I am sorry everyone but we had more bandwidth issues even after us buying the extra bandwidth plan. Its a great problem to have I know but I will be investigating some ways to streamline Kick2Kick and not have any more issues. Please bare with us….
St Kilda defeated Bulldogs by 3 points
I was really tempted to write “St Kilda bored to death the Bulldogs by 3 points” but I thought I better be half professional in my wrap up! A few weeks ago coach Lyon suggested two 45 minute halfs and I have to say that his game did represent soccer!
What ever you think of the game, St Kilda played it to perfection, they knew they could not win a shoot out so they closed the game down. They won the mental battle and at the moment this is why the Bulldogs have not progressed further in finals and will not make the Grand Final in 2010. They do not have the mental toughness, its the third game in 2010 where they failed to make an impact in the last quarter after being challenged by sides around them on the premiership ladder.
Kosi started well in this match which will please his team but he still needs to do much much more if St Kilda are to keep their top four spot while Saint fans pray over their St Nick.
North Melbourne defeated Melbourne by 26 points
This game was suppose to be one to watch as what side would be on the way up but to be honest apart from Norths pressure and tackling, it was a game to forget. Apparently Dean Bailey had a go at his players about playing like Millionaires! After just three wins in a row? Are they joking? Surely make some finals first…
I liked how the Kangaroos played, they seem to have a new understanding about the game and are playing to a game plan that is simple but effective.
Port Adelaide defeated Adelaide by 23 points
Not only was it enough for Port to defeat Adelaide for the 7th time in a row in a come from behind win but then Ports coach Williams gives a perfect sucker punch to Adelaide saying that the Adelaide Crows are a spent force and it is time South Australians dumped them and jumped on the Power bandwagon!
Strong words but you get the feeling he may be onto something…
Essendon defeated Hawthorn by 43 points
What a flop of a game, after all that build up with the banned Channel 10 TV Adverts I was kinder hoping it would be as spiteful as last years round 22 match. However besides a few random hits by Brown, McViegh & Hille it was quiet and Hawthorn are a shadow of themselves as they failed to score even a point in the last quarter. I guess Hird’s bake in the paper worked a treat.
Bradshaw kicked six goals to lead his side to victory against his old team
Essendon bounced out of the blocks with a five goal opening quarter and had winners everywhere with Hurley bouncing back to form pulling Murphys pants down with four goals. Fletcher held Roughead goalless who could not kick the side of a barn at the moment, his goal kicking is farcical. Watson had 28 possessions and Winderlich, Stanton & Slattery had plenty of the ball as well.
Franklin kicked five, Hodge held his head high and Young bounced back after years of struggling with injury but apart from these few winners, the rest where pretty much passengers. Also think its time to rest Rioli again…
Sydney defeated Brisbane by 20 points
Now this was a game! Sydney had numerous injuries in Jude Bolton (concussion), Seaby (ankle), Hannebery (shoulder), O’Keefe (concussion) and Richards (ankle) yet that did not stop Sydney allowing Brisbane get back into the game at any stage.
Brisbane seem to be playing in patches at the moment and allow their opposition get run ons by kicking multiple goals together like the first goal which saw Sydney kick 5 unanswered goals and they where never able to claw back that first quarter lead.
Bradshaw kicked 6 majors against his old club with Goodes kicking 3 while Kirk kept Blacks impact to a minimum and O’Keefe was another who was important. Banfield for Brisbane continues to impress as a handy foil with three goals while the twin forwards (Brown & Fevola) kicked four goals each.
Geelong defeated Richmond by 108 points
When Pods (now nicknamed iPod), Steve J & Mooney kick five goals each and over half of the team have 20 or more possessions, you know its going to be a flogging.
Riewoldt would have been the only player on the Richmonds side who won their position on the field with three goals. Again Richmonds so called star players in Deledio & Cotchin failed to have any impact.
Again I wonder if Hawkins can fit into this side at the moment, maybe he could edge out Blake for a spot in ruck…
Collingwood defeated Carlton by 53 points
Collingwood surged ahead several times but Carlton always managed to claw their way back through the awkwardness of the big mad Irishman and that famous foot! Collingwood ended up kicking ahead in the fourth quarter with seven goals.
