Was it just me or did the rain that fell down on some of the games on ANZAC weekend just seemed to be very fitting? We also saw wins to Fremantle and Richmond which means every team now has a win.
Geary & Dawson come off 2nd best but they had the last laugh on Tredrea & Port Adelaide with a big win
St Kilda defeated Port Power by 66 points
I think everyone thought Port would put up more of a fight but it was a no show with St Kilda continuing on their good form. Questions must be asked about Ports patchy form and I’m sure some answers are being answered about St Kilda with two wins in Adelaide this year.
Riewoldt kicked 4 goals backing on his improved form from last week however not another key forward kicked double, so having Kosi back would help keep their forward line dangerous. Port where simply horrible and many of their fans did not approve by leaving early including me turning the TV off.
Essendon defeated Collingwood by 5 points
Wow what a never give up win by Essendon and Collingwood loose another match that they should have won. Collingwood seemed to be using a “battered and sore” excuse but Essendon was the team that lost their most important player in Hille 2minutes in the match and was off a 6 day break while Collingwood was off a 8 day break.
The match was always close with both sides missing easy shots and both sides having key forwards very quite in Lloyd/ Lucas (1 goal & 5 behinds) and Cloke/ Rocca (2 goals). Fraser also had his pants pulled down with a very weak and insipid performance against Paddy Ryder who had 13 odd tackles and with him dominating the ruck taps, Essendon owned and exploited the corridor.
Hawthorn defeated West Coast by 18 points
This was a great game to watch, while the skills and goal kicking was down with the rain it meant that we got to see good old fashion football with get the ball forward at all odds and who ever made the less mistakes would win. Hawthorn ended up making less mistakes with 3 free kicks against the Eagles in the goal square which was the margin the Hawks ended up winning by.
Eagles stuck with the Hawks for 3.5 quarters but a dominate first half of the 4th quarter saw them go up to a new level with 4 goals to 2. Buddy and Roughead kicked 6 between them while Hunter, Hansen & Lynch only managed two between them. This was the major difference.
Sydney were beaten at their own game with great pressure from Fremantle
Fremantle defeated Sydney by 21 points
Fremantle came out in force with three goals in the first 4 minutes of the game and by the end of the 1st quarter they had 6 goals on the board (more than last match against St Kilda). Sydney always struggled with Hall & O’Louglan out of the forward line and O’Keefe being in poor form and the closest they got was the final score of 21 points.
Fremantle had many pluses with Pavlich, MacPharlin & Mundy (best game of his career) in good form up forward with 3 goals each. Pavlich had a bad week in the media and he responded with 20 odd possession along with the 3 goals, easily the best game of the year.
It must be said that Fremantle supported like they had already won the Grand Final, so next week against West Coast will be interesting as Fremantle are already saying they are better.
Richmond defeated North Melbourne by 36 points
A dominant forward performance from Jack Riewoldt has led Richmond to its first win of the season at Docklands on Saturday night. The Kangaroos jumped the Tigers early, kicking the first three but the visitors booted 10 of the next 13 to lead by 27 points at the last change before winning by 36 points. J Riewoldt needed to step up with the injury to Richardson.
Again the patchy form by North must be a worry for coach Laidley who is wanting a job renewal but surely he must have to get the Roos into finals and at the moment their forward form of Hale, Edwards & Petrie is a problem as centreman Swallow was the only multiple goal kicker.
Geelong defeated Brisbane by 93 points
Brisbane frooze in the cold down at Geelong and it took them until the 2nd qaurter to kick a goal but by then Geelong had already kicked 10. Again Ablett had over 40 possesions (2nd week in a row) along with Selwood & Chapman over 30 each, Hawkins also had his best game with 3 goals and is finally looking like he may make full forward his home and repaying Geelongs faith.
Again Bradshaw was goaless and only Brown showed anything up forward. I am sure Voss would not be impressed as his young side continue to show indifferent form for the year after promising much more.
Melbourne showed plenty but are just not up to the seasoned bodies of Adelaide yet.
Carlton defeated Western Bulldogs by 43 points
First of all I must make mention of that rubbish umpire who could not bounce the ball at all, just as well you have the new rule of recalling the bounce (which must be called the Collingwood sooky lala rule).
