort was important as the Poise struggled a bit in the air, and with their mistakes. In the middle Shane O'Bree was very good with 25 disposals, only 2 in the last quarter though, while Bucks racked up 28 touches. We're waiting to see on the ankle problem. Ultra-consistent forward flanker Tarkyn Lockyer was a key
contributor again with 18 disposals and 2 goals, fellow small forward Brodie Holland lurked about for 10 kicks and 2 goals. Chris Tarrant kicked 3.4 from 13 kicks and 6 marks. Mick Malthouse blamed the injuries, and his teams' mistakes. "Our balance has been important to us throughout the year and we've had a minimal amount of injuries. When you lose Richardson and Wakelin, it does stretch us out a little bit...We committed a couple of what I would call pretty ordinary errors in the first quarter, which enabled them to get back to three goals, and that continued. They got too many easy goals, that's the way I saw it." Bomber didn't care. "It was a good, strong, old-fashioned sort of game...today was a different game style that we played, and the boys adapted pretty well after the first quarter."

At the MCG:

Look out - the creaky old Roos are a-comin'. Wayne Carey isn't one-hundred percent but he bagged 6 goals as Norf recorded their fifth win from the last six games, they jumped up to tenth. Meanwhile the Dees' campaign is finished, they'd have to win at least seven of the next eight to make the finals and like the Poms winning any sporting contest, it simply isn't going to happen. The Dees went in without Shane Woewodin (bruised buttock), Guy Rigoni (back) and dropped-again Brent Grgic. It was the first game Brownlow-Medallist Woewodin had missed since his debut in 1997, 107 games ago. Demon replacements were Peter Walsh, back from injury, along with Chris Lamb and Simon Godfrey. The Kangas made one change, Mick Martyn back to replace injured Glenn Archer. Steven Febey played his 250th game for the Demons, just the fourth man to do so.

The Dees began well enough, David Schwarz proved too adept for a lumbering Carey and had 6 touches with 4 grabs in the first term, along with a goal. Jeff Farmer and the busy Daniel Ward snapped one each and the Dees had a clear lead at the first break when Adem Yze's very good snap sailed through. The Kangas took over after quarter-time. The
Canberra winners last week, Brent Harvey and Shannon Grant, won a bucket of touches and Corey McKernan was marking confidently in attack, along with big Sav who dragged down 5 grabs for the term. Carey shifted forward too, giving the Roos one of the tallest, slowest forward lines around. Sav couldn't kick straight but Carey and Byron Pickett did, Pickett snapped a good goal early in the term and right at the end of the stanza snaggled a beauty, smothering Steven Febey's handpass, baulking around Peter Walsh and ripping it through. That put Norf ahead for the first time. They widened the gap in the third stanza, Carey didn't take a mark for the quarter but he did kick two more goals, playing like a
rover/half-forward. Melbourne's midfield was copping it again, Yze beaten so badly by Grant he'd been benched while Roos Harvey, Simpson and Stevens racked up 27 touches between them for the term. Down back David King was doing well against Farmer. The Roos were never really threatened in the final korter either. Melbourne scored the first goal
to get within 16 points but two majors from Carey - a mark of King's long kick and a roving snap - extended Norf's lead to 26 points (a couple of Dee misses in there). Then Dave King roved a pack to boot a sausage of his own and Norf were 32 points ahead. There was time for Carey to bag another too, giving him a neat half-dozen for the afternoon.

