Rd 2 2008 Sturt vs. Centrals @ Unley Oval

[Blue Boy]

Ok, so why were they wearing them in the Adverstiser team photo?

Great game of footy despite the flooding tactics employed by Centrals late in the game. If anything that was a bit humerous. quote]

They actually flooded all day !!!

[Big Phil]

You cant help how the ABC schedule the TV games Wedgie . But if you feel like a fool there must be afew Central supporters on this site that feel worse going on some of their previous coments. Schell played forward the whole game , so much for him going on Perrie , my call last night was correct and obviously Laird agrees.

Umpiring very ordinary , over umpired and were poor for both sides. I hope we are the TV game for when Chambers gets a free kick , that way I have evidence. Unbelievable what he doesnt get and they are just blatant. He should have kicked 5 and if he got some frees may have got 7 - 8.

There was a group Centrals supporters near the stand who do need to have a look at themselves. 2-3 guys in particular . Talk about NFI .
Some of the dribble that came from them was a poor reflection on a recently very successful club .

Well done to Sturt , lots of improvement left for uscertainly not on top of our game yet , too many foot skill errors when notunder pressure.

Overall very pleasing , should be a cracker against another very good side next week

So you were right with one thing OCT, congratulations mate you should be a happy chappy. I thought Havelberg did a pretty good job on big Ian Perrie but I reckon he would have been a better option up forward and Schelly WOULD have still done a good job on Sarge as well.

Give the Double Blues credit, we were beaten by a better team on the day, but I will say one thing. We were our own worst enemy today with very poor decision making and costly skill turn overs. I say more about this in my match report, which I'll copy over from the Centrals forum shortly. Also, despite the very poor umpiring today, we gave away too many 25 metre penalties (even if they were soft !!?) and we need to work on our discipline as the umpires seem keen to police everything to the letter of the law this year.

One things for certain, when we meet Sturt again later in the year, we will not want to put a performance like that, GUARENTEED. The boys will store that in the back of the memory and know they will have to pay more respect to their opposition whilst improving their own individual game. Also fo those complaining about us flooding, I'm not too sure what game you were at today, but big Deluca was doing the same thing at times so as the old saying goes, DON'T THROW STONES IN GLASS HOUSES !! Once again, congrats to Ricky's boys, deserving winners on the day.

GO U DOGGIES...

Big Phil...

[Hondo]

Great game of footy despite the flooding tactics employed by Centrals late in the game. If anything that was a bit humerous. quote]

They actually flooded all day !!!

Sounds like Sturt played well and Centrals may not have the gap on everyone else like they did last year

[Big Phil]

DOGGED DAY OUT FOR CENTRALS DOWN AT UNLEY

Hi all, it was a pretty dissapointing day for the club today, but we will learn from it and be hungry to get things right in the coming weeks. Look out Norwood next week, we will be an angry bunch of footballers. Following is Big Phil’s review of the day for the Central Districts Football Club at a quaint, family friendly suburban ground in the suburb of Unley

RESERVES: “DOUBLE BLUES THRASH INCOMPETENT DOGS”

After a great start to the game with an early Sean Brading goal and a small quarter time lead, our reserves where taught a football lesson with a dismal 94 point loss. We started the game with Cameron Faulkner and Daniel Boyle lining up with the team as well as our former league skipper Nathan Steinberner back after a groin strain. They also went into the game without the running defender Luke Barmby who had his right hand in a cast before the game, an injury from round 1 against the Magpies. All one way traffic after quarter time, Sturt finishing up with 21 goals to 7.

Despite good starts to the each of the quarters with early goals, we were never in the contest with poor skills and a lack of quality decision making. Our forwards had to put up with very bad, poor delivery so for the most of the day, the defenders that were pushing forward creating run, had the ball kicked straight back over their head, time after time, resulting in goals to the Double Blues. Jonathon Giles battled hard in the ruck all day, but didn’t really have any consistant team mates. After a very scrappy first half we only trailed by about 5 goals at half time, still just in the contest if we can lift our endevour in the second half.

It was simply no contest in the second half with a telling 13 goal to 2 onslaught which included a goal-less 3rd quarter from the Doggies. Usual suspects Brayden O’Hara, Alex Stengle and Todd Whiley battled valiantly all day and Ashley Duncan tried hard in defence but the boys were simply outclassed by a more efficient and skilled team. Sturt were impressive in the earlier game and a good team effort by all saw them sharing the goal kickers. Three players kicked three goals each including Sean O’Keefe, ex Port and North player Jeremy Johncock and the very impressive Tom Hurley, coming back after a year off with a full knee reconstruction. Doggies coach Damien Hicks would be disappointed with the result today and he would be concerned with the teams use of the footy coming out of defence. It probably cost them close to a dozen goals throughout the course of the day and it would be something that needs to be addressed on the track during the week.

