We saw some results which will keep the last round interesting with Essendon & Port both loosing along with the Dogs beating Geelong. It means the race for 8th spot is still alive along with the spots 3 and 4 and the order of the bottom top 8 all to be decided in round 22.
Can they start dreaming about that day in September?
Western Bulldogs defeated Geelong by 14 points
If it was not for the Dogs hitting the post 4-5 times, the games end result would have been different. They kicked 4.7 in the 2nd quarter and should have opened up a 5 goal lead and this allowed the Cats into the game and with a 6 goal 3rd quarter, meaning the game was up for grabs in the last quarter.
However this time it was the Dogs who kicked 6.2 goals (to Geelongs 3.3) in the last quarter. The win means a lot for the Dogs as they hit some form at the right end of the season and sets up a match against Collingwood for 3rd spot next week.
Hawkins & Mooney had their best game together with 7 goals but the injury to Chapman is a worry with him and also Johnson looking unable to get some fitness before the finals.
Carlton defeated Melbourne by 57 points
This game was tipped to be all about tanking as the previous match two years ago saw Carlton make ‘un in the spirit of the game’ decisions and this was no different with players again playing out of position. While Melbourne found out that Jamar can play forward (5 goals) and they opened the game with some good spirited football the result was never in doubt.
Fevola kicked 7 to open a 7 goal lead in the Coleman race. What was the best for Carlton fans was Gibbs & Murphy hitting consistent form and Gartlett (4 goas), Simpson (3 goals) and Cloke (8 marks) & Setanta providing a nice foil for Fev.
Adelaide defeated West Coast by 74 points
Even though West Coast had a good recent record against Adelaide and a promising start the result was never in doubt with Adelaide’s superior work rate and overall balanced side. Adelaide would be one of the most disciplined sides in the competition as they ran and handballed themselves out of the West Coast squeese with just under 500 possessions for the game.
LeCras and Porplyzia battled it out for a spot in the All Australian side as the specialist forward pocket with the Porps kicking 6.1 to LeCras 2.1.
LeCras & Porplyzia would be the two favourites for the forward flanker/ pocket spot in this years All Australian side.
Brisbane defeated Port Adelaide by 15 points
This game was the perfect example of the season for Port. Amazing in spurts with an opening 10 goal quarter but then failing to kick a goal in the 2nd and 4th quarter to go down and blow their final chances for the year. Serious questions has to be asked of this club.
Brown was possession-less for most of the first quarter but he, Bradshaw and Power lifted to get within 3 goals at half time and to be back in the match.
Hawthorn defeated Richmond by 42 points
Its amazing to think that still Hawthorn have a chance to make the finals.
The biggest cheer by the ground was not Hawthorn winning or Buddy having a day out with 5.6 or Dowler (4 goals) providing a great second option with Roughead out or even Bailey getting through the game uninjured and showing enough with 23 hit outs.
No, the biggest cheer was when all the Hawks supporters saw that Brisbane had hit the front against Port (see game results above). With something like 10 premiership players out, it was a good result for the Hawks.
North Melbourne defeated St Kilda by 5 points
The Saints are beatable with two losses in a row, have teams worked out how to defeat St Kilda now? Only time will tell but what I liked is that Sydney almost beat them with a close checking game (like the Kangaroos) but Essendon defeated them with a pace game plan.
St Kilda only had themselves to blame with 3 behinds and 2 out on the full before they managed to kick a goal and by that time the Kangaroos had 5 on the scoreboard. Riewoldt again had the yips with 3.3 and if he wants to be the best forward in the competition, he needs to kick better.
ST Kilda had extra scoring shots than the Kangaroos but good goal kicking = good football. Petrie up forward was amazing with four goals and 8 marks.
Collingwood defeated Sydney by 41 points
Collingwood look to be the sleeping giants in this years finals, they have won 12 out of their last 13 games. It was a real arm wrestle of a game (do we expect anything different from Sydney?) but Collingwood had the extra class and run out winners with 8 to 4 goals in the second half.
