AFL Weekly Review Finals Week 1 2007

by Tim Murphy

A bit of news. Cat man Joel Selwood won the Rising Star Award last week, with 44 of a maximum possible 45 votes. Magpoi Scott Pendlebury was a close second (37) with a long gap back to Demon Nathan Jones. Melbourne appointed recent Fremantle coach Chris Connolly as their football manager. Blue midfielder Andrew Carrazzo won the John Nicholls Medal as their best player of 2007, the Blues also delisted five players last week including 2004 best-and-fairest David Teague and ruckman Dylan McLaren.

And Bommer supporter Peter Coatman pointed out some errors I made regarding the Dons last week. Matty Lloyd kicked 62 goals for the season and Scott Lucas 61, I had it the other way ‘round. Lucas's 7 in the last quarter was only the best effort since 1991, Pete Sumich did it that year. The Dons lost their first five of the first six in 1981 and made the finals that year. Good to know you’re on the ball, reader.

At Football Park:

Port Adelaide  1.3   2.7   6.9    9.14.68
West Coast     2.3   3.6   7.10   9.11.65

Port slogged their way past the stricken Weegs in a tough game. You can’t play injured or unfit players in finals is an old lesson not heeded by the Weegs here as Chris Judd was finished halfway through the third term (he’d just kicked 2 goals, but still) while underdone Andrew Embley did nothing. Ben Cousins ripping a hamstring late in the third was the straw that broke the glasshouse, or something, although Cousins’s injury was unlucky rather ‘ironic’ as the TV folk reckoned. Some read a type of natural justice into it, though. Port were struggling halfway through the third but the Weegs’ injuries and Port’s steadily increasing weight of possession told in the end. Last week Choco Williams reckoned the Powder had enjoyed some luck this season, meeting some teams “at the right time”.  Perhaps they are blessed. Home prelim final against the Ruse or Hawks now. In selection Port were unchanged from last week, the Eegs recalled Judd, Embley and Adam Selwood, replacing Chad Jones, Mitch Morton and Chad Fletcher. Mark Nicoski was axed initially but recalled late at Fletcher’s expense for match-up reasons, we were told.

A rugged game, both sides struggled in attack. The Eegs got numbers back, but the Coasters themselves seemed to have a two-man forward-line, Quinten Lynch and Judd. Mark LeCras led well up the ground. Judd, playing in a forward-pocket, had Michael Pettigrew as an opponent while Port’s Kane Cornes picked up Cousins, for the Eegs Selwood followed Shaun Burgoyne. The first-quarter goals came early, the Flowers’ Chad Cornes bullocked Beau Waters off the ball and passed for Troy Chaplin to mark and kick the first. Chaplin, loose in defence, saw a lot of the ball early. Weegle Shannon Hurn hacked the ball forward from the restart, Lynch gathered it on the bounce, wheeled about with his ocean liner-like turning circle but still eluded opponent Thurstans and booted a good goal. Cousins had a free at the following centre-bounce, the ball went towards Judd who spilled the mark but was awarded a free for high contact. Judd’s groin injury meant he couldn’t kick more than 30m, he dished off a handpass for Hurn to boot a long goal. Eegs by 6 points. The Eegs proceeded to control the ball with cool, short kicks and lots of handball, while the Flowers’ running and long bombs were picked off by the Weeg backmen. But Lynch hooked a shot on-the-full, Weeg Tyson Stenglein missed a sitter and Judd, running into an open goal, handballed to a surprised Lynch on the point-line, who fumbled it through. Port men Brendon Lade and Danyle Pearce also kicked on-the-full at the other end. Into the second term and Port’s Daniel Motlop had some early shots, yet another on-the-full plus a behind. Commentator Dennis Commetti observed Powerman Dom Cassisi looks like Ben Stiller. There were plenty of hard hits, Weeg Adam Hunter had been cleaned up by Chad Cornes, Weeg Matt Rosa hurt a shoulder in a tackle but the best was Port’s Steven Salopek being absolutely creamed by a textbook hip-and-shoulder from Waters. Salopek staggered off but returned later. Lynch kicked the first goal for 25 minutes, after plucking a good mark over Thurstans, and the Eegs led by 12 points. Motlop leaped for a big pack-mark, kneeing Wiggle Brett Jones in the face while doing so. But Motlop missed. Port were beginning to win more of the ball though, led by Peter Burgoyne running off half-back. Eventually they had reward, Shaun Burgoyne spilled a mark but was tripped in the aftermath by Selwood, Burgoyne free-kicked a goal. The Eegs led by 6 points, Port managed some late pressure but Shaun Burgoyne and Justin Westhoff both postered with set shots. The Eegs by 5 points at half-time.