FINAL SCORES:
Sturt 21.13 = 139
Central 7. 3 = 45

GOAL KICKERS:
M.Westhoff: 2, Giles, Hadden, O’Hara, Brading: 1

BETTER PLAYERS:
O’Hara, Stengle, Giles, Duncan, Whiley


LEAGUE: “FORMER BULLDOG GIVES CENTRALS THE BLUES !!”

Former Central’s Premiership star and second year Sturt coach Rick Macgowan lead his Double Blues to a very comfortable 44 point run away victory over reigning premier, Central Districts on a perfect day for footy at the newley named House Brothers Oval.

The game started for us with Luke McCabe not taking his place in the team, no doubt, due to his recent hamstring concerns. Chad O’Sullivan therefore played his first League game for the year after playing reserves last week. In some what of a “surprise” move, Daniel Schell started up forward with young star Daniel Havelberg lining up on last weeks 6 goal hero, Sturt’s new recruit Ian Perrie. Some touted the Schell vs Perrie match up as the battle that could determine the outcome of the game but it didn’t even eventuate by the end of the day.

Centrals got the first goal through Scott Dutschke and the move of Schell to full forward looked positive early after a strong mark on the lead. He then missed a simple shot on goal from only 30 metres out. We turned it over from the resulting kick out but unfortunately, with all our numbers pushing forward, Earl Shaw had his kick well smothered, Sturt took the ball down the other end to a free Chambers who had his first shot on goal after a strong mark. He missed the resulting shot.

Despite looking a bit indecisive coming from half back, Ryan Williams received a soft 25 metre penalty for a shot on goal just on the 50. His attempt missed but as a result of a Sturt turnover from the kick in, star Ian Callinan swooped onto a loose ball and kicked one of his signature goals, a snap shot from around his body. We did dominate possession for the first 15 minutes of the the quarter and signs were looking good early. Sturt finished the quarter out strong after a huge bump from Daniel Schell on veteran Andrew Whiteman resulting in a small mele. Sturt were then able to take the ball forward, assisted by a 50m penalty from the umpire, for an easy goal to the very impressive Ryan Herring, his second for the quarter. The Dogs were trying to get their running game from half back going once again, but our poor skill application resulted in more turnovers and another scoring opportunity for the big burley Chambers. The shot on goal was yet another behind and after a tight start, the boys from Unley held a slender 8 point at the first break.

The first goal of the second quarter went to Ryan Herring who had already forced the move with a change in opponent. Ryan Williams replaced a loose checking Trent Goodrem with no immediate result, Herring snaring his 3rd goal, all in the first half. The next centre clearance went to Sturt, through ball magnet Jade Sheedy, again giving another shot on goal to Brant Chambers, but once again, innacurracy resulted in another behind to last years Ken Farmer Medalist. With better ball use from half back and then across the middle, we were able to get our fair share of attacking opportunities. Chris Gowans wasn’t able to convert a shot on goal and Heath Lawry’s usual sticky fingers were letting him down, denying us of more opportunities for entries into our forward 50. Also, Richie Cochrane was doing a good job in defence taking a few couragous marks, drifting across the front of the pack.

Daniel Schell was able to convert a set shot on goal and with the “Sarge” being well held by the versatile Havelberg, Schelly was creating a good, strong marking option out of the goal square. At times the umpiring was a little “bewildering” to say the least, but it was consistently poor for both teams throughout the first half. Suprisingly it wasn't until the 18 minute mark of the 2nd quarter before Chambo was finally able to get his first goal of the game. This was the result of a strong 1 on 1 grab against his opponent all day, Yves Sibenaler. It was a tight tussle throughout the quarter but Centrals were letting themselves down with skill error and Sturt were making the most of their scoring opportunities. This was clearly highlighted by a shocking attempt at a 30 metre handball across the goal face by big Earl Shaw. The ball didn’t hit the target, it was turned over and Sturt were able to punish the Dogs with a goal to ex Rooster Tristian Gum. However, it was then answered back almost immediately with a clever goal to Chad O’Sullivan just before the half time siren to give the Double Blues a 14 point lead at the long break.

