A few upsets this weekend which all have consequences for the final 8 which sees Melbourne and North keep their super slim chances of making the top 8 a reality.
O'Brien has had a great season just like his team mates as they now sit 1.5 games on top of the ladder
Last week Kick2Kick had a different wrap up format and it generated a few comments so lets see if it was the format change or just a week of hot air.
Carlton defeated Essendon by 76 points
Ratten had to write the riot act for Carlton to perform and boy did they? Carlton have only won a few first quarters this year and they reversed the form with 6 first quarter goals while Essendon normally are the fast starters.
- Carlton had 20 more inside 50m than Essendon yet only had 8 more possessions for the game.
- Chris Judd was BOG with 27 possessions and one goal.
- Mitch Robinson pulled the pants down on old man Fletcher (that one was for you ARB)
- Jeff Gartlett kicked 6 goals while Waite (four goals) and Hampson provided good long contested targets
- Essendon kicked 2.7 in the second quarter
- Essendon only had 6 less scoring shots than Carlton
- The turn around for Carlton was 124 points
- Essendons turn around from their big win was 109 points
Sydney defeated Hawthorn by 44 points
The second big upset of the round with Sydney showing how important a fast start is and while Sydney have a hard run home to the finals, this win will give them confidence. Hawthorn on the other hand are almost shot for the season with a poor last month.
- Sydney kicked five goals in the first two quarters to set up a 47 point lead while Hawthorn could only manage 3 goals (with Buddy kicking inaccurately)
- Ryan O’Keefe and Adam Goodes shared seven goals for Sydney.
- Lewis Jetta finally broke a run of 19 successive behinds with his first league goal midway through the final term.
- Hawthorn missed Cyril Rioli’s influence with Burgoyne and Young unable to step up.
- A crowd of almost 30, 000 would I think be seen as a win as they went up against the rematch of the 2010 soccer Grand Final.
- Kieran Jack had 27 possessions, 9 clearances, 7 inside 50 and kicked a goal.
- Would you say that the Hawthorns 2008 premiership was pure luck after two consistent years were they have struggled just to make the numbers.
North Melbourne defeated Fremantle by 54 points
The third upset of the round where North again matched the heroics of Sydney and Carlton with a big first quarter of 7 goals while Fremantle struggled with just 3 scoring shots. Fremantle did hit back in the second quarter to get within 11 points but it was all over in the third when they could only manage one goal to Norths 6.
- With Sandilands, Tarrent, Ballantyne and a host of others missing Pavlich and Hill struggled to provide any spark for Fremantle.
- Rawlings had 39 possessions and kept Hill to only 7 to be the match winner of the game.
- Can North sneak into the top 8?
- Have North been one of the surprise packets of the year by not fighting out a bottom four spot as many tipped?
- Is Matthew Pavlich over rated?
Collingwood defeated Geelong by 22 points
Collingwood got out to a handy lead in the second quarter but then Geelong kicked 7 of the next 8 goals to set up their own handy lead. However this Collingwood side is different from the sides that have promised a lot but failed to deliver on the big stage in the last three years. Collingwood then kicked six of the next seven goals…
- is there a need for video replay? IMO no, I just hope the AFL does not bring extra umpires onto the ground. Soon their will be more umpires than players on the ground…
- Geelongs midfield was well held with only Ablett standing up
- Didak had a breakout big game match with 35 touches and six inside 50s
- Pendlebury smashed Ling and had 7 clearances on him.
- Brent MaCaffer was unlikely forward target, while he kicked like Cloke, he had 22 disposals and 8 tackles.
- Hawkins and the jPod stunk
- Varcoe has become one of the best small forwards this year without a breakout season
- Was this a game that Collingwood needed to win and Geelong could afford to loose?
- Are Geelong vulnerable?
Brisbane defeated West Coast by 5 points
Was that a mark or a free kick? That is almost the question of the round? Personally even as a West Coast fan who hates to see them win their first Wooden Spoon, I think it was a mark. Mitchell Brown fell over way to easy and it is good to see the big guys allowed to use their muscle and not be pinged for it.
- Luke Power is really struggling at the moment, maybe he would be better to play out the rest of his career down forward as a goal sneak.
- Jonathan Brown with five goals was the difference.
- Jonathan Brown almost lost the game by spilling an easy chest mark on the goal line.
- Mark LeCras had his pants pulled down by Ashley McGrath.
- Both sides had their chances to kick away in the last quarter with WCE 1.5 and the Lions kicked 1.3.
- Scott Selwood was the best for the Eagles with 28 possessions and a goal.