The Weevils made a break with three quick goals to open the third Mario. Lynch’s hurried rain-maker of a kick was gathered by Rowan Jones, he was allowed to run quite a way before handballing for LeCras to snap it through. Another crunching Waters hit, on Pettigrew, forced the ball loose, LeCras kicked long and roving Judd gathered the pack-spilled ball to poke it through from point-blank. The Weegs were winning most of the clearances, at the restart ruckman Dean ‘Big’ Cox tapped the ball to Matthew Priddis, his long kick cleared Lynch and Thurstans and Judd lurked at the back to stab another easy sausage. The Eegs had jumped 23 points ahead and they immediately slowed the game, chipping the ball about. David Wirrpanda appeared to kick Pearce in the stomach as the Powerman baulked around him, might be looked at. Judd marked 40m out and again dished off to Hurn, whose long shot missed. But Judd departed soon afterwards, his groin too sore to continue. The Powder worked back into it, Chad Cornes kicked towards leading Brett Ebert who gathered on the bounce and handballed for running Peter Burgoyne to slot a goal, Eegs by 16 points. Port’s ruckman Dean Brogan limped off with ankle trouble and shortly afterwards his Weeg counterpart Mark Seaby kicked a goal, slipping forward unopposed to mark Lynch’s long kick. Eegs by 24 points. Lade and Salopek combined to win the following centre-clearance, Motlop set up a snapped goal for Ebert. Then the Burgoynes did well to get the ball to Warren Tredrea, marking on a tight angle. Tredrea played-on and hooked it through with his left boot, but the ump called it back because he hadn’t set the mark. Luckily, Tredrea repeated the kick. Port were coming now, 13 points down and Cousins tore his hamstring at this stage, his season is surely over. Earlier pictures showed Cousins has ‘Such is Life’ tattooed across his stomach, Ned Kelly’s last words. Yeah, you’re a romantic outlaw, Cuz. Motlop sliced a set-shot on-the-full but Ebert recovered the Weeg free and kicked long again, Motlop leaped for a big grab and booted a goal after the siren, Port were 7 points down at the final break. Early in the final term Motlop missed again as did Tredrea. Brogan returned as Port’s midfield began to roll over the depleted Weegles. Kane Cornes, freed from tagging duties on Cousins, was ploughed into the ground by Wirrpanda’s tackle just 20m out, Cornes free-kicked a goal and Port led for the first time, by a point. A minute later Michael Wilson’s long punt was marked too easily by Salopek, right in front, and he converted. Port by 7. The Weegs responded, Kane Cornes kicked on-the-full under pressure and Michael Braun’s free was marked strongly in the goal-square by Cox, he popped it through. Port by 1 again. Against the run though, Westhoff postered before he plucked a casual one-handed, with-the-flight mark of Pettigrew’s long kick, robbing Motlop of a grab in he process. Westhoff majored, Port by 8. The Weegs fought on, a Chad Cornes turnover allowed Brett Jones to find Rosa all alone, Cornes compounded his error by running over the mark, gifting Rosa a 50m penalty and goal. Port by a point again. The Corneses won the ball at the restart, Motlop marked and kicked a point. A chance for the Wiggles but Port recovered the kick-in and played keepings-off. Cassisi kicked another behind and again the Weegs had a chance from a kick-in, but as Rosa advanced along the wing Pearce came off the bench and blind-side tackled him. “I hate that,” said Commetti. Hunter punted the Weegs forward in the dying seconds but no Wiggle mark was forthcoming, Port held on.

Peter Burgoyne’s (29 disposals, a goal) running off half-back was consistent and threatening all game, Kane Cornes (22 handlings, a goal) kept Cousins pretty quiet until the Eeg went down. Troy Chaplin (24 touches, 10 marks, a goal) won plenty of touches loose in the back half and slipping forward, Jacob Surjan (14 handlings) was also useful down back. Brendon Lade (19 touches, 15 hit-outs) battled in the ruck, David Rodan (13 disposals) was decent. Port had nine goal-kickers and fewer stand-out players than the Eegs, players like Chad Cornes and Brett Ebert were modest overall but stood up when it counted. The Weegs had great games from ruckman Dean ‘Big’ Cox (20 disposals, 10 marks, 16 hit-outs, a goal) and Adam Selwood (16 touches), who put Shaun Burgoyne out of it. With the big three missing in action, the midfield was driven along by Matthew Priddis (22 disposals) and Tyson Stenglein (29 touches, 10 marks), backman Beau Waters (22 possies, 10 marks) delivered some solid hits. Brett Jones (18 touches) was busy ‘til kneed in the face and Matt Rosa (21 handlings, a goal) was alright. Chris Judd and Quinten Lynch (8 marks, 18 touches) kicked 2 goals each. Worsfold was quizzed about the wisdom of playing Judd, and how the Weegs would overcome the injuries. “That’s (the injuries) obvious isn’t it?” Worsfold kinda snapped. “Are we out of the comp? Can we [still win it]? Yes, we can; it’s a straight-forward answer. I’m just disappointed to lose; it doesn’t really mean anything else. The good thing is that our scenario is the same; you win finals and you stay in the race and we’ve got that chance next week. Are they sore? No, we’ll have a fresh, fit, healthy squad playing next week. It will be our best available squad, definitely.” Although he did rule out Kerr, who has a finger injury. “I’m proud of the way they played,” continued ‘Woosha’. “You prepare to play at your best every week and I believe we prepared as well as we possibly could this week. I’m really proud of the way the players went about getting themselves ready to go out and give it their best shot tonight.” Mark Williams had to rush off to see his wife and new baby afterwards, assistant Matty Primus said “We had a fair bit of pressure coming into it, playing a home final against the reigning premiers. We were behind for most of the game and in the rooms after the game we talked about our persistence and team effort. There wasn’t a guy who dominated four quarters or who was clearly best on ground for us, but we won the game. If our 22 keep contributing, it might be a cliché, but it keeps on working and that’s what we’ve really pushed since round 12. We’ve got two weeks now to prepare ourselves. The guys will get together and watch the Adelaide-Hawthorn game and probably the Geelong-Kangaroos game and they now get a chance to recoup. We’ve played our first final, we won it and now we’ve got another final now to go out and win.”

