Two rounds down and the weekend’s games brought up a few surprises and a few non surprises with Sydney defeating Hawthorn and Richmond, Melbourne & Fremantle also winless.
Finally I have to say that the umpiring was disgraceful this weekend, they have no concept of the game at all. They paid non-existent free kicks and very questionable 50m penetaly’s. The toughness of the game is fast disappearing with umpires who think they are bigger than the game itself!
Bad Move mate as Goddard symbols to his jailed half brother who is in for Drug related charges
St Kilda defeated Adelaide by 32 points
Are St Kilda the real deal?After 2 wins you would say so! Especially how they managed to go to Adelaide on the back of a 6 day break and win easily by 5 goals on the back of Koschitzke and Dal Santo starring who both finally look like taking the step up from good to starring roles.
All the talk was Adelaide’s new look defense with Assistant coach Todd Viney however St Kilda crammed Adelaide so much that they continually went backwards with handball and never managed to generate run which limited their potency of their forward line even though they had Porplyzia and Tippett both kicking 3 each.
Collingwood defeated Melbourne by 53 points
Melbourne showed a lot in the first half with a game plan that would keep any Demons fan happy however AFL is a four quarter game and Collingwood easily ran over the winless Demons with a 12 goal to 3 second half.
Miller, Green and Bruce showed plenty while some of their young future stars (Cheney) were showed just how hard this game really can be against top 4 sides.
Didak showed why Collingwood have given him plenty of rope and lee way with his best game for the year. Beams had a debut to wish for (18 disposals, five marks, six tackles and one goal) while Anthony (four goals), Fraser, Davis and Swan also showed plenty.
Geelong defeated Richmond by 20 points
While it looks rosy that Geelong are undefeated after two rounds (and NAB cup) there are a few issues that may help bring them back down to the rest of the competition.
Ottens does a knee and will be out for up to 6 weeks
- Ottens looks likely to miss a month or two and Blake & West are really poor average Rucks.
- They still miss easy shots at goals in vital parts of the game. In the first quarter they missed four easy shots at goals.
Richmond are locked down at the bottom and what is worrying is that they have a near strength side on the park already. Their poor disposal is embarrassing and it looks like it will 0 – 3 after facing off the Dogs in round 3. What will please the Tigers is that they came back and showed heart, they even hit the front at one stage with 5-10 minutes left in the game after a heart warming 3rd quarter. However they will need to show more than heart to save Wallace’s job.
Sydney defeated Hawthorn by 38 points
In the Swans 2009 season preview, a warning was stated! Wipe off the Swans on your own demise and all of a sudden the old legs of Goodes, Hall etc came back and beat highly fancied Hawks by 38 points on the back off solid 2nd and 3rd quarters.
What will worry Roo’s is the injuries to Hall, Crouch and Bird and the antics of Barry Hall. It seems like the boxing is not helping after giving away several 50m penatlys’ and instead of running over like the rest of the team to J White for his 1/2 time goal, he was sooking in the goal square.
I wonder if Hawthorn wished they kept Zac Dawson who has performed solid for ST Kilda in his two games so far while Hawks are really struggling down back.
Carlton defeated Brisbane by 19 points
Carlton are undefeated and they are crowing BIG TIME!
In the 2009 preview, the Carlton previewer stated that other players need to pick up the slack and kick regular goals for Carlton to go the next step. Fevola kicked 5 but between Betts, Murphy, Cloke & Gibbs they kicked 10.
Brisbane again only played half a game, last week they managed to overcome the deficit but against a top 6 side, you simply cannot give them a 48 point lead. Voss will be a bit worries about his sides falling asleep for amounts of the game. Hooper followed up his 4 goal game last week with 2 and the usual “Twin B’s” kicked 9 between them.
Essendon defeated Fremantle by 38 points
The famous Baby Bombers are all-but gone, but the Essendon nursery is clearly rosier than Fremantle’s.
Ryder takes a screemer as the Dons over ran and outshinned against the slow Dockers
While the youngster’s showed pace (which Freo lack) and promise the same cannot be said about their veterans in Llyod, Hille & Lucas. Llyod showed something and his big tackle on Duffield in the first term helped set the tone but Hille has been dominated in the ruck so far this year. Also think its safe to say Ryder is not a forward after several easy shots missed.
Hill and the other young players really struggled on the fast Dome ground and it does not help when you have Pavlich, 200-gamer Tarrant, McPharlin & Solomon all having poor games. Duffield, Palmer & Sandilands all showed promise but again Freo just seem to have way too many unfit, uninterested passengers.
