AFL Reviews

Lions Tamed - For Now!

densham — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:57:09 -0500

Kim Densham, in Melbourne reporting for AFANA.

Saturday in Melbourne was a bitterly cold Chicago type day, 55 degrees F, inside the enclosed Telstra Dome Stadium. The wind whistled through the Dome and everyone was rugged up, apprehensive and expecting a tough encounter with the Lions. During the warm up, ‘The Big Brown Dog’, Jonathan Brown was foaming at the mouth, ready to play; his knee was still heavily strapped! Not a good sign for the 3 time premiers? While Bombers worked out in front of goals and did a fair bit of ruck work with the in-form David Hille, the Lions champion was doing short sprints and his team were warming up kicking at goal. Pregame speculation was rife, as to who would be on Brown. Consensus was that it would need to be an experienced defender and with Mal Michael out, that left ‘Dustin ‘Fletch’ Fletcher, The Bombers veteran of 290 games and recently breaking the record for the most AFL matches by a father--son combination: currently 554. Two nights earlier, Brown, sat smugly during his appearance on Channel Nine's The Footy Show, with all the confidence and certainty of a winner. The upcoming game against Essendon on Saturday was being treated as a mere formality; all the Lions needed to do was turn up and … as 'Kings of the Jungle'...win! Still smarting from last week’s humiliating defeat at the hands of the ‘cellar dwellers’ Melbourne Demons, he gave the appearance of a Lions outfit ready to cement their place in the top four. Clearly Coach Leigh Matthews had made it clear that he expected nothing less than a comprehensive win from his boys.

Game day umpires, included ‘Razor Ray’ Chamberlain (18), Matt Stevic (9), and Shane Stewart (10). ‘Razor Ray’ and the broadcast media have an interesting relationship to say the least because the word on the street is, that Razor is making hay while the sun shines, taking more than his fair share of 15 minutes fame...each game. Making sure his on screen TV time is maximized at the ball ups and gesticulating at free kicks. As the cheer squad banners went up and the Lions tore through theirs, the message read ‘Lions, Kings of the Jungle’, while for Essendon the message promised to reduce the proud Lions to meowing kitty cats Brown won the toss and elected to kick to the Coventry end toward the Essendon Cheer squad. Was this a calculated tactic to ensure a final quarter of Grandstanding and showing off in front of their supporters and cheer squad? Time would tell. As the teams filled out their positions, Paddy Ryder picked up Brown and Fletch was on Bradshaw. This was an unexpected move. Bomber fans were nervous. Brown could easily give Paddy a toweling up tonight! Was Knights being too creative for his own good?

Full back Ryder was to be tested early. Within minutes of the opening bounce Lion's midfielder Simon Black was given a free kick and played a long ball onto Brown. Ryder was quick and managed to cut the ball off and within 5 quick Essendon passes, delivered the ball to McVeigh inside their forward 50. McVeigh defied his recent form critics by kicking straight and true. Daniel Bradshaw replied just three minutes later with the Lions first, resulting in a see-sawing opening 5 minutes. Both sides stepped up the pressure with hard tackling and desperate refusal to concede ground. But when, Lucas forced a play on call in the Lions defensive 50, this resulted in a turnover and soon the Bombers had kicked 4 goals in less than 10 minutes. Paddy was chasing the Brown Dog all over the Paddock. The quarter took its turns but after 16 minutes an electrifying Leroy ‘The Prince’ Jetta scored the goal of match, his first of three; a weaving run, slicing through the Lions defense like a hot knife through butter. However, the experience and class of the Lions showed when minutes later Black slotted home his sides third for the term. Shortly afterwards he copped a strong hip and shoulder from Hille and was assisted from the ground.In the dying minute of the quarter Jonathan Brown finally got one over Paddy and scored his first for the match. It was a 12 goal opening term. Essendon kicked 8 Goals 3, to the Lions 4 goals straight. The Stats showed the Dons clearly dominated with double the possessions and 20 uncontested marks against a pedestrian 8 for Brisbane. And it was Essendon's best opening term for the 2008 season and the older players like Lloyd, Lucas, McFee, Hille and McVeigh all stood up. McVeigh shone with 12 disposals alone. It was too good to be true, Bombers fans watched as the Coaches went through their strategies in the quarter time huddle. Brown was being worked on by what seemed like a hospital's worth of physios.

Daniel Bradshaw , playing as a forward in this match, galvanized into action by Matthews address, opened the term for the Lions. Despite Bomber captain Matthew Lloyd's heroic tacking in the Essendon back pocket, Lions roared and scored three quick unanswered goals. Halfway through the term the Bombers came back and Lloyd scored his first for the match at the 23 minute mark. The second quarter was hard and demanding accountable footy. Courtney Johns missing a couple of sitters and Travis Johnstone playing hard. Both teams were goal for goal with 4 majors each for the session, but Essendon still had the upper hand, going into the big break leading by 26 points. , Continuing their first quarter form, this was the highest first half score for Essendon in season 2008 and they went to the rooms with their heads held high. Brisbane on the other hand looked grim, with concerns for Brown, limping heavily from the ground. Simon Black required a jab for his injured AC joint and defender, Daniel Merrett had a severely corked thigh.

The second half began with a touch of déjà voodoo for the Bombers with Brisbane's Daniel Bradshaw scoring in the opening two minutes, Lions on Fire! Sam Lonergan again in the wars, receiving a solid bump in a clash of heads, concussed and helped off the ground by 3 medical staff and headed to the Don’s rooms. Michael Rischitelli, playing half forward booted the ball forward to Brown; it was missed by everyone, including the defenders to bounce like the mongrel punt it was, through the posts for a major, taking the Lions into the lead. Meanwhile, on the bench, Lonergan had returned from the rooms and sitting next to the club doctor taking a written concussion test and passing that , he was required to perform several quick sprints on the side line and before being passed fit enough to play on. Before most knew he was off, he was back on the ground. As luck would have it, he found himself in the right space at the right time with a mark landing on his chest 40 meters out from goal. When lined up and shanked the ball to his left for a behind, many wondered if he was he was indeed concussed after all! Lions still in the lead! The crowd groaned! It was only 5 weeks ago that Essendon came off an 8 game losing streak, had they now come to the end of their winning ways? 20 minutes into the quarter, ‘The Prince’ stepped deftly past team mate Lloyd, crumbed the ball in the forward pocket, sidestepping first one…two and then a third Brisbane defender, to coolly chip the ball into the goal for his second. The crowd came alive and the Bombers began their resurgence. This session saw Laycock being out rucked and out marked. Brisbane kicked the first five goals, Essendon the next 5 and the ‘Big Brown Dog’ the 11th goal for the quarter. Jetta had got flattened, Welsh took a beating around the head, and Brown was limping and Lonergan had been concussed, Black was played with a jab in the AC joint and Hille once again dominated his share of the Ruck. Commitment by all! Ess 19.9.111 Bris 14.8.92.

The last quarter huddles were a beehive of activity, Brown was nowhere to be seen, and both team medicos were working frantically on legs and calves. Matthews was ‘calmly animated’, the Lions were in small groups seemingly plotting strategy and tactics. Essendon were in a tight group, arms around shoulders preparing for the next 30 minutes of battle. The siren sounded, Brown materialized from nowhere to take his familiar position at full forward and Hille kicked off the opening ruck. The contestants never wavered and the tackles were uncompromising. Jonathan Brown took such a solid hit that he stayed on all fours for what seemed like minutes, gingerly getting up, pain etched into his face; he slowly unfurled his limbs like a cartoon character regaining form after being flattened. Limping he made his way back in front of goal but minutes later he was off and had a spell on the interchange bench bike. Merrett corky proved his undoing and he was now sidelined with a bag of ice strapped to his right thigh, game over for him! Frustration was creeping into the game plan and three errant 50m penalties by the Lions gave the Bombers an edge – Mathew Lloyd adding to his tally.The activity in the final term was frenetic and despite playing literally on one leg Brown booted 5 goals. Bradshaw had Fletch’s measure and kicked 4, Brennan also kicked 4. On any other day that would have been game over! A Lion’s victory, but not today! Essendon showed promising depth with 11 goal kickers; their, enthusiasm and strong tackling proved the difference. A game predicated on Hille’s dominance in the ruck (20 disposals) supported by Andrew Welsh’s close attention to Brisbane ruckman, Jamie Charman (8 disposals) and inspired midfield running game, with a game high- 33 disposals. The team was closely supported by Stanton (31 disposals, 3 goals) and McVeigh (29 disposals, 2 goals) and the Bomber engine room of Peverill, Watson, Lovett-Murray, Nash and Monfries adding just over a 100 disposals and 3 goals. In the end Lloyd took 9 marks, kicked 4 goals and had 17 possessions with 4 inside 50’s, an inspired captain’s game. Lucas took 5 marks and kicked 5 goals; his return has added structure to Essendon's leadership on field. In the end 40,053 mostly Bombers fans saw an impressive young side, possibly the All Australian no.1 ruck in Hille and speedsters Andrew Welsh and Leroy Jetta showing their pace. Just for now though, the Lions were tamed and the kings of the jungle were left to lick their wounds.

Oh, by the way ticket number 478 won the raffle!

Final Score:
Essendon 24.11 (155)

Brisbane 18.10 (118)

Goals:
Essendon: Lucas 5, Lloyd, Stanton 4, Jetta 3, McVeigh, Lonergan 2, Watson, Neagle, Nash, Monfries, Laycock .

Brisbane - Brown 5, Bradshaw, Brennan 4, Black 2, Collier, Johnstone, Rischitelli

'No Party Pies' for Dees 150th Birthday Celebration.

densham — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:18:21 -0500

by Kim Densham, in Melbourne, reporting for AFANA

During the week, the build up to the Queen's Birthday clash between the Melbourne Football Club and Collingwood, dominated the media, the rumor mill was rife that Paul Gardner was stepping down as Melbourne's chairman, to be replaced by Irish import and club legend Jim Stynes. They had been spotted at Gardner's, St Kilda Rd offices. The meetings, we were told, were regular sessions between the two and that Gardner, also met regularly with other interested Demon luminaries. In addition, AFL chief Andrew Demetriou warned Melbourne supporters, that the Queen's Birthday match was not a permanent Melbourne FC fixture and that if fans did not turn up in numbers, it could be forfeit. The Queen's Birthday long weekend also heralds the opening of the Victorian Ski season, a favorite past time of the Melbourne FC members, who are renowned for their 'après ski' lifestyle. This weekend would prove to be a dilemma between the 'footy and the snow'.

Today though, the approach to the ground was reasonably heavy. The celebrations had started early in the morning, with a cooked breakfast at Federation Square, along with appearances by past club legends. This was followed by the walk of champions to the 'G' culminating in a 'lap of honor'. Making my way into the ground, I headed for the Collingwood Social Club or city end to find a seat amongst the Collingwood cheer squad and supporters. As a neutral today, I wanted to feel the cauldron that was the 'Magpie Army'- the games most feral, one-eyed and parochial fans - for the first quarter, without the pressure of my antagonistic 'Bombers' colors. Also because today was a potential season upset, the Dees had beaten Collingwood in the past 4 Queen’s Birthday clashes and emotions would be running hot. The game started with Collingwood kicking to the Punt Road end and as the pre-bounce preliminaries got underway, with the player match ups flexing muscles, burning testosterone and spreading intimidation, the murmur, in the Collingwood outer, went from a rumble, to roars of support, as the Magpie defenders wrestled and jostled their Demon opponents. The atmosphere in the cheersquad was electric, intense emotion singularly focused on their team, roars of "Ball!" and boos on the umpires for any decision not awarded Collingwood’s way.
At ground level the games was a blur, flags, pennants and banners waived non stop, with the slow, long cheer of "C-o-l-l-i-n-g-w-o-o-d" punctuated with roars of approval or disapproval , depending on the decision. Despite the action in the stands, it was a pretty equal quarter of football, with Melbourne ahead by 5 pts. The second quarter was a goal for goal affair, each time the Pies gained ascendancy, somehow a Demon team effort pulled one back. Frustration on the ground fueled by some smart reading of the play, off the ground by Austin Wonaeamirra and the holding of Travis Cloke, spilled out into some serious 'jumper punching', the grinding of foreheads and the spilling of some "claret', to the roar of approval from fans. It seemed that both Osborne and Cloke had taken their 'angry pills'. With 35 seconds remaining, the ball was punched out of defense, the long ball kicked to Nathan Jones, whose goal, brought the Dees to within 7 pts, Mel 7.4-46 to Col 8.5-53.

