After having their umpire skills questioned after them turning a blind eye to the Baker and Johnson clash last week they bounced back with vengeance which has everyone screaming and blogging in anger. To me the most outrageous was Renouff’s mark that was not a mark but seeing one of those idiots (who also needs a hearing aide besides the OPSM prescription) heard a whistle and so they decided to give him a kick and guess how much the Dogs lost by?

Mchael Barlow & Jack Ziebell broke their legs to further set back their promising young careers. Can they bounce back for next year?

Who says more umpires would help? Surely we just need less, less means less umpires to make mistakes…

Carlton defeated Brisbane by 55 points

Ok lets give the AFL snaps for trying a Thursday night and yes Brisbane’s woeful recent form does not help but personally I think if you really want Thursday night to take off, you need to play two Victorian teams who draw a crowd play each other.

As soon as Fevola was out injured, you just knew it was just a matter of by how much for Carlton but Brisbane came out with a blistering opening quarter with 9 scoring shots. However their game was only on for the quarter as Brisbane only managed another 11 scoring shots for the remaining three.

Cornelius helped fill the void down forward but you cannot expect a kid in his third game to win you the game. Black (33 possessions), Rischitelli (26), Rockliff (25) and Leuenberger (28 hitouts) all got plenty of the ball and tried hard but they needed more goals from Brennan, Staker, Sherman and Buchanan.

Betts strengthened his All Australian selection with 5 goals with a host of other multiple goal kickers in Yarren, O’hAlipin, Scotland, Simpson, Henderson and Gartlett. Jacobs and Hampson struggled in the ruck against Leuenberger and if Carlton are to cement their top 8 spot, they need to step up.

Hawthorn defeated Western Bulldogs by 3 points

Ok as you read above, Renouff’s goal was in the first 5 minutes so its not like that cost the Dogs the game but why wasn’t the ball bounced instead?

The real reason the Hawks won was at the end of the day they won all the little battles and in close matches they are difference between a great win or a humbling loss. The Hawks kicked straighter than the Dogs which has been a problem for them for the last few years. Then while not dominating Roughead and Franklin did kick 5 between them while Grant & Hall could only kick 4 and in the last quarter the Hawks kicked 4 goals one, while the Dogs kicked 2.5.

Hodge and Mitchell where fantastic with 28 possessions each and three goals between them. Who cares who is captain when your winning and this was win number 7 in a row and their first win against a top side. Lake had 18 marks which may be good for your Dreamteam score but I am sure coach Eade would prefer he kept Franklin goaless. Boyd continues his good season with 35 possessions.

This loss sees the Dogs now two games outside the top four and if you didn’t know before you know now, fairytale stories dont always happen in the AFL and its looking like 2010 wont see the Dogs play in that Grand Final we hoped they would play and win.

Fremantle defeated Port Power by 57 points

Who cares about the result, the biggest talking about this game was not Port Adelaide kicking 2 goals in three quarters but rather the horrible scene of Barlow and Palmer running into each other and Barlow’s leg snaping on impact.

Fremantle have a few worries with Grover, Barlow, McPharlin, Tarrent and Broughton are currently injured and while their next two games are against bottom sides (Richmond & Melbourne) they do have games left to play against the Dogs, Hawks and Carlton and they will need to win at least two of those to keep their current top four spot.

Port had a brilliant second quarter which saw them get back into the game to a 10 point deficit after being 5 goals down at quarter time but with some brilliant coaching by the best inform current coach Harvey who moved Crowley forward and he kicked three game breaking goals, he added another two in the final term to finish with 5.

Banner showed plenty along with Hitchcock but they continued to butcher the ball as there older senior players are well past it, yes I’m looking at the Cornes brothers, Motlop and Ebert.

Collingwood defeated West Coast by 83 points

As an Eagles fan, I must admit I turned the game off at quarter time and had to be coaxed to watch any more and I wish I didn’t. Worsfold said during the week, he would play the kids and instead of playing Koby Stevens or Ashley Smith he plays Swift and Masten who just are not up to AFL standard.

Time to go Worsfold…

It was a massacre and in the third quarter Collingwood made a statement with 9 goals with Jolly and Dawes kicking four each as Jolly dominated Cox and Nit Nat. His form will almost see Fraser looking for a new club. The third quarter saw Didak have a purple patch with 3 amazing goals of the week contenders with Swan, Beams and Pendlebury all having 25 plus possessions and kicking two goals each.

As you can see it was a training run for Collingwood as they look to polish up for the run home to the finals.

Adelaide defeated Essendon by 84 points

All of a sudden Adelaide are within a chance however slim of making the finals and for the first time in Craig’s tenure are finding form at the right end of the season. He has the right players finding form in Tippett, Thompson, Van Berlo, Johncock and Symes and has gotten rid of the old slow farts which he should have done last year.

