BIG PHIL'S MATCH REPORTS

[Big Phil]

hey Fellow Footy Fans,

For those that are interested, or for any potential journalstic employment opportunities that may arise from this, I have started this new topic that has my weekly match reviews I have been doing from all the Centrals games this year. Of course, being a Doggies fans, they are a little one sided in that regard, but I certainly make sure to try and mention any good players from the opposition sides on a weekly basis.

As you can see, they are quite detailed and long winded, so I will do a fresh post for each individual round and title them accordingly...

Enjoy the reading people...

GO U DOGGIES...

Big Phil...

[Big Phil]

ROUND 1: Port Adelaide @ Hamra Homes Oval (N) 29/3/08

DOGGIES START YEAR OFF WITH TWO HARD FOUGHT WINS

Well, thank god footy is back officially for 2008. After showing some up and down form in the trial games, a big crowd was expected at Hamra Homes Oval not only for the unveiling of our sixth Premiership Flag but to cheer on our players, old and new for the first time as the 2007 Reigning Premiers. A feeling we are all familiar with and of course, we are hoping to maintain our SANFL dominance once again this season and in the many years to come as well. For those who weren't able to attend tonights game, here is MY wrap of of both the reserves and league games. Both teams starting the year of with a W in the books, WELL DONE BOYS...

RESERVES: "BYRON NOT ENOUGH TO HALT DOGGIES FIRST UP WIN OVER MAGGIES"

The Magpies started the game with a few quality players in the line up including Power young gun, Nathan Krakouer and a very unfit, slightly over weight Byron Pickett. Centrals lost Lee Spurr to the League team before the bounce, after Cameron Faulkner didn't quite come up for the main game.

As per the form of early trial games, the boys started the quarter a little slowly, even though Sean Brading kicked the first goal of the game. Young Port Magpies forward, Jordan Erskine, kept us in the game by kicking 4 points in the first 10 minutes, all from set shots. Young Nick White was struggling at full back but we were lucky enough to be left off the hook with Port kicking 2.5 for the quarter. Chris Musolino looked good off half back, showing good run and drive, and it was great to see a fit, revitalised looking Kane Officer in a red, white & blue gurnsey once again. He looked good early winning a few possessions, however the story from most of his team mates was poor skills, resulting in errors and turnovers.

Chad O’Sullivan showed his class early in the second quarter, playing on the ball. He did well to set Kane Officer up for a good team goal. Again, at times, skills were letting both teams down, with indecision by foot and a lack of targets up forward. Our young Crows rookie, James Moss, was playing well from his wing and even floated across half back to take himself a nice big pack mark. The intensity lifted in the second half of the quarter and guys like Brayden O’Hara and the impressive Todd Whiley were starting to find a bit of the ball, with Brodie Hudson becoming a strong target up forward. Unfortunately Brodie couldn’t convert with a couple of shots on goal, but the boys still went into the long break of a tight contest with a solitary behind as their lead.

Once again, off to a slow start to the quarter with Port kicking a goal within the first 30 seconds. Despite trying to impose himself in his typical “crunching” manner, Byron Pickett was being well held by Ashley Duncan, who even took a crunching bump from the big man when laying a top sheppard. Impressively, the under 19 player from last year bounced straight back on his feet and pushed off to the next contest. Despite his superior stature and experience, Jonathon Giles wasn’t really winning the ruck contest so the on ballers were made to work really hard throught the middle. Then, against the flow of play, O’Hara kicked a big goal to start up a bit of momentum. Mossy took another hanger, Alex Stengle was playing really well off half back and Matty Westhoff was giving a strong contest in the forward line. Chad O’Sullivan and Ryan Porter then starting winning a few more of the contested possessions, which led to a really good goal by booming left footer, Todd Whiley. After a 5 goal to 2 quarter, we went into lemons with an 18 point lead.

We finally started a quarter will with Tassie recruit Keiran McShane getting a nice tap down from Joffa, delivered it to the forward line, followed up his kick and was able to go on and kick a good goal. I think we lost Luke Barmby to injury but the back line was able to cover him well with Nick White lifting his game to improve on a poor first half. Young NSW recruit, Ben Woods came into the game kicking a couple of goals. Despite the boys again struggling with turn overs and skill errors, both teams managed to kick 4 goals a piece leaving the final margin similar to that of ¾ time. Hicksy’s boys went onto register a hard fought 17 point win and the coach would have been impressed with a good team effort, which included 5 players kicking 2 or more goals each. Well done boys…

RESERVES TEAM:
Hadden, O'Sullivan, Stengle, Giles, Officer, M.Westhoff, Baldwin, Moss, Hudson, White, Woods, Musolino, McShane, Barmby, McGrath, Porter, O'Hara, Duncan, Whiley, Brading, Matson

FINAL SCORES:
CDFC - 2.0 3.3 5.3 4.2 14. 8 = 92
PAFC - 2.5 2.3 2.4 4.3 10.15 = 75

GOAL KICKERS:
M.Westhoff 3, Brading, Whiley, O'Hara, Woods 2, McShane, Officer, Matson 1

BETTER PLAYERS:
O'Hara, Whiley, Musolino, O'Sullivan, Stengle, M.Westhoff, Moss, Officer, White, Hadden

============================================================================================================================

LEAGUE: "DOGGIEST FORCED TO FIGHT FOR FIRST UP WIN"

It was a great start to the night with the 2007 Premiership Flag doing a lap of honour before the start of the game. It was also good to see the Cheersquad have a banner for the boys to start the year off. Didn’t see what it said myself, but maybe a tribute to Luke Cowan for his 100th game ? I had the chance to have a quick chat to Thommo before the game and he mentioned a late change with Cameron Faulkner pulling out after rolling his ankle on the track late in the week. Lee Spurr the replacement, for just his second game.

After some experimentation in the North trial, Trent Goodrem started off at half back with big Buckets, debutant Power rookie, Daniel Boyle, and late inclusion, Lee Spurr sitting on the pine. The boys got off to a pretty good start with another first gamer, ex Swan Earl Shaw, getting his hands on the ball in the ruck contests. This led to the first of Daniel Havelberg’s 2 goals for the quarter after receiving a pin point bullet pass from Sponge and taking a good overhead mark. Leigh Westhoff was getting a bit of the ball early off his wing and after lifting our skill level half way through the quarter we were able to compile a good team goal from CHF Heath Lawry. Our attack on the both the footy and the player with the ball was impressive early with Heath Lawry charging at the ball, dishing out good handballs and laying a bone crunching hip and shoulder. Despite a few anticipated but still bewildering umpire decisions we were able to conjure up a very impressive 5 goal to 1 quarter to lead by 21 points at quarter time. This was also helped by a lack of discipline from a few Port players giving away 25 metre penalties, giving an easy goal to young Scott Dutshke in particular.

We started the 2nd quarter with good forward line pressure despite Port dropping a loose man in defence to fill up any holes. Despite dominating possession early we weren’t able to convert on the scoreboard and against the run of play, Port goaled through Daniel Elstone to stay in touch with the reigning premiers. Again, Heath Lawry’s attack on the footy was outstanding and we managed to answer back immediately with a good running goal to veteran Mathew Slade. At the 12 minute mark of the quarter, Daniel Boyle got his first taste of SANFL footy, however within minutes he found himself in the umpire’s book for striking ex Eagle Vinnie Rugolo. Fellow Power player, Ryan Williams was given the task of tagging Port ace Jeremy Clayton. At times, he did well running off the Mageray Medallist, showing composure and good skills. Leigh Westhoff showed selectors he is ready to take the next step and play consistant League football by kicking a really good goal as well as showing a clean pair of heels and a toughness at the ball and body. We controlled the footy for most of the quarter but despite both teams only kicking 2.2 a piece, we went into the long break with the same 21 point lead as at quarter time. Our backline was very impressive with Scell and Sibenelar quelling any influence of AhChee and Hargraves, respectively.