After the main break, the Pies opened the scoring - AFL round 10 rising star winner - Brown, slotting home a major. Immediately followed by a ’Neon’ Leon Davis goal in his 150th match. Brock McLean responded and the dogged Dees went about reducing the Magpie lead to a point midway in the 3rd. However at the change, Collingwood was up by 23 points, with a 5 goal to 2 quarter and 6-1 uncontested marks. Collingwood did not dominate play but rather took their chances whereas Melbourne were woeful in front of goal. Mel 11.9-75 Col 15.8-98. Even as the 3rd quarter siren drifted across the ground, an animated Mick Malthouse, strode onto the MCG and began his three quarter time address ... uhm, ’roast’, animated and pointed. He delivered his gesticulated address for the best part of the break. Clearly he had something to say!

The bake paid off; from the opening bounce the Pies dominated play, keeping the ball in their attacking half, 'Neon' Leon scoring his second, along with some peppered behinds. The Dees caught their breathe and buoyed by the after the siren goal at the end of the 3rd, applied forward pressure of their own and pulled back 2 goals, however despite Sylvia's second and Austin’s magic, the gap remained. Collingwood then played 'kick to kick' in an effort to wind down the clock. In the end a pleasing result for Collingwood assistant coach, Guy McKenna, who had not won a Queen’s Birthday clash since joining the Magpies in 2003. With both teams missing key players through injury, Melbourne was gallant but in the end the class of Collingwood prevailed.

I took one last look at the City end of the 'G' and watched as the jubilant Magpie Army, left the ground singing...."side by side we stick together...good old Collingwood!"

Paddy Back To School as Buddy Bags 9 !

densham — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:57:35 -0500

By Kim Densham in Melbourne, for AFANA

The game was positioned by Hawthorn supporters- as a 'percentage booster match'. The high flying, top of the Table, Hawks - still steaming from last weeks toweling by the Dogs - also dominated the media during week but for all the wrong reasons. Buddy was involved in a late night, nightclub fracas. An incident involving "booze and birds". In this match, however, Bombers fans would be happy with a 10 goal start,. It was also Scott Lucas' 250th game, his third for season '08 and his second back from the knee injury.

From the opening bounce it was clear that the Bombers started, as they had finished last week against the Adelaide Crows - adventurous, full of run and hard tackling. Lloyd had been told by his coach during the week that his role was not only goal scoring, but also to mentor the youngsters and build them up in the Essendon way!. When the umpire bounced the ball, up high and straight, Hille tapped out , straight to the Essendon ruck rover . The ball moved quickly out to the wing and on to Sam Lonergan, who opened the scoring. Essendon kicking to the Coventry and Bomber "cheer squad" end. The fans were briefly ecstatic. Hope is a wonderful emotion. The attacking continued and as the Bombers midfield ran, chased and tackled, the Hawks were caught flatfooted, within minutes Lloyd, had added a brace, Lucas a behind and the Bombers were 3.2-20, the Hawks 0.2-2. Roughhead and Franklin, not having any luck. In this match last season, Lance "Buddy" Franklin kicked 9 goals 2 against "Sheedy's Bombers".

The Hawks, missing stars, Crawford and Sewell, were happy to include Hodge , back from a hamstring and raring to go, taking charge of the Hawthorn engine room with Brown and captain Sam Mitchell. They soon worked their way forward and started the service to Buddy, who was being marked by young Paddy Ryder, while Fletcher was playing a central midfield role and Kyle Reimers wearing those controversial gold boots - was on Chance Bateman. It took about 10 minutes before the Hawks scored their first. Franklin, slotted one home at the Lockett end. Hodges chipped in with his first and by the end of the quarter, Buddy had two. This was a ferocious quarter of Football ,played by these bitter rivals from the Eighties and Nineties, the score Ess 3.3-21 Hawks 4.3-27.

The second quarter started with a Luke Hodge cameo, taking a forward diving mark on the run, at full stretch, into the goal mouth. Within 3 minutes of second quarter footy, Buddy added to the scoreline. The Bombers, still without a center clearance for the term started working their way into the game, stringing a few passes together with their attacking run and Lucas marked inside 50, adding his first major for game 250.

McPhee, who has played some good footy this season, stood tall, and with Lloyd causing minor indecision in the Hawks defense the Bombers regularly opened up their defensive 50. The Hawks normal zone tactics were being tested as Lloyds presence dragged defenders out with him, allowing a quick center break to end up in the hands of Lonergan, who drilled his second . An umpiring decision for a Lovett 'hands in the back' denied Essendon a 6th goal. The replay drawing some boos from the parochial Bombers crowd.

In a matter of minutes, Hille was also 'pinged' for hand in the back. The Hawthorn free kick went straight to a Franklin lead - resulting in another Hawthorn Goal - Buddy 3 - Paddy Ryder starting to get a lesson. 18 minutes into the term, Lucas grabbed his second and the intensity was white hot. By now Hodge had 12 disposals and 3 goals , the Bombers resolve was being tested. However they just would not 'go away' and when Lucas took a mark deep in the goal square, a solid grab under heavy defensive attention. He played on and kicked his third - Bombers in touch!. Again, Hawthorn lifted, applied intense forward pressure forcing turnovers. One went to Chance Bateman who with a driving run on the wing, bounced, looked up, saw the imposing form of Franklin, kicking the ball high to let Buddy do his work. Out muscling the experience of Fletcher, Buddy notched goal number 5.

McPhee, as the Bombers half forward conduit, took a strong mark seconds before the half time siren and when it sounded during his run up, he stopped, composed himself, taking his time, he drilled one through after the siren - a pressure kick for Essendons eighth. Halftime score Ess 8.4-53 Haw 9.5-59. The disposals for the half were even between the teams, Hawks by a goal but the Bombers led 73 - 32 in uncontested possessions and 30 - 27 in tackles, all very encouraging signs for the future. The twin towers of Lucas and Lloyd up forward testing the structure of the Hawthorn defense. Due to lack of midfield pressure Paddy Ryder was being "toweled up" by Franklin and 'carrot boots' - Kyle Reimers, had his "pants pulled down" by Bateman. Essendon though, were still in touch - just!

The second half started with some resolute ruck work, the ball dropped for Lonergan, Lloyd in created a leading run, taking defenders with him. This allowed Stanton to run on and kick the opening goal for the half. However the fragile web was about to unravel. Reimers laid a late tackle on the wing , the free kick was hand passed to Hodge, who spun around to his left and without looking up, laid a silky pass to the lead of Franklin, now 'stomping' on Fletcher and imposing himself on the game, kicking No.6. Two minutes later, McPhee fumbled a mark, retaliated and gave away 50. The result? a long punt to Buddy. Paddy was left scratching his head, as Franklin booted number 7 and minutes later Fletcher gave away another 50 m penalty . Buddy with 8.

For the remainder of the 3rd quarter, the 'old firm', Brown, Mitchell, Hodge, put their foot on the gas . Roughhead added to the scoreboard. A run from the Bomber backline, straight through the center, hand passes perfectly timed , all came to naught, as the formidable Hawks defense stood firm. Some worrying signs for the "Dons". Michael Osborne, chipped a grubber kick across the goal mouth, it bounced, turned left and went through for Hawthorns 14th. This was followed Rougheads' second. Knights temporarily shifted Fletcher from Roughhead to Franklin. As the battle intensified, Jay Nash took a solid hit and headed to rooms for treatment, Stanton and Sam Mitchell collided - Stanton, left groggy, for the remaining seconds of the quarter. Ess 10.7-67 Haw 15.11-101. The Bombers had been zoned out by Hawthorn. 70% of the Essendon defensive kicking was ineffective.

As the fog rolled in from the bay and over the Docklands, Hawthorn opened the final quarter with another by Buddy Love!, Ryder was having a tough day at the office. the final term was mostly one way traffic from the Hawks. Roughead and Franklin had 20 scoring shots between them. Fletcher was off with a hip injury following a marking clash . Knights moved Lloyd into defense but the Bombers were spent, final score was Ess 12.7.79 , Haw 19.16-130. Hodge had a slight limp towards the end of the match but had produced a superb effort with his three goals.

Hawks on top of the Ladder by percentage. 'Buddy' had kicked another 9 goal bag, this time against the Knights Bombers.

A 'happy team' at Hawthorn.

Footnote: Gold Boots: In the 1980's and 90's in an era of black boots, Hawthorn champion and Premiership player Dermott 'the kid" Brereton, was one of the first AFL Players to wear stand out footwear of a different color to black. He had talent, courage and skill but more importantly he had played a few seasons and had runs on the board. Kyle Reimers has his debut in round 19, 2007 has played 11 games and kicked 5 games and this season has chosen to wear standout luminescent gold boots, that glow an orange color under floodlights. At the moment, his boots rather than his playing prowess are attracting attention. The kids call them 'carrot boots'.

Bombers Win the DDToss - Tigers the 'Kevin Sheedy' Cup

densham — Sun, 25 May 2008 06:33:41 -0500

by Kim Densham, reporting for AFANA from Melbourne

Dreamtime at the G turns to Nightmare in Bomberland. Even as Paul Kelly belted out his evocative song "From Little Things, Big Things Grow" with the help of Jessica Maubouy, Kev Carmody and legendary "Oils" front man, now cabinet minister, Peter Garrett. The Bombers faithful gathered, fuel tanks empty, ready for another night of pain. The optimistic hoped against all odds for another upset a la the Pies and the Cats.

But even before last sounds of the didgeridoo faded over Melbourne Town, the first quarter was one-way traffic, Tiger traffic, away from the city end to Richmond. The first term was marred by fumbles, mistimed handballs, sloppy marking, no manning up , wild wayward kicks and that was just Richmond, The Dons were worse, much worse. As the siren sounded for the end of the term, the Bombers were booed off the ground. They had failed to score a goal and were down 0 - 5 - 5 to Tigers 5 - 3 -33. To say Coach Knights was animated during the quarter time huddle would be an understatement.

The second term started no better and it took 10 minutes before Essendon, through Captain Matthew Lloyd, were able to score a second. Effectively Essendon had conceded 21 consecutive goals since last weeks match against the Swans. It was a further 13 minutes before McVeigh scored the second. In the meantime the Tigers piled on 5 more and missed 5, by the halftime break Essendon were 50 points behind and headed to the tunnel for what was surely a mammoth 'roasting' by the coach. The biggest cheer of the quarter was when David Hille booted the ball forward to Paddy Ryder ending a string of woeful, mistimed and scraggly handballs. It's not so much that Richmond were good, as much as Essendon were misfiring. Ess 2-6-18 Rich 10-8-68.

The Bombers came out for second half full of desperation that had been lacking in the first, no doubt stung into action by Knights. Lloyd played in the backline and Paddy Ryder was upfront. They clawed back some respectability and opened play with their third goal with Jay Neagle kicking his first. 17 minutes later Lloyd kicked two quick ones and by the end of the third quarter, Essendon had kicked 6 but still trailed by 26 points 8-9-57 to Richmond 12-10-82.

Nathan Brown opened the scoring for the final quarter, Essendon replied seconds later when Lloyd 'shepparded on the line' allowing Jay Nash's punt to slide through. However Richmond's run through Nathan Foley and Brett Deledio created some devastation through the middle and the Tigers piled on 4 more goals. The Essendon faithful left the 'G' in droves.