At Docklands:

Hawthorn   4.3    8.7   10.10   15.15.105
Adelaide   7.4   10.7   12.12   15.12.102

Great final. I missed out on Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin last Sunday but he was on tap this week, booting 7 goals including the match-winner with under 20 seconds remaining. The Hawks outlasted their more experienced Camry opponents, making more mistakes but winning more of the ball as the game wore on. And they had Franklin. Terrific result for the young Hork side. The Cows face a bit more of an uncertain future with their ageing group. It was the end for Mark Ricciuto, who made a club record 312th appearance here. Ricciuto’d barely trained during the week and he made no impact on this game, spending most of it on the bench. Afterwards Neil Craig more-or-less admitted Ricciuto had been selected in tribute to his career and contribution to the club. An article I read recently reckoned Ricciuto gave the Adelaide Football Club its identity. A tough, aggressive man committed to winning, Ricciuto will be remembered as a great leader in addition to his undoubted skills and many awards - Brownlow, multiple club championships and All-Australian selections, a flag in 1998. And for his ability to hit people in the head, most famously in the off-field ‘Showdown’ with Josh Carr at the Ramsgate Hotel. The Orcs made one late change to the side thumped in Sydney, Michael Osborne replacing Ben McGlynn, to tag McLeod as it turned out. The Cows called up Ken McGregor to replace Martin Mattner.

The Docklands stadium was full but plenty of Camry fans were about. The Cressidas started very well, with three quick goals as they dominated clearances. Ken McGregor kicked the first after a mark and 50m penalty for an off-ball clash between Cow full-back Rutten and Hork skipper Richie Vandenberg. Camry Scott Thompson won the ball at the restart, Brett Burton sped out for a mark and stabbed a short pass to leading Nick Gill, he converted. Another centre clearance, Gill forced the ball further forward and Jason Porplyzia had a snap which bounced through. Cows by 18 points. Jarryd Roughead missed awfully for the Hawks and later dropped a mark on the lead. Ricciuto managed a final biffing to the head of opponent Campbell Brown after the Hawk marked, conceding a 50m penalty. About the only meaningful thing Roo did. The Hawks attacked from a kick-in, Rick Ladson handballed for Jordan Lewis to boot the Hawks’ first, on-the-run. A bit later another rebound ended with Lewis passing to leading Roughead, who held the grab this time and majored with a good kick. The dose was repeated a minute later, Roughead clutching Lewis’s spearing pass for another major. Shane Crawford missed a running shot to reduce the Camry lead to a point. A long Nathan Van Berlo kick bounced through for the Cows, completing a snappy handpassing move. The Hawks responded, Thompson was caught in possession and Luke Hodge passed for leading Franklin to mark and boot his first. There was a late Corolla surge though, McGregor free-kicked a major after being shoved in the back by Croad, Camry Chris Knights cleared the restart and Porplyzia handballed for Tyson Edwards to boot a long goal. A Simon Goodwin pass found Knights alone, he goaled after the first siren to have the Camrys 19 points ahead. It was the Coronas’ highest-scoring first term of the season. The Cows continued to win the contested ball and use it better into the second stanza. Good pressure brought Horforn an early major, McLeod handballing directly to Roughead who snapped it home. But Hodge had to be carried off a minute later with an apparently serious knee injury. Camry man Porplyzia roved a throw-in and passed to McGregor in the pocket, he slotted it through. Robert ‘Don’t Call Me’ Shirley punted the Cows forward from the next centre-bounce, Scott Welsh came galloping out to pluck a grab and boot another. Hork Grant Birchall lost the ball in the sun, the Cows attacked and McGregor took a strong pack-mark 10m out, he booted truly as the Camrys cruised to a 31-point lead. Now Hawk Chance Bateman appeared to tear his dodgy hamstring. “If the Hawks have any non-believers, they’re about to emerge,” said Blighty. Franklin came to the Orcs’ rescue. He spilled a mark on-the-lead but recovered the Sherrin and snapped it through for a sausage. Hodge limped back on as Birchall kicked for Franklin to mark strongly in front of opponent Kris Massie, ‘Buddy’ kicked straight again. Fortune favoured him as Franklin won a free when collected high by Jason Torney, and a 50m penalty also as Torney was reported, ridiculously, for what was nothing more than a collision. Franklin’s third in-a-row cut the Camry lead to 14 points. Franklin and Osborne snapped behinds before the Cows reverted to keepings-off prior to half-time, they led by 12 points with the momentum apparently having swung.