Bulldogs defeated Kangaroos by 15 points
A last quarter cameo from Josh Hill enabled Bulldogs to maintain an unbeaten start to the 2009 season and end a four-year hoodoo against North Melbourne.
Many have said that Higgins would help bring Bulldogs into a Grand Final but the real key imo is Key Position Player Tom Williams who has now played two games in a row and with him taking the gorilla up forward it allows Lake to do what he does best and that is mark the ball of opposition kicks.
While it was not a game for big men, Hale and others struggled along with new captain Harvey who has yet to fire in the new season.
West Coast Defeated Port Adelaide by 50 points
If one week is a long time in football, I wonder how long two is…
Port were fancied to slip into the top 8 and West Coast down near the bottom four and while its only two weeks of a 22 week season. Port have showed that maybe last year was their true form with ill discipline, poor disposal and senior players playing for themselves. Motlop showed he is classic but Westhoff is injured and ex-captain Tredrea is struggling down forward.
West Coast on the other hand, have a new game plan, a potent forward line (LeCras, Hansen, McKinley, Lynch etc) and their defense looks better with a fit Hurn (who can kick a ball), Nicoski and Glass. Kerr wound the clock back and dominated shadower Cornes and Masten & Selwood shinning and show plenty.
Top 8 Ladder at End of Round Two
- Carlton
- Bulldogs
- St Kilda
- Geelong
- Collingwood
- West Coast
- North Melbourne
- Sydney
Round Two Talking Points
- What do you think of AFL players giving signals to friends & family members in jail? I personally do not like it, one bit. On a friday night with millions of viewers Goddard symbols to his half brother in jail for drug related charges. He is no Hero but a Zero and he does not deserve any symbol by a ‘role model’.
- After two rounds, are the surprise packets so far West Coast and Hawthorn? Hawthorn yes as I would have thought they would at least by 1-1 especially after their good 1st quarter. West Coast seem to have turned their 2008 season around with two good games. However it is a long season…
- Who will get suspended or let off out of Motlop, Shaw & Brown? I have not seen every incident but so far the tribunal has let off a few rough conduct charges. Brown does have a history so he may be the favourite to miss a week or two.
- How is the injury to Ottens going to hurt Geelong? Yes as West & Blake really struggle to play out a whole game, Geelong’s midfield is strong enough but it will hurt the cats as they have to start playing to the opposition ruckman.
- Will Wallace see out the season? I think he will be given to at least the mid season break and if the team continues to suck, they will bring in a new coach. Hopefully not Sheedy or Campbell.
- Is not the best way to defeat a flood or a rolling zone big long kicks? Everyone is doing the flood and rolling zone these days but yesterday against Port Power West Coast scored several times by long kicking with Hurn & Lynch kicking three 60m+ goals between them.
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April 6th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Gee, bit harsh on Hall. I saw that soft 50 metre penalty when a Hawks player fell over after Hall said “Boo”.
Goddard is a dill. We have “Spida” Everitt coming out about being offered drugs twice whilst playing. Probably was his brother.
The Swans-Hawks game was a coin toss & it fell the wrong way for me. Should always stick to the home side. Even their own website think the Hawks stink. Eagles are in the wait & see list.
Shaw could get suspended, but then Eddie will bring in OJ’s lawyers on Wednseday. Didn’t see the others.
Cats should try Shane Mumford. Killed them locally for Bunyip so give him another run against a lone Fraser.
Rolling zone a dead duck. Saints beat it Friday & that says it all. The bigger issue is the rushed behind. Dogs defender left in no mans land hoping ball would roll for a rushed behind only having it put through just before the line. What do you do??
April 6th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
- Yes although the decision against Hall was bad, his attitude and the way he sooked was even worse. The Swans just kicked a goal and he was the only player not too run over and congratulate the young man, even though he was only ~30m away…
- I think the Cats were expecting West to improve after being left out of the 2007 Grand Final but he seems to have gone backwards. Ottens is 29 so if West does not improve, they may need a new ruckman.
- The Saints did indeed expose Adelaide’s rolling zone, however Hawthorn perfected it over a period of time and not just a few months like Adelaide, West Coast etc. Best attack is long kicking…
- I do agree that the rushed behind rule is a joke & I have expressed my disgust several times ever since it came in
April 6th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I told you about West Coast Jermayn. Keep an eye on them, I reckon they will sneak in. And Carlton are looking good but back them to lose this week because I am going to watch them for the first time this year.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Maybe you should stay away from them then Geaghs…
Also while the Eagles looked good, they have only played two teams that were outside the top 8 last year. Lets see how they go in the next 3 games, we play St Kilda (away), Bulldogs (home) and Hawthorn (away). These games will give us a real indication of where the Eagles are at for 2009.