In the end it was a bottom of the table affair, with one place separating the teams at the start of the match. The silver lining for the Bombers was keeping the score below 150 for the match, they applied them selves in the third term but sorely miss someone of the class of Hird, who carried the midfield and applied sublime service to Lloyd in the forward line. Richmond, in their umpteenth year of rebuilding let themselves down with some inaccurate kicking but showed that Coach Terry 'Plough' Wallace has instilled some run, demanded more of Kane Pettifer and was fortunate enough to have Nathan Brown back this year and Shane Edwards was handy up front.

In the end Richmond extracted revenge for the cruel 8 point loss in last years Dreamtime Game and received the 'Kevin Sheedy Cup'. Nathan Foley was presented the 'best on ground' medal by Michael Long and 'Richo' was, well , just Richo! and Tigers fans love him for that'.

New Volunteer Needed for AFL Reviews and Previews

admincms — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:53:51 -0500

AFANA needs a new volunteer to process and post the AFL Reviews, Previews, and AFL on Radio schedule. These do not need to be written or edited, just posted through our editing system. This volunteer position will require about 30 to 45 minutes per week, less once you gain a few weeks experience. If you would like to help us, respond by e-mail or use our contact links.

NAB Cup First Round Weekly Review 2008 Part I

Seamus Rua — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:28:16 -0600

by Tim Murphy

Remember them 9-point goals which mess up the scoreline.

At some polo field in Dubai:

Collingwood    0.3.3   0.4.9    0.7.10   0.7.13   55
Adelaide       0.3.2   2.9.4    2.12.7   4.15.10 136

BEST:
Adel: Goodwin 4 (one 9-pointer), Sellar 3, McLeod 2, Burton 2, Reilly (9-pointer), Douglas (9-pointer), Stevens (9-pointer), Tippett, Porplyzia, Knights, Maric, Vince.

Coll: Cloke, Reid, Medhurst, O’Bree, Bryan, Anthony, Lockyer.

GOALS:
Adel: Goodwin, Bock, Thompson, Sellar, Porplyzia, Knights.
Coll: H. Shaw, R. Shaw, Swan, O’Bree, Thomas, Maxwell

Cheers, Tim.

AFL Weekly Review Grand Final 2007

Seamus Rua — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:22:32 -0500

by Tim Murphy

The Cats completed their brilliant season with a massive win in the big one, thoroughly deserved. A good article by Jake Niall in The Age last week detailed the Catters’ progress to this point since 1999, when the final remnants of the teams who’d lost four Grand Finals between 1989 and 1995 were discarded and Mark Thompson replaced the goose Gary Ayres as coach. Geelong were heavily in debt at the time and the roles of president Frank Costa and renowned CEO Brian Cook, who both arrived at Kardinia Park that year, in repairing the financial situation and redeveloping the Cats’ home were given credit. So good on ‘em. Port were hopeless and in retrospect, lucky to make the Grand Final. They have improved sharply since last season, but one thing’s become obvious in recent years - a team needs to be finals-seasoned before they can win the flag. Teams don’t come from nowhere to win it; the Cats may’ve finished 10th last year but they played in the previous two finals series. Port’ll have another chance if they’re good enough, but like everyone else they’ll have to queue behind the Cats; the Jeelong players are mostly in their early- or mid-careers and the club set-up should ensure a few years of success.

The Cats ended up winning everything. Their Jimmy Bartel (29 votes) won the Brownlow Medal last Monday - did you take the $10 as I suggested? No-one thanked me…Bartel’s victory over his more favoured team-mate Gary Ablett (fifth with 20 votes) showed the umps place a higher value on winning the contested ball than flair in using it, although that’s no slight on Gablett who does plenty of both and won the AFL Player’s Association MVP a coupla nights later. The unexpectedly good performance of Lyin’ Simon Black (equal second, 22 votes) is further evidence of the value of being a ball-winner. Brent Harvey and Daniel Kerr both collected 22 votes too, Kerr was ineligible due to suspension. It was his third top-three finish and if Kerr can get through a year without being hurt or whacking someone he must surely win it. There was some criticism of the Brownlow now being the ‘midfielder’s medal’ and there being no recognition of key-position players like Darren Glass or Matthew Scarlett, but it’s fair enough. Possession is the law in footy. Worryingly, the Great Helmsman Demetriou wants to ‘re-examine’ the system of Brownlow voting.

Essadun finally appointed a coach last week, er, if you’re a Bomma best sit down and steady yourself. It’s former Richmond skipper Matthew Knights. No joke. The Dons had believed Mark Thompson would give them a hearing following the Grand Final, but after waiting two months the Dons gave up three days before the window opened, for reasons unknown. One-time favourites including Neale Daniher, Weegle assistant Peter Sumich and Damien Hardwick were passed over for Knights, coach of the Dons’ VFL affiliate Bendigo. The Essadun board faces a challenge from a seemingly small group of supporters angry over Sheeds’ sacking, but Knighta’s appointment might swell their numbers. The Dons’ stated reason for hiring Knights, he’s good at working with young players, does make some sense as the Dons have plenty of rebuilding and, probably, losing ahead. Knights could have a tough time. A couple more retirements last week, Hawk Joel Smith after 230 games (172 for Horforn) and Sainter Aaron Hamill finally succumbed to chronic knee problems, he played 180-odd.

At the MCG:

Geelong        5.7   11.13   18.17   24.19.163
Port Adelaide  2.2    4.4     5.5      6.8.44

Geelong played like a team on mission to meet their destiny. Most Port players performed as though they didn’t believe they should be there, i.e. uselessly. The Cats have been the best team all season by a margin and produced the type of flowing, skilful, high-scoring football for which the club is traditionally known, combined with the new mental toughness instilled this year. The Catters’style was the complete opposite of low-scoring, defence-dominated footy of the Swans and Eagles and the record winning margin comfortably eclipsed Hawthorn’s previous 96 points in 1988, over the Dees. Jeelong had a fairly tense build-up with closed training sessions, a tough decision to drop regular no. 2 ruckman Mark Blake for former skipper Steven King and David Johnson charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police. Johnson wasn’t in the team, but still. Bartel’s Brownlow win offered some lightness and celebration. In contrast Port treated the week like a carnival, with plenty of Cat-baiting from Mark Williams and his players; the pressure was all on Geelong, they said; Williams’d already picked out a spot at Alberton for the premiership team-photo; Blake’s axing suggested panic; Darren Milburn wouldn’t play; the Cats had no GF experience (10 of Port’s 22 played in their 2004 win). The Powder’s attitude suggested desperation rather than confidence. Blake being dropped was harsh but fair, he didn’t play well against Collingwood last week and his thin frame may’ve been a liability against Port’s powerful Lade and Brogan. Blake’ll get another go. Port replaced injured Michael Wilson (torn achilles tendon) with young defender Brad Symes.

Maybe it was Brett Ebert’s fault, the Port forward failed with the game’s first two chances at goals. Following a rushed behind, Ebert intercepted Cat Josh Hunt’s kick-in but Ebert’s snap just missed. A minute later Ebert led to mark Kane Cornes’s pass, but his shot hooked wide and short. In between them chances, Cat small forward Mathew Stokes had fallen awkwardly from a marking contest and wrenched his knee, Stokes was carried off and the Catters hadn’t started well. But a quick rebound and Paul Chapman’s long kick saw Cameron Mooney mark on the goal-line, he booted the game’s first sausage. The same players were soon involved again, Chapman collected James Kelly’s tap-on and passed to leading Mooney, he jabbed a short, sideways pass to Steve Johnson, who played-on and majored. Cats by 11 points. King came on and immediately whacked Port man Dom Cassisi in the face. Cassisi was tagging Gary Ablett and Kane Cornes opposed Bartel, the Cats had their Cameron ‘Cling’ Ling on Shaun Burgoyne. All three taggers won their duels early but the Cats had others step up, like Chapman and Kelly. The Powder’s first goal came when overzealous Cat backman David Wojcinski clobbered Travis Boak, then Warren Tredrea, conceding frees both times. Tredrea majored from his. Port’s disposal was generally terrible though, whether under pressure or no. Their Jacob Surjan fumbled a handpass, Cat Johnson stole the ball but missed the shot. From the kick-in the Flowers’ Troy Chaplin telegraphed a pass, Gary Ablett intercepted and drilled a running goal. The Pooer advanced from the restart and had a throw-in in the forward pocket, Lade tapped for Shaun Burgoyne to collect the ball, speed clear and snap truly. The Cats led by 7 points, they nudged ahead again as Hunt charged onto a loose ball and centered a kick towards Brad Ottens. He couldn’t mark but Chapman collected the spillage and passed to Steve Johnson, all alone. Johnson played-on and goaled. As the pattern took hold Cats Joel Selwood, Ling and Stokes (back on and fine) all missed shots, there was a great bit of play when Ottens chased and caught pacy Power backman Michael Pettigrew. With one minute remaining in the term a Cat smother and what appeared a throw from Joel Corey set a chain of handballs in motion, capped by Bartel’s terrific left-foot snap for a major. Kelly narrowly missed a shot after the siren to have Geelong 23 points up at the first break.

Port’s situation went from serious to critical in the first ten minutes of the second stanza. In the first minute Hunt initiated a Cat rebound, Corey’s pass found Stokes, he handballed off for Steve Johnson to bag a running major, Johnson’s third. Ling’s tough effort to wear hits and win the ball set up another Jahlong goal, Ling’s handpass collected by Max Rooke who thumped it home. Lucky frees to Stokes and Chapman, both for high contact, saw Chapman free-kick a goal. Chappy’d done one of them bending shoulder-rolls out of a tackle which is little more than ducking. But anyway. A superb, slick rebound move saw Selwood kick long towards Nathan Ablett, he was bumped heavily by Toby Thurstans and Nablett free-kicked a goal. Also fortunate, that. At the following centre-bounce Ottens got the ball to Gary Ablett, he handballed to runnin’ Andrew Mackie, long kick again and Nathan Ablett reeled in a one-handed, with-the flight mark. N. Ablett majored again and the Cats led by 53 points now, having kicked 5 unanswered goals in about 10 minutes. Port won the next centre-clearance, a free-kick to Peter Burgoyne who’d been switched onto the ball. The Sherrin went to Brad Symes, he punted long and Chad Cornes seized a good pack-mark. Chadley majored. But Port had placed two extra men in defence now as they tried to halt Geelagong’s run-on. They succeeded, aided by a few behinds from the Cats including two misses from Ottens and a shocker from Rooke, following his crushing tackle on Thurstans to win the ball. A rare Geelong mistake brought a Powder goal. Darren Milburn fumbled in the centre and his opponent, Tredrea, gave the ball to Steven Salopek, whose long kick bounced and eluded Hunt allowing Tom Logan to boot an easy major. Consecutive goals for Port had them 44 points down, but Geelong surged again. Gary Ablett broke a tackle, sped downfield and was tackled again but got a handball away, maybe. The ball came to Kelly, he passed for Chapman to mark, play-on and slam it through. Steve Johnson missed two late shots as the Cats led by a hefty 52 points at half-time. Richmond’s Jake King won the half-time sprint, giving the Tiges consecutive victories in the event. Huzzah!