Franklin didn’t start the third term too well, giving away a couple of free kicks and 50m penalties. He’s the most penalized player in the AFL, apparently. Other Hawks picked up the slack, Lewis drove a centering kick and Brown seized an unlikely pack-mark, he booted a goal. The Corolla lead was down to 5 points. Gill and Shirley added behinds for the Cows before Franklin won a free and kicked to the top o’the ‘square, a simple tactic which worked well as Bateman, also back on, leaped for a mark in front of Hodge and raised the twin calicoes. Camrys by a point. Bateman had hamstring cramping, apparently, and Hodge just a cork. The game and pace of scoring began to slow, a bit of tiredness already. Franklin spilled some more marks in a tricky spell for him, Massie was doing alright at this stage. The Cressidas worked ahead again, misses from Knights and Burton were followed by a goal from Welsh, out-bustling Brown to mark 30m out. Adderlayed led by 9 points. A coupla behinds for the Hawks followed, before Camry Edwards, playing very well, did coolly to pass to Porplyzia on the lead. Porplyzia’s wobbly mongrel of a kick drifted through for a goal from 50m, the Cows led by 13 points. Thompson hit the post after the siren and there was a slight feeling the Cows had weathered the best the Horks could offer. But they hadn’t. Early final term and Horks Campbell and the increasingly mobile Hodge combined to send the ball long, Crawford marked 15m out and stabbed it through. Poor defending in the last line by the Cows, with shortish Horks Brown, Bateman and Crawf all marking and booting goals from close-in. A minute later Franklin marked 55m out and thumped a huge goal, reducing the Camry led to 2 points. Lewis marked on a tight angle and mis-hit his attempted banana, it sailed out on-the-full. The Coronas had a break when Hork Clint Young clangered the ball straight to Goodwin, he passed for leading Welsh to mark and boot a major from 50m. But the Orcs kept on, Hodge’s wild handpass while tackled was gathered by Young, he ran on and banana-slotted a major. A good switch and fast rebound via Campbell saw Franklin mark on-the-lead, Buddy converted and Horforn led for the first time in the game, by 4 points. The Crows looked very tired now as Hork misses extended their lead to a goal. But a fast move from a kick-in ended with Van Berlo lobbing a high kick forward, Welsh plucked a goal-square mark over Brown and majored to level the scores. Crawford’s running bomb just missed and a Roughead shot hit the post as the Awks crept ahead again. From the kick-in of the latter the Camrys advanced again, Bock produced a good run and passed to leading Burton out wide, he dished off for Torney to boot a terrific running goal from the flank. The Cows led by 4 points, they certainly didn’t give up. Roughead missed another set-shot but from the kick-in Thompson sliced a kick on-the-full. Hawk Rick Ladson’s pass hit leading Franklin, who booted truly from just outside the 50m line. Great kick to put the Hawkers 3 points ahead. There was just enough time to restart the game. Ricciuto shed some tears as he departed.

Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin kicked 7.2 from 7 marks and 11 kicks. He should be great. Shane Crawford (33 disposals, a goal) was very good all day, running off half-back, Luke Hodge (25 touches, 6 marks) and rover Sam Mitchell (29 disposals) proved inspirational. Jarryd Roughead (6 marks, 14 possies, 3 goals) got them going early, Grant Birchall (23 handlings, 7 marks) erased memories of last week’s shocker. Retirement-bound Richie Vandenberg and Michael Osborne tag-teamed McLeod. Clinton Young (22 disposals, a goal) was important towards the end. Tyson Edwards (32 disposals, 10 marks, a goal) was probably Adelaide’s best, a great user of the ball, with support from Scott Thompson (34 disposals) and hard runner Chris Knights (22 possies, a goal). In attack Ken McGregor (3 marks, 8 touches, 4 goals) and Scott Welsh (6 marks, 7 kicks, 4 goals) were dangerous, assisted by Jason Porplyzia (16 disposals, 2 goals). Jason Torney (24 touches, 10 marks, a goal) played well, went in hard and Simon Goodwin (25 disposals) was solid. Neil Craig said “The players have been great this year. The battles that they have faced with injuries that have unsettled the side and other setbacks - a whole range of issues . . . Mark (Ricciuto) just couldn’t contribute what we needed at the end. He squeezed every single game out of his body. It’s been an unbelievable career.” He was asked about Franklin. “(Massie) was still our best match-up for Franklin. The speed of Franklin is what you have got to counter. McGregor wouldn't have matched his speed and Rutten had his hands full with Roughead. It was my decision and I was comfortable with it . . . Five goals up is not a big buffer in today’s football. With the way we play, there’s going to be swings in momentum.” What about strengthening the side? “I don’t like the word 'trade' and what it stands for. But it doesn’t mean we won’t trade. That’s the industry we are in and we can do that. Unless you have got something specific that you want to acquire, often you are trading like for like.” Clarkson said “It’s funny. I’m meant to be the composed one in the group, but I was probably more excited than the players. It was just an enormous effort to come from behind like we did; it was a thrilling game from start to finish. You always need guys to convert their opportunities, but having said that … I think (Franklin) was the guy who applied the pressure to the Adelaide defender (Scott Thompson) that forced [him] to kick the ball out on the full . . . He’s an exciting player and a very important part of our mix, but so is Jarryd Roughead - he had seven shots on goal today as well . . . I know the coaching staff and the administration and the board of the club are just so stoked with the effort and the spirit of the group. I’m certain the wider football community would have enormous respect for the way the guys went about it today. That’s what builds reputations and hopefully, somewhere down the track, builds us into a position where we can seriously challenge for a flag. We deserve to be in the position that we’re in and to have enormous confidence that the process that the players and coaching staff have stuck to throughout the course of the year was going to be good enough, if the spirit was there, to play good finals footy.”