Our starts to the quarter were excellent and the 3rd was certainly no different with co-captain Paul Thomas soccering the ball off the ground, into out forward 50. A smart Ian Callinan separated himself from a little dust up deep in attack, swooped on the loose ball and pin pointed a pass to a strong marking Havelberg. The missile from last years B&F winner went whizzing over the top of the mele and Hav finished off with a great goal. Chris Gowans seemed to cop of cheap and heavy knock from his opponent and, of course, in true Gowans fashion, picked himself up and tracked down the instigator for a friendly chat. Despite the heavy knock Chris still won the hard ball and used it well on both feet. With another “mele” occuring whilst Chris seeked out revenge, Port managed to take the ball end to end, resulting in a goal to youngster Steven Summerton. Once again, our backline held up well, we were winning the battle of the wings with Leigh Westhoff and Adam Switala getting plenty of it and I was impressed with our forward line pressure. After a below par first half, Ian Callinan lifted. He was tough at it, found his team mates with superior skills as well as getting amongst the goal kickers. However, Port answered straight back with 2 quick goals to Miller and Rugolo and the margin was now down to 14 points. This was, in part, through our poor descision making and a lack of execution, causing turnovers. All of a sudden Port were breaking our tackles, finding space and outscoring us for the quarter 5 goals to 4. It could have been worse, but a 5 or 6 minute purple patch late in the quarter. This resulted in goals to Buckets and Wing Nut. Ex Rooster, Daniel Hargraves kicked the last goal of the quarter to not only fire his team mates up, but to also have the 3/4 time margin at the 14 point mark.

Like the majority of the game, the last quarter was a dour battle with both teams fighting hard for their first win of the year. We started the quarter with Sladey winning the first clearance but were unlucky to not receive a free kick for holding the ball deep into our forward line. How the umpire decided on a ball up after a Port player took on 3 Centrlals players is beyond me ? Good to see the standard of umpiring hasn’t changed !!? From the ball up the Magpies once again took the ball “end to end” for a goal to new captain Corey Achee who had a pretty good battle with Schelly all night. The deficit was now only 7 points. Then in what was probably the most crucial play of the night, Ian Callinan was beaten by his taller opponent Mathew King (I think ?) in a one on one. With Callinan closing in on him, the Maggies defender tried to turn inside only to do his hamstring !!Then in a desperate, hobbling attempt the Port player tried to get the ball to the boundary line, but failed. Once again, like a hawk, Callinan swooped in on the ball, turned another opponent on his heels, came inside and snapped a real quality goal. Goal of the night, margin now at 13 points.

Just as we had started to stretch the lead out and gain some momentum there was a bloody STREAKER on the ground. !!?? I thought the cricket season had just finished ? With just his jocks on and a back pack, the alcohol affected supporter came onto the ground at the Southern End and slowly made his way across the oval, down to the Northern End. Although it was absolutely hilarious, the timing was poor. We had just kicked the last goal and now that swing in momentum was being held up. This crucial time lost was also due to the extremely incompetent security staff from Weslo who not only just meandered after the “pitch invader” but also had to be ushered off the ground by umpires after just wondering around on the Grandstand side wing, like lost little puppies ??? What a joke Weslo. During all the commotion of the streaker, a customary orange flair was let off by the cheersquad as well causing more chaos down the scoreboard end.

Once the footy recommenced, Port were able to get first hands on the footy. When we did have the ball we turned it over through poor foot skills. At the 16 minute mark of the last quarter, big Crows listed ruckman Ivan Maric marked and goaled from about 30 metres out to again cut the difference back to 7 points. From the next ball up, we managed to go forward with a high kick into our attacking 50. Ian Callinan showed his class once again by getting a ride on the back of his opponent to take a very clever mark. From about 45 metres out he slammed his shot on goal into the post, taking the lead out to 8 points. A turn over from the resulting Port kick out, at the 22 minute mark, ended up in the hands of BOG Leigh Westhoff who finished a great night personally, with a classy goal. This now gave us a bit of breathing space, just knowing that Port still had to kick 3 goals in about 5 minutes to be a chance. Finally, the win was sealed shortly thereafter with a Heath Lawry bomb from outside 50, the result of a rare free kick to us in our forward line. The final winning margin was 20 points in favour of the Mighty Dogs.

With our first win under our belt, we now head to Unley for a “top of the table” clash. It was probably good for the boys to start off with a dour, tough fighting game as we will probably find the Double Blues just as hard, if not harder. From what I could see, we had no injuries from tonights game and should also have a few to come back next week. There are also a couple of young boys impressing in the reserves, namely O'Hara, M.Westhoff, Hadden and Duncan.

LEAUGE TEAM:
Lawry, L.Westhoff, Callinan, Cochrane, Slattery, Goodrem, Dutschke, Spurr, Thomas, MacKenzie, Shaw, C.Gowans, Hayes, Cowan, Schell, Williams, Sibenaler, Boyle, Slade, Havelberg, Switala

FINAL SCORES:
CDFC - 5.0 2.2 4.0 3.2 14.4 = 88
PAFC - 1.3 2.2 5.2 2.1 10.8 = 68

GOAL KICKERS:
Callinan, Havelberg 3, Lawry, L.Westhoff 2, Dutschke, MacKenzie, Cowan, Slade 1

BETTER PLAYERS:
L.Westhoff, Callinan, Lawry, Switala, Slade, Sibenaler, Havelberg, Williams, Schell

Hopefully you all enjoyed my review, I enjoyed posting it and look forward to continue doing so for the remainder of the year. Hopefully I will have another good game to report on next week after the clash with Sturt in what some say may be a prelude to the Grand Final ?

GO U DOGGIES…

Big Phil…

[Big Phil]

ROUND 2: Sturt @ House Brothers Oval - Unley 5/4/08

DOGGED DAY OUT FOR BOTH OUR TEAMS AT UNLEY

Hi all, don't need to go into much detail other than to say it was pretty dissapointing day for the club as a whole today, with all 4 grades losing. No doubt, we will learn from it and be hungry to get things right. A few worrying signs from both games but as proven in the past, a flat, slow start to season means bugger all if you are up and about come late September, which we always seem to be. All I can say is look out to the Norwood Football Club for next week's games, there will be a 42 blokes keen to avenge this weeks poor showing against the Double Blues. Following is Big Phil’s review of a pretty dismal day for our two senior sides at a suburban Unley dog park and kiddies play ground, now known as House Brothers Oval.

RESERVES: “DOUBLE BLUES BRUTALLY 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.

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.

RESERVES TEAM:
Hadden, Stengle, Giles, Officer, M.Westhoff, Baldwin, Moss, Hudson, White, Woods, Steinberner, Musolino, McShane, Boyle, McGrath, O'Hara, Duncan, Whiley, Brading, Matson, Faulkner

FINAL SCORES:
SFC - 21.13 = 139
CDFC - 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 GREAT GIVES CENTRALS BOYS THE BLUES !!”
Former Central’s Premiership star and second year Sturt coach Rick Macgowan lead the Double Blues to a very comfortable 44 point run away victory over reigning premier, Central Districts.

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, as usual.

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 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, this forced costly turnovers. Too often we kicked it to a 2 on 1 against us and didn’t seem to have any 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 from either team, 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 45m 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 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.

LEAGUE TEAM:
Lawry, L.Westhoff, Callinan, O'Sullivan, Spurr, Cochrane, Slattery, Goodrem, Dutschke, Slade Thomas, Mackenzie, Shaw, C.Gowans, Hayes, Cowan, Schell, Williams, Sibenaler, Havelberg, Switala

FINAL SCORES:
SFC - 17.15 = 117
CDFC - 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 assistants Adam Kingsley and our very own 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, he had to step in 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 we shown Norwood what happens when we get angry and look to bounce back after a dissapointing loss !!?