Yes Essendon do not travel well but a seven goal to one quarter would not sit well with Essendons coach Knights and if it wasn’t for Paddy Ryder who dominated the ruck and managed to kick two goals to be their only multiple goal kicker it could’ve been a 100+ result.

Geelong defeated Kangaroos by 35 points

Both Geelong and St Kilda just did enough to defeat their opponents which made it a weekend to forget.

The Geelong faithful called it “keep Gazza day” but while he had his usual 30+ possession day Chapman stole the day with 37 possessions and then the jPod bobs back up with another 5 goals after being kept quiet last week.

Lachie Hansen continues his good recent form with another four goals to be his only sides descent forward. Wells and Rawlings got plenty of the ball but the game was over before it even started.

Richmond defeated Sydney by 4 points

This was a good game to watch and I like Hardwicks coaching and his ability to connect and install belief into a team that has so long been a basket case. This win keeps the 8th spot open for several teams including the likely wooden spoon Adelaide after two wins in a row.

Against Brisbane and West Coast they started well and never looked back but this win against a quality outfit in Sydney was the fact that after going into the third quarter 12 points behind, Sydney kicked four of the next five goals to get out to a 6 goal lead. What then happened was Richmond kicking five of the next seven goals to win a famous win.

While Riewoldt again kicked five, what I enjoyed watching was Collins getting knocked out and then kicking two last quarter goals along with Newman playing a typical captain game. Other standouts was Deledio gathering 28 possessions after having his elbow bent backwards and Cousins willing himself  to 21 hard possessions.

Goodes again struggled up forward but his worth ethic looked a little better while Hannebery had 24 possessions and continues to shine.

St Kilda defeated Melbourne by 35 points

Melbourne again started every quarter slow which gave St Kilda an easy game and saw them never getting out of third gear. Kosi was left out with a slight injury cloud and if you said at the start of the year that Riewoldt would only play three games and Kosi would struggle you would not think they would be sitting equal first on the ladder.

Watts the Melbourne’s hope down forward showed some glimpses including a great 50m goal but he still has a lot to learn but I think its good to keep him in the side to learn. Look at Jack Riewoldt as the perfect example of why you need to keep the young key position players in the 22.

The battle for the finals after Round 14

Doing something different from now on as we list the teams who are within a chance of making the finals.

1. Geelong: 44 points – 149.68%
2. St Kilda: 44 points – 128.57%
3. Collingwood: 42 points – 132.56%
4. Fremantle: 40 points – 122.19%
5. Western Bulldogs: 32 points – 127.07%
6. Carlton: 32 points – 114.24%
7. Hawthorn: 32 points – 103.00%
8. Sydney: 28 points – 106.53%
9. North Melbourne: 28 points – 82.30%
10. Adelaide: 20 points – 90.20%

Round 14 Talking points

1. Is ten 50m penalty’s on Thursday night the biggest over reaction from the blind idiots?
   • Totally! The AFL must be the only competition that sees huge rule changes switch and change from week to week. I have yet heard anyone who thinks the huge number of 50m penalty’s that was payed on the Thursday or the weekend was fair.
2. Thursday night or Monday night?
   • Neither to be honest, but if you have two bumper games on the Thursday and Friday night and showed on TV at a descent time it could help.
3. Who has been the most disappointing? Port Adelaide or West Coast and which club famous coach will get the boot?
   • Both teams have been disappointing and I think both coaches have come to terms that if their teams form does not change, they will be looking for new jobs. What could be interesting is the role Dean Laidley will play as he has ties to both clubs and if one coach gets the sack, will the other club move to try and get his services?
4. Why is it that most premiership coaches cannot rebuild a team for another chance at the Grand Final? Roos, Williams, Worsfold, Pagan and Malthouse have all failed at it.
   • Roos did not built his premiership team nor did Worsfold and have failed to build another premiership contender team. Williams did but has failed to build a team for the second time and Pagan could not do it at Carlton. Malthouse has built two Collingwood teams for serious premiership contention but he could not build another at the Eagles after his initial success. The only current coach who could build several premiership teams was Kevin Sheedy but he has failed to do it since 2000.
5. Can North and Adelaide get into the top 8?
   • Adelaide maybe but North will not, their percentage is too low after a few floggings during the year.
6. Will the injury to Barlow see Fremantle slip out of the top four?
   • Pavlich will need to lift as he has had a quiet month and if they can get their injured players back they can still be a force come finals.
7. And if Fremantle slip out of the top four, who will take their spot? The Dogs, Carlton or Hawthorn?
   • I doubt Carlton and the Dogs as their form is too patchy but after seven wins in a row, the Hawks could well take Freo’s spot in the top four. Hawthorn have five games of their last 7 against current top 8 sides including every team in the top four in Geelong, Collingwood, St Kilda and Fremantle. Fremantle only have to battle four teams in the top 8 for the remaining year including games against the Dogs, Hawks and Carlton.

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