by Big Phil » Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:22 pm
I know I took my time with it, but here it is people, Big Phil's match review of the Doggies v Redlegs clash under lights last night:
BULLDOGS BITE BACK AGAINST FADING REDLEG OUTFITS
What a great night of footy it turned out to be for the Central Districts Football Club and all of its supporters out at Hamra Homes Oval. Despite the possible threat of poor weather closing in, both the League and Reserve teams went on to record solid victories and somewhat atone the poor performances of the week before against the Double Blues. Thankfully the really bad weather did stay away and a strong crowd of approximately 4000 people braved the chilly conditions to witness two resurging Doggies outfits find some form and return to the winners circle.
RESERVES: “Great Comeback Win After Last Weeks Debacle”
Hadden, Stengle, Giles, Officer, Baldwin, Moss, Hudson, White, Woods, Steinberner, Musolino, McShane, Boyle, McGrath, Porter, O’Hara, Duncan, Whiley, Brading, Matson, Ware
GAME REVIEW:
The reserves boys started the game with a couple of players from last weeks game stepping up to make their League debut. Young Matty Westhoff and Cam Faulkner were given their opportunity at a higher level, however, the recently married and underdone league regular, Elijah “Noodles” Ware was having his first official run of the year, kicking it off in the reserves team.
The game started off a bit scrappy with both teams struggling with skill efficiency early on in proceedings. The Redlegs were the first to settle, kicking the opening goal of the game. In my opinion, the sometimes under rated Ashley Duncan was given the task of starting off on exciting Crows Rookie Taylor Walker. However, it wasn’t long before Ash was given his next big challenge being switched over to the league experienced Chad Gibson, a former Adelaide Rookie himself. However, despite his opponent being slightly bigger and stronger, the very impressive Duncan was able to show poise and class beyond his age. He was involved in a very clever switch of play that nearly resulted in the Doggies first goal, just after a huge specie from yet another Crow Rookie in James Moss. Regular defender Chris Musolino was tried up forward in the first quarter, however it didn’t seem to work and there just wasn’t a strong enough target up front for us. It looked like they were missing the earlier promoted Matthew Westhoff in attack.
Elijah Ware looked a little underdone in the first quarter and was struggling to find the ball a bit, however this was not the case for his fellow indigenous team mate in Alex Stengle. Stinga looked right at home across that half back line, using his leg speed and taking the duty of “kicking in”. Yet again, a great attack on the footy by Ash Duncan resulted in another goal scoring opportunity but unfortunately the end result was yet another behind, this time to Sean Brading. Both teams were winning their fair share of the footy, the only difference was that the Redlegs were able to covert on their chances inside the forward 50. Centrals skills at times, were again letting them down and this was causing unnecessary pressure that more often than not, resulted in turnovers. This was clearly highlighted after a good contest from wingman Louis Hadden, who was showing the form once again that got him a few league games last year, then a very clever crumb and pin point pass from youngster Gerard McGrath. This is where it broke down, with the good passage of play ending in dropped chest mark 25 metres out from goal by Keiran McShane. Norwood went into the first break keeping the Doggies goalless whilst able to kick 3 majors themselves. The Redlegs were able to set up a lead of 16 points at quarter time.
After kicking against a 2 or 3 goal breeze in the first quarter, the Doggies needed to now take advantage of the stronger wind advantage and put a few goals on the board. It didn’t start off that way, with the opposition getting the first goal of the 2nd quarter within a couple of minutes. Shortly thereafter, young Power rookie Daniel Boyle went on one of his impressive runs from half back, getting the ball to an open Brodie Hudson. Despite a shocking bounce for Huddo, we were able to get our first goal on the board through Elijah Ware only to have the Legs answer straight back with a major themselves. The Dogs were able to bite back this time, with a good team goal to the very consistant Brayden O’Hara. The goal was all set up through a great passage of play, yet again by the super impressive Ashley Duncan. However, it was still basic skill error on our part that was to blame for costly turnovers and a resulting goal to the Legs. The Dogs then responded with another major to Ryan Porter followed by a classy left foot goal from Noodles, his 2nd for the quarter. Brodie Hudson kicked our next goal from a free in the goal square after yet another good switch of play from number 49, Ash Duncan. After lifting our work rate and intensity around the ball and body, a solid 6 goal to 3 quarter gave us a slender half time lead of 2 points. A great fight back that quarter, using the breeze to our advantage.