GO U DOGGIES…

Big Phil…

[Big Phil]

ROUND 3: Norwood @ Hamra Homes Oval (N) 12/4/08

BULLDOGS BITE BACK AGAINST FADING REDLEGS OUTFIT

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. The pleasing thing, no doubt, would be that we weren't at our greatest in the first half and yet we still went on to record a solid 12 goal victory. The Ressies bounced back really well also, hanging on for a tight, but little inaccurate victory, in the end. Well done both teams.

RESERVES: “GREAT COMEBACK WIN AFTER LAST WEEK'S DEBARCLE”

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, taleted local junior 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 former North player 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.

RESERVES TEAM:
Hadden, Stengle, Giles, Officer, Baldwin, Moss, Hudson, White, Woods, Steinberner, Musolino, McShane, Boyle, McGrath, Porter, O’Hara, Duncan, Whiley, Brading, Matson, Ware

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

===================================================================================================================================

LEAGUE: “SUPREME DOGGIES ATONE FOR LAST WEEKS LOSS”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 Wethoff 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 Wethoff, both with a very engouraging debut at league level. Now, we can look forward to ANZAC Day and North Adelaide.

LEAGUE TEAM:
Lawry, L.Westhoff, Callinan, O’Sullivan, Cochrane, Slattery, Goodrem, Dutschke, Spurr, Thomas, Mackenzie, Shaw, Gowans, Hayes, M.Westhoff, Faulkner, Williams, Sibenaler, Havelberg, Slade, Switala

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

Good to see some form of old in the second half by the boys, really running away with the win. Coach Roy Laird and his players can now look forward to a weeks rest having the bye in Round 4 before takling North Adelaide in the traditional grand final replay of Anzac Day, now resheduled at the beautiful Adelaide Oval. Hopefully a big crowd turns up for this wondeful day of action, but I must say, I'm a little dissapointed it has now been shifted from Hamra Homes Oval. Not only would it have been a good day for the club in twerms of takings, but it would have been an awesome atmosphere with 6 maybe 7 thousand people at our wonderful home ground.

GO U DOGGIES...

Big Phil...

[Big Phil]

ROUND 4: BYE

The early season bye has probably come at a good time with a few players recoveing from injuries at the moment. It will also give any players with little niggles time to hopefully get them right while still stay fresh and ready for the big Anzac Day clash in Round 5.

Obviously the Grand Final remact also signals James Gowans first game back for season 2008. No doubt he has been working hard on the track to maintain his fitness and touch and will be raring to go in true Gowans fashion come Friday 25th April. Can't wait to see both Gowans in action together once again...

Will be interesting to see if the week off will be enough time for injury recoveries to see any of our current injured players like McCabe, Schell, Cowan, Ware, Aufderheide, McShane, Barmby etc take to the field in either team against North Adelaide on Anzac Day ?

Only time will tell as we all look forward to the blockbuster clash against Andrew Jarman's mob...

GO U DOGGIES...

Big Phil...

[Big Phil]

ROUND 5: North Adelaide @ Adelaide Oval - ANZAC DAY 25/4/08

MIXED EMOTIONS FOR DOGGIES ON OUR NATIONS PROUDEST DAY

I arrived at the picturesque Adelaide Oval around midday saying hello to a few proud diggers all dressed up with their medallions on show as they headed off from the earlier Anzac Day march. I then made my way down Montefore Hill grabbing my Football Budget as I entered the ground with great anticipation of an exiting day ahead. The league team obviously had a tough fighting wn, despite some woeful umpiring displays and well done to Thommo for claiming his 3rd Bob Quinn medal. Unfortunately the ressies just couldn't get their act together all day and struggled at times to match North's taller forwards. The Roosters shocking inaccuracy (13 goals, 17 behinds) probably kept Hicksey's boys a bit closer than they should have been. Here goes...

RESERVES: “INNACCURATE ROOSTERS KEEP DOGGIES IN THE GAME”

The first thing I noticed when I got a glimpse of the pristine oval was our reserves boys out on the field warming up and surprisingly the number 8 gurnsey of Luke McCabe was out there. It was great to see the veteran playing again, making his comeback from injury. There was however, one noticeable absentee from this line up and that was last game’s very impressive League debutant, Matthew Westhoff. This had to mean one of two things then. One of the taller options selected to play for the League team may have withdrawn therefore causing a possible late change. Otherwise as an earlier journo's report had suggested, he may be suffering from stress fractures of the foot. As I later found out this was sadly true for Matthew, which will now put a slight halt on his exciting football progression. Poor Matty can now expect around 6 weeks on the sidelines but the good news for the Power listed player is that he will obviously be in a position to receive the best treatment available being on an AFL list. Of course, we all wish the youngest Westhof brother a speedy recovery, look forward to seeing him in a Doggies jumper at league level once again.

The reserves game was about to get underway with a fairly strong breeze blowing across the ground, not really favouring either side. In true fashion, Luke McCabe won the first hard ball clearance, kicking it out of the middle and following it up to lay a wonderful tackle and winning the holding the ball decision. It was great to see the veteran back to his best so early on in his first game back from a hamstring problem. The next five minutes of play were a bit scrappy with both teams settling into the pace of the game. Brayden O’Hara was then able to win the next contested ball but, uncharacteristically a poor kick let him down causing a turn over and this saw the ball transferred into North’s attacking 50 almost instantly.

A soft holding the ball decision paid against Ben Woods saw North Adelaide open the scoring with the first goal of the day. Once again, Luke McCabe showed his superior class and poise to hit Sean Brading out in front on a strong lead. The promising Brading was then able to go back and slot the six pointer, the Doggies first of the game. Although at times our skills and decision making coming out of defence was poor, the Roosters were letting us off the hook with some very inaccurate goal kicking. Persistence paid of for North and they were able to get their second goal through a strong mark by big Phil Davis. The Dogs answered straight back with a goal of their own after a strong mark and 25m penalty to Louis Hadden. It was the pacy wingman who handed North their next scoring opportunity after there was a slight lull in play from the next 5 or 6 minutes of action.

Hadden was penalised for holding the ball but once again the Roosters were not able to make him pay with the resulting shot on goal missing. Inexcusably another Dog’s turn over from the resulting kick out, saw solidly built Indigenous player Wade Thompson miss an easy shot on goal. The number 54 was listed to make his League debut this afternoon, as his name was not listed for the reserves team shown in the Budget. The Dogs finally got it right with their kick outs and a long bomb from Stengle saw a clever set up in play by the talented Ashley Duncan. He was able to pounce on a loose ball that went over the back of the pack, taking possession of the ball and drawing his opponent. A quick release handball pinpointed young Daniel Boyle who was able to go on one of his customary long runs. The solidly built Power rookie started this run at the half back flank and was able to carry the footy the whole length of the centre square, taking 4 bounces along the way and finishing off the quarter with an inspirational long goal.

North Adelaide would have come out of the quarter time break ruing their inaccuracy at goal and disappointed to not be well in front on the scoreboard. The Dogs started the second quarter with a fairly impressive on ball brigade. Louis Hadden and Crows rookie James Moss were out on the wings and league experienced players Jonathon Giles, Luke McCabe, Lee Spurr and Kane Officer were in the middle. North had the first couple of inside 50’s for the quarter but our back line was holding strong through the likes of Dan Boyle, Alex Stengle and Ash Duncan. Despite Centrals controlling the next 5 minutes of possession, without scoring a goal mind you, the Roosters were able to run the ball the full length of the field with too much ease and kick their third goal of the game. The impressive and tall Phil Davis had all of his teams goals to date with 3 majors and made Damien Hicks think about his match up. As has been the case at stages through out the year, turnovers by the Dogs were too costly and the boys skill level was letting them down.