Dawes has impressed with his last couple of games and on Sunday he kicked 3 goals along with Ball and Medhurst. If he can stand up and provide a nice foil for Cloke and Fraser, it will go a long way for them to make a real shake of the finals. Swan bounced back after a quietish start of the year with a BOG and really stood up when it was counted.
Judd tried hard and he really is the difference between them being a serious top eight side and just making up the numbers.
Fremantle defeated West Coast by 38 points
West Coast came out firing with hard man tactics with hits and then they surprised many with a 5 goal spurt to shoot out to a 24 point lead. Then Fremantle kicked the next 11 goals while West Coast dominated the inside 50m but could not kick a goal. Do not want to sound like a whinger but LeCras is one player who really could do with sucking up to the umpires as he struggles to get a free kick.
Fremantle for the second week in a row have struggled at the start of the game, letting bottom sides get a lead up but they some how manage to soak up the pressure and kick away. Pavlich was the difference as he kicked five while Lynch and McKinley given an AFL call up, failed to kick a goal between them & I expect them to go back to the WAFL.
Swift played his best game in his career while Adam Selwood did well to keep Hille quiet. The ruck duel was even with only 5 hit outs the difference which was a great duel to watch. Barlow was voted the best but I thought Duffman Duffield was best with his run from defense.
Top 8 Ladder after Round 6
- Sydney: 20 points – 146.22%
- Collingwood: 20 points – 141.25%
- St Kilda: 20 points – 141.00%
- Fremantle: 20 points – 133.60%
- Geelong: 16 points – 137.66%
- Brisbane: 16 points – 105.56%
- Port Adelaide: 16 points – 88.98%
- Western Bulldogs: 12 points – 115.73%
Round 6 Talking Points
- Is the AFL again over bearing with them trying to limit Channel 10′s advertising of the Essendon v Hawthorn match?
- Maybe I’m old school but I love a big punch up in my football & lets face it AFL is a tough game. Ok maybe the fights are not what we want to see each game but surely we want the hardness kept?
- Are the Dogs & Hawthorn over rated?
- Hawthorn yes, I am surprise no noise has been made about the coach as lets face it, he has had one good year and the rest he has been average in his coaching and in the last two years, they have recruited poorly.
- The Dogs are showing real mental weakness at the moment. Yes St Kilda are a hard team to play against but they seemed happy to play on their terms.
- Will every St Kilda game be a grind from now on until Riewoldt comes back? & will that get them to a top four spot?
- I hope not but unless Kosi brings some game I think they will be.
- Geelong! Are they still the real deal or just bullies who smash the bottom sides but have been exposed by pace against the top sides in Carlton & Fremantle?
- I will admit I am unsure…
- Where the AFL smart to not play up the Rival Round for 2010 seeing many of the game where non-events?
- Yes especially if we cannot hit someone or show any testosterone.
- Sydney on top for two weeks in a row yet are they real top four chances for 2010?
- I tipped them for a top 8 spot but top four? Maybe some teams should look at the way they have rebuilt and use that as a blueprint instead of tanking like Carlton and Melbourne.
- Was West Coast right in dropping Lynch for five weeks?
- Yes, looks like Tarzan yet plays like Jane and the Gold Coast can have him and West Coast can throw in Hansen as a spare pair of steak knives.
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May 3rd, 2010 at 8:56 am
Hi Jemayn- hard to argue with any of your points this week (sorry). Definitely agree Hawkins is worth a go in the ruck, but what about as Full-back?
1. Who cares, if Ch 10 want to amke fools of themselves for mis-representation, that their problem.
2.Yes and yes. Add Geelong to that list IMO- Rich will lose by 100+ points a lot this season. Seem to be a bit left behind as the game speeds up, have aging lists- I’m sure they will be looking for more pace when they play teams like Coll, Carl and Freo.
3. St K will be lucky to be top 4. They were very lucky, Dogs seem down on confidence at the moment.
4. See 2.
5. I’d promote it. How about playing all games on a sat arvo?
6. They will finish about 4th or 5th. Can’t see them any higher.
7. Don’t know- thats for the sandgropers to argue about.
May 3rd, 2010 at 6:58 pm
@Bob, Problem I have Hawkins playing at FB is does he work hard enough? But if they get rid of either Blake or Hawkins they could inject some pace but who do they have not in the team who has pace?