Once again, Norwood were out of the blocks quicker than us kicking the first goal of the quarter through a long bomb from Taylor Walker. His opponent, promising local product Nick White, fought back well from defence to consistantly hit the ball hard and set up his team mates with good skill and composure. Sean Brading was having a quiet game for his lofty standards but half forwards Gerard McGrath and fellow North pick up, Ryan Porter, were giving a strong target for our running defenders. Steiny was getting a bit of the footy and was showing some form of old with a couple of blistering runs and tackles. But despite gaining ascendancy with possession of the footy, Centrals were not able to really kick clear with the scoreboard pressure. It was then great to see regular defender Ashley Duncan, after setting a few up himself, get down the ground to finish off a good team effort with a nice goal. More importantly, we were able to back this up with another six pointer, through young James Moss but, unfortunately, this good work came undone through a couple of mistakes from the usually reliable Alex Stengle. Norwood got those 2 goals back to quickly reduce the margin to nine points. It was a late goal on the siren to NSW recruit and skipper for the day, Ben Woods, who was clearly playing his best game for the club, that saw the deficit back out to 15 points at lemons.
Finally, we started a quarter well with a good, early running goal to Elijah Ware. After a slow start to the game, Noodles was certainly sending a message to League selectors with three classy goals. Another impressive performance was by Ryan Porter who unassumingly kicked another goal to cap off the best game for his new club, with 4 goals. The Legs however where not going to lay down and die and after consecutive goals to both Gibson and Walker, were right back in the contest, cutting the margin cut back to the 9 points with about 12 minuted left in the game. The next 6 or 7 minutes of play following was a fairly scrappy affair, with constant turnovers from both teams resulting in a dour struggle to get the ball past their respective half forward lines. Once again, it was Ash Duncan, really strong from half back, who was able to set up yet another goal scoring chance. After a big Brayden O’Hara screamer, Tasmanian recruit Keiran McShane was able to get on the end of a long pass heading toward goal, but his shot on the run missed to the right hand side, resulting in a behind. Now the deficit was at 10 points and this would actually end up being the final margin, in favour of a relieved Doggies oufit.
After a very poor showing the week before against the Double Blues, Damian Hicks would have been very proud of the fighting spirit showed by his boys. A few solid individual efforts and, all in all, a good team win. Hopefully a sign of things to come for the main game. It was great to see a few younger players show a few good signs and this can only mean one thing for the footy club. It creates quality depth which has, in part, been the key to our past success in the last 10 years. An interesting side note was that I didn’t spot Nathan Steinberner on the ground after half time so hopefully it was just a case of easing back into the action still and that there are no more injury concerns with him, especially not on his troublesome shoulder.
FINAL SCORES:
CDFC: 12 . 14 = 86
NFC: 11 . 10 = 76
GOAL KICKERS:
Porter 4, Ware 3, Moss, Hudson, Duncan, Woods, O’Hara 1
BETTER PLAYERS:
Duncan, White, Hadden, Woods, Porter, O’Hara, Moss, Ware, Stengle
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LEAGUE: “Supreme Dogs Atone For Last Weeks Poor Showing”
Lawry, L.Westhoff, Callinan, O’Sullivan, Cochrane, Slattery, Goodrem, Dutschke, Spurr, Thomas, Mackenzie, Shaw, Gowans, Hayes, M.Westhoff, Faulkner, Williams, Sibenaler, Havelberg, Switala, Slade
GAME REVIEW:
Daniel Schell was a late withdrawal from the selected squad with a sore shoulder, meaning that as mentioned above, two players would make their League debuts tonight against the Redlegs team. Matthew, younger bother of Leigh and Justin Westhoff and Cameron Faulkner would play their first official senior game for the club. Well done to the two local boys.
Because of Danny Schell not playing, Buckets actually started the game at CHB on the Legs 150 game player, Stuart Bown. Dan Havelberg was back in his familiar role down at full forward whilst Westhoff, Spurr and O’Sullivan started on the pine. The game got off to a quick start and after a disappointing effort last week Heath Lawry was able to get the first goal of the game within two minutes. Richie Cochrane was controlling half back well in the early stages of the opening quarter, meanwhile, Cam Faulkner was setting the tone early in his first game with two huge tackles in the first few minutes. After a fairly scrappy 10 minutes of play afterward, Norwood levelled the scores with their first goal at the 12 minute mark of the opening stanza. It was now 1 goal a piece at this stage. Former Western Bulldog and debutant Cam Faulkner was able to get his first major for the club with a clever crumb and snapped goal. Charles Slattery looked to have found some form of old whilst winning plenty of the ball and pinpointing team mates inside fifty. A bullet like pass from Slatts to superstar Ian Callinan resulted in the number 5’s first goal of the night.