Any thoughts of a Port comeback vanished in the first three minutes of the third Mario, the Cats bagging two goals. From the opening bounce Kane Cornes was caught in possession by Corey, the ball went to Stokes and he delivered to Mooney, leading into the pocket. Mooney goaled with a good kick. A minute later Mooney leaped to mark a Port kick-in, he steered a pass to leading Steve Johnson who played-on with a centering kick. Bartel marked in a pack and booted a close-range sausage roll. The Cyats led by 65 points now and could effectively start celebrating, although Mooney urged ‘em to press on. The Flowers’ only tactic was to flood and the scoring stopped for a while, the highlight of this period Chapman’s ride on and screamer over Tredrea. Cat fans jeered Tredrea, whose arrogant bow to home supporters last week was given excessive exposure and comment in the meedya. The Cats unleashed another barrage of goals towards the end of the quarter, great play from Stokes led to the first. His kick was spilled by Ottens but roving Johnson passed to Nathan Ablett, a handpass and Shannon Byrnes had a tap-through major. The Powder won the next centre-clearance, Danyle Pearce lobbed a kick forward and Daniel Motlop tapped-on for Tredrea to snap it through. Motlop’s only touch, almost. Cat Ottens missed a shot but King marked the Port kick-in, his returning punt was seized by Ottens on the goal-line and Ott couldn’t miss this time. King clutched the ball at the restart and handballed to Ling, his kick was gathered by Corey who handballed to Chapman, goal. Nathan Ablett benefitted from a soft free-kick to bag another, in-the-back against Pettigrew who had a shocker. Geelong’s next goal was a beauty, Chapman bobbed up in his defensive goal-square to affect a big spoil, Port’s Cassisi gathered but a fierce bump from Stokes forced the ball loose, a perfect kick from Bartel found running Selwood, pass to leading Mooney, mark and goal. The Cats led by 90 points after that. Mooney missed a simple shot and Port’s Ebert postered before the final break. More of the same in the final quarter. Chapman cantered through the centre with a bounce or two and kicked long, Mooney won a fortunate free kick as he slipped and was grabbed ‘round the head by Wakelin. Mooney majored. A Chapman punt also led to the next six-pointer, Ling roved the goal-square pack and snapped it through. That goal made Geelong’s lead 102 points. Corey Enright roved a ball-up and his kick was marked by Chapman over the hapless Pettigrew, Chappy punted another. Matthew Scarlett exchanged handpasses with Mackie and drove another long kick in, Steve Johnson marked at the back of the pack, played-on and dribbled it through. Mooney hooked his fifth after marking by the point-post and Mackie got on the score sheet courtesy a crude, ploughing tackle from Chad Cornes, plus a 50m penalty as Cornes didn’t return the ball. The Cats led by 128 points and finally put the cue in the rack. Port scored a few mangy points, including a poster from Justin Westhoff, before Shaun Burgoyne booted a decent running goal. But the cameras spent the closing minutes focusing on celebrity Geelong supporters like Steve Bracks and former players Barry Stoneham and Bill Brownless. Billy was crying, Gawd bless ‘im. After the siren Mark Williams shook hands with the Geelong players and had a few words with Bomber Thompson. “I apologized for all that stuff I said during the week,” said Williams. “I knew we were under the pump, I had to try something.”

Steve Johnson (23 disposals, 9 marks, 4 goals) won the Norm Smith Medal, for his terrific efforts when the game was notionally a contest in the first 40 minutes. A deserving winner although Paul Chapman or Matthew Scarlett would've been equally worthy medalists. Johnson’s ‘story’ may’ve swayed the meedya-employed voters, Johnson redeeming himself following early-season club suspension for drunkenness and a generally poor attitude. Chapman (21 touches, 7 marks, 4 goals) was a vital midfielder in the first quarter-and-a-bit as Bartel and Ablett were tagged, Scarlett (29 possies, 8 marks) not only thrashed Westhoff but marshalled the backline and did a mountain of rebounding. Cyat defenders Josh Hunt (15 disposals on Ebert) and Tom Harley (13 touches, 7 marks on Motlop) were great too and Corey Enright (29 disposals) was terrific against Danyle Pearce. James Kelly (20 possies) was a key Cat midfield presence early, Joel Corey (25 handlings) was good and Cameron Ling (25 touches, a goal) put Shaun Burgoyne out of it. Cameron Mooney (12 marks, 17 disposals, 5 goals) did the job at full-forward, granted plenty of supply. Brad Ottens and Steven King controlled the ruck. Let’s face it, they didn’t have a bad player. Nathan Ablett kicked 3 goals and Jimmy Bartel booted 2 majors. Port’s best was Kane Cornes (37 disposals, 10 marks), by the length of the Morphettville straight. Silenced Gary Ablett early and won a lot of the ball himself. Peter Burgoyne (36 possessions) battled hard from half-back and later in the midfield, Chad Cornes (32 touches, 6 marks, a goal) won plenty of the ball with limited impact. Those three had a third of Port’s disposals between them. Every other Powderman was absolutely useless, utterly disgraceful. Maybe Dom Cassisi (18 touches) was alright, for his game on Bartel. Warren Tredrea and Shaun Burgoyne kicked 2 goals each. Just a quick mention for Port’s retiring full-back Darryl Wakelin, 200-plus games and a 2004 premiership player and another Port retiree in Josh Mahoney, resurrected from a stalled career in the VFL to become a premiership player and a Port best-and-fairest winner. Great players and both are a credit to Williams.

Mark Williams had this to say: "Going into the game, we as a match committee thought Geelong were the best club by a long way in the competition. What we've seen today was what we expected from them. Last time we beat them, down at Geelong, four of them were out (injured) and we knew it was going to be a much different game. All credit to Geelong, I thought Mark (Thompson) and his group really did produce on the day . . . From last year to now we over-achieved, but I didn't see that particular result coming, that's for sure. We'll rejoice the efforts through the year and acknowledge we weren't good enough today . . . (on the margin) Ah well, we create records. That's what football's about, it doesn't hold us back. Port Adelaide have got the most premierships in football in Australia, that's the best record." Asked about his pre-game baiting of the Cats, Choco said "We were playing a card. We knew how good Geelong were and if we could spook them, we tried to, it was a card to play." Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson, facing the sack this time last year during an internal club review he later labeled ‘cr@p’, said “It’s been such a long time since we’ve won . . . there was this pressure to win and I think the players felt it and I think everyone that worked at the club felt it. I’m glad it’s gone, [now] we can just go ahead with our business . . . Early (in the game), I thought we were sharp, I thought we were very, very sharp . . . I love it when we put enormous pressure on opposition sides. The key to the day I suppose was to be able to sustain that for four quarters. I suppose it would have been a period in the third quarter [that I thought we had won it], which is rare. We hardly ever let ourselves relax, but I think even at three-quarter time we knew we were going to win. But the emphasis was on just being as professional as you can be and don’t lairise, just be workmanlike, just go out and play good, strong footy and finish the job.” On his un-contracted status, Thompson said re-signing with the Cats was “a formality”, and he’s looking forward. “Darren Milburn I think is our oldest player . . . he’s just turned 30,” he said. “You know, we’ve got so many good players who are 23, 24, 25, and we’ve got Tom Hawkins and we’ve got Travis Varcoe and Nathan Djerrkura, so there’s some really exciting talent coming through. Now they’ve got the pressure and the monkey off their back I think we can forge ahead.” Indeed.

So that’s it for another year, thanks once again to David Layton and the crew at FTS, thanks to all the e-mailers and regulars out there for reading the blather and just like Bomber and the lads, I’m looking forward to next year. See you then!

Cheers, Tim.

AFL Weekly Review Preliminary Finals 2007

Seamus Rua — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:09:50 -0500

by Tim Murphy

Geelong and Port, first and second on the ladder. It rarely lies. The Cats are deserved favourites, but it should be good.

Your 2007 All-Geelong, er, All-Australian side:

B: Matthew Scarlett (Geel), Darren Glass (WC), Darren Milburn (Geel)
HB: Andrew McLeod (Adel, c), Matthew Egan (Geel), Campbell Brown (Haw)
C: Kane Cornes (PA), Jimmy Bartel (Geel), Chad Cornes (PA)
HF: Steve Johnson (Geel), Jonathan Brown (Bris, v-c), Brent Harvey (NM)
F: Brad Johnson (Foot), Matthew Pavlich (Frem), Cameron Mooney (Geel)
Foll: Dean Cox (WC), Daniel Kerr (WC), Gary Ablett (Geel).
Inter: Brendon Lade (PA), Dustin Fletcher (Ess), Joel Corey (Geel), Cameron Ling (Geel).

That’s nine Geelong players. The Brisbun side which won three premierships in a row, as you may remember, never had more than six in an AA side. The 2000 Bommers, who lost one game that year, had four. Bartel, Ablett, no argument. Scarlett and Johnson are okay, although Johnson’s smart-arsery is very annoying. Milburn and Corey are Jack Dyer’s “good ordinary players” who weren’t any better this year than any other. Mooney’s chief achievement was to play an entire year without being suspended and it’s not clear how he got selected ahead of Nick Riewoldt, Lance Franklin, Scott Lucas or even Richo for that matter (okay, maybe not Richo). Egan seems pretty average to me, surrounded by some classy helpers. Ling’s a tagger, very good at that, but last year he couldn’t hold his spot in the side as a ‘normal’ midfielder. Anyway, it set up a contrast on Friday night as the Pies didn’t have any players in the AA side. Eddie went off like a frog in a sock about it, as usual.

Chris Judd’s future was the other main news as Juddy toured Melbourne to listen to sales pitches from clubs. Before flying out Judd gave a press conference in Perth to explain the ties of family and friends were drawing him home to Melbourne and the decision had nothing to do with the Wiggles being drug-and-alcohol-fuelled maniacs. Some people believed that. Judd wants to join a young side with finals potential who play most of their home games at the MCG. Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon and Melbourne are the four clubs in contention apparently. You might wonder how the last three satisfy the criteria; the Blues and Bommers have the draft picks and/or players necessary to make a deal; Judd supported the Dees before being drafted.

Elsewhere a formal challenge to Sainter president Rod Butterss and his board was launched by a group calling itself ‘St. Kilda Footy First’, featuring former players Nathan Burke and just-retired Andrew Thompson. It’s got ugly, quickly. Freo formally appointed Mark Harvey as their coach, but there’s no role for Sheeds. Essadun still don’t have a coach, they’re supposedly waiting to see if there’s interest from former Bommers and Grand Final coaches Mark Thompson and Mark Williams. Unlikely, you’d think. Other Don alumni in contention include Neale Daniher and Damien Hardwick. Some more retirements last week, Hawk Ben Dixon after 203 games and 282 goals, an old-fashioned 4-kick, 2-goal half-forward. Sainter Brett Voss also hung ‘em up, 170 games for Brisbane and the Saints for him. Ol’ Matty Richardson won the Tigers’ best-and-fairest for the first time, after being a four-time runner-up. Cat Gary Ablett is a warm $2.10 favourite for tonight’s Brownlow Medal, ahead of Chad Cornes ($5.50), Brent Harvey ($6.00), Hawk Sam Mitchell ($6.50) and Lyin’ Jonathan Brown ($8.50). Cat Jimmy Bartel is excellent value at $10.00.

At the MCG:

Geelong      4.4   7.6   9.13   13.14.92
Collingwood  2.5   6.7   9.8     13.9.87

As expected, a tough, tight and terrific game. The Cats took the second-last step on the road of destiny, seeing off the battling Pies. Jeelong always appeared the likely winners, even when the Pies were in front. The Catters had 20 more inside-50s and moved the ball more slickly than the Poise, who made too many errors. But Collywood tried tremendously hard, as they do in the big games and through force of will and some class in attack, kept at it. But the skill- and possession-gap told for the Cats in the end. This young Poi side has a bright future and the ABC’s Barrie Cassidy was typical of yer Pie fan in assaulting the ears with the list of the Maggies’ 19 and 20-y-o first and second-year kids; Clarke, Goldsack, Thomas, Pendlebury, Cloke, Shaw, Rusling. Um, don’t Geelong have the Abletts, Selwood, Hawkins, Varcoe, Stokes, Bartel, Egan in the same category? If the Poise can get hold of Judd, even better. That may be unlikely but the Maggies do need a bit more class midfield and despite Malthouse’s contempt for ruckmen, they need a decent big man to support Josh Fraser. Chris Bryan and Guy Richards were thrashed by Ottens here. Fraser didn’t play despite being named, more back trouble, so Bryan remained in a Magpoi line-up unaltered from last week. The game was given added meaning for Pies by the death of their 1972 Brownlow Medalist Len Thompson the night before the game. Great ruckman and a great bloke, Len. The Cats weren’t changed from a fortnight ago, injured All-Australian defender Matthew Egan the only regular absent. There’d been speculation Steven King would replace junior ruckman Mark Blake, but he didn’t.

