AFL Weekly Review Round Seven 2007
AFL Round 7
by Tim Murphy
At Docklands:
North Melbourne 4.0 8.5 14.8 18.9.117
Essendon 2.9 5.11 8.14 13.17.95
You’ve gotta hand it to Norf and Dean Laidley, even if you think Laidley’s a goose. The Kangers victorious four times in-a-row. And they haven’t lost to the Dons since Laidley took over, a run stretching back to 2003. The Ruse strength is the Dons’ very weakness, ability to win the contested ball. The only downside was a knee injury to Daniel Wells, he’ll be gone 4-6 weeks. It’s rare for footy stats to mean anything, but Bruce told us the Dons lead the leeg in short kicks, uncontested marks and kicking backwards. It’s easy to believe. Kev Sheedy allowed the Channel Seven cameras to film his three-quarter-time address and he exhorted his lads to move the ball faster and get inside the attacking fifty more quickly. Like they haven’t all season. Sheeds is in the final year of his contract and may be close to the end, just like poor old Jim Hird. In selection the Roos regained ruckman David Hale at the expense of Leigh Adams. The Dons selected one questionable acquisition, Richie Cole, while dropping two others, Chris Heffernan and Mark Bolton. Ricky Dyson was dropped too, but ruckman David Hille was back and Bachar Houli was given his first game, he’s a speedy flanker from Spotswood and a Muslim which excited the meedya a bit. Still no Matty Lloyd, a problem for the Dons.