The game was a tight, dour tussle so far, but the “whistle happy” umpires seemed to be over policing the contest and seemed extremely “25m penalty happy”. True to form, AFL umpire Colin Rowston paid another 25 metre penalty against the undisciplined Ryan Williams and his fellow Port Power team mate, Adam Thomson, was able to kick the first goal of the “premiership quarter”. Sturt were dropping big Power ruckman Fabian Deluca into the hole at half forward. Despite being aware of this Centrals were just bombing the ball in long and Deluca was taking some big strong grabs. We seemed to lack an efficient “system” across half forward which was causing indecision by our back line and along with our skills letting us down, forcing costly turnovers. Too often we kicked to a 2 on 1 against us and didn’t seem to have numbers at the fall of the ball.

Sturt was able to take the ball forward once again and thanks to an unselfish act from a fairly inaccurate Brant Chambers, Adam Thomson was on the end of another goal. After the next centre ball up, a great attack on the footy from a quiet Luke Cowan saw co-captain Mathew Slade snap truly for a great crumbing goal. This bought the margin back to 13 points then shortly after, at the 17 minute mark, Heath Lawry took a strong mark and kicked truly to somewhat ignite the Doggies. But then once again, another costly turn over, this time a holding the ball decision paid against Trent Goodrem, resulted in a shot on goal for the home team. Thankfully, Chambers let Goodie off the hook kicking his 4th point for the game. This would be the games last score for the quarter, giving Rick Macgowan’s boys a slender 14 point lead going into lemons.

The game was set up at three quarter time to be another cracker, just like the corresponding clash last year. With Luke Cowan having no affect up forward and Dan Havelberg quelling the influence of ex Crow Ian Perrie, we needed to make a move to add a bit of potency to the forward line. Havelberg could have been the answer but Roy Laird persisted with the existing match ups and in the end it probably cost us the game. Sturt started the final stanza in great fashion with a strong mark and goal to Chambers, his second, then a clever goal from a tight angle by diminutive Luke Crane to take the lead out to a game high 30 points. After coming off with the blood rule earlier in the game ex Swans ruckman Earl Shaw played out the game in gurnsey number 61. It would be interesting to find out how many League games have had that jumper see any action, I wouldn’t have thought it would be too many ?

In a smart move by coach Macgowan, another ex Sydney ruckman, Simon Feast was thrown into the forward line. This was then able to expose a much publicised lack of height in the Doggies back half and it paid dividends with the veteran able to kick truly after out marking his much smaller opponent, Andrew Hayes. This move forced the Dogs coach to shift regular CHF Heath Lawry into defence to counter the extra height in Sturt’s attack. With Luke Cowan on the pine, possibly injured, we were relying on Schelly to bring the ball to ground for the crumbers. Centrals though, in true fashion, decided not to give in and after a quick fire response through a goal to Goodrem, it just kept the chance of a comeback alive. The repositioned Lawry then went on to set up a shot on goal for Schelly from about 45 out. His miss could cost any chace of a win now.

Tassie star, Ian Callinan had something to say about that, intercepting the kick out and snapping a clever left foot goal. Then one minute later he had his third for the game and the challenge was being put up to the Double Blues. The margin was now reduced to 16 points and now the Doggies were right back into the contest. Then, no thanks to another confusing 25 metre penalty by the very poor Colin Rowston, Sturt were able to get the ball back into their forward 50. Then this followed by what was probably the final turning point in the game which came when Trent Goodrem, who was having a bad day, missed a simple 20 metre pass by foot across half back. The ball went over the top and Ian Perrie swooped on it for an easy goal to take his teams lead back out to 22 points and kill off any momentum that the Dogs were building.

Once again though, in a seesawing fashion, the Dogs refused to lay down and a clever crumbing goal to Charles Slattery gave some glimmer of hope to Doggies fans. This dull glimmer was then switched off within minutes after the Power listed utility, Greg Brentley, kicked truly from another Doggies turnover, this time a missed kick from his fellow AFL team mate, Ryan Williams. Now the game was now over and Sturt were able to finish the contest off with a couple of late goals. Adam Thomson put icing on the cake with his 4th goal of the game in another impressive effort and Luke Crane kicked his second to seal a 44 point win to the Double Blues. Although the final deficit was well in favour of the home side, it was probably an injustice to the closeness of the game, at least for the first 3 and half quarters. Sturt proved they will probably be the measuring stick of the competition and the Dogs have plenty of work to do on the track, especially with their skill level and forward line efficiency, before next weeks home clash at night against the Redlegs.