Fraser’s return will only improve their final chances with two games to get form and fitness. Swan was quiter than usual but Beams with 24 (10 contested) possessions lifted.
Fremantle defeated Essendon by 54 points
If Essendon won they would have sealed their finals spot for the year but with injuries, a hard fought game against St Kilda in round 20 and their second trip to Perth in 4 weeks. They just could not do it and after sticking with the Dockers for 1.5 quarters, it was game over at 1/2 time.
Injuries aside, Essendon had no run, no forward option or midfield drive with Watson kept to 6 possessions and they paid no respect to Freo’s young players with Suban (25 possessions), Pearce (2 goals in 3 minutes) and Ballantyne (4 goals) all playing important roles for Fremantle’s 6th win of the year.
If Hawthorn make the finals, will they be the team most likely to cause damage to the top 4?
Finals Contenders after Round 21
- St Kilda – 76 points, 154.99%
- Geelong – 68 points, 125.95%
- Collingwood – 60 points, 125.03%
- Western Bulldogs – 56 points, 122.21%
- Carlton – 52 points, 115.27%
- Adelaide – 52 points, 114.42%
- Brisbane – 50 points, 106.62%
- Essendon – 38 points, 96.84%
- Hawthorn – 36 points, 92.96%
Round 21 Talking Points
Please give us your thoughts in the comments section below or add your own round 21 talking points. The questions will asked in bold and my response will be un-bold under them.
Your input and comments help us make Kick2Kick a better website, so please express your opinions.
- Are Adelaide a serious chance?
- No, against top 8 sides they have won 3 and lost 7. Of the games they have lost, its been by an average of 33 points.
- Would Collingwood almost be 2nd favourite with Geelong failing with injuries and questionable recent form?
- Geelong (form & injuries) and the Dogs (no back up game plan & only beaten 1 top 4 side this year) have question marks over them imo and while I still doubt them, they would have to be taken serious. I think Collingwoods key is Cloke, Fraser and Anthony and whether they can kick and provide a tall forward option for them.
- Who was the biggest winner and biggest looser of the weekend?
- Biggest winner would be the Hawks with them having to win their game and have Essendon & Port loosing. The biggest Looser of the weekend is Port.
- If Hawthorn make the finals, would they be the biggest threat in the bottom 8?
- No, imo Carlton is. Hawks still have too many question marks remaining on their side.
- How would you play St Kilda? Close the game down (like Sydney & Kangaroos) or run them off their feet like Essendon did?
- Think it depends on your sides strengths, teams like Collingwood, Brisbane, Hawthorn & Adelaide would close the game down but teams like Geelong, Essendon & the Dogs would try and run them off their feet.
- What is wrong with Port Adelaide?
- What isn’t. They dont play for each other, the club or the coach. A serious clean out is needed with several players like Pearce, Rodan, Burgoyne’s x2, Cornes x2, Brogan & Tredrea all having question marks on them.
Loading ...
August 24th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Hawthorn were pretty ordinary and let the Tigers get right back into the game in the last quarter, with the score flattering them. Regardless of the result next week, they can’t make a significant impact on September without a massive turn-around in attitude. I reckon Clarkson might almost want the Hawks to miss out: in the hope that it might push them into taking a really close look at themselves. But then again, there’s just always that danger they might suddenly find form….
What a joke from Essendon. Some big outs, but you still had the core of a midfield that deserved to beat the best in the league: yet they get thrashed by a rabble in Freo. Strange part is, if Essendon do still make finals, they have got the pluck to do some damage: perhaps pinch a couple of sneaky wins and make a prelim.
.-= Geoff Matheson´s last blog ..Bowden Bowin’ out =-.
August 24th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I agree Geoff, yes injuries have hurt them but their core group of players (Hodge, Bateman, Roughead, Rioli, Franklin etc) have all played the majority of the matches this year as we discussed before in “Why Hawthorn are Struggling“.
