North Adelaide Vs West Adelaide Review

[bosvit]

Great game to watch on TV!

Both sides have shown a lot of improvement, WA for their game plan and NA for their game plan and commitment, which to me as an outsider seemed below par last year.

Alleway V Ferg wow could watch them every week. Overall thought Alleway more damaging for the whole match but Ferg probably beat him in the last when it really counted so 10-10 IMO.

Great to see Birss play with such poise, time and skill! I heard over the break that he was now off anti-depressants and was training the house down. Goes to show what can happen when there is good support available and you are able to put the effort in too. Inspiring stuff!

How good is that Teasdale! Hope for his sake that type of form continues.

Any word on the Rooster with the sore leg? Hate those sort of incidents, no one deserves that. Good to see Logan Hill get through a game well after a similar incident 2 or 3 years ago now.

Back in Adelaide for school holidays so can't wait to get to a game or 2.

[bosvit]

It is always hard to tell on TV but.......

Do you think PAP or PAFC whatever they are called now.... are up to their old tricks with first pick players again?

I was told by someone in the inner sanctum that Robbie Gray was told no hardball gets/tackles and keep out of trouble when he was coming back from injury via WAFC. Apparently he was reprimanded after one of the games for us where they thought he tried too hard and was at a risk of re-injuring himself.

Do you think this might have been the case with Hamish Hartlett?

[Ian]

Any word on the Rooster with the sore leg? Hate those sort of incidents, no one deserves that. Good to see Logan Hill get through a game well after a similar incident 2 or 3 years ago now.

Word around the club at presso's was that it was a suspected broken leg

[Big Phil]

Terrible news for young Fenton in his first game, let's hope it is not as serious as say Logan Hill's and Chad O'Sullivan's breaks.

Does anyone know for who both sides were wearing black arm bands for yesterday?

Was it David Lee for the Bloods? Great to see they got a win for him

[bloods08]

Just before half time I thought Mcreadie was a dud recruit. His last qtr was too good unfortunately. West have found a player. Tough also.

Actually I was thinking the same. He seemed to be too slow with his decision making and got caught holding the ball. But gee he was fantastic after half time.

[Thiele]

Was it David Lee for the Bloods? Great to see they got a win for him

Yes it was

[DOC]

Great game to watch on TV. West do have a number of tall options which should see them progress.

From the telly, it looked like Backwell and Handby did okay ( Handby not many disposals but some good work in and around the backs) and Lee was largely unsighted. According to the Champion Data stats, only 37 tackles for the game which I strongly doubt from what I saw.

[redandblack]

Champion Data's tackle count was way, way under the real numbers.

West's official stats showed a much larger count.

[Ian]

Does anyone know for who both sides were wearing black arm bands for yesterday?

North wore them for Jean Dixon

http://nafc.com.au/news/p3325.aspx

[JK]

Caught only a few glimpses of this game in the bar at footy park, but it looked entertaining and tight on the scoreboard all day

[CK]

One thing that did surprise a little - fans from both sides mentioned the umpiring to me after the game. I honestly didn't notice them much at all during the game and really didn't think they had a bearing on the result, but maybe that's just me.

[Ian]

They certainly had no bearing on the result but there were a number of very baffling decisions payed both ways

[bloods08]

One thing that did surprise a little - fans from both sides mentioned the umpiring to me after the game. I honestly didn't notice them much at all during the game and really didn't think they had a bearing on the result, but maybe that's just me.

Thats how it always is though. I thought we were a bit hard done by (especially in the 2nd qtr) but I'm sure North supporters feel the same.

Only when you are neutral supporter at a game do you realise that the umpires really aint out to get your team and are only human.

[redandblack]

I think West had a little better of the umpiring in the first quarter. I think they were undisciplined in the second quarter and rightly were penalised, but later in that quarter every 50/50 went against them, because the umpires were pissed off with their lack of discipline, which was understandable.

I don't think they had any effect on the result. I think the SANFL brand of football from both teams was the winner on the day.

[nickname]

I thought there were a couple of bad frees that went our way and several more that went North's way, but then I would think that I suppose. We certainly gave away many but there were some shockers and some daft and petty 25m penalties that were quite damaging. The final straw for me was when one of the white idiots paid a mark to Alleway (last quarter?) within scoring range that clearly hit the turf. Thankfully one of the other idiots came in and corrected him.

But a very entertaining game that I was sure we were going to lose in the last quarter. I thought Ackland smashed us in ruck, Gill was on top most of the day, Alleway on top in the first half, Ferguson in the second (one of the quietest games I've seen from Ferguson), and Schmidt turned our midfield fortunes around in the second half.

Many people (if not the majority) have picked North and West to miss out on the 5. If they're both bottom four teams it's a mighty comp.

[redandblack]

The free kicks, according to West's stats, were 21 West, 27 North.

The difference was in the second quarter, when West lost some discipline.

[redandblack]

The world’s a great place when the weather is perfect for Round 1 of an SANFL season. Prospect Oval was in good nick, the old grandstand was a shell for renovation work, both teams changed in the divided visitor’s rooms and at the end of the day nobody cared, because both team’s supporters came away with positives.