All the key North players fired, giving them that ominous look. On a wing Shannon Grant had 26 disposals and kicked a goal, on the ball Anthony Stevens (28 disposals) and Adam Simpson (27 possessions) were very good. Brent Harvey sped about to collect 34 touches and kick a goal. Playing from a back-pocket on Farmer, David King ended with 22
touches (17 kicks) and a goal. The forward-line was quite good, as intimated, Corey McKernan (swapping in the ruck with Burton) took 10 marks and kicked a goal, Sav Rocca ended with 8 marks and 2.2, of course there were Carey's 6 goals from 5 marks and 15 kicks. Add in Byron Pickett with 3 first-half goals and that's not bad. Melbourne's best was
wingman Daniel Ward with 24 disposals (20 kicks) and a goal. In the centre James McDonald played his best game since coming back from a knee reco to have 17 disposals, 7 marks and a goal. Up forward David Schwarz started well and played alright to finish with 21 possessions, 8 marks and 2 goals. Half-back Steven Febey enjoyed his milestone, the Dees' leading possession-winner on the day with 17 kicks and 13 handpasses. Other Dees did a little bit, tough defender Peter Walsh made a good comeback with 21 possies, Cameron Bruce kicked 2 goals from his 18 disposals and Yze improved in the second half to finish with 17 kicks, but a wayward 1.4. Brad Green and Jeff Farmer kicked 2 goals each. A weary Neale Daniher conceded the season. "The next eight weeks are important to our sense of morale and well-being, we've got to start to build to 2002 now. (Today) there were some good signs early, but after that it was disappointing. We weren't clean enough through the midfield, a fumble here, a missed handball there, they really cost us as we went
forward." Denis Pagan also refused talk of finals. "It was encouraging because Melbourne were playing an elimination final today. Our blokes, in a war of attrition, wore them down in the finish. Our midfielders were very good...but I think Wayne's ability to kick those five goals after half-time was pretty crucial. But we've still got a lot of work in front of us; you'd be a fool to even start thinking about the finals." Okay then.

At the SCG:

Carlton haven't won at the SCG since 1993, although they've only played there four times in that 8-year period. Funny how the fixture is worked out, eh? The Swans produced a big effort here and tried to kick themselves out of it, but two last-quarter goals from Jared Crouch saw them to the line. The Blues looked slow - they always do when they lose - and had a bit of trouble in the air once Steven Silvagni withdrew with 'flu and Lance Whitnall hurt a knee in the first ten minutes. In selection the Swans picked Irishman Tadgh Kennelly for his AFL debut, a lanky flanker whom the Swans drafted directly from Ireland, ala Jim Stynes, in 1999. Ryan O'Keefe also got another chance, he and Kennelly replaced dropped pair Troy Luff and Jon Stevens. For the Blues Silvagni was replaced by Jordan Doering.

Open first term saw plenty of scoring, Darren Hulme kicked the Blues' first two goals before the Swans were kicked into life by forward double-act Mick O'Loughlin and Adam Goodes. Matthew Nicks gave the Bloods an early break before Blue pensioner Craig Bradley slotted a wonderful running goal from the boundary-line. The first quarter was full of incident, Sydney ruckman Jason Ball was reported for colliding with an umpire at the centre-bounce and Blue forward Lance Whitnall's afternoon ended when he injured a knee. However the signs were ominous for the Blues as speedy Swans Stuart Maxfield and Paul Williams were already prominent, Wayne Schwass kept a close watch on Scotty Camporeale. With Whitnall off the Blues focussed all their attacking on Anthony Koutoufides, but he found Swan skipper Andrew Dunkley a handful. They relied on a bit of luck for their goals, like Trent Hotton's amazing zig-zag bouncing snap. The Swarns found majors equally hard to come by and the Bluesers clung to a 2-goal lead at the long break.