We seemed to be dominating possession out of the middle despite a scrappy first half to the quarter. Then at the 16 minute mark, Matty Westhoff came onto the ground to give Heater a well earnt rest and he was immediately amongst the action taking a fumbly chest mark at about 45 metres out. But his first kick in league football was unfortunately a behind so unlike his brother Justin, he was not going to be able to kick 4 goals with his first 4 kicks in his senior debut. Now Norwood seemed to panic when in possession and over used the handballed but we were not quite able to make them pay. Despite really good pressure, too many of our tackles were just not able to stick properly. Ryan Williams then decided to show all his team mates how to do it effectively, chasing down arguably one of the quickest players in the SANFL, Legs skipper James Gallagher. It was a great show of desperation and the resulting free kick was rewarded justifiably with a long goal to Willow from just on the 50. Despite us dominating the majority of play and possession for the quarter, we just weren’t quite able to break away and only went into quarter time with a small 15 point lead. The challenge for Roy’s boys from here on in, is to whether or not they can put a bit of consistency together and finish out the game strongly over four quarters.
The Redlegs started the second quarter stronger with a couple of quick forward entries but our somewhat ‘makeshift’ defence was holding up really strong. Then with good run off half back from Thommo we were able to immediately take the ball down the other end of the ground. Chris Gowans hit Matty Westhoff out on the lead with one of his customary pin point passes and young Westty obliged and drilled home his first major in league colours taking the early lead out to 21 points. Both Adam Switala and another Westhoff, Leigh, were burning it up on their two wings, using their pace and drive from half back while Andrew Hayes was courageously backing back into the packs as always, taking very strong marks. There was still a few skill errors in part by both teams and at particular times, it was costing both sides goals through silly turnovers and fruitless attempts at flooding. Yves Sibenaler was doing a good nullifying job against Jamie Vlatko and Buckets really looked as though he fitted in well to the back six. Power listed Ryan Williams was able to win a bit of the footy playing on the ball and across half back, but like last week, at times his skill level was still letting him down. Once again, it was another skill error, this time a badly misdirected handball from Thommo across half back that gifted Norwood veteran Mathew Dawes an easy run to an open goal.
After a few more minutes of scrappy play, Cam Faulkner got on the end of a Doggies clearance to drive the ball deep into attack, resulting in a strong diving chest mark and second goal to ‘Nutta’ Callinan. Our forward line pressure had definatley picked up from last week and we were looking a bit more efficient across the ground. But Norwood quickly answered our six pointer back with a good running goal to youngster Josh Donohue. Centrals response to this was also immediate, in the blink of an eye, regular game breaker Callinan, had kicked his 3rd after an amazing long goal, running at full tilt with his opponent closing in on his tail. With Buckets holding down CHB well, ruckman Earl Shaw was rested up forward, with not much effect, giving the very versatile Heath Lawry a run in the ruck. Heater lost the next contest in the centre circle though and the ball was then taken into Norwood’s 50 where Jesse Aish was able to kick a clever left foot goal that was helped along by a leg break bounce Shane Warne would be proud of. Just a few minutes later, the son of Redlegs legend Michael, was almost able to get a second major after previously reducing the margin to 15 points from 21. Aish’s resulting behind reduced the deficit to 14 points with his shot on goal being the last score for the first half by either team, leaving the Dogs with roughly a 3 goal lead going into the long break.
With a few big names not out there there for both teams, guys like Schell, Cowan, McCabe, Ware, J.Gowans, Doyle, Phillips, Culpitt and Trotter, the first half was a scrappy affair with the Dogs not really getting out of first gear. The Redlegs however were the quickest out of the blocks with the talented Jessie Aish having his 2nd goal on the board within the first minute. Norwood must have copped a spray from coach Trevor Hill at half time because they looked as though there was more intent and desire. They did seem to control possession early in the third term, no thanks to more skill errors from the Dogs, but they just couldn’t apply enough scoreboard pressure. The Legs had the next 4 shots on goal but were only able to score 1 goal 2. It took until the 7 minute mark of the quarter for the Dogs first shot on goal, which ended up being a badly shanked kick from Switty that didn’t even score and actually went out of bounds on the full. Frustrating for our supporters, basic skill errors were letting a few of the boys down still and the next few passages of play saw examples of this from Willow, Sladey and Slattery. It finally took the experienced and classed Chris Gowans to show his team mates how to do it, slotting a clever goal from underneath the scoreboard. This then seemed to ignite the Centrals and our pressure and intensity picked up all across the ground. The Dogs caused the Legs to panic again with the ball and turn it over, setting up the next two scoring shots on goal, one to our co-captain Slade and the other to last years Best and Fairest winner, Ian Callinan.