At the MCG:

Collingwood  6.5   8.9   13.12   18.17.125
Sydney       1.4   7.5    9.8     13.9.87

Collywood continued their recent dominance of the Swans and won pretty easily. The Pies are viewed as nominal favourites next week, given the Eegs’ injury problems and the fact the Pies have a ‘good’ record at Sooby - good in that they play well there, but haven’t actually won very often. Not for 15 years against the Eagles, in fact. It’ll be amazing enough the Poise playing away from the ‘G. When the Magpiss recorded a similarly comfortable win over the Swans two weeks ago, a Swan-supporting mate reckoned the final siren was the sound of a window slamming shut. Maybe. This season the Swans haven’t had the amazing injury-free run of recent years, Tadhg Kennelly didn’t play here and nor did Luke Ablett (knee strain), Barry Hall has been in-and-out all year and hasn’t been anywhere near the commanding forward presence of the last two seasons, especially in the big games. The Bloods’ intensity hasn’t been quite there either, something Leo Barry admitted after this game. In any case the Swans have a big problem with the Poise, whose own ferocious tackling and pressure has matched and exceeded their own. The Poi side here made three changes from last week, key men Josh Fraser and Alan Didak returned along with Sean Rusling, who punished the Swans in that game a fortnight back. Outgoing Pies were Ben Reid, Rhyce Shaw and Chris Bryan. Siddey recalled Hall to replace Ablett, folks were surprised Amon Buchanan wasn’t selected despite being available. “Match-up reasons”, reckoned Paul Roos.

Siddey managed the first goal, Hall chipped a short pass for Nick Malceski to mark with-the-flight, late-arriving Poi Scott Burns was pinged for a 50m penalty and Malceski poked it through. The opening minutes were fairly cagey, slow ball movement from both sides and lots of tackling. Swan backman Leapin’ Leo Barry tried to run from defence and was caught by Fraser, Didak soccered the spilled ball forward, Rusling gathered and handballed for Travis Cloke to slot it through. Swan Adam Goodes intercepted a telegraphed Nick Maxwell pass but just missed the running shot. The Poise advanced from the kick-in, Rusling marked on a lead. His shot dropped short but Anthony Rocca juggled a mark in the goal-square and popped it through. Spida didn’t punch. The Pies led by 5 points and dominated the remainder of the opening term, locking the ball in their forward-line. Rocca running down Craig Bolton was typical of the tackling pressure the Poi forwards and midfielders exerted. Paul ‘Steak Knives’ Medhurst missed a tight-angle shot and attempted one of those torpedos from 70m which wobbled into Barry’s arms. But they got it right eventually. A Siddey kick-in went awry and Didak slotted a very good goal from a tough angle. Didak had a lot of the ball in the first half. Dale Thomas sped clear of the restart, his long shot missed but Craig Bolton dropped a mark from the kick-in, causing a throw-in. Burns grabbed it and handballed for Scott Pendlebury to slot a major, the Scragpies led by 19 points. A Didak shot dropped short but Rocca marked too easily, just outside the point-line, and hooked it through. Inside the final minute ‘Neon’ Leon Davis lobbed a smart pass for leading Rusling to grab, he converted and the Pies led by a healthy 31 points at the first break. The Swans hit back in the second stanza, led by Goodes, Brett Kirk and Ryan O’Keefe. Kirk snapped an early goal from a ball-up, accepting Jude Bolton’s handpass. Some tough tackling locked the ball in their forward-line, Nick Davis roved an Everitt contest and snapped another sausage, the Pie lead was back to 19 points. The Poise responded, Medhurst intercepted an O’Keefe kick and passed for leading Leon Davis to mark and boot a long goal. Fierce Pie pressure forced Jude Bolton to cough it up midfield, Nathan Buckley passed to leading Rusling, he majored. Rusling had another chance a minute later, he missed and the Maggies led by 34 points. The Bloods pressed on, O’Keefe hacked a kick forward and Nic Fosdike got under it, he marked and majored. Pendlebury appeared to pull out of a contest with Leo Barry, earning criticism from Pie-hater Robert Walls. Replays suggested the ball bounced away from Pendlebury. A noice tap-on from Ted Richards set up a running goal for Adam Schneider, incorporating a classic blind-turn. The Swans had upped the tempo, Ed Barlow delivered a pass to leading Nick Davis, he majored. Pie spirits sank as Rocca hyper-extended a knee and limped off. Late in the term Goodes found Jude Bolton with a pass, Bolton sausaged and the Pie lead was down to 10 points at half-time.