The Swans launched an attacking blitz to start the third term but succeeded in scoring four consecutive behinds, set-shot misses from O'Loughlin and Matthew Nicks the worst. Sure enough Carlton's first attack of the korter resulted in a goal, to Bradley on the lead, and they led by 14 points. But Schwass and Williams were winning in the middle now and the Swans continued to attack relentlessly, Nicks picked out Leo Barry who'd crept forward for a strong mark and, at last, a goal. Adam Goodes followed suit and the Swans trailed by 2 points. However at the restart an over-enthusiastic Maxfield clobbered Blue half-forward Matt Lappin, the downfield free resulted in a goal to Kouta and the Blues led by 8 points. Irish Blood Tadgh Kennelly had done a couple of useful things (the paper's unsure about the bloke's first name, whether it's Tadgh, Tadhg or Atdhg), he picked out O'Loughlin with a good pass but Molly missed again. It precipitated a further burst of poor Swan goal-shooting which narrowed the gap to 4 points until O'Loughlin got on target finally, converting Nicks's pass to put the Bloods in front. The Blues had to do something and they started the final term well, Matthew Lappin slotted a superb kick from the boundary-line to put the Bloos ahead by 3 points. However the Swans had controlled the field for a while and eventually Maxfield picked out Jared Crouch all alone just 40m out, Crouch played on and speared it
through. Swan Dunkley departed with a sore back and immediately Koutoufides marked and passed for Jim Plunkett, but Plunkett missed and soon at the other end Crouch soared for a big grab over Camporeale, Crouch sausaged. It was doubly good because not only was it a great mark, Camporeale got hurt (only temporarily). Sydney led by 8 points now
but the Blues responded directly from the centre-bounce, Adrian Hickmott snapped a good goal and the margin was back to 2. From the restart again Hickmott had a long shot, but it was touched through to make the margin the smallest possible. The players threw themselves in furiously, there was a fantastic series of tackles in the Carlton goalsquare the equal of anything in the rugby. Misses from Greg Stafford, Crouch and Paul Williams had seen the Swans ahead by 4 points as the clock ticked down, before the much-maligned Siddey ruckman Stafford marked 40m out. The siren rang and Stafford thumped it home, to the delight of the players and crowd alike.

The Swans were terrific in the midfield where Wayne Schwass outplayed Camporeale for 32 disposals (19 kicks, 13 handballs). On the wing Stuart Maxfield gathered 27 possessions (21 kicks) in a energetic effort and Paul Williams raced about to collect 15 kicks and 7 handpasses, he bagged 0.3 though. Captain Andrew Dunkley (14 handpasses) had the better of his duel with Koutoufides and there were good contributions from big men Jason Ball (16 possessions, 6 marks) and Adam Goodes (21 touches, 8 marks, 2 goals). Carlton missed Silvagni and Whitnall a bit there. Jared Crouch was handy with his 2 goals, 8 marks and 15 disposals. Ben Mathews stuck close to Brett Ratten for 18 possies and a goal (to Ratten's 19 disposals and no goals). Mick O'Loughlin's skill shone again with 3 goals from his 12 touches. With prime movers Camporeale and Ratten slowed (although both had decent stats), and the injuries, the Bloos looked to rover Darren Hulme (22 disposals, 2 goals), ol' Craig Bradley (18 touches, 2 goals) and young defensive flanker Simon Fletcher (19 possessions and 10 marks) to provide some drive. Around packs they got some impetus from Jim Plunkett, who had 15 possies and planted 6 tackles, and half-forward Matty Lappin did well enough with 2 goals from his 22 possessions. Not much in the tall department though, Anthony Koutoufides had 18 disposals (10 handpsses) and kicked 2 goals, but took only 3 marks. The number of handpasses indicates how often Kouta was in pack-recovery mode. Trent Hotton also kicked 2 goals, but only the one mark for him. Wayne Brittain said the absences of Whitnall and Silvagni "certainly didn't help. But I could see they (Sydney) were more energetic than we were and that's what won them the game. They were a bit big for us. Their talls got on top a bit down back and they took a few more marks than we did." Rodney Eade is quoted at exorbitant length in the paper, I'll edit a bit. "I won't say poor kicking for goal has cost us games in the past, but last week and against Richmond we missed easy ones early and they could have changed the dynamics of games...For three quarters (today) we outplayed them and it would have been a travesty if we'd lost. Our skills at times let us down, our decision making sometimes was poor and it gave them probably at least three or four goals...but if you've got the intensity we had today you can overcome some deficiencies." No word on the Freo job.