Also I would not rate Collingwood as a team with pace.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:37 am
@Jermayn,
Stokes? Heard he got injured on weekend though?
May 4th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Still one paced though..
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
St Kilda didn’t deserve to win that game, but the loss to the Dogs served them right. The dogs were all over them but they failed to put the Saints away. What I cannot believe was their lack of confidence in their own forward line. Ok the saints flooded back but surely with a guy like Barry Hall and even Jordan Roughead down there, why not set it up and give them a chance. Instead they mucked around with it and turned it over any way. The Bulldogs should have won but they didn’t…Eade needs to drop a few more players I think.
St Kilda – Are not the powerhouse they were. They will continue to struggle without Reiwoldt.
Bulldogs – Need to stop trying to be cute and play basic footy at times if they want to make the GF.
North – Are not a genuine finals chance but will keep teams honest it seems.
Melbourne – Are looking promising but need to continue to apply pressure on their opponent.
Port Adelaide – Are going to have another inconsistent year and well Mark Williams should be fired.
Adelaide – Will be surprised if they win more than 5 games this year, again I think Neil Craig needs to go.
Essendon – Were good but they are too much of a yo-yo and need to play more consistent footy.
Hawthorn – NEED ANOTHER RUCKMAN! They have a few injuries but that doesn’t cut it anymore.
Sydney – Are looking the “Goodes.” Will be hard to beat this year it seems.
Brisbane – After a promising start confidence is down up in QLD, they need to address their kicking accuracy especially in front of goal
Geelong – I honestly was not that impressed. They won by a lot but they are no where near as good as they were last year even with Ablett and Scarlett.
Richmond – will be fighting it out with the Crows and maybe Eagles for the spoon this year.
Carlton – After all the hype they are disappointing thus far. Need drastic improvement to be a finals contender.
Collingwood – Were very good but still don’t think they can win the flag
Fremantle – They are the smoky side, and even though they started badly they thumped the hapless Eagles in the end.
West Coast – Might as well shut up shop because I think the finals is out of reach already. They need to clean out their closet and dump players and fix their forward line so LeCras can play midfield.
May 4th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
@Mike,
Because turnovers, even in a congested part of the ground, lead to scores. Neither team in that game were wanting to concede the ball to their opponents unless it was a kickout. “Bomb it long to [insert name]” is an outdated strategic concept.
.-= aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Hair-trigger reinterpretation =-.
May 4th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
@aussierulesblog,
I’m sorry but I completely disagree in regards to friday night’s game. I understand in a normal game that you often need to find a good route into the forward line, but when that option completely dries up and you kick the ball around outside the 50 for a minute and a half, and then turn it over anyway, im sorry but there is no other option than to bomb it to the top of the square. At the very least you get a point and hey if we had of done that 3 or 4 times it would have been a draw or win. And above that regardless of whether it results in a goal or point it puts pressure on the defence, and more importantly like i mentioned it is a score! And on top of that St Kilda were not running, and they didn’t run until 2 minutes remaining in the last quarter. What you need to realise mate is that against a team like St Kilda who are boring as all hell by the way, you need to put any and all kind of pressure on them otherwise if you muck around with the damn ball for a minute and a half to 2 minutes and turn it over anyway consistently, then YOU WILL LOSE! Just like the Dogs did. So sorry mate cannot agree at all
May 4th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Totally agree…
Why kick it to a 50/ 50 50m outside of goal when you can kick it 10m out to a 50/ 50 contest. Yes you cannot always kick it long but then players get so stuck not kicking long to a contest and so they kick it short to a contest. Makes no sense and equals stupid football!
May 5th, 2010 at 5:25 am
@Jermayn,
Worked pretty well for Ablett, Lockett and Carey 9/10 times resulted in a goal.
May 6th, 2010 at 8:36 am
True but Stokes is not in the same league as them. Only thing they have in common is they all played AFL & got into trouble…
May 5th, 2010 at 3:41 am
@Mike,
But you’re forgetting that Eade’s strategy had worked for ninety minutes, courtesy of midfield and backline pressure that provoked St Kilda turnovers — which WB scored from!
That midfield and backline pressure was lifted in the last 5 or 10 minutes and allowed St Kilda to score quickly. A five per cent drop in intensity is enough to lose the initiative and it can’t be regained instantly.