FINAL SCORES:
Sturt 17.15 = 117
Central 11. 7 = 73

GOAL KICKERS:
Callinan: 3, Schell:2, Lawry, O'Sullivan, Slattery, Goodrem, Dutschke, Slade: 1

BETTER PLAYERS:
Havelberg, Callinan, C.Gowans, Cochrane, Sibenaler, Shaw, Thomas


In a couple of interesting side points from the game, it was interesting to see former Premiership defender Tyson Hay at the ground to catch his old team. He would have been very disappointed with the final result and I reckon we could definitely have done with his height and run out of our defence today. Also, it was interesting to see Port Power coach Mark “Chocco” Williams at the game. Meeting fellow assistant coaches Adam Kingsley and Daniel Healy on the ground at the quarter time huddles, he apologised for his lateness explaining it took him 25 minutes to find a car park !! Would have been there to keep an eye on the likes of Williams, Deluca, Bentley, Thomson and young rookie Mitch Farmer, no doubt relaxing ahead of tomorrows big Showdown.

Also, umpire Chris Carey will have felt he earned his money tonight after having to officiate through 6 quarters of footy today. After a doing a full reserves game, had to step on for fellow whistle blower, Theron Philp, who didn’t come out after the half time break. Maybe he strained a hamstring or something but I really wish it was Colin Rowston who decided to stay in those change rooms instead. He had an absolute shocker today, but then I guess he is remaining consistant and true to last years form !!? Finally, it was also a little disappointing that the food van behind the Northern goals ran out of ALL soft drinks just before 1/2 time of the main game. I’m not too sure of the final crowd figure, I’m guessing maybe 4500, but you would have thought they’d be stocked up with plenty of drink, especially on such a nice day like today ?

Hope you all enjoy my post, hopefully I will have something better to report on after next week, look out Redlegs, we will be angry !! ??

GO U DOGGIES…

Big Phil…

[OCT]

Big Phil , the umpires were too hot at times I must say we gave away a couple that I was puzzled by. You blokes did seem a bit undisciplened at times I thought. Overall I think both sides have improvement in them . Obviously the umps were instructed to get on top early , but I thought they over umpired . As usual Chambo is their favouite son . Well played , should be another great game next time.

[Wedgie]

Crikey mate, that's the best write up of a game Ive ever seen, if you were an SANFL league player the Advertiser Journos would be running around in A6 ressies!

[heater31]

christ Phil have you sent your CV to the Advertiser yet?

[Wedgie]

christ Phil have you sent your CV to the Advertiser yet?

The term "over-qualified" comes to mind.

[LaughingKookaburra]

Crikey mate, that's the best write up of a game Ive ever seen, if you were an SANFL league player the Advertiser Journos would be running around in A6 ressies!

and starting off the bench. Agree mate, should put a peice into the Advertiser, Zac Milbank would duck and cover

[Big Phil]

Crikey mate, that's the best write up of a game Ive ever seen, if you were an SANFL league player the Advertiser Journos would be running around in A6 ressies!

Cheers Wedgie,

I know it's a bit Centrals orientated but hey, I'm a Doggies supporter, I'll leave the Sturt summaries to the likes of OCT and Sturtpeter.

Have really enjoyed doing the write ups since the trials and have decided, with a bit more improvement, I'm going to gunn it for the Head Football Writer's job at The Advertiser. Reckon I can do a better job than bloody Davinci or Rucchi, what ever his frigin name is !! ?

Thanks again mate...

Big Phil...

[heater31]

christ Phil have you sent your CV to the Advertiser yet?

The term "over-qualified" comes to mind.

yeah you are probably right there

[Wedgie]

Crikey mate, that's the best write up of a game Ive ever seen, if you were an SANFL league player the Advertiser Journos would be running around in A6 ressies!

Cheers Wedgie,

I know it's a bit Centrals orientated but hey, I'm a Doggies supporter, I'll leave the Sturt summaries to the likes of OCT and Sturtpeter.

Have really enjoyed doing the write ups since the trials and have decided, with a bit more improvement, I'm going to gunn it for the Head Football Writer's job at The Advertiser. Reckon I can do a better job than bloody Davinci or Rucchi, what ever his frigin name is !! ?

Thanks again mate...

Big Phil...

Any chance you can cover all the North games for the rest of the year mate?
The Roost is down a match reporter this year and the poor North fans are having to put up with my illterate crud.

[Hazydog]

Great report Phil - you show the passion & intimate knowledge of the SANFL that The Advertiser dont seem to to be able to match IMHO. Having said that I think the Newscorp boys are obviously limited to the amount of space they can use in their articles & are probably editored/butchered by the "faceless" ones.

I also think they have lost a lot of experience with the departure of Doug Robertson.

Well done to Sturt today - simply too good.

A stark reminder to myself that the umpire's incompetence is multiplied ten fold when your team is struggling!!

Obviously early days so not the slightest bit of panic from my perspective.