- Brisbane had 42 tackles to West Coast 24.
- Simon Black (27 possessions), Jared Brennan (25 and one goal), Michael Rischitelli (29 and six clearances) dominated the midfield.
- Worsfold for the first time coached on the bench.
St Kilda defeated Port Adelaide by 94 points
Where did this come from? St Kilda have had a poor last month form wise but could this be a revival for the finals? St Kilda had a 9 scoring shot first quarter while Port could only manage 1.4, after another five goal quarter in the second, it was game over.
- Gardiner injured his hammy, could this see Kosi play ruck imo his best position?
- Riewoldt kicked four goals, his best return since his serious hamstring injury.
- Milne and Schneider kicked 7 goals between them.
- Goddard played loose down back. Honestly why allow him play loose? Surely that is a cross against Primus’ coaching ability
- Lenny Hayes and Goddard had 34 possessions each, Leigh Montagna had 30 and Clinton Jones 28.
- Jay Schulz again was the only real target for Port Adelaide. He really has turned his career around, or maybe it was just Richmond.
- St Kilda had 13 individual goal kickers.
- While West Coast are the worst side this year. Who is the softest? Port Adelaide?
Melbourne defeated Richmond by 29 points
All game it was tight until Melbourne kicked away in the last quarter as they kicked six goals while Richmond kicked 2.5.
- At half time just before the siren Dunn kicked on a huge Franklin arc after a mark and while he kicked it before the siren. It raises the question, is it play on seeing technically he is off the line?
- Lynden Dunn ended up kicking 5 goals.
- Riewoldt was well held by Frawley who could well be a sneaky All Australian selection.
- Watts when gifted the ball had beautiful disposal but struggled getting the ball for himself.
- Cousins played well with two goals and 20 odd classy disposals.
- Scully continues to show why he is number one.
- Melbourne won as they had more goal options down forward with Green, Jurrah and Dunn.
- Richmond had more inside 50m’s than Melbourne yet had four less scoring shots.
Western Bulldogs defeated Adelaide by 8 points
The Dogs had Robert Murphy and Shaun Higgins miss out with injury yet the replacements in Andrejs Everitt and Eagleton played pivotal games. This was a tough match and the win will please coach Eade as the side looks to toughen up to the run of the finals.
- Both sides were inaccurate with Adelaide kicking 1.5 in the first quarter and the Dogs kicking 3.6 in the second and 1.4 in the third.
- Adelaide had plenty of opportunities in the last quarter but couldn’t kick a goal.
- Robert Murphy, Jarrad Harbrow and Shaun Higgins all missed with illness.
- Will the hard slog and players battling illness hurt their chance against Geelong next week?
- Ben Rutten again dominated Barry Hall
The Battle for the Finals after Round 18
- Collingwood: 62 points 141.04%
- Geelong: 56 points 142.07%
- St Kilda: 54 points 121.84%
- Western Bulldogs: 52 points 140.26%
- Fremantle: 48 points 111.44%
- Carlton: 40 points 106.99%
- Sydney: 40 points 103.85%
- Hawthorn: 38 points 103.49%
- North Melbourne: 36 points 86.71%
- Melbourne: 34 points 97.09%
Other Talking Points from Round 19
Do you have any other talking points you would like to discuss? If so please write them down in the comments section below. If not feel free to discuss any of the above points I have made.
August 9th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Jermayn I fully agree with you about the AFL not bringing more Umpires onto the field.
As a fan I find having 4 boundry umpires on the field has speed up the game and it is not as drawn out as it was becomming.
The field umpiring is to be nice ordinary, it is really about time the AFL stopped just looking in Melbourne for field umpires and have a really good look at the WAFL, SANFL and QAFL because there are heaps of field umpires running around in those leagues that would run rings around the current Melbourne ones. I am lucky I have a job that sends me around the country alot so I get to see alot of local footy, a couple of reasons to go to local footy over the AFL, the Beer is way cheaper, the food is fresh and about one tenth the price of the same thing at the AFL and you get some of the best hamburgers in the country at local footy. But most of all you see some really great footy that is not stage managed, hence my comments about field umpires.
Finally I want to stick up for the Goal umpires being slammed by everyone after this week end, I saw each of the incidents and my inital reaction to every single one was the same as the goal umpire. The goal umpires have the hardest job of all of the umpires on the field, if a field umpire makes a mistake or doesnt know what to do they just call play on or they ball it up “Real Hard” but the goal umpire has less than a hundreth of a second to look at an event and make a decision with no help from the field umpire who swan around doing stuff all.