The game sold out by Wednesday and right on 98,000 turned up, the biggest crowd at the ‘G for any event since 1998. They saw the Pies start quite well, with backman James Clement busy. Anthony Rocca had an early shot, a soft free-kick against opponent Matty Scarlett. Rocca was on the boundary-line and missed, he had one more kick for the night. A minute later Pie Scott Burns roved a throw-in and snapped it through, the Poise had an early 7-point lead. The Cats got moving. Nathan Ablett and Corey Enright combined smartly to send the ball towards Cam Mooney, Pie full-back Shane Wakelin spoiled but roving Cat Mathew Stokes snaggled a goal. Mooney missed after marking on the lead but the Cats recovered the kick-in, Paul Chapman passed for Brad Ottens to hold a diving grab and boot a major. Stokes missed a sitter and at the other end Pie Travis Cloke sliced a shot on-the-full. Gary Ablett spun cleverly out of a tackle and punted the Cats forward, Mooney’s hurried snap was smothered but the ball rebounded to Stokes, his snap just crept over for a goal. Jahlong led by 13 points. The Poise replied, Clement backed himself to run the ball out and pass to Shane O’Bree on the wing. Cat junior Joel Selwood was fractionally late with a spoil and a weak 50m penalty was added, O’Bree kicked a goal. A bit later Wakelin thumped a ball-up directly to Gary Ablett, he handballed to Selwood who kicked for Stokes to mark strongly in front of battling opponent Tyson Goldsack. Stokes booted his third goal of the quarter and the Katz led by 13 again. Late in the term Poi Leon Davis failed to cap his own good play with a goal and Scott Pendlebury missed a shot too. Cats by 11 points at the first break. For the second term Goldsack was replaced by Marty Clarke as Stokes’s man, a move which worked well for the Pies. The Cats were also forced to make a change as their All-Australian stopper Cameron Ling had been carved up by Dane Swan. Pie junior Sean Rusling, who’d spent the first term on the bench, went to full-forward. Swan and Clarke combined to give Rusling an early chance, he marked strongly on the flank and steered a good goal. Harry O’Brien punted the Scraggies forward from the restart, Paul ‘Steak Knives’ Medhurst galloped out to take a mark and boot a 55m goal. The Pies were in front, by 2 points. Dale Thomas postered from the boundary during a good spell for them. Cat Scarlett ventured forward but missed a running shot, as Poi Alan Didak brought the ball out his poor kick went straight to Gablett. A handpass to Jimmy Bartel and a foot pass to Steve Johnson followed, Johnson converted. A minute later Nathan Ablett fisted a throw-in into Johnson’s path, he gathered and slotted another major. And soon Ottens won the ball at a bounce, it went to Selwood, Ling and then unattended Max Rooke, who booted another Cat sausage. Just like that, the Cats led by 16 points. But the Pies dug in. No scoring for a bit before Burns punted the Poise forward, the ball cleared Rocca and Scarlett and bounced up in the goal-square. Didak arrived, leaped and touched the ball onto his right-boot, karate-kicking a spectacular goal. Might be a pea-brain, but he can play. Good work from Didak soon led to another Poi major, Rusling out-marked Josh Hunt and converted. The Pies had cut the margin back to 5 points by the long break.

The third term started with two terrible misses from the Cats, Ottens failed with a set-shot from 30m, right in front. Ottens marked the kick-in and the ball was fed wide to James Kelly, he missed poorly too. Sequences like this made you think the Cats would romp away at some point. But they didn’t. The Eddies had a break when Cat and All-Australian backman Darren Milburn limped off with a sore leg, he’d done a good job on Cloke to this point. Almost immediately Cloke marked on the flank, his centering kick was a shocker but Ling fumbled awfully, Leon Davis pounced and speared a low kick for a goal. The Geelong lead was 2 points. A scoring lull followed before Chapman passed to the prominent Ottens at CHF, he dished a handpass for Kelly to boot a running goal. Cats by 8 points but the Pies responded, Goldsack’s very good smother won him the ball, he passed to Medhurst on the flank. Medhurst jabbed a short kick for Cloke to collect, Clokey played-on and punted it home from 30m. The Pies were getting some run going and the Poi fans sensed some momentum, especially when Cats Blake and Selwood left a mark for each other and Burns swiped the ball. Cloke passed for leading Rocca to take his first mark but Anfernee’s mis-kick dropped short. Milburn returned with a bandaged lower leg. Pendlebury roved a ball-up and kicked towards leading Medhurst, Steak Knives couldn’t mark under pressure but he swiveled smartly, recovered the ball and booted a very good sausage. The Pies led again, by 3 points. But they couldn’t press the advantage, a superb smother from Joel Corey preventing a Bryan shot. Deep into time-on the Pies led by a point, Gary Ablett and Chapman combined to send the ball forward for the Cats. An under-pressure Clement slapped the ball out-of-bounds, the most deliberate ‘deliberate’ you could see. Either he was disoriented, thinking the boundary was the point-line, or maybe Cat Mooney got a hand in there. In any case Mooney hooked the resulting free-kick for a goal, so Geelagong led by 5 points at the last change.

Early in the final term the Poise reclaimed the lead, Medhurst, O’Bree and Nathan Buckley combined to set up a running shot for Cloke, he drilled it. Pies by a point. The Catter response was emphatic. Ottens won the following centre-clearance, Steve Johnson intercepted a Pie handball and passed for leading Mooney to mark and convert. At the next centre-bounce Medhurst ploughed Gary Ablett into the turf, Gablett’s long free-kick was pack-marked too easily by Johnson. He booted a major. The Cats pressed hard as you thought the effects of two big finals and an interstate trip must weigh the Pies down now. A Nathan Ablett drop, a Johnson shot which fell short and some frees allowed the Poise to hang in. But eventually the pressure told, Ottens marked a clearing Poi kick and the ball went to Joel Corey, his pass was marked by a diving Chapman. Chappy majored and the Cats led by 17 points. “Geelong’ll win by six goals,” said a guy standing next to me in the pub. The Magpiss kept on, though. Tarkyn Lockyer lobbed a free-kick towards Cloke, who marked strongly under pressure and booted a long major. The Maggies won the subsequent centre-clearance, Swan found Cloke marking alone just 25m out, bit of an angle but the big goose missed, and Cat fans sighed in relief. Pie Swan soon provided another attack, Burn’s pass missed leading Bryan but Didak lurked onto the loose ball to stab a point-blank sausage. The Pies were only 5 points down again. The Cats’ two best players on the night came to the rescue, Ottens tapped a throw-in to Gary Ablett, young Gablett raced clear and hooked a classy snap for full points. Katz 11 points ahead. It got a bit tough now and Cat Johnson appeared to hurt his shoulder in a tackle. Time ticked by and the Cats started to run the clock down. With a minute remaining Pie Clarke kicked long towards Rocca, who was clattered head-on by Cat skipper Tom Harley. A free-kick but Rocca’d been hurt in the contest, he limped off and Medhurst took the kick. Steak Knives converted, the Cat lead was down to 5 points again. But the Poise couldn’t manage another shot in the remaining minute.

Brad Ottens (23 disposals, 24 hit-outs, 9 marks, a goal) was dominant in the ruck for Geelong and Gary Ablett (31 disposals, a goal) terrific, especially in the last quarter. Jimmy Bartel (30 touches) was great again in midfield with support from Joel Corey (31 possies) and James Kelly (18 disposals with 14 handballs, a goal). In attack Steve Johnson (19 touches, 8 marks, 3 goals) did the most damage, the Cats were very solid in defence with Matty Scarlett (14 touches) thrashing Rocca (although Harley and Rooke often helped out), Darren Milburn (18 handlings, 9 marks) did well on Cloke for near-three quarters but the young Clokey got away from him towards the end. Josh Hunt (15 possies) had the better of Didak, too. Mathew Stokes bagged 3 first-quarter goals but was shut down by Clarke thereon, Cam Mooney kicked 2 goals. Typically, the Pies didn’t have a standout. As mentioned, first-year (Irish)man Marty Clarke (21 disposals) did a great job to shut down Stokes and win plenty of the ball himself, Heath Shaw (25 touches, 7 marks) was very good off his back-flank and James Clement (20 kicks, 6 marks) prominent. In a bit of a shock, Clement announced his retirement last night. Dane Swan (25 possies, 8 marks) saw off Ling and was a solid contributor, Nathan Buckley (19 touches, 10 marks) was busy and probably should play on next year, Shane O’Bree (16 touches, a goal) plugged away as usual. Harry O’Brien (15 possies) had the better of Chapman and the longer the game went, the more dangerous Travis Cloke (13 marks, 14 kicks, 3 goals) appeared. Made fun of Paul Medhurst (4 disposals, 2 goals) all year but ‘Steak Knives’ was good value here. Sean Rusling and Alan Didak kicked 2 goals each. Malthouse waxed lyrical about the future. "I think there are regrets right through the late nights, when they're laying in bed thinking, ‘Could I have done that, should I have done that?’ Sometimes I think preliminary finals are about regrets, and you punish yourself, and I don't think any of our boys need to punish themselves. But they will, because they've got a lot of pride, and they're proud young men who believe in themselves, and that belief is that they should have been playing next week. We've come up short . . . You go onto Punt Road, and you see a row of cottages, and the initial thing is, you wonder who lived there and who lives there (respectively, Richmond supporters and yuppies, Mick). The Collingwood football club has been in existence probably as long as those . . . cottages. The Collingwood structure is still there, and there is a new generation, probably not the blue-collar people who would have been living in those structures. The club is based on a blue-collar worker, and out of that, a new generation emerges (of millionaires like Eddie - too much editorializing?). Right now, [the players are] making their own dynasty. Unfortunately, it didn't go one game further." Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson reckoned he knew the Cats’d win. “I felt all night, I think the coaches felt inside, that we were going to win it. We never lost confidence or faith in our group and we knew that eventually we could get there and that inner belief is amongst the players too - and we scored some easy goals in the last quarter. The fact that it was [in front of] 98,000 people and playing Collingwood, who’ve got the biggest following in the competition; it’s a great experience. Knowing where the two teams have come from, us resting up and getting over all our little niggles and them having to play an extra 10 minutes of extra time, you’d have to say Collingwood was absolutely fantastic . . . I’m expecting us to be a lot better next week with our approach to the game. We’re not having to sit around for 13 days waiting to play; everything’s just going to be a rush. We’ve met a lot of challenges all year and I think the players have got an inner confidence, I think they really believe in themselves and each other . . . We'll embrace it. I think we’ve enjoyed it all the way. People keeping talking about the lid, but the lid hasn’t really been on. I’ve asked the players to enjoy every victory and to live it. It’s been a great year, so let’s just enjoy this week, but be professional as well and get the work in. I think we’ve handled our year quite well up until now and we just wouldn’t want to just be unprofessional and cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s. Enjoy the week, accept that we’re in the Grand Final, but just get things done. There’s a lot that happens in Grand Final week.”

