As everyone recovers from their chocolate overload (I know I got too much myself) it was a far from disappointing Easter Weekend of football as only the Essendon and Carlton game was a real four quarter contest as many teams struggled. The tribunal will also be busy with several players visiting them in the next day or two.
Steve Johnson was giving on field dentist work but it was hardly barbaric.
Geelong defeated Collingwood by 27 points
Its amazing that in today’s AFL we still see teams struggle to kick straight, on channel nine’s Footy Show we saw Sammy Newman having a kicking contest with Mathew Richardson and surprisingly the old man still had it from 45m out. Maybe Sammy should teach Collingwood as they missed at least 12 easy shots up until 3/4 when the game was still in the balance.
Again Geelong won the game by a quarter of dominance, this time it was their 2nd quarter when they kicked 7 goals to 5 behinds. L Brown & Lockyer who missed easy shots.
What really surprised me was the report and 50m penalty given against H Shaw for his touch (and I mean touch) to an umpire. Heck 5-10 years ago, it took a punch or a shove to get reported for touching an umpire.
St Kilda defeated West Coast by 97 points
St Kilda were amazing and West Coast was terrible! On the back of a 10 goal 2nd quarter they out muscled and out played the mentally weak Eagles. At the end of the game St Kilda had around 14 individual goal kickers including the Hawks reject backman in Dawson who really is repaying the faith they showed in him.
John Worsfold was forthright and honest about his sides game. St Kilda have teased and teased their supporters for many years and finally it looks like they can seriously go for premiership glory. Kozi will be a bit of a worry with his silly sucker punch on Mackenzie.
Judd and Lloyd both lead their teams to the game of the weekend with Lloyd staring with 5 goals
Essendon defeated Carlton by 4 points
This was a great match, easily the best of the round. We saw Fevola and Lloyd dominate the forward lines but straight goal kicking is what wins games with Fevola kicking 4.7 and Lloyd 5.1, its amazing what happens when Llyod plays in the goalsquare, they win a game.
Carlton have been very cocky so far this year and I am sure a loss like this will get them back on focus and make them realise that they still have a bit before they can be a top two side. Thorton with his stupid undisclipine play gave the Bombers two goals at the end of the 3rd quarter which gave the Dons the run they needed. Sure Lloyd and Knights have sent him a few Easter Eggs to say thank you.
Brisbane defeated Sydney by 33 points
Apart from Sherman kicking 3 to help the twin B’s kick 8 between them what was great about this win for the Lions is their first even 4 quarter effort. Voss made his stance by dropping Charman and then laying down the law to other veterns in Notting, Black & Power with their quite games.
Sydney will always be their and abouts, they win games but surely they can give away the dream off making another finals appereance after such indifferent form from the first 3 weeks of season 2009. Hall & Jolly look to be in good form but they have just to many gaps with their old players getting older and slower and their next generation not yet taking that step.
Roughead is fast becoming the most valuable man to the Hawks, able to kick goals & stop leaks in the ruck & backline.
Hawthorn defeated Kangaroos by 54 points
The Hawks finally won a game and they will only continue to get better as they continue to patch their shaky ruck and backline. This game was a very hard hitting game with several plays were all fans just sat back and smiled about the brutality of the bumps, whacks and tackles.
What the real difference was that even while Hawthorn struggled to have clear play in the first half, their forward line of Roughead and Franklin who kicked four in the first quarter to keep them in touch, they ended up with 9 between them and only Petrie and Thomas managed to kick more than one goal.
The Hawks now sit 10th and can slip back into the eight with some easier games coming up in the next few weeks.
Port Power defeated Melbourne by 57 points
Not only did Llyod wound the clock back back but Tredrea also did with his 6 goals which was the difference between the two teams as Melbourne did not have a dominate forward like him. Port kicked 19 goals in 3 quarters which was just too much for Melbourne.
Davey had 30 odd possesions which is a good sign for the Demons fans but as they rebuild I think there will still be many more 10 goal losses to come. I wonder if recruiting a bunch of 17 year olds and leaving them in high school was a smart move?
Adelaide defeated Fremantle by 24 points
Fremantle had their chances but with poor kicking and struggling to continue their run against the wind, they simply gave up and Adelaide ended up winning after being 6 odd points behind in the last quarter.
Hill’s confidence grew as the match went on and by the end his disposal and attack increased 110% and Harvey should be congratulated for keeping him in the side after his slow start to his career. However the heat really should be on Freo as their disposal was poor, very poor.
The Tigers just failed in so many ways to dull the Doggies bite even with a near strength side
Western Bulldogs defeated Richmond by 47 points
Richmond started really good as they held the Dogs goaless, the only time since 2003 with their poor disposal and unable to break the Tigers zone but after getting a Rocket from Eade they turned it on with a 6 goal 2nd quarter and they never looked back.
