Collingwood 103 defeated St Kilda 94
St Kilda are exactly what I said they would be at the start of the season. They have no structure, and they do not know how to successfully win as a team. Gehrig is finished. He is unable to play a full game and have any impact on the game.
Collingwood were good. They’re not a premiership contender but they continue to play well. They had a very hard fought win against a very over-rated boring opposition.
Dockers Luke McPharlin contemplates what might have been yesterday.
Hawthorn 117 defeated Port Adelaide 102
Forget Geelong. Hawthorn in my opinion is the best team in the competition. I think they will win the premiership this year. They came back so strongly and fiercely against a talented Port Adelaide and showed exactly why they are so good.
Port Adelaide are good but need to iron out a few midfield issues which so often hurts them. They were in a fantastic position to win but couldn’t maintain and take the victory.
Geelong 99 defeated Richmond 69
Richmond are going to be a team to look out for very soon. They will be a excellent team in the near future and all they need to do is consistently play well for four quarters. They were extremely brave against the reigning premiers but were outclassed by a superior side.
Geelong are struggling. They allow teams to jump them early and then have to claw their way back to the lead. They are failing I think, to maintain the intensity week to week and opposition sides are taking advantage of it. They were good enough to win however.
Brisbane 125 defeated Carlton 92
Carlton are showing some promising signs but unfortunately they were jumped very early and couldn’t recover that first quarter.
Brisbane were solid. They played very well and look to be a very promising team. The one thing they need to work on is their skills however. Their inability to hit the target consistently is worrying. But they played very well on Saturday night.
Kangaroos 89 defeated West Coast 83
Boo a Roo. That was the slogan given to this game. Up at the Gold Coast the crowd was not tipped to be big and it wasn’t. But the Kangaroos were not fazed and turned the game on. They are a pretty sound team but will not threaten the premiership this year. They played a courageous Eagles team but were good enough to win the game.
The Eagles were competitive again but unfortunately are still rebuilding. They will challenge teams this year, but will not make the finals and their season is over.
Adelaide 150 defeated Melbourne 74
Adelaide are a real chance this year at the premiership. They’ve had two losses and those two losses were against 3rd placed Bulldogs and the second placed Hawks. They’re playing well and look to be a strong steady team for 2008.< Melbourne were typical Melbourne. They have some talent. And although they sit on the bottom of the ladder they look to be a project team. If they can pick up some handy players post season they will possibly up and about next year.
Sydney 143 defeated Essendon 52
Sydney are quite consistent. They don’t seem to be a premiership contender but like the Kangaroos are a steady team who will play well throughout the year. They are really missing Barry Hall though. And the re-insertion of him into the side will be very handy.
Essendon are slowly descending. They aren’t playing anywhere near as well as they can and I think that they need the rest of the year to get their structure right and learn this game plan.
Western Bulldogs 114 defeated Fremantle 111
Shocking. That is all I can say, and that’s just the umpires. The first quarter was disgraceful in the officiating department. Bad call after bad call frustrated fans everywhere.
But shocking would also describe Fremantle’s last quarter effort. Yet again they led at 3 quarter time and yet again they cannot seem to win. DO THEY EVEN KNOW HOW ANYMORE???? They are in danger of becoming one of the worst teams in the AFL. They can play well, and have showed that many times again and again. But they cannot win. No use playing well if you cannot win.
On the other hand the Bulldogs were very impressive in the last quarter. Yet again they came from behind to snatch a victory and really are turning out to be one of the best teams at the moment. The guts and determination it must have took to come back against a determined Dockers outfit and an unforgiving crowd after 3 average quarters of footy beforehand. One problem they do have is playing four full quarters of footy. Do that, and 2008 might see Footscray win their first flag since 1954.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
May 19th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
The Tigers stand at a pretty important place for the club as a whole. They’ve been playing good football against some of the best sides in the comp (Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs, Geelong), but still haven’t been able to eke out a win against a team who isn’t as good (St Kilda). They now have a cluster of four games against easier teams: Essendon, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne, where they should win at least three of those. Win three or four, and a top 8 spot should just about beckon. Lose more than one of those games, and we’ll be back in the scrap for 10th/11th. We’re playing well, but we need to learn how to win, and learn quickly.