Roosters skipper Ryan McGahey was able to pounce on a missed kick out by Daniel Boyle and kick a goal for North Adelaide again highlighting the cost of poor disposal from the Dogs. Regular performers Brayden O’Hara, Todd Whiley and Sean Brading were a little quiet so it then took the experience of older players Kane Officer and Luke McCabe to keep Centrals in touch with North. It was the former Hawks defender who kicked a goal for the home side which then sparked a hard working shift in momentum for the Dogs. The next 5 minutes of play saw talented Ryan Porter take control of the game against his old club, taking a few strong marks and kicking a handy goal. James Gowan’s best mate Shane Shubert was sitting just off to my left with his family and he actually mentioned to me that he couldn’t believe Jarman told Porter he was not required in '08. We are more than happy to have him running around in a Doggies jumper. The demoted Lee Spurr than gave his team more momentum kicking another goal with the assistance of a 25m penalty. His major would be the last score of the quarter giving Centrals a small 4 point lead over an inaccurate North at half time.

Centrals were quickest out the blocks in the second half with young Gerard McGrath kicking a goal within the first two minutes of the third quarter. This was answered straight back by North with a fourth goal to Phil Davis who now had a new opponent in local lad Nick White, who has impressed from the start of year, continually performing well against much taller opponents. It was then the next ten minute period that once again saw the Doggies dominate play without putting a winning score on the board. With Jon Giles controlling the ruck, Brodie Hudson was isolated in the goal square and almost had a hand in the next goal. Huddo made a contest to bring the ball to ground and Luke McCabe crumbed well to handball over the top to an open Porter. No voice by his surrounding team mates saw a desperate North tackle effect the kick enough to make the former Rooster miss what should have been a certain goal. Showing his class above the rest, the 2005 Jack Oatey medallist pounced on a loose ball in the square to kick his second major for the day showing the selectors he hadn’t lost any of his experience and form despite missing 4 weeks with an injury.

Shortly after, another solid run from defence, this time set up by Daniel Boyle, saw the Dogs heading into attack and a clever one handed mark saw Sean Brading have a very tough shot on goal. His resulting behind from deep in the pocket saw North run the ball the full length of the field once again, kicking a great team goal against the flow of play. After a strong centre clearance North kicked a second goal within minutes and had now managed to peg the lead back, albeit by a slender 1-point margin. The Dogs won the next clearance from the ball up and a quick kick forward by Louis Hadden saw Brodie Hudson take a clever diving mark. His resulting goal from the set shot gave his team the lead back but in true sea saw fashion, Zac Millar responded with his second goal for the quarter, giving North a 1 point lead once again. This seemed to spark the Roosters and their forward line pressure saw them on the end of a goal shortly after to take the lead out to 7 points. They controlled the footy for the last minutes of the quarter which including a shot on goal after the ¾ time siren. This shot missed and the resulting behind gave the Red and Whites a tight 8 point lead at lemons.

This enthralling battle to date was set up for an exiting finish and it will be interesting to see if the Roosters goal kicking inaccuracy would end up costing them the game. The final quarter started with regular defender Joel Baldwin shifted to the forward lines. Joel would not be unfamiliar with these surroundings having mainly played as a full forward in the reserves last year. This move didn’t seem to work early on with North first out of the blocks with a third Zac Millar goal extending his sides lead out to 14 points. Both teams seemed desperate at the ball and body but Centrals were letting them selves down once again with basic skill errors and turnovers. North were controlling the play but an aggressive attack on the ball from Ashley Duncan saw a great run from the underrated Alex Stengle getting the ball inside his teams forward 50. A superb snap goal from Brodie Hudson and a quick follow up goal to Porter saw the margin reduced to just one major six pointer. Centrals looked to have the ascendancy back with lose players all over the ground but somehow the Roosters managed to muster up a goal all through the hard work of impressive Crows rookie Tony Armstrong.

Now it looked as though this great contest was going to go down to the wire and after Huddo mark strongly and goaled at the 20-minute mark, the deficit was back to a single goal. It was once again a Doggies turn over, this time a missed Todd Whiley handball, that handed North a bit of momentum back with a six pointer to Johnny Boras. It was another fine effort by a diving Alex Stengle that saved another Roosters goal with the rushed behind now taking the margin out to 13 points in favour of North. The victory for the Red and Whites was assured immediately after the kick out when talented Tony Armstrong kicked a winning goal to seal a 20-point victory. Only 30 seconds after the centre ball up the final siren had sounded giving Hicksey boys their second loss for the year. North probably kept Centrals in the game with poor kicking at goal as well as doubling their scoring shots 30 to 15 in the process. They would consider themselves lucky that Centrals turned the ball over too much handing them the win. There were a few strong performances from individual Centrals players but the boys will all know they have to work on cutting down the team turnovers.

RESERVES TEAM:
Hadden, Stengle, Spurr, Giles, Officer, Baldwin, Moss, Hudson, White, Woods, Musolino, Boyle, McGrath, Porter, O’Hara, McGee, Duncan, Whiley, Sharpe, Brading, McCabe

FINAL SCORES:
CDFC: 12.3 = 75
NAFC: 13.17 = 95

GOAL KICKERS:
Hudson 3, McCabe, Porter 2, Hadden, McGrath, Spurr, Boyle, Brading 1

BETTER PLAYERS:
McCabe, Stengle, Boyle, White, Hadden, Duncan, Hudson, Giles

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LEAGUE: “DESPERATE DOGGIES FIGHT FOR ANZAC DAY HONOURS”

After a disappointing start to the day with reserves boys going down, it was great as always, to see the past SANFL Diggers paraded around the boundary line in the old military vehicles. It’s always a special moment to see these heroes of our past and naturally they all received a huge standing ovation in a gesture of thanks and gratification as they passed by. It was pleasing to see our supporters make a banner for the boys to run through and it fittingly challenged our players to show the courage, bravery and team spirit shown by soldiers of years gone by. It was a nice gesture with “Lest We Forget” written on one side and was a fitting testament for all of our Anzac’s, current, former and fallen. North were the first team onto the ground followed shortly by the Dogs and after they both had their warm ups, the two combatants lined up along the half forward lines waiting for the official formalities to get underway.

Then the spine tingling last post was played, which included the reading of the ode and you certainly can’t help but think about the Anzac’s during the minute silence. It certainly gives you a real appreciation for everything the old diggers went through and the sacrifices they made for their country. Of course the National Anthem followed afterward and once it had concluded that amazing roar echoed across the ground as all the fans roared with support. Despite this being the first time that North and Central squared off on Anzac Day, a fairly disappointing crowd of around 4500 attended. Possibly the threat of poor weather and the later start time affected the crowd numbers as it was one of the lowest April 25 turn outs in about 3 or 4 years. Obviously it was great to see the other Gowans, James in action for the first time in 2008 and it will be interesting to see if he manages to renew acquaintances with Shane Shubert at any stage in the game. We now had both teams set, ready for the battle to get underway and took to their positions on the field.

North skipper Darryl Wintle won the toss and kicked to the northern end with a strong breeze not really favouring either side, blowing straight across ground. Centrals won the first centre clearance after a good tap from Earl Shaw but surprisingly Ian Callinan was caught holding the ball. Both teams started with a couple of early skill errors, no doubt whilst trying to calm the nerves caused by the big game. Then, as a result of a down field free paid to Charles Slattery, Dan Havelberg was able to kick the first goal of the game with a gun barrel straight shot from about 45 metres out. Clearly better suited playing across half forward then at half back, Trent Goodrem was looking impressive in the first ten minutes applying strong forward line pressure and winning a bit of the ball himself. Sladey was unlucky to have a ball called out of bounds in front of the Chappell Stands after he had beaten his opponent and was away, sending his team into attack with his blistering pace. He certainly told the boundary umpire he was not happy with the poor decision in a very abusive manner.