Rocca re-appeared for the second half, his knee okay. The Swans drew closer, Kirk tumbled a kick forward and Michael O’Loughlin held a good grab, Molly punted a lovely goal from the flank. Four points the diff. The Poise steadied, aided by more, uncharacteristic mistakes by Swan backmen. It was the Pie pressure, both actual and perceived. Cloke passed to Rocca on a wide lead, big Anfernee booted a big goal from the difficult angle. Siddey defender Paul Bevan’s switching kick was read and intercepted by Dane Swan, he stabbed a major. Schneider lost the ball on the boundary, Cloke drove a long kick and Rocca plucked a grab, he dished a handpass for Rusling to slot it through. Another Siddey turnover led to Cloke marking 50m out, Cloke thumped it home. Four quick goals from the Poise and they led by 28 points. The Swans were in trouble now but Roos made very few moves. Goodes was used to plug any hole, unsuccessfully despite Goodesey playing his heart out. There was a lull in scoring before the Pies drove another nail in, a Barry Hall turnover allowing Didak to find Rocca on the lead and Rocca goaled. Rocca, opposed by Craig Bolton, was having a big game. The Swans managed a late goal, moving downfield from a kick-in and Jarrad McVeigh kicked long, O’Loughlin clutched a good grab and booted truly. But they had the job ahead, trailing by 28 points at the last change. It didn’t get easier when Cloke snapped the opening goal of the final Mario, Everitt tapped the ball straight to him in a goalmouth ball-up. The Spida effect. The Bloods clung on with another O’Loughlin goal, he sold a smart dummy before slotting it through. But a minute later Jared Crouch was run down by Didak, the Murderer’s Mate chipped a pass for Buckley to mark over McVeigh, Bucks slotted. Collywood advanced from the restart, Medhurst snapped a rover’s goal and the Pie lead was 41 points. The leader of the Scragpie cheer squad, ‘Nuffa’, donned his gold jacket. Eddie was shown grinning. It was over. A few more goals were scored, Malceski dobbed a running major for the Swans, Rocca bagged another after out-marking Bolton. O’Loughlin booted one for Siddey, Rocca converted a downfield free-kick when Lockyer was knocked down by frustrated Leo Barry. The jeers of Poi fans greeted a late Barry Hall goal, from a free.

When big Anthony Rocca fires (9 marks, 16 disposals, 6 goals) the Pies invariably win. Scott Pendlebury (24 disposals, a goal) has developed rapidly into a key midfielder and fellow junior Heath Shaw (23 touches, 10 marks) was also very good. Travis Cloke (18 touches, 9 marks, 3 goals) was also pretty lively across half-forward and Nathan Buckley (19 touches, a goal) lurked about to good effect, as did Leon Davis (13 kicks, a goal). Dane Swan (17 disposals, a goal) was effective and Alan Didak (17 possies, a goal) and Sean Rusling (8 marks, 13 disposals, 3 goals) were handy contributors. Credit to Shane Wakelin for his game on Hall. Adam Goodes (29 disposals, 11 marks) was the Swans’ best by a street. Brett Kirk (26 touches, a goal) battled to lift his side and Michael O’Loughlin (8 marks, 15 disposals, 4 goals) was their only dangerous forward, running Nick Malceski (23 touches, 7 marks, 2 goals) and Jude Bolton (22 possies, a goal) were okay. Nick Davis kicked 2 goals. Paul Roos fought off ‘end of an era’ talk. “(The players) have been pretty good for five years now. Next year will probably tell. I still think the majority of our guys, and the older guys who are around 30, you’d be hopeful that group have got another year or two years to go. If they can get a good pre-season into them at that age, I’m still confident they are going to be good players . . . I think our style has stood the test of time and Brisbane’s before us - we basically copied their style.” What about recruiting, Roosy? “We haven’t got a lot of room because we haven’t got a lot of guys retiring. One thing I think we’ve done very, very well is to take players from other clubs and make them into very, very good players. It’s certainly been a tried and true formula for us, and if you couple it up with the fact we can’t go down the bottom for two or three years, we’ll continually explore that avenue. We need to look at players from other clubs to stay up the top of the ladder . . . I think they’ve had a crack all year, and they are a very honest group and generally give as much as they possibly can. As a coach, that’s all you can ask over five years.” Mick Malthouse looked ahead to his old side. "(This game) meant that we were coming up against a side that were pretty much hardened, knew what was required, has won on this ground, has won the big dance on this ground. It's pleasing to play against them (Swans) over the last few years and be around the mark. I'm not too sure what happened two years ago, I think we may have only lost by a goal and the year before by a point. They've always been close, but this has been the best one." Malthouse said Rocca played "one of his better games for the year". He also said Paul Licuria, Brodie Holland and a "few young fellas" could be considered for next week's road trip. "We're not worrying about anything other than Friday. Friday is the first and foremost thing on our mind, and we'll worry about that when we conclude the game. We've won three of four (on the road), and the one we lost was against West Coast," he said. "We don't assume anything. We know they're going to be a good football side, we know that, and we also know that they're reasonably hardened, and we know that each game is a different game, has different strategies, different game plans, different grounds. This will be another test, another big test." Pie fans are all over talkback radio saying they’ll beat Geelong in a fortnight.