At Football Park:

Port Adelaide    6.0   9.3   17.10   20.13.133
North Melbourne  3.2   3.7    4.10    5.16.46

Big contrast to the other prelim. There’s no doubt Port are a good side but their narrow win over the depleted Weegles and this massacre of the poor old Kangas is hard to line up against Geelong’s form. A home prelim against Norf or the Hawks always appeared a ‘gimme’ and as Choco Williams admitted again afterwards, the Flowers’ve had some luck this season. But you’ve gotta use good fortune when it comes, enough bad luck is about. And Port were the last side to beat the Cats so perhaps it’s fair enough they get the ultimate crack at ‘em for the big prize. Port’ll be without the luckless veteran Michael Wilson, who snapped an achilles tendon in this one. The Ruse surprisingly great season came to an unfortunate end, of the four finals Laidley’s been in charge in his tenure, three have resulted in (the wrong end of) absolute hidings. Not his fault really, just a gulf in class between his side and the true contenders. The Roos are honest, just not good enough. Laidley is yet to sign on for next year, holding out for a three-year contract where the Roo board has offered two. This was the final game for Rue icon Glenn Archer, his club record 311th. The ‘Shinboner of the Century’ was once described in a newspaper profile as a ‘cement truck in footy shorts’, a pretty apt description. Archer’s extreme competitiveness and toughness were his distinguishing characteristics as a footballer, the sort of straight-ahead, one-hundred miles-per-hour player every fan, coach and team-mate loves. I remember him giving young Richo a hard time in the Tiger’s early career, Archer lacked height but his strength and aggression worried Richo out of it. Archer’s also a great bloke by all accounts, certainly in interviews he comes across as a modest, generous guy with no bullsh*t about him. I doubt you’ll see him in the meedya. Anyway, the Port side here was unchanged from a fortnight back, there were doubts over Brett Ebert but he played. The Kangers gave much thought to selecting Nathan Thompson, their key forward who did a knee in the pre-season. Thompson is in full training but hadn’t played a game and in the end Laidley decided against it. But he did recall tagger Kasey Green following suspension, at the expense of junior Lachlan Hansen.

Much preview energy had gone into potential match-ups, Port coach Williams said Norf’s Brady Rawlings “will do plenty of holding-on and I’m sure the umpires will look out for that.” Rawlings picked up Shaun Burgoyne rather than the expected Chad Cornes, Green got the job on Chadley. Port placed Dom Cassisi on Brent Harvey and Kane Cornes against Daniel Wells. But the biggest early factor was a steady breeze, Port kicked with it first. Rawlings didn’t do any guernsey-tugging, he was rarely anywhere near Shaun Burgoyne from the start. Burgoyne’s pass set up the opening goal, leading Daniel Motlop marked it and fell as if shot following a gentle, late bump from Archer. A weak 50m penalty gave Motlop an unmissable shot. Archer clattered Kane Cornes at the restart (not one of Arch’s better games, this) but Cornes played-on from the free and was caught in possession. Brent Harvey punted the Ruse forward and Drew Petrie tapped-on for Shannon Grant to slot a noice tight-angle goal. Port won the following centre-clearance, David ‘D-Rod’ Rodan twice involved before lobbing a pass for Kane Cornes to hold a with-the-flight mark, he converted. A centre-clearance to North followed but Jesse Smith missed a shot - that was North’s big problem, they were competitive in the first half but didn’t kick their goals. Port did. A downfield free-kick gave Chad Cornes a chance, his awful punt was marked in the goal-square by Brendon Lade who dished off for Rodan to poke it through. Port led by 11 points. Norf replied after Port ruckman Dean Brogan dropped a mark, Roo Ed Sansbury handballed for Grant to curl a superb snap through from a very tight angle. A minute later Wells drove a low kick in and Aaron Edwards marked over Michael Pettigrew, Edwards played-on and stabbed a sausage, Norf led by a point. Shaun Burgoyne won the following centre-clearance for the Powder and kicked long, Roo full-back Michael Firrito effected a good spoil but then threw the ball to Pratt, Port’s Motlop free-kicked a goal. Roos Grant and Edwards made a complete mess of what should’ve been an easy soccer-goal, a bit later Edwards clangered a kick straight to Power backman Troy Chaplin. A quick rebound and Justin Westhoff found leading Danyle Pearce for a mark and goal. Brett Ebert’s cool gather and handpass set up a running major for Port junior Travis Boak and Port had jumped to a 16-point lead. The Ruse flooded and the Powder chipped-about to quarter-time.

For the second stanza beaten Rawlings switched onto Pearce and Jess Sinclair picked up the very busy Shaun Burgoyne. With the breeze now, the Kangers started well but Edwards missed very poorly following a good Roo move, then Wells tried a dribbly-kick shot which rolled into the post. Port CHB Chaplin was playing well, good play from him got the ball to Shaun Burgoyne, a long kick was met with Shannon Watt’s big spoil but the ball dropped to Ebert, he conjured a terrific left-foot snap for a major. Port led by 20 points. Norf won the following centre-clearance, Wells raced clear but his spearing punt drifted wide for a behind. A minute later the Kangers produced a great running move but again, Edwards missed what appeared an easy shot. “That’s very demoralizing for the side”, said Mal Blight. You’re not kidding. Port’s Wilson limped off in this period, snapping his left achilles in a seemingly gentle contest. He wasn’t happy. The Flowers punished the wayward Ruse, Rodan sped clear of a throw-in and stabbed a goal, Brogan won the following centre-clearance for Port and the ball went to Motlop on a wide lead. Motlop sold a dummy to get ‘round Josh Gibson and banana-snapped, sorry, checkside-snapped a great goal. Port led by 30 points now and the Ruse were in trouble. Confidence drained quickly as they began to fumble and commit poor turnovers. Port pressed but couldn’t capitalize, Chad Cornes missed a shot following big grab and Tom Logan snapped accurately but marginally after the siren sounded for half-time.

One-way traffic in the second half. North were pathetic, awful. Laidley made one move, replacing beaten ruckman Hamish McIntosh with beaten forward Drew Petrie, but it made no difference. Port men Logan and Motlop missed shots before Logan marked in an extraordinary amount of space, played on and handballed to Steven Salopek for a very easy goal. Motlop won a soft free for holding against Gibson, he passed for leading Ebert to mark and convert. At the restart Chad Cornes was coat-hangered by Petrie, Cornes passed the free to Boak, another pass to leading Ebert, mark and goal. Pearce drove the Powder forward again, Warren Tredrea juggled a grab and booted a sausage roll. Logan was awarded a lucky free-kick which displeased Roo Smith, who mouthed off at the ump about it. The resulting 50m penalty allowed Logan an easy six-pointer. Chad Cornes won the following centre-clearance, Shaun Burgoyne gathered his kick and handballed for Tredrea to snap a terrific goal. Tredders bowed to the rabid Port crowd as Port led by 71 points now, them 6 goals coming in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. Commentators Walls and Blight didn’t like Tredrea’s arrogant bow. The Ruse Ed Lower kicked a point, their first score of the quarter, before the pace of the game slowed dramatically. Edwards missed awfully for the Roos again, he had a shocker but so did most Roos. Sansbury kicked a long point and Smith sliced a shot on-the-full before Tredrea bagged his third goal of the term, collecting Westhoff’s handpass to stab it through on-the-run. Norf responded with a goal, Brogan pinged for a throw 30m from his own sticks. Roo rover Daniel Harris converted the free. But Lade had a free at the restart, he passed to Rodan, on to Shaun Burgoyne who handballed for Chad Cornes to blast it through. Cornes celebrated excessively as Port led by 78 points at the final change. It was difficult to stay interested in the final term. Archer started at full-forward but missed an early chance. A bit later Brent Harvey, with his first kick of the second half, found Lower with a pass and Lower converted. He wasn’t too bad, considering. There were a few more points amongst some fairly uninteresting footy, Port men Ebert and Motlop were benched for preservation. Port managed a late burst of goals, Shaun Burgoyne’s centering kick found the busy Logan for a mark and major, then came another which I missed. A goal for roving Salopek completed the scoring, the TV folk spent the closing minutes paying tribute to Archer. He departed through an honour guard of all the players.

Port’s CHB Troy Chaplin (32 disposals, 8 marks) was a very good player with little opposition, David Hale supposedly. Shaun Burgoyne (18 disposals) got them going and former Lyin’ Tom Logan (23 possies, 11 marks, 2 goals) played very well, especially after half-time. Chad Cornes (27 disposals, a goal) made himself busy as did Danyle Pearce (28 possies, 10 marks, a goal), plenty of the ball from his forward-flank. David Rodan (22 touches, 2 goals) confirmed his status as ‘bargain of the season’ and Kane Cornes (24 handlings, a goal) did the job on Wells. Plenty of activity in attack with Brett Ebert (5 marks, 10 kicks, 3 goals), Daniel Motlop (3 marks, 13 disposals, 3 goals) and Warren Tredrea (7 marks, 13 touches, 3 goals) all contributing, Steven Salopek bagged 2 goals. The Shinboners’ best was probably skipper Adam Simpson (24 disposals). Daniel Harris (25 touches, a goal) won a bit of the ball in the first half and Ed Lower (21 disposals, a goal) did a good job on Peter Burgoyne. Brent Harvey (22 touches) did a little bit and Jess Sinclair (23 possies) managed to slow Shaun Burgoyne. Glenn Archer (15 possies, 5 marks) tried hard, if little else. Shannon Grant kicked 2 first-quarter goals. Dean Laidley was asked about his young players. “Oh look, I was most disappointed with them tonight. [David] Hale and [Hamish] McIntosh, [Andrew] Swallow, guys who have had pretty good years. But they’re our future and we’re not going to sweep it under the carpet - I’ll be after them during the pre-season . . . When the floodgates opened, it was 20 possessions to I think 60 very, very quickly in the third quarter and we just couldn’t get our hands on the football. It was just disappointing that . . . to go out this way with our younger guys who have been so good all year. You know I thought they probably didn’t perform tonight to what they should have. We had our opportunities. We kicked all those points, consecutive points . . . you’ve got to be able to nail those. We’d kick two or three points and have the run of the play and the ball would go up the other end and they’d kick a goal. [Then] go back, same thing. It happened probably three or four times where we, you know, sort of evened up the ledger during the game but they just kept the scoreboard ticking over . . . I think we’ve taken some extraordinary steps (this year) and I suppose in a way maybe everyone’s got their way to say ‘well, we told you so’, but it took us to a preliminary final. And the last probably month particularly . . . it’s going to stand us in really good stead [in the long run].” Mark Williams taunted the Cats, of course. “With a minute to go in that game (at Kardinia Park, Port won) there were a few people ready to knock down the walls at Geelong, so they know how close that game was. I’m not here to scare them. They know what’s coming up. Without doubt that win was important; not only for us, but for Geelong, they know . . . they know.” What about the game just finished, Choco? “For us, I’d say almost everything went right. North missed so many goals early in the second quarter and again in the third quarter that the game was blown apart. Our guys took their chances and we’re really glad they did. It was a lot closer than you might think. I know you’ll say it was a walkover, but it was hot, it was hard and it’s easily dismissed, but they just missed shocking shots on goal. More than anything that was the cause of the discrepancy between the scores. In Glenn Archer’s last game that result doesn’t leave a nice taste in his mouth, or in mine, for that fact. He’s such a legend of AFL, he plays life and death footy and it’s not a great way for him to finish.” But back to his favourite topic. “Geelong have got a lot of expectation on them and we go in there looking forward to the opportunity. Last time [in 2004], we took on a team that had won three premierships in a row [Brisbane Lions] so I’m not sure if there’s any greater task than that. We know we go to Melbourne with the odds stacked against us, but we do have 10 or 11 premiership players in our side and it’s not too long ago they were there. There’s a great freshness and youth about the rest of the group. They’re excited with a lot of them having sat on the sidelines and watched the boys win the 2004 premiership. They got a little taste of it from a distance and they would like to be able to achieve that for themselves.”

Next week, Grand Final:

Geelong v Port Adelaide, MCG, Saturday.

Curtain-raiser, TAC Cup GF:

Calder Cannons v Murray Bushrangers.