Daniel Havelberg was able to take a huge mark inside 50, crashing the pack in the process but his shot on goal following missed for a behind only. He was able to make up for it within a minute, thanks to a great contested effort by Paul Thomas and then a lovely pinpoint pass by Chad O’Sullivan, kicking his second goal for the quarter. North opened their scoring account with a goal to Rory O’Brien after a strange 25m penalty was paid with Thommo going in the umpire’s book for an alleged head butt. I’m not sure that there was really anything in it and with a good record, including a Magarey Medal, the inconsistent SANFL tribunal will probably just hand him a reprimand, leaving the skipper available to face the Bays next Sunday. The Dogs then answered the North goal back with one of their own, an impressive crumbing goal to Chad O’Sullivan who was looking dangerous early on in the game. At the 15 minute mark Centrals had a 14 point lead which was cut back to 13 after Heath Younie kicked a point after yet another confusing free kick was awarded inside North’s 50. The next passage of play saw a great contested effort, 2 on 1 against, won by Dan Havelberg who was able to set up a shot on goal for Chris Gowans, who unusually missed.

Turnovers and skill errors controlled the next 5 minutes of play and it took a sickening incident with Cam Faulkner and Scott Dutschke clashing heads dramatically, to spark the Dogs. It was a great show of determination from both players, but probably a lack of voice, to win the hard ball and thankfully neither were seriously injured from it. Cameron came off with the blood rule and had a couple of stitches above his left eye and the tough Scott Dutschke seemed able to recover fine. Centrals seemed to control the last 5 minutes of the quarter having a few shots but didn’t make the most of their scoring opportunities with the reported skipper Thomas and Heath Lawry missing easy set shots on goal. This poor kicking for goal had Dogs supporters ruing their inaccuracy and it seemed to rub off on the opposition with the Power listed Damon White missing an easy long shot on goal. Despite being the dominant team for the majority of opening stanza, last years premiers were not able to put enough scoreboard pressure on their opposition and only went into the quarter time break 14 points in front. Sings looked ominous for the Doggies but Roy Laird would be disappointed with his sides inaccuracy.

After copping a knock to the leg in the first quarter, impressive ruckman Earl Shaw started the second quarter in the middle and was getting first hands on the ball for his side. The Centrals forward line pressure was good early on in this quarter but a missed kick from Matthew Slade saw the ball sail over the head of an open Charles Slattery free in the goal square. The ball sailed out of bounds on the full, but a poor kick from the resulting free saw another inside 50 for the Dogs and Sladey was able to make up for his earlier mistake by gifting James Gowans his first goal of 2008 from the goal square. The next centre bounce slightly favoured big Earl Shaw and he smashed the ball past his teams CHF line, where a quick release handball from Trent Goodrem had Chad O’Sullivan running on to kick his second goal of the game, a little surprisingly on the left foot. Co-captain Slade was amongst the action once again, pouncing on a defensive error from the Magarey Medallist James Allan but a rushed kick saw the number 59 miss a fairly easy left foot snap shot from the top of the goal sqaure.

It then took the powerful Heath Lawry to show all his team mates how to kick a left foot goal after taking a real clever, strong mark. In true customary fashion, Heater swung out to his left playing on, opening the goal face up and slotting his first major of the game to give Centrals a handy 32 point lead. It was cut back to 26 again after QLD recruit Daniel Stewart marked very strongly and kicked truly for his first goal of the clash. It was interesting to hear that this tall 19 year old actually trained with the Dogs for a couple of weeks during pre season, deciding to join the Roosters instead. Then at the 13-minute mark, Lawry was amongst the action once again, this time missing a running shot on goal to take the home sides lead out to 27 points. The inaccuracy of Centrals was somewhat keeping North Adelaide in the contest so a quick goal to Clint Alleway made this Anzac Day battle another six points closer. Then with one of the most bewildering umpire decisions and 25m penalty ever paid by a whistle blower, the Roosters had another immediate shot on goal to O’Brien. His long kick justifiably hit the post reducing the deficit to 21 points, but it was Jar’s men who seemed to have taken back slight control of the game, again assisted by some dubious umpiring.

This was to be proven right when North kicked the next goal to the impressive but tiny Rory O’Brien and the margin had now been reduced to just 15 points. This was turning into a real tough battle between two strong combatants and at the 26 minute mark of the term, ex Westies boy Charles Slattery guided his first goal through the two big sticks after some solid work further down the field by team mates Ryan Williams, Heath Lawry and a slick Faulkner handpass. Both Chris and James Gowans were pushing forward from the middle and were as damaging as ever with their disposal, despite the latter having not played since the early trial games. Earl Shaw was winning his battle with the underdone Brett O’Hara and hard work in defence saw the Dogs take their lead back out to 20 points going into the long break. Despite his boys only having a 4 day break since their last game, Andrew Jarman would expect his team to lift their skill level and work rate whilst trying to reduce Centrals scoring opportunities and set up plenty of their own. Roy Laird would again be reminding his players of the importance to finish of when within range of the goals and the battle was set up for an enthralling second half.

After a slightly inaccurate start by both sides, they still had another half of football to get it right, however North would start the third quarter trailing by 20 points. With the dark clouds looming above, it will be interesting to see who steps up in the second half of this clash that sees the two teams play each other for the first time since last years grand final. The former Carlton listed Trent Sporn had done a good job on star Ian Callinan to date, but will the Tassie recruit be able stand up and be a match winner as done in the past. The opening four minutes of the third term were dominated by stoppages and ball ups with the Roosters getting the first score of the quarter, albeit a behind. Then the improved Leigh Westhoff had the same result for his team with a missed set shot on goal. Despite a poor kick from North, the eldest of the three Westhoff brothers squandered a golden opportunity shanking his kick at goal and just scraping it in for his second minor score. The Roosters were able to kick the first goal of the third term to put out the challenge to the reigning premiers.

North were again on the receiving end of more confusing and inconsistent umpiring decisions and managed to get back to back goals, this time a long bomb to Damon White. The margin was now under double figures at 9 points and in the blink of an eye, North had it back to less than a kick after an umpire assisted goal to Matty Wright. With a free kick paid to the Roosters at Centrals half forward line, two dubious 50m penalties in a row paid by umpire Dey against Slade and Slattery, saw young Wright kick from the goal line and reduce the margin to a tiny 3 points. Then finally, Centrals were on the right end of a free kick, of course with all the ironic cheers from frustrated Dogs fans, seeing the impressive Trent Goodrem nail a goal from 40 metres out. Havelberg had to be shifted to defence with North playing that extra tall forward so Roy Laird tried rotating both Goodrem and Faulkner from the full forward position for short periods of time. Trent looked good and was most definitely playing his best game for the club year to date. He seemed much more comfortable in the forward line and was proving to his coach that he is better suited there than in defence.

This fierce battle was proving to be a fitting testament to the Anzac Day spirit and it looked as though the final result could go to either team. It was North who seemed to lift their intensity at the ball and body and of course, assisted by some strange umpiring decisions, were able to make sure this contest was going to go down to the wire. Indicative of the battle to date, the Roosters responded to the Goodrem goal with yet another umpire assisted major. This time, an indiscretion by Andrew Hayes handed another soft 25m penalty to Tarquin Brown who was able to kick an impressive goal, his first in SANFL league football. North Adelaide’s 8th goal of the game would end up being the last score of the third quarter, which now saw the deficit at 2 points going into lemons. The game was now set up for a ripping final quarter and it will probably be the team that digs deepest finding that strong Anzac Day spirit who will go on to take the win and claim the West End Battle cup.