I think the key to the Hawks getting any finals success is Buddy who must turn his 5.6, 2.7 into 8+ goal games. Dowler up forward could be handy as well as Hodge & Mitchell both playing midfield.
Fremantle are a 5-10 goal better side at Subiaco (like WCE), last week they lost by 60 odd to the 16th side and this week they won by 54 against the 8th side. That is nearly a 120 point turn around.
I am waiting for AussieRulesBlog comment about Neagle
August 24th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
hawthorn had not won a match against a top4 side before heading into the finals last season…
August 24th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Did they not beat the Dogs last year before the finals?? From memory the top four was Geelong, Hawthorn, Bulldogs & St Kilda and im pretty sure they did beat both St Kilda and the Dogs last year in the regular season.
August 24th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
no we flogged them in tassie, saints came back from 6 odd goals down at halftime to beat them too…
August 25th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Yes you are right! Just checked last years results.. I think its safe to say that Hawthorn over achieved last year and they only played Geelong, St Kilda and your Doggies once each. This year however the Dogs have played Geelong, St Kilda and Collingwood (in round 22) twice and so far only defeated Geelong once. If they can defeat Collingwood they would have found some form (last three games against top 6 sides) which will hold them in good standing for the finals.
btw we did some calculations yesterday and you need to win by about 30 points to get third spot. What spot would you prefer? 3rd to play Geelong or 4th to play St Kilda in the first week of the finals?
August 25th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
don’t care who we play, confident of matching it with anyone, and btw i hardly think a one point loss to collingwood and a two point loss to geelong constitutes bad form against the top4, we could have won both of those games easily but did not take our chances.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:50 am
In any game with the result from 1-3 goals you could have won if you had taken your chances but a loss is a loss. Against the Eagles, you where out played yet had the lead by two goals with 5-8 minutes left.
.-= Jermayn´s last blog ..Buddy Should be Suspended =-.
August 26th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
i agree with deano. when you lose by 1 point to collingwood, and 2 points to geelong, you cannot say that they are a chance for the premiership. granted we lost to the eagles, but it wasn’t because they were a better side. it is because we simply could not kick accurately. we are a huge chance because lets not forget collingwood only scored one goal in the 4th quarter to win the game, and johnson missed the goal which would have won the game for the dogs. i think the dogs are just as much chance, if not more than collingwood. but we will see this weekend wont we?
(interesting note, i recalculated the percentage difference between dogs & pies. we only need to win by about 4 goals if we can keep them lower or close to 100pts)
and i dont think our position on the ladder will really bother many people, but it is important to beat collingwood for confidence.
something interesting i have found that the three teams with the best chance to win the flag this year are imo St Kilda, Collingwood, bulldogs. all three teams have an injury list with no more than 5 players. collingwood 1 (indefinite), Bulldogs 3 (2 test, 1 two weeks) and St Kilda 5 (2 test/assess, 3 indefinites).
the only other team to have a short injury list is port with 2. it really just goes to show that a short injury list is vital and a long one can really damage a team, for example Geelong has 11, hawthorn 11, sydney 11. all three teams were good last year (two being grand finalists, Sydney making the finals) but all have struggled this year (sydney not in contention, Hawthorn fighting for 8th, and geelong losing 4 out of their last 8,) it will make for a very interesting finals series
oh and by the way….
Bulldogs for 09 Premiers
lol
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Threadless Tshirt Giveaway at jaypeeonline.net =-.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
“In any game with the result from 1-3 goals you could have won if you had taken your chances but a loss is a loss.”
of course this goes without saying, but the fact remains that had a few ‘variables’ gone our way.i.e, the bounce of the ball, umpiring decisions, not hitting the bloody post so many times!!! then we could easily have a great record against top4 teams. losing by under a kick is like getting out in the 90′s in cricket, no shame and no confidence lost. i would be more concerned if we weren’t at least competetive but we have been more then competetive…so far.
btw if we are going on records against the top4 then get on Carlton, convincing wins against Pies, Dogs and Cats and a 9 point loss to the saints…
August 26th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Ha ha! I thought he showed good spirit (chasing, tackling) while being largely ineffective, a considerable improvement on 3-goal hauls while looking uninterested.