Both players were not able to convert their chances and only they registered a behind each. Then a strong couple of tackles resulted in the ball spilling out to the very classy Callinan who was able to weave some of his magic and set up his skipper in Paul Thomas with a running team goal. Now the margin had been stretched out to 23 points half way through the 3rd quarter and it looked as though, finally, our superior class and skills were going to shine through. Former West Adelaide player, Charles Slattery came back onto the ground late in this quarter and had an immediate impact. He was able to use his pace and good skill level to set team mates up, but he worked just as hard off the ball as well. Matty Slade was also winning his fair share of footy and actually took a couple of impressive marks for a rover. Then, put simply, the immaculate Callinan was just not shown enough respect by Norwood and was given way too much space. He was able to burn the Legs’ lack of discipline by hitting his leading forwards on the chest whilst also drifting forward to kick his fourth for the game. The margin was now out to a game high 5 goals and the boys from The Parade were not responding well to the pressure applied by Centrals. Classy Callinan proved he’s worth every cent we paid for him winning a deserved free kick after a tough holding the ball decision was paid in his favour. Then, after the siren, he calmly slotted through his 5th major and influenced the Dogs to a comfy 36 point lead at lemons.
With Callinan’s superstar performances in the SANFL to date, it begs the question as to how he has not been able to make it back onto an AFL list for a second time !? After doing some early preseason training with Richmond before Christmas, his superior skill level and amazing goal sense was just not what the Tigers were after, obviously. I say bad luck to Terry Wallace and Richmond, but then wonderful news for Centrals and their fans. No doubt, it would be a little bit disappointing for Ian. If it was, it didn’t seemed to bother him last night with a near flawless game to date by the diminutive Tasmanian. The Dogs were able to start the last quarter with the same momentum gained late in the 3rd stanza after Matty Westhoff received a confusing free kick and nailed his second for the night. Matty was then involved yet again after a strong ‘tag team’ tackle with a fairly quiet Scott Dutschke. He quickly pushed forward after the free was awarded and was cleverly able to get his third goal in a fairly impressive debut. Despite having limited possessions and trying to do too much at times, Cam Faulkner proved he will be a handy recruit coming back home after his stint in the AFL. After a reasonably quiet game as well, last years 14 goal hero, Havelberg then raked in a one handed speccie and kicked truly.
Chris Gowans was maintaining his good form despite not having his suspended brother out there and young second year player Lee Spurr was displaying a fairly impressive marking ability above his head. Like a few of his fellow younger team mates, it was basic foot skills that did show there is still a bit of room for improvement. Shortly after Havelberg’s first major, skipper Paul Thomas was able to get amongst the multiple goal kickers finding a bit of space down the southern end of the ground and kick his second running goal of the game. Adam Switala and Leigh Westhoff were once again impressive from their wings and became more instrumental as the game went on. Now after easily breaking away from a fading Redlegs outfit, the margin was extended to the 10+ goal deficit after a nice goal to Scotty Dutschke. A rare moment in the second half saw Norwood having a shot on goal through the well held Jamie Vlatko. But in what was a show of sheer determination, despite the game result being beyond doubt, Richie Cochrane ran full pelt for 35 metres to just get a finger tip on the Vlatko shot that did sailed straight through the middle. From the resulting kick out, the reigning premiers were able to take the ball down their end of the ground setting up Chad O’Sullivan with a shot on goal. Sully’s kick just cleared the goal line with the worst floating helicopter punt you have ever seen in a game of football. This would end up being the last score of the game with the final result being an emphatic 71 point run away victory for the home side. A good comeback after last week fad out against the Double Blues at Unley.
It was good to see that the Doggies were basically able to put 4 solid quarters of footy together and with next weeks bye, the players will be able to face up to the Roosters fresh for the clash on ANZAC Day. It was no doubt, the best team effort by the boys to date including the trial games and Roy Laird would be pleased with the final result. He would have been especially happy with his defence, restricting the Redlegs to just 1 goal 4 in the second half whilst being able to pile home 10 goals in attack. The boys will know that there is still plenty of improvement in them and with a few quality players still to come back in, the signs are looking good for the rest of the year. Just a couple of special mentions to Cam Faulkner and Matty Westhoff, both with a very engouraging debut at league level. Now, we look forward to ANZAC Day and North.
FINAL SCORES:
CDFC: 17 . 13 = 115
NFC: 6 . 8 = 44
GOAL KICKERS:
Callian 5, M.Westhoff 3, Thomas 2, Gowans, Faulkner, Havelberg, Lawry, Williams, Dutschke
BETTER PLAYERS:
Callinan, Slattery, Thomas, Switala, L.Westhoff, Slade, M.Westhoff, C.Gowans, Williams
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Hope you all enjoy this one, I was pretty impressed with it myself... It's so much more fun writing up about a solid team win...
GO U DOGGIES...
Big Phil...
Last edited by
Big Phil on Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