The final term started with usual Rooster CHF Clint Alleway playing loose in defence as well as regular backman Shane Shubert playing out of full forward. Alleway was mopping up the poor delivery into the Central’s forwards but Jar's was robbing Peter to pay Paul with his Roosters breaking down at half forward. Centrals backmen were standing strong through the likes of Sibenaler, Hayes, Schell and underrated Richie Cochrane, who were repelling any of the opposition forward forays. It then took an errant kick from vice captain Brett White to hand Lee Westhoff his first goal with a clever left foot snap from the top of the goal square, taking the margin back out to 8 points. This Rooster turn over seemed to spark the Dogs into gear and within minutes Dan Havelberg marked strongly and kicked truly for his third goal. Then a courageous effort by a pop singers brother in Trent Goodrem saw Chad O’Sullivan on the end of his third goal of the game, highlighting a great return of form for the diminuitive number 7. At the 14 minute mark of the final quarter, the margin was back to the same as at half time with only 20 points separating the two northern suburbs clubs and it looked as though Centrals modern day dominance over North Adelaide would continue.

However, the Roosters had something to say about this and they kept in touch with another goal to Damon White reducing the deficit a further 6 points to 14. The next 5 minutes in play were crucial for both teams and this was shown with a tight tussling affair on display from both clubs. It was then a desperate Scott Dutschke effort that saw Cam Faulkner push forward into space taking the ball to find Heath Lawry on a strong lead with a pinpoint pass. Although he was on the preferred side for a left footer, he spotted up Chris Gowans in board and after an undisciplined charge by Clint Alleway, a rare Centrals 25m penalty saw Chris kick the major from the top of the goal square. After a North behind, the margin was at 19 points in favour of the Dogs and at the 24 minute mark you would think the reigning premiers had finally sealed the win. Just the way it happens in the AFL, Centrals then slowed the pace of the game down by chipping side ways and backward, controlling possession of the ball. This took place for another 4 or 5 minutes before the final siren sounded handing Roy Laird’s charges their third victory of the season. Thoughts would now move onto who were the candidates for the Bob Quinn Medal.

There was not really an outstanding individual performance from either side and you would have to assume the eventual winner would come from the victorious team. It could’ve come from the likes of Chad O’Sullivan, Dan Havelberg, Charles Slattery or either of the Gowans twins. Despite finding his number in the umpires book, co-captain Paul Thomas was judged to be best on ground and claim an amazing 3rd Bob Quinn Medal. Ground announcer and ABC commentator Mark Soderstrom interestingly surmised the former Essendon player to almost be like the James Hird of AFL Anzac Day battles. It will no doubt a great honour for the son of former league player Jamie, who would have had the thrill of being a team mate to Hird in his stint in the big league back in 2005. As always, Thommo was graceful and very professional in his acceptance speech of both his personal accolade and the presentation of the West End Battle trophy. A tough, fighting win for Centrals and coach Laird would be proud of his teams performance still knowing that there are some quality players to come back. He will also have plenty to work on before next Sundays away clash against the Bays including issues such as goal kicking accuracy and probably team discipline as well.

LEAGUE TEAM:
Lawry, L.Westhoff, Callinan, O’Sullivan, Cochrane, Slattery, Goodrem, Dutschke, Thomas, Mackenzie, Shaw, C.Gowans, Hayes, Schell, J.Gowans, Faulkner, Williams, Sibenaler, Havelberg, Switala, Slade

FINAL SCORES:
CDFC: 12.12 = 84
NAFC: 9.11 = 65

GOAL KICKERS:
Havelberg, O'Sullivan 3, Lawry, L.Westhoff, Goodrem, C.Gowans, J.Gowans, Slattery 1

BETTER PLAYERS:
Thomas, O’Sullivan, C.Gowans, J.Gowans, Havelberg, Goodrem, Slattery, L.Westhoff

BOB QUINN MEDALLIST:
Paul Thomas (Centrals)

In light of a tough hard fought win against a gallant opposition this afternoon, our boys did well in the face of severe umpire bias diversity to hang on for 2 crucial premiership points. Centrals now face a pretty happy Glenelg next Sunday away, after the Bays burst the bubble of the Double Blues. Glenelg's win over ladder leader Sturt will no doubt give Mark Mickan's boys a fair bit of confidence against our Doggies. I reckon we are still about 2 or 3 weeks away from playing our absolute best football but with a steady improvement shown on a weekly basis and the possibly of a couple of players coming back in, we can no doubt now expect a rip snorter of a clash down at Challenge Recruitment Oval on Sunday May 4. It will be interesting to see if any of the boys (in particular the Gowans twins) give Todd Grima any stick for not coming over to a better team in Centrals, a club that his brother played in a premiership for, rather choosing to play down at the Bays, who gave him a cushy job in real estate that he is crap at apparantley !!?

GO U DOGGIES...

Big Phil...

[Big Phil]

Round 6: Glenelg @ Challenge Recruitment Oval 4/5/08

DOGGIES DISSAPOINTING DAY DOWN AT THE BAY

Both Central Districts outfits that fronted against Glenelg today unfortunately walked away with L’s in their win / loss column after going down to two very tough Bays sides down at the sponsorship named Challenge Recruitment Oval. After arriving at the ground, the day ahead looked as though it should be a beautiful one weather wise and set the scene for what should be 2 very competitive games of football. The stop start breeze, at it’s strongest was favouring the southern end with about a 3 or 4 goal advantage to the team kicking with it and you would have to think the skippers that win the toss will make the decision to do so for the start of the game. The Dogs were wearing their new “away” strip for only the second time and with both teams losing their first outing in it against Sturt back in round 2, they would be keen to get a first win in the predominantly white jumper that’s had mixed feedback from fans.

RESERVES: “ FINAL QUARTER FADE OUT COSTS DOGGIES A WIN ”

Nominated skipper Gerard McGrath, claimed the first battle of the day winning the coin toss and, of course, decided to kick to the school end, favoured by the breeze. We won the first centre clearance thanks to a huge bomb by Jon Giles that sailed deep into our attacking 50 but after a quick ball up, Glenelg took possession and ran the footy into the wind, linking up with hard running team mates. A silly 25m penalty from Dan Boyle at half forward saw the Bays taken to their attacking 50m line having the first shot on goal. Cleverly, Joffa Giles got back on the goal line as all ruckman should and with the ball struggling to clear the line, the Port Power listed ruckman was able to punch it through for a rushed behind, the first score of the game. Taking full advantage of the new kick in rule, we cleverly transferred the ball to the opposite side of the ground that Glenelg had numbers on and were able to quickly take the ball the full length of the field for our first score of the game, albeit, only a minor one, with a behind to skipper for the day, young Gerard McGrath. It was really good to see a few familiar faces back in the line up with Nathan Steinberner and Luke Barmby making comebacks from their injuries sustained in previous weeks.

The home sides next scoring opportunity came from a poorly executed handball from the hard running Dan Boyle but luckily for him, the resulting Tigers shot on goal missed for a behind only. It looked as though both teams were trying to find the pace of the game and at times were just over possessing the ball so resulting turnovers in the next 5 minutes of play were prominent. I’d say Justin Casserly (reserves runner) would have been told by coach Damien Hicks to relay a message out to the players for them to go long and direct into the forward line, taking advantage of the gusty breeze. If it was the case, it seemed to sink in for the players as the next passage of play saw Joel Baldwin drive the ball long into attack and as a result of a great contested effort by Gerard McGrath, we had our first goal on the board thanks to a very clever snap shot form Steiny that dribbled through the goals thanks to an open goal square. We had another score on the board within a minute with Sean Brading winning a lose ball on the wing and having a running shot from about 65 out, but it was only a behind. It wasn’t too long after this before the Dogs had their second major though thanks to great forward line pressure that saw Keiran McShane kick a clever check side goal.