The Reserves game was tight until half-time, after which West’s strong team kicked right away to win by plenty. So it should have been when you see the best players included Nat Caruso, Ryan Anderson and a host of other players unlucky to miss senior selection. Jimmy Ezard’s brother Sam was also prominent and looked a likely type.

And so to the League game. West started brilliantly to be the better side in the first quarter, although the signs weren’t bad for North, with Nick Gill looking surprisingly fit and unsurprisingly far too good for a shorter opponent in Ben Fisher. The ball movement and speed from both teams made it entertaining, but West were on their game and it hadn’t taken long for fans to realize that if the Bloods kicked the ball forward this year, Brad Fisher would catch it.

Any thoughts that West would stretch their lead in the second quarter disappeared quickly. The old West habit of lacking discipline quickly re-appeared and North took full advantage. They looked faster than the Bloods, had Jimmy Allan running rings around Chris Schmidt, 2 good key forwards in Gill and Alleway up and about, with Daniel Motlop’s footy smarts the cream on the cake, as he mo(tlo)pped up the crumbs around goals.

A 7 goal quarter had the Roosters a few points in front at half-time, but with all the momentum.

The game got back on an even keel in the third quarter. North suffered a blow when Brian Fenton was stretchered off with a (now) suspected broken leg. Hopefully it isn’t a major fracture for the first-gamer and he’s back soon. This restricted North’s rotations on a warm day, which didn’t help them. The other factor which had a major bearing on the game was the complete turnaround from Chris Schmidt, who went from chasing Allan to becoming a major factor with his run and penetration. In the first half, North also had Greg Gallman playing a major role, but West’s mid-fielders picked up their game, more around the field than in the clearance work, where Ackland dominated the hit-outs and Wright continued to be an important factor, along with young Teasdale, who looked every inch a future star.

Two other West players lifted their game. Jimmy Ezard shook his tag to become an important player and Ben MacReadie, who had looked a little slow in the first half as he adjusted to SANFL footy, became a dominant factor, especially across half-forward, with several strong play-ons after marks, followed by an accurate and penetrating left-foot kick. West fans thanked the heavens to at last see a left-footer in the side.

West led at three-quarter, not by much and with North having a slight wind advantage, the game was up for grabs. The last quarter see-sawed between the teams, until North reached the lead with a few minutes to go. This was a situation, especially at Prospect Oval, that recent West teams would have not been able to turn around. But this time they did, almost as an anti-climax in a funny way, with two fairly easy goals to clinch the win. It also seemed apparent that West looked the fitter team in the last quarter, even allowing for North being down to 2 interchanges. Perhaps 3 trial games to 2 might have played a part, but it seemed a major factor.

The negatives? None that I could see, except for a West fan shouting ‘losers’ as North left the ground. He would have been the only person who thought that after a brave performance from both teams.

The positives? Plenty.

First of all, the brand of footy played, by two teams who had previously been known for unattractive, defensive football, was fast, exciting, high scoring, but tough. Highlights were common, but we saw a match-up for the football connoisseur- Alleway v Ferguson. Who won that contest? Well, it was even enough that many West fans generally thought Alleway just won and many North fans opted for Ferguson. I thought they both won and underlined how good it was to see the best CHB in the league against the best CHF. I’m biased, though, but both players were terrific.

I’d think North fans would be disappointed by the loss, but excited at the potential they had seen. Their defence looked suspect to me, but they’ll have Miles and Cunningham to return there. The forward line is strong, Allan and Wright are as good or better than anyone going around and the attitude was excellent. An important factor was that the quick, talented Ryswyk didn’t seem a factor to me, as David Piasente played a great game on him and kicked an important goal at the end.

For West, some lessons. A lack of discipline is football death and hopefully will disappear from their game. They’ve added a classy hard nut in Ben MacReadie and Brad Fisher won’t need to say ‘kick it to me’ when West are going forward. Michael Pettigrew didn’t touch it much, but kicked 3 goals and then gave the defence a much more solid look when he went there late.

Above all else, though, was the performance of Shane Birss. Classy, organized and a pleasure to watch, he gives Westies another virtual top recruit.

As I said, supporters of both teams would have left the ground looking forward to the season ahead.

Those watching on TV would have seen a game that exemplifies SANFL football.

[the tractor]

Great dive by D. Motlop when he was pushed by Moran in the 3rd qtr I think it was.
He should get a guernsey with 'Home and away' after footy.

[on the rails]

Great dive by D. Motlop when he was pushed by Moran in the 3rd qtr I think it was.
He should get a guernsey with 'Home and away' after footy.

2nd quarter and Motlop actually ran into Moran and "dropped like a sack of spuds", Moran was unlucky to be penalised 25 but a great con job and flop by Motlop knowing that the umpires get sucked in way too often!

[the joker]

After today's match matty wright is a huge chance of being upgraded to the crows main list and playing next week, to replace sloany.

Jeanch, Martin or Symes no good ?

There chances to play, but none are inside midfielders like sloane and matty wright