Nathan Lovett-Murray

Eagles Fly To Fourth

rickb — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 04:49:17 -0500

Rick Browner reporting for AFANA from Patersons Stadium, Perth

Keeping their fairytale season on track, the West Coast Eagles moved into fourth position on the Ladder with a decimation of arch rivals Essendon. The Bombers ran out of legs and players as the game wore on in very warm, late winter conditions in Perth.

It was tight throughout the early stages of the game. The Bombers showed good intensity at the ball and Patrick Ryder had the first goal on the board after a strong mark. Andrew Embley showed flashes of his early career form when he raced down the outer wing with three bounces and a straight kick to even the score. Quinten Lynch followed up with a booming 60 yard kick but before the ball was bounced to restart play in the center, an interchange infringement by Eagle Dean Cox allowed Ryder a second goal. A first quarter Bomber substitution saw Nathan Lovett-Murray come on for a concussed Andrew Welsh who took an accidental hip to the head. The Eagles kicked the next two goals before David Zaharakis scored for the Bombers on the siren. They trailed by nine points at the first break.

Heat was a factor in the game as players struggled to adapt to the warmer vernal temperature. Cox scored first for the Eagles but Stewart Crameri evened it up soon after. The game was being played in the middle of the ground and it was an arm wrestle with neither midfield putting its stamp on the outcome. Essendon kicked the next two goals, Ryder scored his third and Mark McVeigh put the Bombers in front once again. As the half wound down, Essendon took a slender lead of one point into the second half.

Third quarters have been West Coast’s Achilles heel this year but this time they came out with a renewed attack at the ball. With six inside 50 meter attacks to one in the early part of the quarter they peppered the goals but could not put the opposition away. Essendon was hitting targets regularly while the Eagles were kicking the ball out of bounds on the full. Their early supremacy was undone by some dreadful defensive kicking that resulted in a turnover and a Jobe Watson goal. Leroy Jetta snapped a brilliant goal from the pocket to give the Bombers some life but from this point on it became mostly one-way traffic. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and the Eagles started to run away with the game. Daniel Kerr was playing one of his best games for the year. His goal after recovering a poor bounce was the turning point. The Eagles kicked the next three goals and broke the game open, taking a commanding 25 point lead into the final quarter.

Mark LeCras got his second goal from some crafty work in the pocket. Essendon scored the next two goals with some fine attacking work through the middle. Having lost Welsh early, the Bombers were a player down and in the warm conditions it was telling. Josh Kennedy kicked his fourth goal and from then on it was party time for West Coast. Kerr wobbled one through from the 50 meter arc and Nic Naitanui made the highlights reel when he won the ball from a ruck contest and bounced through the forward line to score a fantastic major. Goals from Cox, Embley, LeCras and Lynch put the nails in the Essendon coffin. The Bombers were down a few players in rotations on the ground with Watson, Crameri and Welsh taking no further part in the game. Dustin Fletcher seemed to pull a hamstring late in the game to compound their problems. In the end the Eagles ran out 57 point winners over a forlorn Bombers outfit.

The Eagles moved up to fourth position on the Ladder while the Bombers were clinging to eighth place after all games were finalized. Essendon has not beaten the Eagles at Patersons Stadium since 2001 and should the vicissitudes of the Finals’ fixtures find them in the West again, their chances of winning look slim. West Coast may make history if they make the Top Four from their Wooden Spoon position of last year.

For David Woodley’s photos of the game, go to: http://www.afana.com/drupal5/category/image_galleries/2011_season/2011_s...


Scoreboard
West Coast: 4.3 6.6 12.12 20.14 (134)
Essendon:   3.0 7.1  9.5  11.11  (77)

Best Players
West Coast: Kerr, Priddis, Shuey, Kennedy, Selwood
Essendon:   Stanton, Crameri, Watson, Heppell, Ryder

Dockers Defeat Lackluster Bombers

rickb — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 23:08:43 -0500

Rick Browner reporting for AFANA from Patersons Stadium

Fremantle has been on a downward slide without star ruckman Aaron Sandilands, missing for the last three games with a foot injury. The Dockers have lost their last six games without him in the team. Essendon has also had a topsy-turvy month and were coming off an upset loss to the lowly Melbourne Demons last round.