Interesting though that I thought we completely lost our structure today for extended periods of time & I reckon I only saw that once last year at Prospect. And yes, I know we also lost to Sturt last year but in reality we controlled that game & only some indiscipline late in the final stanza cost us the game when Richie Cochrane (from memory) was pinged for retaliating to an off the ball incident with Chambers.

Anyway, back to todays game.

Dont normally see us flood to the extent we saw today & thank goodness 'cos we didnt do it well. All we really achieved was to give our forwards little chance as they were often outnumbered and also gave ourselves nothing to kick to coming out of defence. The lack of run from defence was startling - whereas Sturt were impressive on the rebound, finding numbers in the corridor.

I am hoping that the excessive flooding tactics & surprising positioning of Schell up forward were as much as anything, a reluctance from the coacing staff to show their hand too early in the season against a side which again looks like it will be around the mark in September.

On reflection, a loss that will clearly keep out feet on the ground for a while= which wont be a bad thing.

[Brucetiki]

On a side note, did anyone else find the catering at House Brothers Oval to be a bit ordinary.

At the southern end canteen, I purchased the last two bottles of Coke in the last quarter of the reserves! Although they restocked, both that canteen and the northern end canteen had ran out of all drinks except water by the second quarter again! Apparantly their excuse was that Wendy's didn't turn up.

[LaughingKookaburra]

On a side note, did anyone else find the catering at House Brothers Oval to be a bit ordinary.

At the southern end canteen, I purchased the last two bottles of Coke in the last quarter of the reserves! Although they restocked, both that canteen and the northern end canteen had ran out of all drinks except water by the second quarter again! Apparantly their excuse was that Wendy's didn't turn up.

Tell you what some of the birds that work at Wendys at the front of my work im gonna start using that excuse when we run out of advertised stock. make your jaw drop some of them

[Mr Irate]

..........
There was a group Centrals supporters near the stand who do need to have a look at themselves. 2-3 guys in particular . Talk about NFI .
Some of the dribble that came from them was a poor reflection on a recently very successful club .

Suggest you pop out and check your glasshouse The blokes in question are so devastated of your disapproval that they've handed in their season tickets and decided to call it a day.

[CUTTERMAN]

Well done to the Blues, couldn't get there so can't really comment too much about the game. It's a great way to start the year, I hope Rick has got a good season plan for us so we're still primed for finals if we make them, Centrals have started slowly in previous years so I don't think there would be too much for Doggies fans to worry about apart from the lack of effort and discipline people have mentioned in yesterdays game. Can anyone tell me the last time when centrals were beaten by so much in a minor round game?
Back on the Double Blues, our 2nds had a bottler and a few players had their 1st run for the year Gregory, Cubillo and others are better off for another game after injury from last year Hurley, Coad, and some young ones making a push for seniors Eckermann, Smith, O'Keefe, Bratton. We seem to have the depth we lacked towards the end of last season.

[Big Phil]

Crikey mate, that's the best write up of a game Ive ever seen, if you were an SANFL league player the Advertiser Journos would be running around in A6 ressies!

Cheers Wedgie,

I know it's a bit Centrals orientated but hey, I'm a Doggies supporter, I'll leave the Sturt summaries to the likes of OCT and Sturtpeter.

Have really enjoyed doing the write ups since the trials and have decided, with a bit more improvement, I'm going to gunn it for the Head Football Writer's job at The Advertiser. Reckon I can do a better job than bloody Davinci or Rucchi, what ever his frigin name is !! ?

Thanks again mate...

Big Phil...

Any chance you can cover all the North games for the rest of the year mate?
The Roost is down a match reporter this year and the poor North fans are having to put up with my illterate crud.

What's the going rate for a reporter of my quality these days Wedgie ?? !!

I'll be satified with a company car, laptop, phone and $28 per hour, has to be a 38 hour week though !!!

HA HA BLOODY HA !!!!

Big Phil...

[CENTURION]

Also, it was great to see a family of Emo's out & about at the footy yesterday. I hope they enjoyed themselves. SURELY going to a football match is FAR more entertaining than skulking about in cemeteries in the middle of night. Being $turt supporters, they actually cracked a couple of smiles when the final siren went! Godd on 'em, I say!

[CENTURION]

..........
There was a group Centrals supporters near the stand who do need to have a look at themselves. 2-3 guys in particular . Talk about NFI .
Some of the dribble that came from them was a poor reflection on a recently very successful club .

Suggest you pop out and check your glasshouse The blokes in question are so devastated of your disapproval that they've handed in their season tickets and decided to call it a day.

He might be referring to those 2 Dorks in those CRAPPY suits! (bloody hell Ainsworth, what WERE you thinking)!