Interesting contest between one of the seasons over achievers and one of the seasons under achievers.
Form says the Dogs, but on paper the Eagles look better, and should be fired up... another loss at this stage would put their season in peril.

Presbury a big out for the Dogs which counters Knight as an out for the Eagles.
Our forwards must cash in on the work down the field for us to win. A couple of them would be on notice after their poor (non) efforts last week.

Judging by comments on FB (which admittedly may be presumptuous) it looks to be a like for like replacement for Pres in Launer.. who has looked a class above at ressies level and deserves a spot I reckon..

I’m hearing Hosie, Reynolds and McBean all gone …

SANFL up by a point at 3/4 time after the WAFL dominated the quarter. In fairness it’s been a good quality game with both sides moving the ball around well at times.. 25 min flat quarters a bit demeaning though.. can’t think of any decent reason why they would do that given the gap between matches?

100th game for Liam McBean* this week out at CES Stadium… ;)

Like North in 1989 he’s got one goal in mind!

https://sanfl.com.au/league/news/liam-mcbeans-got-one-goal-in-mind/

Had a listen to this. Bays recruited a gem in Liam, who sounds as good a bloke and team man as he is a player… Having said that I hope he has a shocker on Saturday..

Great work rate and terrific defence against the multi faceted Bays fwd line.
Teams are not scoring match winning tallies against us... we are just not able to generate any worthwhile scores up our end.
Some decent mid size lads up front, but clearly lack a big tall and a small live wire.

Fletcher Carroll is that small live wire we need.. knocking the door down in the ressies and should be rewarded..

Pearce has been given a good run at it but looks like he could benefit from gaining a bit of confidence in the 2’s…maybe young Lowowiak can offer a bit more X factor up forward..

Again one quarter cost us.. and when we dominated in the second quarter we just didn’t get scoreboard reward. Still more than happy with progress - we are tracking ok for the next couple of years if we can keep the group together..

Eags lose one of their best players and Port casually bring in an another AFL level player (assuming Narkle plays) Gotta love it

What do you mean you don't trust yourself, would you get busy throwing hands at the Magpie faithful?

No Mate, just getting sucked in to verbally responding to a mob of fuc#wits who are either dumb enough to think they are still watching the old Maggies or even worse the sanctimonious pricks who know they are watching the Power Reserves so don’t have any emotional investment in the result but still revel in the oppositions misery and take the pi$$. Present company excluded of course..
I know I’m old enough to be above all of this but there it is, footy affects us in strange ways at times..

Kudos to any Dogs supporter who attends. I neither have the stomach to witness it nor do I trust myself not to get sucked in by the deluded “Magpie” supporters and give them the satisfaction.. the club has my money already (season ticket) so the guilt is alleviated.

Dogs seemed to want it more for just a bit longer than the Eags, although both teams went in hard in atrocious conditions. Early on looked the Dogs had wasted long periods in attack with little scoreboard return, and the Eags looked dangerous in transition.
3 or so goals in the 3rd qtr pretty well busted the game open for the home side. Grant again the Dogs best, with solid performances from McCormack, Whitelum, Iles, Hoskin and great blanketing job on Knight by a kid ( Cowham)
This young Dogs side gaining some confidence and tracking in the direction we have all been waiting for

Vital win in context of making finals.
Solid team performance. For the first time in a kong time, I have no one (IMO) who I would be looking at dropping from the 21. Every player had an impact.
Once again, loving our defensive unit. Eagles were one point away from their lowest score ever.
I thought Dudley to defence was a good move, had an influence. Might prove a career "reignition".
Agree.
Played the last 2 or 3 ressie games in defence, and won plenty of the ball, something that he wasn't doing up forward.

Exactly Steve, deserved his promotion after some solid efforts in the ressies defence over the last 2-3 weeks. If he isn’t the cleanest handler of the footy at the club then he’s in the GF, along with (I would imagine) one of the highest disposal efficiencies in the team… very high footy IQ to boot..