Cheers, Tim

AFL Weekly Review Semi Finals 2007

Seamus Rua — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:06:15 -0500

by Tim Murphy

At Subiaco:

West Coast   0.4   5.5   8.9    10.12.72   10.14.74 after extra time
Collingwood  1.5   4.8   7.11   10.12.72   13.15.93 after extra time

The Pies certainly know how to compete. Mick Malthouse knows how to coach too, rotating his midfielders to eke out every drop of endurance in this marathon. The Poise kept up the intensity, kept up the pressure all night to overhaul the Wiggles in extra time, scores being tied on the final siren. A great win. Collywood see themselves as Geelong’s biggest threat and take a decent chance into the game next Friday. It’ll be an HUGE game, for sure. The Weegs join the small, unhappy band of sides to go out in straight sets. The injury excuse is easy to reach for, as expected Chris Judd (groin and ankle injuries) was left out here, joining Ben Cousins (hamstring) and the already absent Dan Kerr. Just this morning, Judd’s announced he’s leaving the Weegles and returning to Vic for “family reasons”. Adds some interest to the trade period. To cap it off, recalled Ashley Hansen twanged his hamstring barely 10 minutes into the first quarter. Worsfold also made a possibly fatal tactical error, benching Darren Glass late in the third term and watching the previously silent Anthony Rocca boot 2 goals in as many minutes. The Weegs are still a very good side when full-strength. Some saw their troubles this season as some sort of karma following the hubris of the off-season. Beau Waters (groin) was another absentee here, Hansen, Chad Fletcher and junior midfielder Jamie McNamara were the trio called up. The Pies were forced into one late change, Josh Fraser (back tightness) replaced by Chris Bryan.

A very tight first quarter, no space to run, no time to place a pass amongst limpet-like, man-on-man pressure. Pie Travis Cloke was the most active forward early, kicking a coupla behinds from difficult shots. Hansen did his hamstring in the opening ten minutes, whether it was unfortunate or he came in half-fit is unknown, but you suspect the latter. Fifteen minutes in Wiggle forward Quinten Lynch took the game’s first mark inside attacking 50m, on a tough angle and he missed. Into time on Weeg ruckman Dean ‘Big’ Cox received a handball deep in defence and wobbled a left-foot kick across goal, straight to Pie Paul ‘Steak Knives’ Medhurst. Medhurst goaled. Anthony Rocca and Dale Thomas scored behinds prior to the first break, the Pies leading by 7 points. More goals in the second term, often coming from pressure-induced opposition mistakes. Pie backman Shane Wakelin handballed directly to young McNamara, he stabbed a short pass for Cox to mark and convert. A bit later the Weegs won the ball at a throw-in, a series of handballs released Andrew Embley who embarked on a long two-bounce run and booted a very good goal. The Weegs led by 5 points. The Poise hit back as a good pass from Thomas found Dane Swan leading into the pocket, Swan majored with a noice shot. Pies by a point. Bryan missed a shot before the Weegs goaled from a throw-in again, Cox flipped the ball behind him and Chad Fletcher ran through to gather and slot a smart sausage roll. Weegs by 4 points. The Maggies won the ball at the restart - they dominated centre-clearances all night, despite Cox and Seaby winning most hit-outs - Nathan Buckley hacked the ball forward, Alan Didak gathered and hooked a shot which bounced through. Back came the Eegs, Brent Staker collided with the ump before marking in the centre, he dished off to Fletcher who passed to leading Mark LeCras, he punted truly from 45m. A bit later Pie Jimmy Clement stabbed a kick-in directly to David Wirrpanda, the Weegle man majored and the Eegs led by 10 points. The Pies hit back as ‘Neon’ Leon Davis finessed smartly to buy time and space, he kicked long to the goal-square where Rocca and Darren Glass wrestled. The spilled ball hit Rocca on the heel and rolled through for full points. He didn’t know much about it. The Poise won the centre-clearance again, Didak had a goal-bound shot which Staker dived full-length to touch through. Eegs by 3 points at the long break.

During the break special comments man Leigh Matthews noted the Eegs had no running game, with rovers Priddis, Fletcher and Stenglein preferring to get ball to boot as quickly as possible rather than handball or go for a run to ‘break the lines’. In contrast, the Pies were running, but winning less of the ball. And getting nothing up forward, with Glass and Adam Hunter smothering Rocca and Cloke respectively, while Daniel Chick did a great job on nervous, fumbling Pie youngster Sean Rusling. Like last week, the Wiggles made a decent break in the third term. Big Lynch booted an early goal, showing great strength to hold a mark while Wakelin held his arm and guernsey. Medhurst leaped for big pack-mark 60m out, but his attempted pass to Rocca was off-target. The Weegs rebounded and after some rugged scrap at half-forward, Rowan Jones forced the ball clear and Matthew Priddis booted a goal. LeCras missed a long shot but a minute later he smothered Clement’s clearing kick, Staker collected the loose ball and lobbed a pass to unattended Wirrpanda who played-on and blasted it through. The Eegs led by 22 points. The Pies won another centre-clearance but Cloke snapped on-the-full, a bit later Tarkyn Lockyer’s shot hit the post. The Weevils carried their 4-goal lead into time-on. Then Worsfold made a tactical mistake by benching Glass. The reason wasn’t obvious at the time. Cox came off for a rest too, at that point. Hunter switched onto Rocca and Brett Jones to Cloke. With 2:30 playing time remaining Didak had a free-kick, his shot from 50m dropped short but Cloke marked on the point-line and hooked it through. Shortly afterwards Poi ruckman Guy Richards had a free at a ball-up, he kicked quickly, Rocca marked over Hunter in the goal-square and stabbed a sausage. Replays showed Rocca’s hands on Hunter’s back, no whistle (although there was no push either, but that’s not the rule, eh?). Lockyer won the ball away from the restart and passed to Cloke , he speared a pass to leading Rocca who hugged the ball to his chest and booted another major. The Pies had cut the Wiggle lead from 22 to 4 points in less than three minutes. Into the final quarter, Glass was back on Rocca again. LeCras and Medhurst kicked early points before Lynch held a good mark at CHF and stabbed a pass towards leading LeCras, he marked and booted a goal to have the Weegs 10 points up. A bit later Cloke lobbed a speculative kick forward for the Poise, Wirrpanda dropped a mark and fumbled badly, allowing Medhurst to gather the ball and have a long shot which bounced through. Embley’s hacked kick from defence was collected by Pie Thomas, he punted the Pies forward and Didak did very well to win the ball and hook a snap at the sticks, it bounced through for a goal. Pies by 2 points. Back came the Weegs as an under-pressure Buckley tumbled a kick from the back-pocket straight to Weeg Matt Rosa, he booted a goal. Weegs by 4. The Pies won the ball at the restart, Scott Pendlebury’s running shot hooked on-the-full. But as Embley tried to run the ball out he was caught by Davis, Medhurst scooped the ball and jabbed a short pass to Thomas, who converted from 30m. Pies by 2 points. The Pies flooded as time ebbed, Glass followed Rocca down and won a free-kick when Rocca tackled him over-the-shoulder. But Glass missed the shot, a bit later Embley’s running behind leveled the scores. The siren sounded following a series of ball-ups in the Poi forward-line. A draw.

That meant extra-time, five minutes each way. Only the second time it’s happened since the rule was introduced in the early 90s. The Weegs tired badly and as mentioned, Malthouse’s smart rotation had left the Pies with more run, which they’d had all night. Rosa kicked a long point early before Shane O’Bree lobbed a kick forward for the Poise, two Weeg defenders spoiled each other and Rocca collected the spilled Sherrin, a handpass to Medhurst and another to running Chris Bryan saw the big ruckman boot a goal. Cloke’s free-kicked point had the Maggies exactly a goal in front at the mini-half-time, O’Bree had a 55m shot after the siren which didn’t make the distance. Early in the second, um, period, Wirrpanda did very well to win the ball and hook a kick goal-wards, Staker back-pedalled to mark on a tight angle but his shot went over the post, a behind. Glass dived to touch a goal-bound Cloke shot. With about 1:30 to go Cloke tapped-on for Marty Clarke to collect the ball, he chipped into space for Pendlebury to run onto, gather and punt an easy goal, the sealer as the Pies led by 12 points now. Thomas embarked on a four-bounce run to relieve pressure and kicked an exhausted point, but the risky Weeg kick-in was snaffled by the Pies and Swan ran right in to boot an easy major on the siren.

The Poise had no stand-out but a great, even contribution. The ability of small forwards Alan Didak (27 disposals, 2 goals) and Leon Davis (18 touches, 10 tackles) kept ‘em alive when the big men struggled, Dane Swan (38 possies, 9 marks, 2 goals) worked industriously in the midfield. Paul ‘Steak Knives’ Medhurst (15 kicks, 6 marks, 2 goals) bobbed up to be very useful at times, as was the run of Dale Thomas (22 disposals, a goal). First-year man Tyson Goldsack (18 touches) played very well in defence again, Travis Cloke (10 marks, 21 disposals, 1.3) started and ended the game well, big flat spot in the middle. Shane O’Bree (29 disposals, 8 marks) improved as the game went on. Sav Rocca finished with 3 goals. The Wiggles had the best two players on the ground in Dean ‘Big’ Cox (27 disposals, 9 marks, 29 hit-outs, a goal) and prolific rover Matthew Priddis (37 touches, a goal). They had plenty of other overall winners too, like Darren Glass (17 disposals) on Rocca, Daniel Chick on Rusling, half-back Brett Jones (25 touches, 8 marks) was good, Mark LeCras (4 marks, 8 kicks, 2 goals) was busy across half-forward. Adam Hunter (23 disposals) and David Wirrpanda (15 possies, 7 marks, 2 goals) were pretty useful too, Hunter mostly down back, Wirrpanda mostly up forward. They just couldn’t convert it into points on the ‘board, a chronic Weegle problem. "[I felt] relief [the game went into extra time], because we were behind until we scored that point," Worsfold said. "[Prior to extra time] I just explained to them what the rules are, so they're clear on what was going to happen. Then hopefully give them the right moves to make and we didn't do that. It was an even roll-of-the-dice, it felt as though it was going to be 50-50 in that last 10 minutes. They were running reasonably well, but maybe I was just more hoping that than really knowing it, I don't know. But I certainly couldn't have asked for them to try any harder." Benching Glass (and Cox) late in the third, Woosha? "Glass had done a power of work and he was obviously going to have a lot of work to do in the second half, so we elected to give him a rest. And Cox the same - Cox doesn't play every minute of every game, he has to come off at some stage, and they did it when Cox was in the middle as well. At different parts of the quarter, they got the ball out and kicked goals, I thought that was a disappointing part of the night. It was probably more so that Rocca kicked two when Glass was off him for that three-minute period and that hurt us . . . We've been going pretty well, and then giving up leads, and then giving up games. It's too hard to measure how some of the sore bodies, or the workload that Tyson Stenglein's had to carry - and [Matt] Priddis - since Judd, Kerr and Cousins haven't been available. It's a massive workload, [I'm] very proud of the way they've gone about it. Maybe it took its toll." Mick Malthouse fuelled the dreams of Pie nuffies, er, supporters, everywhere. "I haven't been part of a game quite like that before," Malthouse said. "I have been part of a drawn final before and we had to go back the next week, so I guess this way is the best way to decide it . . . It was just an amazing effort by both sides . . . Some (Poi) players wouldn't have played as they had dreamt, but still contributed. One of our greatest assets this year has been getting a solid contribution across the board. A couple of players got a bit of a touch up, but they were still there when we needed them and played their part. That's what you need to win games of footy, as sometimes the evenness gets you over the line rather than relying on someone too heavily. A few years ago, it might have been Nathan (Buckley) that we relied heavily on, but he was one of 22 players that we needed to step up and play their role." Mick commented on Glass and Cox being benched. "As it turned out it was highly significant. I'm not surprised by the effort, but those three goals came pretty quickly given we had scored four in 90 minutes. Kicking the goals was good, but the effort to get them was always going to be there . . . My most frustrating point was 30 seconds from full time. It showed something about how fantastic our opposition was, as it was going to be bludgeoned through, kicked through, pushed through, knocked through, rugby tried through, and we couldn't move it. That's full credit to West Coast. We will get home, lick our wounds, ice up, have a good look at our side and watch Willy play on Sunday . . . It was a fantastic result for us. I was continually reminded what sort of traitor I am and that we were a second rate side. I look at our group and think the sky is the limit. I'm not saying that we are going to go out and walk all over Geelong as that won't happen, but we will give a good account of ourselves."