Given the thousands of calls the goal umpires make each year they get right and the 4 or 5 they get wrong we should be supporting them not kicking them. As for the slow mo replay hey great but I dont see any need for it in the goals if they want to use it why dont they use it to look at all of the cockups the field umpires make, the hundreds of them each week and fix that first.
August 10th, 2010 at 7:02 am
@Remote Control expert,
yeah, like Corey Bowen (from SA) perhaps? He of the five 50-metre penaties in one half? He who had commentators choking with disbelief on his next outing?
Enough said! Credibility shredded.
Arrant nonsense. Even a cursory glance at a replay will show the field umpire indicating his impression of the result to the goal umpire with the “All clear!”
aussierulesblog´s last [type]: Zealots rule — again
August 9th, 2010 at 9:44 am
Hi Jermayn,
Good to see we are talking about the footy and not something someone in the media said. That said, the last 3 rounds (with the exception of next weeks Geel-WB game) looks like being really dull. Given the margins the big 4 have racked up against everybody over the past month (even against top 8 teams like Carl, Freo and Syd) we might as well play the 2 prelim’s next week. Just need to decide who plays whom. Being a Bulldogs fan, I hope its not Collingwood (playing them in a GF is another matter- anything could happen then).
My Talking points
1. Is the Geelong era over! They look slow and have not introduced any new players for 2 years. The decision to keep Blake and ditch Mumford would have to be one of the worst recruiting decisons ever. They have major big man problems both in defence (Taylor and Scarlett don’t seem to like playing man on man anymore) and attack (Mooney, JPod and Hawkins are ok but not superstars). Johnson, Chapman, Ablett, Bartel all look injured. They did a great job patching them up last finals series- don’t think they can do it 2 years running. If Ottens goes down (not that unlikely) they will be really stuffed.
2. Can Melbourne make the 8. Yes I think so- Carl, Swans and Haw all have difficult games left. Beat Haw this week and they will be there.
Your Points
1. You can’t win a flag on pure luck. There is a huge amount of planning, training and skill involved. The Hawks win 2 years ago was based on getting the max out of the entire 22 at the time. If they had a star ruck and CHB- they would be a chance again.
2. Teams seem to take it in turns to be the softest in the comp. Ess were a few weeks ago, now they are challenging again for the title. Don’t think its fair to label teams with lower skill levels like WCE and Port as soft- Ess and Carl who have more skill should more guilty. BTW who do think has been the worst coach this season? I’d rank Malthouse and Harvey no 1 and Ratten, Knights, Worsfold and Voss all equal last.
3. That game will takes lots out of the Bulldogs. But the same applies to the Cats. The Cats seem to have a few injured too- so it could be a battle of attrition next Sat night.
August 9th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
@Bob, Agree it would have been better if WCE had of won, so there would have been a competition between the wooden spoon as nothing else imo will change…
They got rid of King before Mumford. He was only kept because of his dad and Blake’s family ties to the club.
Seriously everyone is fooled by Melbourne imo, yes they play well at times but do not forget they were outplayed by Richmond for 3.5 quarters of the game yesterday and it was only because of Richmods poor concersation rate that kept them in the game. They also lost to WCE at the MCG….
Look at Adelaide in 97 and 98, you cannot say they were the best team in those years. St Kilda choked and North lost the GF with inaccurate kicking like Geelong in 2008.
If WCE had one or two descent midfielders, they also would be playing better than a wooden spoon side. I do not think you can say if they had a ruckman etc as they decided NOT to trade for Seaby, Mumford or Jolly or pick up Pattison last year who were all available and looking for a club. They decided not to invest in a ruckman and they are only reaping what they sowed from poor recruiting in the last two years…
Jermayn´s last [type]: 2010 Round 19 Wrapup
August 9th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
@Jermayn,
Melbourne’s form last 4 weeks has been excellent. Unlucky against Freo, thrashed Sydney, beat Bris in Bris, beat Rich (who have been good themselves). Look at Sydney’s and Hawthorn’s remaining games- 10 1/2 wins will almost do it for them.
Hawthorn were the best team in 2008. Have a look at the way they thrashed the Bulldogs and the Saints in the lead up finals. Geelong were no-where near as convincing against those 2 teams.
Forgot about Steven King, premiership captain. Obviously the club sees something Blake everybody else doesn’t. Must be galling to see Mumford dominating like he did against the Hawks last week. I Feel sorry for Hawkins and Blake at times. Because Ablett and Scarlett came through the F/S rule, everyone expects them to be as good. Blake and Hawkins are AFL standard players but no superstars.