I The next major passage in play saw another customary Daniel Boyle run, taking on about 4 opposition players and almost getting caught for holding the ball. As has been the case a bit too often, he caused another turnover and of course with his team mates pushing forward to help out, we were caught out with the Bays running the ball easily into their attack. Thankfully Glenelg turned it over themselves and this time we were able to take the full length of the field and kicked a clever goal through the consistent Brayden O’Hara. We were then able to kick back to back goals with Ryan Porter slotting through his 1st and our 4th goal of the game so far. At the 20 minute mark of the opening stanza Alex Stengle missed the mark with a kick out after a rushed behind to the home team and the Bays punished the fringe league player by kicking their first major. We won the next centre square contest where Brayden O’Hara had a chance to kick a long goal from about 55m out. The quarter time siren blew while he lined up and assisted with the breeze, the booming left footer should have easily made the distance but he shanked the kick and it didn’t even make the distance. We were just about on par with the wind advantage going into the first change with a 3 goal lead.

Glenelg got the quicker start to the second term of the two teams and were on top early in the centre square. They had the first few shots on goal but thankfully it only resulted in a couple of behinds but as has been the case throughout the year so far, our skill errors and turnovers were giving our opposition more scoring opportunities. This was proven to be the case once again and in the early stages of this quarter and The Bays were able to kick a second major to keep them in touch with the Dogs. It took a more desperate hungrier opposition for Centrals to realise they had to be a bit smarter with possession of the ball and kicking into the strong breeze, they had to go back to basics with run and carry, linking up along the way. After the home team were working back into the contest we finally got the ball into our forward 50 and after winning a strong holding the ball decision Chris Musolino had a shot on goal from about 20 metres out. It was on the wrong side for a left footer and it showed with his floating tumble punt was lucky to just scrape in for a behind. Momentum started to swing back our way after Sean Brading beautifully intercepted a pass to run and carry the ball where he spotted up youngster Jarryd Cole on a lead. Coley didn’t take the mark but did receive a free kick after being pushed in the back and his resulting shot on goal sailed through for a major.

It was once again a Dan Boyle turnover that saw the Bays answer back with their 3rd goal of the game after the Power rookie kicked across the goal face and missed the target. It was a few more Doggies errors and a couple of questionable umpiring decisions that saw the ball deep in Glenelg’s attack for the next 6 or 7 minutes but they didn’t capitalise on this only able to kick a couple of behinds. The talented Sean Brading then broke the mini goal drought with an awesome long running goal and assisted his side in holding out a late quarter fight back from the home side. It would be fair to say that an inaccurate goal kicking was Glenelg’s own worst enemy as they weren’t able to take full advantage of the strong breeze kicking 2 goals 6 to our 2 goals 1. Despite playing in patches throughout the first half the Doggies had just done enough to go into the long break with a 2 goal lead. With Glenelg not taking advantage of the breeze in the second quarter Centrals would need to capitalise on all goal scoring chances after the long break to ensure they have a handy 3 quarter time lead to avoid the home side coming home with the wind in their sails, literally.

The Dogs came out of the rooms after half time one man down with what looked like another soft tissue injury to the unlucky Nathan Steinberner. It looked as though the one time League skipper had strained a hammy once again as I noticed him sitting on the grass in front of our bench with a big ice pack strapped behind his upper leg. The game itself got off to a slightly scrappy start with the first 5 or 6 minutes of action not seeing any goals kicked. After strong work down field by wingman Louis Hadden the Doggies registered the first major of the 3rd stanza through a strong mark and goal to the impressive youngster Jarryd Cole. Within the next minute of play we had kicked another goal with another O’Hara six pointer stretching his sides lead out to a game high 24 points. Shortly after, the Dogs lead was at 30 points after a clever soccer goal dribbled through from the boot of Chris Musolino and we seemed now to be taking control of the game, or the quarter at least. We were controlling most positions on the ground with our forwards presenting well, our defender standing up once again and the likes of James Moss, Louis Hadden, Jon Giles and Lee Spurr controlling the middle. With the home side now trailing by 35, after a 3rd goal to Centrals Jarryd Cole, we looked as if we had probably done enough to hold off the wind assisted Tigers in the final term.

Every week our defenders find themselves on taller, bigger, stronger opponents and generally speaking they have been doing a pretty reasonable job through the likes of unheralded Nick White, versatile Joel Baldwin, promising Ash Duncan, and Power Rookie Dan Boyle. It was one of my favourites in Ash Duncan who set up the next attacking foray for the Dogs, along with a courageous Louis Hadden effort and a chain of handballs that saw Sean Brading kick his second goal and our 11th of the game. Another super effort from Ash saw him deep in his own attacking 50 with a running shot on goal just missing to the left for a behind. The game looked to be slipping from Glenelg’s grasp but two goals in 5 minutes to Drew Clayfield saw the deficit back to 31 points which would end up being the difference in the 2 teams at ¾ time. With the Tigers coming home with a strong breeze behind them, the game was certainly in an intriguing position that could realistic go either way. The Dogs had probably played the better footy to date but despite the goal kicking inaccuracy of their opposition, the Bays were still well and truly in the contest at lemons.

Despite us winning the first centre clearance of the last quarter, Glenelg were quickest out of the blocks kicking two quick goals to really throw the challenge out to Damien Hicks and all of his charges. The latter of the 2 Bays majors was the result of yet another poor turn over from Dan Boyle. I guess if the well built, hard running youngster wants to force his way back into the league team soon, he will have to work hard on improving his skill level under pressure and his decision making and accountability when he goes on one of those typical runs. The Bays were simply refusing to lie down and after kicking another 2 quick goals, which was their 7th unanswered major, they now only trailed by a single behind. At the 11 minute mark of the term a Glenelg behind tied the scores and coach Hicks would have been thinking his boys can’t let this one slip, not after being up by as much as 40+ points at one stage. With the fine assistance of a few dodgy umpiring calls, the Tigers had the ascendancy and managed to slot another six pointer to take their lead to 7 points in what was looking likely to turn into an upset win. Shortly after, the impressive and super quick Josh Willoughby kicked the home sides 12th goal but did have it answered back pretty quickly with a 3rd six pointer to Sean Brading. The Tigers answered straight back with a goal of their own within 30 seconds and then it was Willoughby who had the last laugh a few minutes later, snaring another goal to the Bays and they then had their 2nd in as many minutes to seal the win you would think.

But Sean Brading then decided he had something to say about this and after cleverly playing on from a rare Centrals free to advantage, he kicked his 4th major cutting the deficit back to 14 points. Unfortunately a Doggies comeback came to an abrupt halt with a Tigers goal after the final siren sealing a pretty amazing comeback and victory by 21 points. To be able to kick 10 goals whilst holding your opposition to only 2 in any quarter of football is a great effort and no doubt this 25 minute lapse in concentration and discipline certainly cost the Doggies a win they deserved after 3 quarters. But, as we all know, the game is played over 4 and the team that can put something close to a consistent 4 quarter effort, will generally go on to win the game. Especially, like mentioned above, when they pile on 10 majors in the final term. Damien Hicks would be very frustrated, naturally and would be pleading with his players to learn from this game and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It might be a lack of fitness or a lack of discipline, or maybe a bit of both and I have no doubt a bitterly disappointed coach will be making sure they work on both out on the track during next week.