At the MCG:

Geelong          3.5   10.10   16.16   23.18.156
North Melbourne  3.0    4.1     6.1      8.2.50

Whack. The Catters are warm favourites for the flag now, after smashing the overwhelmed Roos. The Cats obliterated the Norf midfield and the poor old Ruse confidence disappeared very quickly. The Kangers had no friends in the build-up again, long odds in head-to-head betting and no tipsters favourable. The nay-sayers were proved correct at last, although North do have another chance next week. But the focus was on the Cats and their big chance for a flag, although you’d think the Weevils or Poise will provide more opposition in a fortnight. The Geelong side here regained Jimmy Bartel following his appendix operation and Max Rooke from a hamstring injury, they replaced the unfortunate Matthew Egan (fractured foot) and dropped Travis Varcoe. One change for the Kangers, defender Michael Firrito returned to replace Kasey Green, suspended 2 games for biffing Bulldog Williams last week. Corey Jones was reported as an unlikely starter, but he played. Well, he was out on the ground.

Hostilities began half an hour before the opening bounce, as the teams had a warm-up on the ground. The huddles came together although it seemed the Kangers initiated the contact. Some handbags ensued, led by Cat Cameron Mooney who whipped his shirt off, for some reason. Once the game started the Kangers were competitive for the first 15 minutes. Some surprises in the match-ups, Cat stopper Cameron Ling picked up Brent Harvey rather than Roo skipper Adam Simpson as expected, Roo man Firrito played out at half-back on Nathan Ablett while Shannon Watt was full-back against Mooney. Geelong scored first as Glenn Archer left his man, Paul Chapman, to spoil leading Mooney, Chapman gathered the spilled ball and snapped a goal. Norf’s Aaron Edwards replied after out-marking Josh Hunt. The Roos weren’t helped by the umps, the whistleblowers red-hot on holding-the-ball especially when a Kanga had it. Maybe it just reflects the frequency with which Roo men were tackled. Anyway, Gary Ablett won a soft free at a throw-in, for holding, and booted a goal. Chapman missed the lot before Firrito burst through the centre and a couple of tackles before punting a great running goal. Norf’s high point. Roo man Leigh Brown flattened Ling and some strong Kanga tackling led to Cat David Wojcinski being caught in possession, Roo Hamish McIntosh gathered the spilled ball and booted a good major. North led by 6 points. The Cats began to take charge now. Corey Enright drove a long kick, Chapman roved the pack, swapped handballs with Mooney and snapped truly to level the scores. Jess Sinclair replaced Archer as Chapman’s opponent. Nathan Ablett and ‘Wolfman Max’ Rooke kicked points for Jahlong, Nablett marked near the posts, tried to play on and was tackled by Firrito, the ball spilled through for a behind. Roo Daniel Pratt sent the kick-in on-the-full, but Steve Johnson missed the resulting shot. Cats by 5 points at the first break. Into the second term and Pratt was done for ‘bawl’, advantage was allowed for Mathew Stokes to pass to leading Chapman, who booted his third goal of the Cats’ four to this stage. The Kangers lost rover Daniel Harris after James Kelly trod on his hand, Harris returned later but did little. Roo speedsters Harvey and Wells hadn’t touched the ball and Adam Simpson was struggling. Cat counterparts Jimmy Bartel, Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood were the polar opposite. Nathan Ablett launched a wobbly snap, Mooney held a good mark and played-on to poke it through. Edwards missed a shot for Norf and Ed Sansbury hooked a running kick on-the-full. Archer slipped over in the middle and was tackled by Milburn, the loosed ball was collected by Selwood and he kicked for Stokes to hold a with-the-flight mark and convert. Cats by 24. A slick move initiated by Bartel and Gablett ended with Mooney booting a goal. Bartel punted the Cats forward from the restart, Shannon Byrnes held a strong mark in front of Archer and dished off a handball to Bartel, who thumped it home. Geelong led by a hefty 37 points now. Brady Rawlings won the following centre-clearance for the Roos, Shannon Grant dived to smother Cat defender Mackie’s kick and dribbly-snap a great goal against the tide. A hiccup for the Cats, Gary Ablett booted a goal direct from the restart and soon Bartel intercepted a Roo kick-in, he passed to leading Nathan Ablett who slotted a goal from the pocket. The Cats led by 45 points at half-time and had 20 scoring shots to 5.