Bulldogs have had a fairly rough draw as discussed last week but they just never seemed to be out from 2nd gear with poor disposal, missing some easy shots at goals and several key players (Williams etc) having poor games. On the other hand Carlton showed plenty with Sananta playing imo his best game up forward with Betts, Kreuzer, Simpson, Russell, Cloke, Houlihan all kicking multiple along with Fevola (only 3) and kicked over 20 goals.
Adelaide defeated Melbourne by 17 points
Only 15, 000 fans came out to see Adelaide grind out a win against the Demons who again provided a real contest and showed that they are on the improvement however Adelaide did enough to win by 3 goals. Adelaide will need to improve if they want to contest finals but a wins a win.
McLean, Moloney, Davey, Bruce & Dunn all showed plenty but were simply out shinned by a more classy and drilled Adelaide in Goodwin, Vince, Thompson & Tippett who was the in form big man on the day.
Top 8 Ladder After Round Five
- St Kilda
- Geelong
- Carlton
- Western Bulldogs
- Port Adelaide
- Essendon
- Adelaide
- Collingwood
Harvey's elbow is a big injury as Eagles' Waters missed 1.5 seasons with a similar injury.
Round Five Talking Points
Please give us your thoughts in the comments section below or add your own. The questions will asked in bold and my response will be unbolded.
- With a big win by Fremantle & Richmond did we jump on the coaches head to quick?
- No unfortunately, every team has to win at some stage
- Do Collingwood have a real problem with winning games they should win?
- Yes everyone knows it including Buckley, so maybe its Malthouse that is naive and everyone else
- How will the injuries to Harvey (elbow), King (hamstring), Palmer (knee), Richardson (hamstring) & Hille (knee) hurt their teams?
- While Harvey may only be out for 12 at the moment, a similar injury to Eagles Waters has him out for 1.5 of a season.
- Hille’s injury will be a worry but if Ryder can step up (he played ruck as a junior), it may be a blessing in disguise as it could help Ryder step up to be a star.
- King’s injury will be a slight worry as the injury ruins the set up and may mean Kosi will have to ruck with Gardiner.
- Palmer’s knee will greatly influence their midfield as it will mean Pavlich will have to play their for the full year as they do not have any other ‘established’ midfielder.
- Richardson’s injury will mean the Tigers forward line will have to prepare for a few weeks life without Richardson (which may be a blessing in disguise – read more)
- What did the St Kilda/ Port game teach us? St Kilda are really the top team of the year or that Port are pretenders?
- ST Kilda are the real deal but with injury worries to King & Kosi it will bring them down to the field a bit more.
- Many teams are showing patchy form and I think it shows the evenness of the competition (aside from St Kilda & Geelong) rather than Port being pretenders.
- How do you stop Ablett jnr?
- I do not know, can you? Kangaroos tried corralling him but that did not work. Do you try making him accountable or just worry about tagging someone else?
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April 27th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
The Kangaroos sang to Ablett? Perhaps you mean corralling?
Excellent piece in the Age on Saturday by Nathan Buckley on just this topic. His analysis? You can’t!
April 28th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I think you can stop him, a lot will not be legal but i’m sure there are some ways, Also think stopping the others is a key.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
How about a crowbar?? A swift whack across the knee should be enough to put Ablett out for a while.
In all seriousness that may be the answer. I know in this day and age nobody wants to mention violence but maybe roughing him up a bit is the answer, a couple of big whacks here and there. Pick someone you don’t mind loosing for a few weeks and send him out to flatten Ablett every chance he gets. It’ll either help or back fire and he runs all over you, which he is probably going to do anyway.
On the subject of games, how horrible was the Melbourne v Adelaide game. Admittedly the weather was bad but these guys are professionals and the kicking at goals (from both sides) was dismal.
I think the big talking point is how good are Geelong. Brisbane are no easy beats and they blew them of the park. At the moment I honestly can not see anyone even getting anywhere near Geelong.
And surprise, surprise, as soon as I don’t go watch Carlton they start winning again.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Why not Geaghs, its what Fremantle did last year at Subiaco and it almost helped them win the game. I do think the opposition can scrag and niggle him better. I guess having Mooney, Rooke etc does put you off but if you can handle the pressure/ hits etc back, why not do it.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:51 am
I think the Bulldogs have had a rough start to the year, but against Carlton they were NOT outplayed or outclassed up until late in the final quarter. they played well, and tackled well, but they looked tired and made so many stupid errors. and the goal kicking let them down horribly. if they had of converted 3 or even 4 of those missed shots in the first quarter it probably would have been a VERY different outcome to the game…