It stayed a very sloppy game with both teams struggling to kick straight at goals and to teammates but the Dogs just had too much class. Higgins played amazing along with Ward as Cooney and Griffen struggle with quite starts to the year.
Richmond play Melbourne next week and if they cannot beat them, expect Wallace’s head to be rolled.
Top 8 after Round three
- St Kilda
- Bulldogs
- Geelong
- Carlton
- Port Power
- Brisbane
- Essendon
- Adelaide
Round Three Talking Points
Please give us your thoughts of the following talking points and the reports or incidents that are likely to be looked at, should any get suspended and if so, how long will they get?
The question will asked in bold and my response will be unbolded.
- How many of these players will be suspended? Or are they just soft? Soft, Soft and Soft. Half of these should all be let through to the keeper…
- Shaw (Coll) for making contact with umpire Vozzo in the second quarter. Nothing in it and its not like he hit him, he touched him to get his attention.
- Dal Santo (St Kilda) for striking Stenglein (West Coast) in the third quarter, Could not see anything in the video reply.
- King (St Kilda) for striking Hansen (West Coast) in the fourth quarter, Soft and Hansen milked it BIG time.
- Koschitzke (St Kilda) striking Meckenzie (West Coast), Stupid and reckless.
- Jonstone & Proud (Brisbane) forceful head-high contact, Looks dangerous but like Hille’s should be thrown out.
- David Hille (Essendon) for forceful head-high contact on Richard Hadley in the third quarter.
- Colin Sylvia (Melb) by umpire Kennedy for (TBC) against Josh Carr (Port Adelaide), Have not seen it
- Dom Cassisi (Port Adelaide) by umpire Kennedy for (TBC) against Lynden Dunn (Melb), Have not seen it
- McPharlin head-high contact to Stevens, Accident…
- Picken (Bulldogs) stricking Delido in the second quarter. Careless and could be suspended.
- Should we be playing Football on Easter Friday? I love AFL but I also loved having a day off to do church, family etc
- Were we all too quick to jump off Hawthorn after their quite start to the season? Yep especially Denis Commetti who called them a one shot wonder like Billy Ray. Have a few holes in defense and ruck though.
- Will this a loss that Carlton needed? Way too cocky and Stevens, Murphy & Gibbs still have a lot to improve.
- What is wrong with players trying to kick at goals? I heard an interview were a high profile player said they practice 30 mins a week on goal kicking and its fairly obvious they need to practice a lot more.
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April 15th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Blues-Bombers
The Bombers’ win was more about defensive pressure in midfield and the forward line than Lloyd in the square (although 5.1 is pretty useful).
It’s a bit harsh criticising Thornton for the first free kick (to Lloyd). I thought it was a fair and genuine contest (watching at the ground, and on replay). The second one WAS stupid.
Tigers
It’s hard to see Wallace being moved on this early. There’s no obvious replacement. What would it achieve? They had a 50-50 shot at one game and wouldn’t have been expected to win the other two, so hardly an unexpected result at this point. In their fragile current mindset, the Demons game is 50-50. Still no compelling reason to move Wallace early in my view. Nevertheless, it would take an act of God for him to be reappointed. I’d expect it is the end of his elite-level coaching career.
Shaw
Gieschen’s position is that harsh penalties at this level provide a safer environment for umps at lower levels. Shaw should have known.
Good Friday
In an increasingly secular society, I suppose it’s inevitable. As a devout atheist, I don’t care, but do we NEED footy on Good Friday? I wouldn’t have thought so.
Goal kicking
I thought I saw a difference in Fevola’s kicking action — perhaps as a result of the heel injury — which may account for some of his unusual inaccuracy.
How much effect does the extent of running in today’s game have on players’ steadiness when kicking for goal? Perhaps even field kicking is below par, but with (sometimes) intelligent and mobile targets it looks as if it’s pinpoint accurate. If the goalposts could move, perhaps the goal kicking accuracy would be better
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April 15th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@AussieRulesBlog – Problem I have seen with Essendon is that when kicking to Nagle and others they do not have the same confidence in his ability as Lloyd. With Lloyd they know their hard work will be rewarded with a contest.
I am currently umming and ahhing about an article where I state that Sheedy and Campbell is not the answer for Richmond. While they have played hard sides (Carlton, Geelong & Bulldogs) but I think its the poor disposal along with other issues that has been around since the 1980′s that gets a lot of Tiger fans and AFL fans alike angry.
It was good to see Shaw only getting one week (no need to change DreamTeam) as it was just a little touch…
Maybe the level of the running is a cause of goal kicking problems but what gets me is that field kicking and the skill level has improved out of sight except goal kicking. I myself always had problems when kicking at goal, I was the designated kicker out of the goal square but always froze when kicking at goals. Its like their magnets in the ball and goal posts.