The Kangers stemmed the bleeding in a slow opening to the second half. There were plenty of packs and ball-ups early, seven minutes elapsed prior to the first score, a rushed point for the Cats. A bit later a North kick-in was recovered by Rooke, he stabbed a pass for Chapman to mark and boot another. Geelagong won the following centre-clearance and Joel Corey marked out wide, his long punt saw Nathan Ablett mark strongly over Firrito and boot another. The Cats led by ten goals exactly and a Norf comeback appeared very unlikely. North’s Leigh Brown free-kicked a goal after being held by Scarlett as the umps began to square-up a very lop-sided free-kick count. Simpson punted the Ruse into attack with another free, Scott McMahon won the ball well and jabbed a pass for Drew Petrie to mark and boot a goal. The Ruse were 49 points down and were just hanging in. Not for long, Wojcinski capped a long run with a long kick, Steve Johnson held a strong grab in front of the hapless Archer and booted a sausage roll. Kelly’s flat punt from the restart was marked by a diving Mooney, he goaled. Kelly also won the next centre-clearance, Mooney marked again and had another shot which sailed wide. No mind, Pratt’s awful kick as North tried to clear the backline led to a mark and goal for Cat Brad Ottens. Mooney thumped a long goal after the siren and Geelong led by 75 points at the last change. Gary Ablett booted the first goal of the final stanza and a bit later Ottens leaped for a grab over Josh Gibson, Mooney’s kick well-placed for the Ott. Ottens’s major made the Cat lead 87 points. Archer was playing at full-forward now and took his frustration out on Wojcinski. Invisible Roo men Harvey and Wells kicked consecutive goals, both from free-kicks at ball-ups. Harvey was held by Ling and Wells put a good tackle on Selwood. But the Cats rolled on into record-breaking territory. Johnson gave off a handpass for Enright to kick a goal and Gary Ablett lobbed a pass for little brother Nathan to seize strongly, Nath majored. A great pass from Wojcinski set up a sausage for Mackie and Enright sped clear of the restart to boot one. Chapman stabbed it through from point-blank to give the Cats a 105-point lead, the club’s biggest win in a final.

The Cat midfield dominated, led by Jimmy Bartel (29 disposals, a goal) and Gary Ablett Jnr. (32 disposals, 2 goals). Rising Star winner Joel Selwood (22 touches) was also very good. Paul Chapman (17 disposals, 5 marks, 5 goals) kicked the Cats into gear and spearhead Cameron Mooney (6 marks, 8 kicks, 5 goals) proved very good too, although he could still blow up. The Roo forwards barely took a mark all day thanks to Matthew Scarlett (23 disposals) and Tom Harley (18 touches, 7 marks), the latter taking over Egan’s role. Mathew Stokes (21 touches, 10 marks, a goal) has developed quickly, James Kelly (27 disposals with 20 handballs) was good in midfield support, Corey Enright (18 possies, 2 goals) did the job on Wells and Cameron Ling (19 disposals) thrashed Harvey. Brad Ottens (26 hit-outs, 10 possies, 2 goals) won in the ruck. Winners everywhere. Nathan Ablett kicked 3 goals. In contrast the Ruse had few worth mentioning. Michael Firrito (11 touches, a goal) tried hard all day and Adam Simpson (27 disposals) won a bit of the ball, Brady Rawlings (14 touches) won his battle with Joel Corey. Aaron Edwards (8 marks, 14 disposals, a goal) showed a bit in attack. Daniel Wells (17 disposals, a goal) won some touches towards the end. They had eight goal-kickers. Dean Laidley locked the players away for half an hour afterwards. "They just smashed us. Physically it was men against boys at some stages out there. We won't look at it (the tape of the game). There's no point, is there? Where do you start? It's probably the worst three-quarters of football I've seen, certainly from this group. Probably the only positive that came out of the day is we get to play next week. (But) I didn't gloss over it (in the post-game meeting), I can assure you of that. We had to tell some home truths and the players wanted me to say that. We had probably three or four guys that had played a fair bit of finals footy but I think we had perhaps 18 or 17 players that had played probably three or less. Probably a dozen of those had played none and at stages it looked like it. Eddie Sansbury and Jess Smith at times running through, clear . . . just held onto it for that split second too long. And bang, they got nailed. I think the Cats probably kicked maybe 10 goals from that sort of stuff today.” Injuries? "Jones has got something," said Laidley, "but I reckon ten of our other guys have got niggly little injuries as well and lots of players do at this time of year. But you've got to be able to push them aside." Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson battled to keep a lid on. "All today did was to show that we're capable of playing some great footy and we did that and that's the only thing it really proves. You won't get us commenting on anything else other than playing our next game of footy," he said. "For a few weeks we were waiting for this day to arrive and it arrived. And sometimes it can overwhelm you; today it didn't. It was awesome. You work on a few things and everything we talked about during the week came true. We've played some awesome footy, (we talked about) how important it was just to go out and enjoy what we're doing and just keep doing much of the same. The more you talk about it sometimes the more you worry about it. And we didn't want our boys to worry. I thought coming to the game they were quite relaxed and calm . . . We'll take it (the week’s rest); we don't really need it but we'll certainly take it."

Next week, Semi Finals:

West Coast v Collingwood, Subiaco, Fri. night. Winner plays Geelong in prelim final.

North Melbourne v Hawthorn, MCG, Sat. night.  Winner plays Port in prelim final.

Cheers, Tim.