Dockers Best Saints in Indigenous Round

by Janet Linn reporting for AFANA from Subiaco Oval

Round 9 of the AFL season is known as the Indigenous Round and coincides with the beginning of National Reconciliation Week in Australia. It is an acknowledgment of the unique contributions made to Australian Rules Football by indigenous footballers of whom there are currently 71 playing in the AFL (10% of the total player group). All matches this weekend began with Welcome to Country ceremonies; five games were preceded by curtain-raiser matches between indigenous teams.

Indigenous Australians have featured strongly in major football awards over the years. Most recently the 2006 Brownlow Medal (the game’s highest honor) was won by Adam Goodes (Sydney Swans). The 2006 NAB AFL Rising Star award went to Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide) and the 2006 Goal of the Year was won by Eddie Betts (Carlton).

The Fremantle Dockers have the highest number of indigenous players on their playing roster (Des Headland, Jeff Farmer, Troy Cook, Roger Hayden, Antoni Grover, Michael Johnson, Calib Mourish and Clayton Collard). Their encounter with Saint Kilda on Friday night at Subiaco Oval was the opening game of the Indigenous Round. and an important match for both teams in the countdown to September Finals action. Tonight’s loser would have its work cut out to make a finals appearance.  The Dockers went into the game hot favorites. Saint Kilda has had a catastrophic run of serious injuries to leading players. They arrived in Perth with a 26 man squad some of whom were still under an injury cloud. Key forwards Fraser Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt looked doubtful but ended up taking their places in the team.

Fremantle did not have an unhampered build up to this game either. Vice-captain Josh Carr was suspended for one match by the AFL Tribunal after being reported the previous week for striking. Carr is the seventh Docker to be suspended this season. Coach Chris Connelly defended his players during the week by saying that there is too much “acting” going on in the game at present. He suggested that players hoping to earn free kicks and 50 meter penalties from the umpires may be exaggerating their injuries and “staging” fake falls and stumbles.

A crowd of 39,034  jammed into Subiaco Oval on Friday night and saw Fremantle make an explosive start to the first quarter. Dockers Haselby, Pavlich and Tarrant featured prominently and, fittingly for the AFL Indigenous Round, captain Troy Cook scored the first goal after the Saints' back men mishandled the ball. The Dockers dominated the clearances through Aaron Sandilands and another goal came quickly through the accurate boot of another Aboriginal footballer, Des Headland. Peter Bell was making the most of Sandilands’ ruck supremacy and followed minutes later with Fremantle’s third goal. Fremantle’s running players were completely in charge. Matthew Pavlich was too big and too strong at center half forward and he brought up Fremantle’s fourth goal just as rookie indigenous player Clayton Collard came on to the ground to the cheers of the home crowd--Collard is from a family of great Western Australian indigenous players and this was his first game as a Fremantle Docker. Heath Black cleared brilliantly from the center and another young indigenous player Michael Johnson took a terrific mark in the Fremantle forward line. His goal put the Dockers 30 points in front and danger loomed for the Saints. Disaster struck minutes later when veteran Saint Robert Harvey, who never stops running and giving his all for his team, was taken from the ground with a torn hamstring. This topped an unbelievable run of bad luck for the Saints and their key position players. Most disappointingly for Harvey and the Saint Kilda fans, next week Harvey was to have become only the tenth player in AFL history to reach the 350 game milestone. That celebration will now have to wait. A late goal to Fraser Gehrig gave Saint Kilda a confidence booster and some shred of hope in the last minute of the quarter but the mood was somber as the Saints players huddled with their coach Ross Lyon for the first break. Fremantle’s mood was much better after they produced their best first quarter effort so far this season.

Early in the second quarter the Saints exerted greater pressure on their opposition. Nick Riewoldt was prominent and his beautifully weighted pass to Koschitzke gave Saint Kilda their second goal. Riewoldt continued to work hard and had a lot of the football but as the ball came forward, scoring opportunities were squandered. The Saints finished the second quarter with one goal seven points from eight scoring chances. Fremantle were more constructive and steadying goals to Peter Bell and Mathew Pavlich took them into half-time with a 21 point advantage.

The Saints were in touch coming into the third quarter. In the first five minutes they had three easy shots on goals but failed to convert, wasting their chances. Finally Nick Riewoldt scored a goal from a free kick and the crowd could sense the Saints lifting. Sam Gilbert kicked another goal for the Saints and suddenly only 16 points separated the two sides. The Dockers were caught by surprise at this sudden onslaught by the Saints but when Troy Cook kicked a centering pass to Dean Solomon, he kicked the ball straight through the middle for six points to steady the home team. A terrific one handed mark by Fraser Gehrig gave Saints fans something to smile about when the subsequent kick by Nick Dal Santo sailed through the goal posts. The Dockers began to mishandle the ball and make mistakes as Saint Kilda poured on the pressure. Heath Black missed an easy shot on goal from only 30 meters out but seconds later, newcomer Clayton Collard brought the home crowd to their feet. His brilliant tackle caught a Saints back man holding the ball and Collard lined up to kick his first goal in his first AFL game at the tender age of 18.

In the fourth and final quarter, Saint Kilda started off full of attack but Nick Riewoldt was playing a lone hand in the forward line. Tarrant and Pavlich began to dominate at the other end of the ground and Fremantle’s running players put intense pressure on the Saints back line. Goals to Pavlich, Tarrant, Bell and Black in quick succession took Fremantle to the biggest lead of the night. Another goal to Chris Tarrant delivered a final crushing blow to the Saints with Fremantle running out winners by 46 points.

In the past two weeks the Saints have kicked only 12 goals and appear to be in real trouble particularly when traveling interstate. A lot of pressure will be brought to bear on the Saint Kilda forwards whose kicking for goal has been below the standard needed to win games. For Fremantle the outlook is somewhat rosier with their fourth victory of the season bringing them within one game of the top eight. The competition is still quite even with the West Coast Eagles (28 points) only one game clear of six other teams on 24 points. Fremantle has 20 points and is in equal ninth position on the ladder by virtue of percentage. The Dockers travel to Melbourne next week to play Collingwood in a Friday night game at the MCG. St Kilda will play Geelong Sunday at the Telstra Dome.

Fremantle         6.6       8.6       10.9     15.11   101

St Kilda          1.4       2.11      5.16      6.19    55

Goals

Fremantle: 

P Bell, M Pavlich, C Tarrant 3

H Black, C Collard, T Cook, D Headland, M Johnson, D Solomon 1

St Kilda:

F Gehrig, S Gilbert, J Koschitzke, N Riewoldt, M Rix, N Dal Santo 1

Best:

Fremantle: Haselby, Bell, Sandilands, Hayden, Black

St Kilda: Riewoldt, Dal Santo, Fisher, Hayes, Gilbert

Umpires: D Margetts, R Chamberlain, S McInerny

Reports: M Johnson (Fremantle)