At Subiaco:

Things just go from bad to worse for the battling Dockers, they copped a hiding from the Power whom they beat twice last season and hadn't been going too well coming into this game. Sacking Drummy did the trick, then. Credit to Port for the win, the largest to date in their brief history. Two changes for the Docks in selection, forward Clive Waterhouse was out with a hamstring, again and another forward in Matthew Pavlich missed with injury, they had Tony Modra and Ben Cunningham come in. The Power lost Bowen Lockwood with an injured ankle, ruckman Matthew Primus was a late withdrawal possibly with a shoulder injury after being crunched last weekend and Nathan Steinberner was dropped. In came Derek Murray for his first game of the season, along with rookie ruckman Dean Brogan and defender Scott Bassett. Darren Mead became the first man to play 100 games for Port's AFL team.

Three days of rain leading up to the game had folks speculating about a record low crowd for a Freo home game, in the end 15,961 (about 5,000 more than anticipated) turned up. The Age's man in Perth is scathing about the Dockers' woeful skills, suggesting that Shaun McManus would have had excellent stats if you count kicking the ball to people in the
crowd, or down the throat of opponents. Yet they were in reasonable touch at half-time, so must have got a bit of the ball. Nevertheless Port had a big second term in which Warren Tredrea pulled down 6 marks across CHF and, after a quiet start, Gavin Wanganeen collected 13 possessions, he was also playing in attack this week. Small man Peter Burgoyne was also busy in front of the sticks. Freo had won some ball through the usual men, Heath Black, Adrian Fletcher, Paul Hasleby went well, but they very even-handedly kicked it to Port men quite often. Three goal in as many minutes in the third term turned what was going to be a decent Port win into a huge one. Two came from Dokka mistakes, Troy Longmuir handballed straight to Power's Jared Poulton for one, then Shane Parker spilled an uncontested mark and Poulton handpassed for passing Wanganeen to slot. The Age's man in Perth concludes by saying "The result may have been the lowest ebb that the Dockers have ever reached. At a club which has had seven years without success and fourteen games without a win, that is saying something."

Port had lots of winners, chiefly small forward Peter Burgoyne with 6 goals from 18 disposals and 7 marks, lively Gavin Wanganeen with 32 possessions and 2 goals and centre half-forward Warren Tredrea who took 9 marks and kicked 4 goals. Elsewhere midfielders Josh Carr (23 touches and 7 marks) and Jarrad Schofield (28 disposals, a goal) played well, Chad Cornes worked hard across half-forward for 7 marks, 14 kicks and a goal. Seventeen Flowers had 10 or more possessions and thirteen kicked at least one goal, including Mead who didn't have much else to do. Scott Bassett, Che Cockatoo-Collins and Jared Poulton kicked 2 goals each. For Freo defender Matthew Carr, brother of Port's Josh, had 22 disposals, took 8 marks and kept Cockatoo-Collins reasonably quiet. Paul Hasleby kicked 3 goals from his 19 touches and experienced small men Adrian Fletcher (26 disposals) and Peter Bell (28 touches, a goal) were alright. Winger Heath Black got plenty of the ball again, 29 possies with a goal and defender Shane Parker was reasonable. Tony Modra kicked 2 goals. Ben Allan does 'invective' well. "That was a shocker, it was disgraceful. The weaknesses I perceived in the group were exposed, the skills were deplorable under pressure, our lack of speed was exposed and the inflexibility of the team was exposed as well." One thinks they should use the upcoming draft picks to trade heavily. Mark Williams paid homage to Freo as the team to play when you're out of form. "I watched Geelong struggle, get a win over here and get back on board - they won
today I think - and we're also looking for a springboard from the result today."

Ladder after Round 14:

Cheers,

Home * TV Info * AFL Reports * Local Footy * Merchandise * Footy FAQ * Links * BBS *
Chat * Calendar * Search * Subscribe * AFANA Info * Feedback