@Geaghs – I also prefer the 2nd level than AFL (WAFL for us WA fans). Last year I went to more WAFL games than AFL, the standard was a little less but the atmosphere was fantastic. You get access to the players, different fans, get to kick the ball around and parking is usually easier.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I was down in Melbourne on the weekend and went to see the Carlton v Bombers game live.
A few things stood out in this match (besides the fact that the organizers of the game had obviously not expected such a huge crowd, there was no food ready before the bounce as it had already been sold and they had not yet prepared any more and the fact that security were asking people through out the match if there were any spare seats in the rows as there were people standing everywhere). Every time Kreuzer was out of the ruck we got smashed, and after an easy first quarter we relaxed/got cocky and thought we already had it won, I even had a bombers supporter in front of me congratulating me on what was going to be a massive victory. I think this over confidence let the bombers back in the game. Hopefully this will be the wake up call we required.
I also went to watch a VFL game on the Sunday, Northern Bullants (Carlton’s feeder side) v the Bendigo Bombers, out at Prices Park. I have to say this was probably one of the most enjoyable days I have had at the footy. 2 great games and cheap food (Steak Sandwiches and Snags) and drinks (full strength tinnies) plus the chance to have a look at Carlton’s spiritual home. My brother has even decided to follow the Bullants wherever they play this year. Maybe the AFL should go back to its roots to look how things should be done because I enjoyed myself so much more at this game then I did the night before at a packed MCG.
I am of to Sydney this Saturday to see the Blues v Swans so I hope the SCG staff are a little more organised.
April 15th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I have been a real Sheedy fan, Jermayn, even getting into arguments with other Bombers supporters over his quaint ways, but he is finished.
Campbell? I think Campbell was part of the problem. There was a popular notion among Tigers fans during the 90s that Campbell, Knights and Richardson were some sort of Holy Trinity reborn. It was, I believe, the mediocrity of these three, dressed up by the Tiges as ‘star’ stuff, that entrenched mediocrity as the goal for everyone else. And you’d have to say they’ve achieved their goal almost continuously ever since. Richmond’s lot is not going to improve any time soon.
aussierulesblogs last blog post..Of Emperors and clothes . . .
April 15th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Personally im not a Sheedy fan, I think he over stayed at Essendon but that is from an outside pov.
I agree that Campbell, Knights & (maybe) Richardson are a problem with Richmond’s culture & winning ability problems. I personally think the problem is more than just these players though. You are right that mediocrity is one of the problems, my country team I played my junior football had this problem. I wonder exactly what fans think off these guys and whether they agree with you or not.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
blues – bombers
whenever collingwood, carlton and essendon play each other it is anyone’s guess as to who will win. i wouldn’t read too much into the fact that essendon won, ’tis a long season. interesting however, to see that for all the hype surrounding carlton and all the pessimism surrounding the Dons that they both sit at 2 and 1. funny old game footy.
tigers
wallace is gaawn. interesting on the weekend to see Deledio and Tambling on the bench whilst Williams and Griffen did their jobs on the field. Wallace exclaimed how he got the best two teenagers in that draft, how wrong could he be. had the chance to draft Roughead, Franklin, Lewis and Griffen and absolutely stuffed it. They deserve the mediocracy that engulfs them.
Good Friday
am not religious and never will be, it’s only a day like any other friday. give me footy!!
Goalkicking
has to be mental, these blokes know how to kick a footy otherwise they wouldn’t be at that level. Morton missed a crucial shot on the weekend for the Tiges that he could have kicked in his sleep with his left foot. in my first game of school footy i lined up at full forward and didn’t touch the ball in the first quarter. in the second i took a mark early and was so anxious to get my first kick that i sprayed it out on the full, when the next one came along i didn’t even think about the one i kicked out on the full because i was getting a feel for the game and put it straight through the middle, i managed to snag four in the second quarter and ended with 5 goals straight and one on the full. sadly i peaked in my first game and whilst i was a reliable shot at goal i did miss the odd one here and there mainly when the pressure was off. Federer doesn’t nail every forehand, woods doesn’t drain every putt, basketballers can go cold on their shooting only to catch fire after draining that elusive first basket. i think we sometimes forget that these guys are human beings and every thing that they do is placed under immense scrutiny. if Fev had have kicked 5 goals and 6 behinds it would not have mattered so much as the Blues would have won…
April 16th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
@Deano: Interesting insight and thoughts about goal kicking, yes I believe a lot has to do with the thing between the brain but I do think its more than just brain freeze. I remember hearing stories of Lockett, Dunstall etc who spent hours kicking 500+ goals per week.
Yes it was a different era when full forwards played just in that position but surely the more you practice the more you kick…