At the MCG:

North Melbourne  3.3   5.5   9.7   14.9.93
Hawthorn         2.1   4.3   6.8   8.12.60

A week is a long time etc. In what was the lesser of the two finals in terms of quality and intensity, the Ruse redeemed themselves with an honest, committed effort to see off the disappointing Hawks. Horforn seemed tired and displayed extremely poor discipline, as they sometimes do. The inconsistency of a young side. An instinct to be ‘tough’ translated into a couple of Hawks reported and a string of frees for the Kangers, not all of them deserved and Hork fans justifiably fumed over the umpiring. But what goes around comes around, Norf didn’t get the breaks last week and the Horks’ attitude didn’t help them with the umps in this one. Nevertheless the Horforn side has improved greatly this year and with their young side spearheaded by Franklin, Roughead and Boyle, they’ll only get better. Events here suggested they could use a decent crumbing forward and maybe another key defender. Skipper Richie Vandenberg won’t be a part of the future, he retired here after 145 games for the Hawks. Eyebrows were raised when Vandenberg was appointed captain at the start of the 2005 season, he wasn’t quite a regular player then, but Vandenberg has been a very good, if often injured, leader. In selection here the Ruse made two changes after the flogging last week, Corey Jones was out with a foot injury and Leigh Brown was dropped. There was a fun moment at a Roo press conference when Norf assistant coach Donald McDonald told the journos Jones was ‘perfectly alright’ as Jones hobbled into view on crutches behind him. Oops. Juniors Ed Lower and Lachlan Hansen were the Roo replacements. No changes for the Hawks.

Much attention was focused on who’d pick up Hawk star Lance Franklin, the Ruse selected the seemingly undersized but mobile Josh Gibson for the task, with Michael Firrito picking up Jarryd Roughead. But them two Roo defenders, plus Archer and Watt, zoned off to help each other out and work very well together. The Hawks started with Brad Sewell on Brent Harvey but the Horks in general ‘targeted’ Harvey, who was bumped, bullied and knocked down at every opportunity. Early goal for the Ruse as Shannon Grant led up to mark on the flank, his centering kick was marked by leading Aaron Edwards who booted truly. Franklin started the game poorly, dropping a mark and then caught throwing the ball while being tackled. The Hawks majored after taking a kick-in end-to-end, Brent Guerra started the move and Shane Crawford was twice involved before kicking towards Roughead, who was clattered by Firrito. Roughead free-kicked a major. Back came the Ruse as Daniel Pratt’s crunching tackle on Jordan Lewis forced the ball loose, Jesse Smith passed to leading Edwards who marked and converted again. Ruckman McIntosh punted the Kangers forward from the restart and Edwards soared for a HUGE grab over Croad and Petrie, a fantastic ride, hover and pluck. Just about mark of the year. But Edwards’s subsequent shot didn’t make the distance. The game went into a lull as the Roos flooded a bit and the Hawks struggled to be direct. Cameras picked up Harvey being knocked down off-the-ball a couple of times, he went off the ground. The mini-drought broke on a rapid Norf rebound, initiated by Glenn Archer who was playing well. Hansen marked on the wing and kicked to Andrew Swallow in plenty of space, Swallow played-on and speared it through. The Roos led by 15 points. Ben Dixon took the Awks’ first mark in their attacking 50, he kicked on-the-full. But a minute later leading Tim Boyle held a diving mark of Sewell’s pass, Boyle majored. Frustrated Franklin gave away a couple of late free-kicks with ragged tackles, the Ruse led by 8 points at the first break. Hawk Lewis appeared to be hurt at the opening bounce of the second term. Roos Smith and Harvey missed early shots before Brady Rawlings punted a long kick in, the ball cleared Petrie and Croad and Edwards managed a toe-poked soccer-kick for his third goal. The TV caught Lewis punching Harvey in the face as the game entered another scoreless period. The Hawk forwards couldn’t take a mark, with credit to Norf’s backmen. After a while the Ruse went further ahead, Drew Petrie won a softish free-kick for manhandling from Croad and booted truly. The Ruse led by 22 points. The Orcs made late inroads, Sewell did well to win possession at a ball-up and handpass to Lewis, his short pass was marked by leading Franklin who steered it through from 55m on the flank. Buddy’s first kick, and a very good one. A minute later strong Hawk pressure saw Roo Gibson caught in possession, Horforn’s Chance Bateman free-kicked a major and the Rue lead was down to 10 points. They flooded to protect the narrow margin, surviving Hawk pressure to lead by 8 points at orange-time.

Early in the third stanza Norf’s Swallow dithered in possession and was caught, Sewell collected the loose ball and handballed for Guerra to boot a long major. The Kangers led by 3 points and it appeared the Hawks were coming. Franklin marked on long lead but his thundering kick drifted wide. Some relief for the Shinboners as the busy Smith punted them forward, Grant roved the pack spillage and handpassed for running McIntosh to dob a goal. A poor Roughead turnover gave the Kangers another chance, Croad climbed ridiculously all over Petrie. Petrie punted his free-kick towards leading Scott McMahon, whose arm was grabbed by Ladson. McMahon free-kicked a goal and the Ruse eased out to a 14-point lead. Tight for a while before the Hawks answered, an Edwards mistake allowed Croad to find Franklin on-the-lead, Buddy booted a long sausage. The Hawks won the following centre-clearance and Roughead was given a weak free-kick but he missed, reducing the Rue lead to 7 points. The Kangers moved Petrie to defence, as an extra man. The Northerners moved ahead again with assistance from the officials. Firrito’s bullocking run from defence ended with his long kick towards leading Edwards, the Kanga spearhead was awarded a free kick for having his arm slapped by Croad, but it was the slightest possible contact. Much booin’ from Orc fans as Edwards booted a goal. Franklin plucked a great third-in-line grab but kicked a behind only. A minute later Brent Harvey marked near the boundary, 80m out and may’ve been nudged slightly, fractionally late by Hawk Joel Smith. Harvey certainly sold it and some umpire sympathy for the treatment ‘Boomer’ had copped might’ve entered into it. In any case the ump didn’t hesitate to award Harvey a 50m penalty and Boomer booted a goal. Late in the term Crawford biffed Roo rover Daniel Harris in the face, for which Crawf was reported. A weak, cheap shot from the Hawk veteran. The Hawks trailed by 17 points at the last change but they went forward from the opening bounce of the final stanza, Roughead roved the pack and tumbled a kick goal-wards, Franklin ran onto it and soccered a major. Norf led by 11 points. They pushed forward and there were some ball-ups. Harvey whacked Michael Osborne in the throat at one, the umps didn’t see that. Osborne pulled Harvey back at the next one, they saw that and Harvey free-kicked a major. A Hawk centre-clearance followed but Ladson missed a running shot. A minute later Harris went for a run and kicked long towards leading Grant , he couldn’t mark but roving Harvey collected the ball, swung onto his right boot and curled a snap home for full points. ‘Boomer’ enjoyed that as his Ruse led by 22 points now. Hawk ruckman Robert Campbell sliced a shot on-the-full as the Hawks began to appear desperately tired. From the resulting free Norf constructed a good running, handballing move, Jess Sinclair passed to leading Grant who marked and converted. Norf led by 27 points and were home. Good battling from Hawks Campbell and Franklin allowed Lewis to have a low dribbly-snap which just crept through for a goal ahead of lazy and/or tired Roo Rawlings, who could’ve easily stopped it. But the Roos iced the cake with the last two goals, Harvey bagged his third of the quarter thanks to Harris’s tap-on and Daniel Wells, who’d been good, tried an audacious end-over-end dribbly kick from 30m which just rolled through ahead of diving Ladson. Kangers by 5 goals.

Great effort from Norf midfielders Jesse Smith (27 disposals; about the best game he’s played) and rover Daniel Harris (24 touches), especially in the first half. Daniel Wells (28 touches, a goal) was increasingly prominent after half-time and Brady Rawlings (27 disposals) shut Luke Hodge out of it. Brent Harvey (15 possies, 4 goals) shook off the bullying of the first half to become very effective and Aaron Edwards (8 marks, 13 disposals, 4 goals) made the most of his chances, the Roo back-line was very good led by Glenn Archer (18 handlings), Josh Gibson on Franklin and Michael Firrito (17 disposals, 7 marks) on Roughead. Hamish McIntosh (23 disposals, 24 hit-outs, a goal) was good too. Horforn’s best was Brad Sewell (29 disposals, 8 marks), a great ruck-roving effort after starting on Harvey initially. Jordan Lewis (31 touches, a goal) was good too and Shane Crawford (21 disposals) started well, but faded. Trent Croad (18 possies, 11 marks) beat Petrie and Brent Guerra (24 touches, a goal) wasn’t bad but other Hawks made fitful contributions. Chance Bateman (13 touches, a goal) did a couple of decent things as did Clinton Young (14 possies). Lance Franklin (4 marks, 12 disposals) finished with 3 goals. Clarkson was unhappy with the performance but looked forward in anticipation. “We didn't bring our A-grade game to the MCG tonight, which was disappointing for us because throughout the course of the year, we've played a lot better than what we put out there tonight. Full credit to the Kangaroos. They bounced back strongly [from the loss to Geelong], we knew they would. We were right in the contest, but we just couldn't take those crucial chances that we needed to, and just a couple of lucky breaks here and there, whether it was the bounce of the ball or taking a clean ball or an umpiring decision here or there - we just needed a couple of lucky breaks. We didn't seem to get them tonight, and the Kangaroos did take advantage of theirs, and that's why they saluted and get the honour of playing in a preliminary final next week against Port Adelaide . . . It tells us a little bit about where we're at as a footy club. When the spotlight was at its hottest, we weren't able to perform in a big game for our footy club. We're disappointed with our effort. The stark realisation is that we're not quite a top-four side as yet, and the Kangaroos are a very proud football club, and they showed us the right way of playing finals footy tonight . . . Our guys will benefit enormously from it, but I hope the disappointment of tonight will fuel a pretty hungry desire to have a strong pre-season and a strong home-and-away series next year so we can give ourselves a chance to play in these types of games again.” Dean Laidley said “It was very pleasing; we were under siege, all of us, all week. We sat down and had a bit of a heart to heart on Monday and planned our week and, to the boys’ credit, gee they were ferocious tonight and I was really pleased with that. We probably all read the papers on Monday, but I think after that, no one read a paper for the week, no one listened to the radio. We went about our business knowing that it was going to be all about our actions this weekend, so within the footy club it was as consistent as it’s been all year and our preparation was pretty much the same. I thought we won the contested footy [tonight] and that was a big key to it and our pressure skills were very good and when you do that in finals footy you’ll always be a chance to win the game . . . We had a dozen or so [players last week] playing in their first final, so we just went through it and what they learned. I just felt at training, particularly yesterday, they just seemed much more relaxed. I think the leaders set the tone early in the week after the coaches had spoken to them and I thought from then on that the message was pretty clear and it was a credit to the whole group . . . If you had of said to us when we started [pre-season] on the 14th of October . . . ‘you’ll play Hawthorn with a chance to play in a preliminary final against Port Adelaide on the 15th of September’, I think all you people would have fallen off your chairs. Maybe we would’ve as well, but we’ve worked really, really hard and it’s a great opportunity, so we’ll be going 100 miles an hour.”

Next week, Preliminary Finals:

Geelong v Collingwood, MCG, Fri. night.

Port Adelaide v North Melbourne, Football Park, Saturday.

Cheers, Tim.