A fast-starting Fremantle took the game on early with the first two goals. Tendai Mazungu, playing in only his third game, showed class beyond his years when he took a strong mark in a pack and converted from 20 yards out. Ryan Crowley followed his lead when he read the ball off a pack to kick the Dockers’ second. Paddy Ryder steadied Essendon with a mark and goal against the tide of play. Unfortunately for the Bombers this was the first and last spark for the quarter. Hayden Ballantyne kicked the next major for Fremantle before disaster struck. Star midfielder David Mundy hobbled off with the help of trainers and it was later discovered that he had broken his fibula and will be out for at least four weeks. Nate Fyfe was the next in line for a goal and Chris Mayne added to the Bombers’ woes with a mark and goal after a run, bounce and carry up the members' wing by Ballantyne. After a recent slump in form, Matthew Pavlich played a solid role with a mark and goal conversion to move Fremantle out to a 30 point lead. With Fremantle swarming over the contested ball, it was a case of one team working hard while the other team spectated. Michael Johnson should have rubbed more salt into the Bombers’ wounds just before the quarter siren. He took his fifth mark for the quarter but missed an easy shot on goal. The Dockers went into the break 32 points ahead and full of confidence.

Johnson redeemed himself with a goal early in the second quarter when he found himself on the end of a brilliant Ballantyne handball. It was all one-way traffic when Pavlich scored his second after taking the ball out of a pack and dribbling it through the goal posts. Leroy Jetta was one Bomber who was tireless in his running, and he was rewarded for his efforts when he scored Essendon’s first goal in 45 minutes. The Bombers had slowed the bleeding but didn’t take advantage of their opportunities in front of goal. They could have put the heat right back on the Dockers who showed last week that they can be brittle when under pressure. Ryan Crowley twisted the knife when he scored a goal for the Dockers after four Bomber misses in a row. Fremantle went into the main break with a 40 point lead.

Dustin Fletcher did not return to the field after half time, having injured a hamstring towards the end of the second quarter. He was replaced by substitute Alex Brown. This was a huge blow for Essendon as Fletcher is always a stalwart in defense and his presence would be sorely missed. Fremantle was still hunting in packs and full of fire despite being a man down with Mundy taken to hospital. The Dockers kicked the first three goals to start the second half. Essendon had stopped running and looked like they had conceded the game. The home crowd was looking forward to the humiliation of their Victorian rivals. The magic of this game is that every contest is open to possession from either side and Essendon suddenly started to run and claw their way back into the match. Nathan Lovett-Murray started the comeback with a goal and Ryder followed up quickly after a turnover by the usually perfect Fyfe. After chasing down a casual effort by Cale Hooker in defense, Johnson kicked his second and gave the Dockers a chance to regroup. Mark Harvey’s pre-game move of Johnson to the forward line after some recent mediocre displays in defense proved a good strategy. Ryder again showed his aerial skills with a big mark and goal before the siren to give the Bombers an ounce of hope going into the final quarter although they were a huge 47 points down.

In last week’s round, Fremantle looked to be unassailable with a 26 point lead against Hawthorn in the early minutes of the last quarter but they were overrun in the end. There was the possibility of an instant replay this week as Essendon entered the final term with their tails up. Fremantle appeared to be flat and for the first time in the game, they were not running as Essendon was. If gasoline were the currency in this match then Fremantle had hit the red line, and because Essendon had spent so little in the first part of the game, they were running on half a tank of high octane. The Bombers started the last quarter like a house on fire. Travis Colyer kicked a goal and when Ryder followed up they were back to within 35 points. Although this is a fair margin to overcome in a final quarter, Essendon looked capable. When Hurley received from Lovett-Murray and kicked another goal, the Bombers looked dangerous and ripe to take down the stunned Dockers. Livewire Lewis Jetta scored again from a ruck tap and within minutes the Bombers had silenced the Fremantle fans as they sensed an upset brewing. Essendon had kicked the last seven out of eight goals and the Dockers were clinging to the ropes when fan favorite Keppler Bradley rose to the occasion and kicked a goal. Mazungu kicked the sealer minutes later and the Dockers ran out winners by 34 points. Considering that at one stage they had a 59 point lead, it was a closer finish than they would have liked.