Freo played much better footy all day, were more tenacious at the ball and more effective in their use of it, but having an all but unopposed seven-foot Goliath thumping the ball down your throats is a fair start to that dominance. The list of the missing Bombers would make the nucleus of a fair team, so “injuries aside” is a pretty tough stand.
.-= aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Flexibility required in head contact decisions =-.
August 28th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Ok so your saying tackling is more important than kicking goals AussieRulesBlog?
and Fremantle were spanked by Melbourne with basically the same team as they played against Essendon and Essendon defeated St Kilda (previously undefeated) and while they where missing Ryder, they had basically the same midfield yet got spanked by a far inferior midfield (ruckman or not). So injuries aside, they where terrible…
August 28th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Jermayn, if you seriously believe this simplistic equivalence nonsense, then I’m wasting my time posting here. As both Port and Freo have amply demonstrated through this season, essentially the same group of players can play at astonishingly variable levels of intensity from one week to the next. Yes, Essendon weren’t good, but injuries, especially in this instance, were an important part of the reason.
Damned right I am! Surely you will have noticed that forward defensive pressure is an increasingly important aspect of the game? Of course forwards need to kick goals, but playing their part in a team committed to applying defensive pressure is more important. One weak link and the chain breaks! An easy exit from defence often results in a goal at the other end.
.-= aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Flexibility required in head contact decisions =-.
August 28th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Ok, yes we know Fremantle, Port and even West Coast turn up for some games while other games they do not BUT Essendon? Essendon had injuries but they played with a lot more vigor and passion against St Kilda than they did against Fremantle. Surely you agree with me hear mate.
Yes forward pressure is VERY VERY important but surely the most important feature is to kick a goal. At the end of the day, the game is about kicking more goals than your opposition. Just think we need to have more balance….
August 28th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Why not Essendon? Their form line has been up and down like a bride’s nightie (but more down as the season has gone on). Could they have expended so much physical and emotional energy in beating the Saints that their tanks were dry by the time they got to Subiaco (where they’ve not played well for years anyway)? And you play down the injuries, but losing Ryder and Dempsey was a big blow to a young-ish team. Bellchambers has about five games and Hooker less than ten, up against Sandilands. If I was in the Freo midfield I’d be salivating at that prospect. Watson and Stanton, at least, were almost certainly on one leg each, so the result was hardly startling.
On the Neagle issue, team goals are more important than individual goals. Team goals are created when the team works together, doing their job PLUS the one-percenters. The longer the ball is held inside the forward 50, the more chance the team is to get a score. If Neagle doesn’t chase, and the opposition rebounds quickly back to their attacking 50, you’ve got a potential two-goal turnaround. It’s a cliché, but there’s no “I” in TEAM. Three goals and no chasing may mean half a dozen goals for the opposition. Individuals DO NOT win games.
.-= aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Flexibility required in head contact decisions =-.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:31 am
I wont argue about Essendon’s up and down form, I thought they have over achieved this year but you know them better than me.
In regards to team goals v individual goals, I only have one comment that players like Lockett or Ablett snr would obviously never get a game in today’s AFL.
and while there is no I in team, there is in wIn
.-= Jermayn´s last blog ..2009 AFL Round Twenty Two Tips =-.
August 29th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
So where did this come from?
If Neagle was kicking goals the way Lockett and Ablett did, you might forgive him a few team-oriented misdemeanors, but for mortals the team orientation is what cuts the mustard. I repeat, individuals do not win games. Ablett and Lockett needed teammates to get the ball to them. In their case, they must have played the role in the team assigned by coaches or their teammates wouldn’t have served them the ball as they did. When Neagle is kicking ten every week, I’ll allow him the occasional lazy moment. Until then, chasing and tackling are mandatory requirements.
.-= aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Flexibility required in head contact decisions =-.