August 9th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
@Bob, Hawthorn had Franklin in career best form kicking 100+ goals and Roughead kicking 70 odd. That is 170+ odd in a season, that type of form covers a multitude of holes in the side.
To be fair to Hawkins, Geelong do not really play a style of footy that suits a full forward.
August 9th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
@jerm
‘Robert Murphy, Jarrad Harbrow and Shaun Higgins all missed with illness.’
And don’t i know it…all were in my starting 22 in DT along with Sandilands…very lucky to get over the line.
‘Ben Rutten again dominated Barry Hall’
In those conditions Matt Priddis could have dominated Barry Hall…You have a short memory jerm…Big baz kicked 5 on Rutten earlier in the year in pristine conditions.
‘Seriously everyone is fooled by Melbourne imo, yes they play well at times but do not forget they were outplayed by Richmond for 3.5 quarters of the game yesterday and it was only because of Richmods poor concersation rate that kept them in the game. They also lost to WCE at the MCG….’
They will be unbeatable in 3 or 4 years time…
@Bob
I am with you, the geelong era is over. Media have been critical of the Dogs being flat track bullies and not beating anyone of substance…have a look at the Cats. Lost to the Pies(1st), lost to the saints(3rd), lost to the dockers(5th), lost to the blues(6th), Lost to Adelaide in Adelaide and are yet to face the Dogs…The cracks are well and truly open.
August 9th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
@Deano, Do NOT get me started on Dreamteam… So not happy as I lost with my big secret guns falling out of form…
Yes the conditions was not the best for Hall or any key forward but surely Hall could have played better than he did?
I very much doubt that…
You cannot build a premiership team on draft picks, it takes more. Look at St Kilda and how many number one draft picks they had but have fallen at the final step in 2009 and failed in 04,05 etc.
I still have question marks on Watts, he is not a key forward and you need one to win a premiership and as good as Jurrah, Batt and Pettard will be, they are not key forward material.
August 10th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
@Jermayn, sorry mate but i have to call you out on this one…
Recent history tells us that an elite midfield is the absolute key to a flag. The lions, power, eagles and cats have all had crack midfields recently. Look at the depth Melbourne have at this most important component. Moloney, Jones, Sylvia, Morton, Scully, Trengove, Gysberts and McKenzie with Jamar in the ruck.
History also tells us that the teams with the best defence generally make the GF. The young Demons already rank seventh for points conceded. With a solid group led by the likes of Frawley, Rivers, Garland, Grimes, Warnock and Bartram it will only improve.
You have question marks on their forward line but the days of the archetypal power forward are dead. Name one Genuine Key Forward star since Buddy made his debut…there aren’t any. Guys like Gumbleton, Henderson, Grant, Kennedy and Watts are the prototype of what future KPP’s will be like. A forward line with the likes of Bate, Watts, Jurrah, Petterd, Wonnaemirri, Dunn, Jetta and Bennell is enough to make the mouth water.
And you know what the best part is??? I just named 23 blokes and not one of them has hit 27 years of age yet…mark my words mate they will be a super, super team in the not to distant future.
August 10th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
@Deano, And i just have to have a bite at the Jack Watts jibe…
You are quick too quick to judge Jerm…Watts has only played 15 games and is listed as being a paltry 83kg, considering he stands 196cm it is an absolute given that he will put on at least another 15kg in the next 2-3 years which will make him really difficult to beat.
Look at the numbers of some of the other ‘power forwards’ after they had played a similar amount of games.
Lloyd (16 games) – Ave poss 10, Ave marks 4, ave goals 1.5
Richo (14 games) – 11.7 poss, 6 marks, 2 goals
J.Brown (13 games) – 9 poss, 3 marks, 0.3 goals
T.Cloke (15 games) – 9 poss, 3 marks, 0.6 goals
C.Mooney (17 games) – 3.6 poss, 1.4 marks, 0.4 goals
and the bloke i think he will turn out like…
N.Riewoldt (16 games) – 11.8 poss, 6 marks, 0.6 goals.
In his last 6 weeks Jack has averaged
16 poss, 6 marks and 0.7 goals…i would say he is progressing quite nicely…wouldn’t you?
August 11th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
When you put it like that Deano, you may be onto something….
August 9th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
I was a little dissappointed with the cats loss this week but at the same time I had a little feeling that there might be a loss to collingwood.
I was silently wishing the eagles had won but think that the mark that should have been a free kick to the eagles was a little unfair and could have been the differencefor them having their first wooden spoon
all up it was one of those unpredictable rounds