The cavalry is arriving soon for Fremantle with Michael Barlow, Roger Hayden, Aaron Sandilands, Alex Silvagni and Nick Suban coming back into the side in the next week or two. This should bolster their chances of a Finals berth as they head into some critical mid-season games. Although Essendon started the season in fantastic form, they have a tough draw in the next three rounds and may struggle to secure a Finals berth if they don’t recapture that form and their earlier endeavor.

Scoreboard
Fremantle: 6.3 9.4 13.6 15.8  (98)
Essendon:  1.1 2.6  5.7  9.10 (64)

Best Players
Fremantle: N Fyfe, H Ballantyne, G Ibbotson, M Johnson, M Pavlich
Essendon:  L Jetta, D Hille, J Watson, P Ryder, Howlett

Bombers Blast Hawks

rickb — Sun, 10 May 2009 06:21:01 -0500

Rick Browner reporting for AFANA from Perth

Twenty-five years of rivalry came to a head Friday night at Etihad Stadium. A pro-Hawthorn crowd of 50,000 was looking forward to an easy win over the Bombers, and tipsters from all around Australia were licking their lips at the odds.

As expected, the first quarter was played in Hawthorn's forward line. Stuart Dew kicked the first Hawthorn goal as Essendon looked on with trepidation. Jay Neagle countered to produce Essendon's first goal and the game turned around when Nathan Lovett-Murray kicked their second. Hawthorn began to feel the heat and looked shaky in their goal kicking as their confidence waned. The Hawks were punished for their inefficiency in front of goal and when Matthew Lloyd kicked truly after the first quarter siren, Essendon found themselves with a handy twelve point lead at the break.

With eight behinds and only one goal to Hawthorn, the game could have been all over early in the piece. However the Hawks rebounded and kicked the first three goals in the second quarter to win back the lead. To the Bombers' credit, they didn't panic and kicked the next three goals in a row to reassert their authority on the game. It was an exciting quarter with both teams committed to the contest and neither giving an inch of ground. Some tough tackling by Buddy Franklin on Bachar Houli saw him rewarded with a goal late in the half. After a close and tight contest, the Hawks were up by a point at the major break.

At half time, many spectators thought that the Bombers had produced their best and that their intensity and determination would drop off as the game progressed. Most tipsters would have echoed those thoughts and predicted a second half dominated by the reigning Premiers. No-one told the Bombers however, and when the third quarter got under way, they scored the first two goals to fire up the team and their fans. It was goal for goal for most of the term, until an inspired burst saw Essendon kick four of the last five goals to take a 17 point lead into the final break. All watching had the feeling that the Bombers were in the mood to take it up to the champions in the fourth quarter.

Leading from the front, Essendon Captain Matthew Lloyd continued to present a consistent forward target for his midfielders. His spectacular overhead marking was inspirational and when he kicked the first goal of the last quarter, the writing was on the wall for the biggest upset of the round. Franklin kept the Hawks in the game with four goals for the match, but it was not enough in the end and Essendon ran out easy 44 point winners.

The backbone provided by the Bombers' ferocious midfielders was what produced the confidence needed to get up and beat last year's Premiers. The dilemma for Essendon coach Matthew Knights is how to keep up the momentum provided by this outstanding performance for the rest of the season. Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson faces some challenges of his own with a team that looked brittle and was clearly rattled by the defensive pressure of a less talented but more determined Bombers outfit.

The Hawks are on the road in Round 8, traveling to Subiaco Oval to face an in-form Fremantle who are on a high after three wins in a row. The Hawks face the formidable task of playing the Dockers in front of a home crowd which usually lifts them to the next level of performance.

Forlorn tipsters will be resigning in droves after the first seven rounds have produced one of the most unpredictable starts to an AFL season in years.

Scoreboard:
Essendon 4.2 6.7 12.10 17.14 (116)
Hawthorn 1.8 6.8  9.11 10.12 (72)

Best Players:
Essendon A Monfries, M Lloyd, B Stanton, J Watson, A Lovett
Hawthorn L Franklin, C Rioli, J Roughead, S Mitchell