.-= aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Hair-trigger reinterpretation =-.
May 5th, 2010 at 8:44 am
@aussierulesblog,
Well it kind of worked except for the fact that we didn’t socre much. And for a team like the Bulldogs that is a big deal.
Let me show you some stats. in 2008, 09 and the start of this year, when we have scored under 100 points for the whole game, our record is 3-16 which is a pretty damning stat don’t you think. Whereas when we have kicked over 100 points our record is 32-4-1 and the average difference of the 4 losses is 6.5 points.
So in other words while the strategy may have worked for a period of time, its pretty clear that in the last 3 years when we don’t play attacking football (or when we play defensive) we lose, and when do play attacking football, we win.
So while I understand what you are saying the fact is, is the Bulldogs still should have attacked the game rather than defend, and we would have won.
May 5th, 2010 at 8:50 am
@aussierulesblog, Oh and to add to that last comment. I’m not sure if you remember but we played a similar strategy against the Saints last year in the preliminary final. And guess what…we lost. So the fact remains that instead of doing what we did, we should have attacked as much as we could, and set it up to the goal-square for one of our talls to mark…
Isn’t that why we recruited them in the beginning? For games like this when we can’t deliver the ball in nicely every time?
Again, I understand your point completely, but as I have said above we cannot win when we play defensive footy, we must play attacking, even if that means setting it up to the top of the square and giving our forwards a chance to take the mark, or the crummers to snap a goal.
May 6th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
@Mike,
Great piece by Nathan Burke at InsideFootballOnline about this game and, in a roundabout way, why bombing it long isn’t a viable solution if it can be avoided.
.-= aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Hair-trigger reinterpretation =-.
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:11 pm
1. The AFL need to just ease up a bit in general. A few melees should be allowed from time to time.
2. Hawthorn probably are. I don’t think they are a genuine premiership hope any more.
The Bulldogs aren’t over rated, I think they are one of the best 3 teams in the league but they need to convert their opportunities.
3. I’m not sure Reiwoldt will come back, and without him I cant see them making the Top 4
4. Not sure…I think they might get better as the year goes on though
5. Probably.
6. I doubt they will be top 4…I think as the year progresses they will drop a few more games and maybe sit just outside the 4.
7. I think the dumbest thing West Coast did was bring him back. Get rid of him and Hansen and focus on developing Kennedy and the other guy (can’t remember his name) and turn them into elite forwards.
May 3rd, 2010 at 7:09 pm
@Mike,
#2: Agree Hawthorn are gone, I just get the feeling that the Dogs are expecting the premiership to fall into their lap because they think they deserve it.
#4: I agree Geelong will only get better, last year they perfected it perfectly with their run to the finals. Bit worried about their lack of pace and I do not think Varcoe is the answer.
#7: Finally we agree about something… Is it Brown the twin? He kicked 6 goals 5 behinds in the WAFL on the weekend while Lynch has struggled to kick a goal playing full forward in a winning team.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
@Jermayn, I tend to agree a little about the dogs. They have to stop resting on their laurels. They also need to realise that now that they are one of the genuine premiership favourites teams will target them more. Basically they just need to work harder. But hopefully they too will get better as the year goes on.
Yes I meant Brown, also Mckinely used to be a very good kick, so I’m not sure what has happened to him, but it is all good and well for the Eagles to send him back to the Wafl, but they still need to coach him ad develop him. It just seems there isn’t enough time put into development at the eagles of late.
May 4th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
@Mike – McKinley was playing a lot in the midfield at the WAFL level, I think that is good coaching by them…
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
By the way how many weeks will Embley get you think? I think 4 should be the minimum, the intent was clear, he was trying to take Palmer out. It was dirty and he should pay the price
May 3rd, 2010 at 7:10 pm
@Mike, 2-3 weeks I would say with an early guilty plee.
May 3rd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Cotchin is a touch unlucky to be getting hassled for not having an impact in the Geelong game: the boy didn’t play.
.-= Geoff´s last blog ..Autumn comes early =-.
May 3rd, 2010 at 6:48 pm
@Geoff, good point, my bad!!
Thanks for the correction, btw just for arguments sake, where do you see the two?