The Wounded Tigers last blog post..Round 8 vs Geelong - A Healthy Dose of Reality
May 19th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I do have to question your comment on the Western Bulldogs though. I must admit: didn’t see the game, so maybe I’m completely out of line, but I would have thought that barely scraping past a very ordinary team in Freo would hardly qualify as grounds for suggesting that they might win the flag this year. They are playing well, but they look a level of class below the top two teams by quite a margin.
The Wounded Tigers last blog post..Round 8 vs Geelong - A Healthy Dose of Reality
May 19th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
@The Wounded Tiger
i do understand what your asking, and i admit that not watching the game you would think that.but let’s think about this for a second. Fremantle aren’t as bad as everyone thinks they are. they run and work and bust their guts out…for two n a bit quarters. they have had one game this year where they were really outplayed the whole game and that was against the tigers.
against Melbourne, Bulldogs, Hawks and Geelong they played well for some of the game. they seem to be able to stun teams early, get points on the board, but fade drastically. against the cats they were brilliant, until geelong fought back hard, and then the dockers couldnt cope. they were smashing melbourne, but melbourne started to pressure them, and they choked.
the dogs werent impressive, the dockers were, but…the dogs upped the intensity in the 4th and put enormous pressure on Freo, and yet again they crumbled. Freo arent great, but they can still play some damn good footy. just not very good under immense pressure.
and yes the Dogs are definitly a class below the cats n hawks, not by a big margin, but a margin all the same. if u had of seen the game, u would have noticed that early they were very dismal. but in the final quarter they came out a new team. they probly in the end should of won by more but couldnt kick straight. their attack, pressure on the footy and opposition, slick skills and tackling in the final term was very good, and it took alot of determination to come back and win that game, much the same way they did against the tigers and adelaide.
my comment about the premiership is probly wishful thinking yes, but note that i said if they could play four full quarters of the footy we know they can then they could win it…
May 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
@Wounded Tiger - Have to agree with you about the Tigers, they lead Geelong for nearly half a game and should have beaten St Kilda and the Bulldogs. Winning games is amazing for confidence, if they had beaten the Bulldogs, they could have well beaten St Kilda and Geelong and be almost top 4 contenders. I will be watching the Tigers the next couple of games and lets see how well they go.
@SunCity_Royal - Bulldogs were lucky! Freo out played them for 3 and a bit quarters and the Bulldogs were well out played yet were good enough (or Freo bad enough) to only get 3 goals in front.
BUT the thing that will encourage Bulldogs supporters is that they have something that they have lacked for the last 15 odd years I have watched AFL and that is character. They win the close games and even win games they should not (Crows, Tigers, Freo etc). That is a sign like Hawks that will enable you to have a chance at the premiership.
btw would have to say that this the most uneven season for ages. Even the year 2000 Essendon there were teams that could have played in the Grand Final but this year apart from maybe the Bulldogs, its a rematch of the 1989 Grand Final.
Jermayns last blog post..Sharkwater
May 19th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
@Jermayn
i was thinking that myself as i wrote up the round wrapup. most people expected it to be alot closer this year with any team being able to beat any team, but we’ve seen so far that some teams no matter how well they play or how hard they try, they can’t seem to beat the top teams. and i do think it will be hawthorn v Geelong.
however i dont think the bulldogs are even close to being out of contention, nor Adelaide…every other team perhaps.
yes the dogs were lucky, but you still have to be good yo come back in the final stages of the game, but i dont think they were terrible, they did stay with the dockers for two quarters who were playing much better…we were just able to capitalize on our chances a bit more i think…
May 20th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
@SunCity_Royal - The problem I saw on when watching the Dogs in the first 3 quarters was that they still lack a tall/ key forward to bomb it into when they are under trouble or not playing with confidence.
They tried that several times on the weekend and due to Minson still learning the position, it left a huge hole in their game plan.
I do think it will remain a two horse race between Geelong and the Hawks. I just cannot see any team challenge them…
Jermayns last blog post..So Much Beauty - Kate Ceberano
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Looks like Nick Malceski has just proven the doubters wrong with his knee holding up ok so far. I know Freos Luke Webster has also had the operation (his fourth knee reco?) and I am sure if he also returns ok, more AFL players will get it done.