Won by committee... Grace BOG at halftime, lucky to touch it in second half. Lange unsighted in 3 quarters, then came alight. So many lads drifted in and out woth no one lasting 4 quarters, as shown by the highest disposals being 20.
East was best with a huge effort up fwd, despite lack of matches under his belt this season. McCormack and Munn great around the ground and Larkins and Liddy continue to develop nicely.

And yes Hazy... I also relied on the callers of the stream. That pair would be a lot of fun at parties, and their 50% accuracy on calling players was not a good look.

Good analysis N… East, Lange, Munn, McLennan… turned out to be the leaders I was looking for at 3/4 time and fair to say 3 of those weren’t high up on the list I was looking from at that time. A win that will instil confidence into this young team and just about vindicates the tick of approval in terms of judging year on year improvement.
Like most teams we look so much more dangerous when we take the game on, as West did in the 3rd…
Anyway… enjoy the mystic East Mate!!

So did I overestimate the Eags or underestimate the Crows? Or both.

As each season comes and goes I fear that the overall quality of the “real” clubs reduces..leaving half strength AFL Reserves teams clearly superior in quality.

Again will be interesting to see the attitude of the Crows ressies once the AFL minor round is complete and the A grade finished..

another grub wrote:not worth two bob when the heat was on

Other than going forward late and kicking a clutch goal.. the kid has played 14 games and already has more composure than half the team.. anyway, we can agree to disagree

another grub wrote:dudley not a defender

should be in ressies

Living up to your moniker with that ridiculous comment..

Sue’s previous kind, warm words about how welcome the Crows are in the SANFL reaping dividends.. managing 4 players.. give me a spell. Another one for the integrity breach file..

So proud of our developing team who, underpinned by a handful of veterans, are a relatively young and inexperienced group. We’ve gained so much out of the last 3 weeks, anything from here is just a bonus. Grace saved his best game for the year for the big stage (who was it that questioned his place in the team earlier in he week?) Grant was as industrious as ever, McCormack was super competitive in the ruck and contributed much more effectively when the ball hit the deck than his much more experienced opponent. Billy and Jez repelled numerous forward entries and rebounded brilliantly. Dudley again displayed footy nous beyond his years and Linke stepped up when we needed someone to run hard and present. Got out of my man flu sickbed to ensure my run of attending all Dogs major round games since 79 remained intact and am bloody glad I did! Funny isn’t it.. we got used to winning for fun in the noughties.. but today brought me just as much pride and pleasure.. and it was an elimination final FFS! That’s the beauty of following a club in the SANFL I guess…

Crows ripped off for a legitimite goal
Do you mean Michael Wright's lie-down kick across the line after he illegally dropped the ball on the ground while being tackled? Incorrect disposal would be the argument by some umps, meaning that should've been a free kick for Sturt.

Micheal Wright.. takes me back a few years!

Sounds like we’ll have a strong on ball division next season… Maximus eh? Centurion will surely be all over this!

He has a wife you know?

I would have thought finals will be a minimum expectation and top 3 a realistic aim..
Not sure Thommo would be under any sh!t or bust demands though..

I like it.. nothing like a bit of retro and I highly doubt it will open up any old merger wounds.. they’re long healed over surely?

I caught the first half. The first quarter the dogs ran around like headless chooks for the most part. Which can be expected for the first trial with an inexperienced midfield. West midfield were first to the ball and we were caught out a few times.

The second quarter we got our hands on the footy and a bit of structure back . I noticed we wanted to link up by hand a lot more than previous seasons.

Callinan and Gaspar added some class in the front half. Presbury played off half back and Dudley played up forward and both were effective.

Dogs players not playing: Schiller Grant Grace McCormack McLennan Chisholm Beuchner East Barreau Shaw

Jez played the second half.. and we looked a bit more organised and composed across half back as a result

Early leaderboard .. Hazydog followed by daylight ..

Comprehensive win by Sturt who brought the intensity required of a genuine top 3 team at 2 and 3. Dogs didn’t cope and will treat this as a reality check.

A break for the state game and then a crack at Norwood who will bring a similar contested style..