RESERVES TEAM:
Hadden, Stengle, Spurr, Giles, Baldwin, Moss, Hudson, White, Woods, Musolino, Boyle, McGrath, Porter, O’Hara, Duncan, Whiley, Brading, Steinberner, Cole, McShane, Barmby

FINAL SCORES:
CDFC: 4.3 6.4 11.9 13. 9 = 87
GFC: 1.4 3.10 5.14 15.18 = 108

BETTER PLAYERS:
Brading, O’Hara, Giles, Spurr, White, Woods, Moss, Stengle, Boyle

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LEAGUE: “ TOUGH TIGERS TAME DESPERATE DOGGIES AT HOME ”

Centrals went into the start of the league clash with 3 changes from the team that knocked off the Roosters in the ANZAC Day rematch the week before. Co-skipper Paul Thomas had to serve his 1 game suspension for the ridiculous charge of head butting and there were 2 late withdrawals, as some had expected, with stars Ian Callinan and Chris Gowans pulling out with hamstring and knee issues respectively. Coming into the side for the 3 valuable players would be the experienced Luke McCabe as well as slightly underdone pair Elijah “Noodles” Ware and Luke “Sponge” Cowan. We got off to a good start with our solo skipper for the day, Matty Slade winning the toss and of course electing to kick with the 3 to 4 goal strong breeze blowing to the high school end. This was shown to be the scoring end in the earlier game but it was also evident of how important it is to have a handy lead at ¾ quarter time whilst playing smart enough footy against the wind to hang on for a win. Unfortunately the Bay’s reserves side kicked 10 goals to 2 in the last quarter to snatch an upset victory and prove that if you can be in striking distance at lemons, you’d be in with a real chance.

The game got underway in the middle with the crucial Shaw v Cranston battle and the Bays were the first side to win a centre clearance. Their first few attacking advances were well held by Richie Cochrane’s composure and class across half back. Young Ryan Williams and Scott Dutschke both put in their contenders for mark of the day in the first 2 minutes and this lead to the Dogs getting the first inside 50 where Luke Cowan almost took one of his huge customary pack marks which resulted in a Doggies rushed behind. The next few minutes of play saw close to half a dozen ball ups and with the umpires seemingly letting the play go a bit, both teams were just struggling a bit early to pick up the pace of the game. Glenelg then took the ball forward for their first inside 50 where a strong Roury Kourkby mark saw Mark Ruwoldt get a shot on goal, which he missed tying the game up at 1 point apiece. Then Chad O’Sullivan burst through the centre to put a ball lace out in front of a leading Heath Lawry who actually had the ball bounce off his chest after being pushed in the pack by his opponent but then not getting the free kick rewarded to him form any of the umpires. Pressure from both teams was strong and this was evident early with the scrappy style of play causing both teams to turn the footy over a few times while players adjusted to the higher tempo.

Showing a little patience with possession of the ball, Glenelg took the ball forward where ex Crow John Hinge floated across the front of a forming pack to take a strong grab. Fortunately his resulting shot on goal missed and was only a behind. The resulting kick in saw the Dogs take the ball into their forward line where we thought we had our first goal on the board but it wasn’t to be with the field umpire advising the goal umpire that a Trent Goodrem snap shot that sailed through the big white sticks, was actually touched off the boot. For a slight minute, there seemed to be a bit of confusion with some players around the actual contest not sure if the ball was actually touched of the boot at all. Cameron Faulkner was playing a defensive role across half back and was tough and aggressive over the ball but we seemed to lack a strong target across half forward after the injury prone Luke Cowan came off with the blood rule. Leigh Westhoff wasn’t get a bit of it early on his wing and he did manage to find Daniel Havelberg on a lead who in turn, chipped off to Noodles which eventuated into the first goal of the game with Elijah in his first league appearance for 2008. It was a pretty tight contest in the first quarter and a Todd Grima behind after the siren saw us with a very small lead of 3 points but we didn’t really take full advantage of the strong breeze that quarter.

We started the second quarter only 3 points in front due to only kicking 1 goal in the opening stanza despite having the 3 to 4 goal breeze behind us. Both sides got off to somewhat of an indecisive start to the 2nd term but it was the home side who started better with 2 goals in as many minutes. Matt Duldig exposed a temporary 1 on 1 with the undersized Leigh Westhoff to mark strongly and kick truly, then the dangerous Justin McConnell kicked a clever crumbing goal to give their side an 8 point lead. McConnell proved just how dangerous he can be this time getting on the end of a horrible missed kick and switch of play across the face of goals by the Doggies. The Tigers long sleeved number 33 had help lift his team mates and their pressure and intensity lifted, actually making Centrals look somewhat second rate at times. Threatening to break the open on his own, McConnell had a 3rd major at the 8 minute mark of the second term after being on the receiving end, of course, of a soft umpiring decision. The next major passage in play saw Luke McCabe, playing his first senior game in 20 months, set up our next scoring opportunity but it only resulted in a behind after Luke Cowan missed his shot on goal after taking a huge pack mark. Before you knew it, the home side had their 5th goal on the board thanks to a clever Adam Fischer snap and the Doggies where looking a tad rattled and outclassed which is something that doesn’t happen too often.

We finally got our 2nd goal of the game thanks to clever crumbing goal to Chad O’Sullivan who seems to be improving a little bit more each week that he plays. Coach Roy Laird threw a bit of a challenge to Cam Faulkner putting him on the match winning McConnell and the next few contests actually went in Cam’s favour and he seemed to be doing fairly well on him. Then a great pack mark from Noodles and a pin point pass from Sully saw Scott Dutschke having a shot on goal from about 40 out. His resulting shot missed for a behind and the Tigers were then able to take the ball the full length of the field where our potential off season recruit Todd Grima took a huge pack mark sailing his shot on goal through helicopter style for a six pointer. Sully was clearly our best player throughout this quarter and his ground work and skill level were the highlight as well as being able to find Sponge on a big lead who just calmly walked back and slotted his shoot on goal to reduce the margin to 3 goals. The next play saw a little too much indecision from State Squad member Leigh Westhoff who was pinned for holding the ball just after we broke free down the outer side by switching play. The Tigers certainly looked the better team in the second term but Centrals will come out after half time knowing they have plenty of improvement in them, still in the game, only trailing by 18 points.

No doubt, Roy Laird would have challenged his players to signal their intensions early in the second half and improve in areas lacking in the first 2 quarters. The Bays were winning more hard ball gets, their skills were the cleaner of the 2 sides and they were more effective in their goal scoring opportunities. The reason for the Tigers small lead at the start of the 3rd term was largely due to the fact that they were on top of all the areas the Doggies are renowned for and have attributed to their recent success and dominance of the past decade. Coach Laird made the move of switching big Hav into defence and throwing Daniel Schell to full forward but the move didn’t look like paying off early with Havelberg’s direct opponent, Todd Grima starting the third quarter with a strong pack mark and shot on goal from just outside 50. The brother of former premiership star Nathan Grima failed to make the distance into the breeze but clever goal sneak McConnell was waiting at ground level where he pounced on the crumbing ball to snap truly for his 4th goal of the game. The Bays number 33 was looking likely to be the match winning forward and Cameron Faulkner would certainly have to lift his work rate to quell any further influence on the outcome by his dominant opponent. Roy Laird showed faith in Cam as he had shown some good signs at stages, playing the negating defensive role.

The former Western Bulldog who returned home this year managed to win the next 1 on 1 contest against Justin McConnell. It then set up a passage in play with Switty, Noodles and Schelly all playing a part in a goal to Scott Dutschke, the perfect quick response for the Dogs. Noodles was finding plenty of it in his first league game for 08 and played a part in the next couple of scoring opportunities for his side, including a shot on goal himself that just missed, reducing the Tigers lead back to the half time deficit of 18 points. Another player playing his first league game in a while, in fact 20 months, was Luke McCabe and the former Hawthorn veteran was slotting back into the midfield perfectly, winning his fair share of possession but importantly using the footy to set up his team mates up with more scoring opportunities. Chad O’Sullivan had one of these opportunities but he could only manage a behind, however signs were looking good from the Doggies and it seemed they were working their way back into the contest. Unfortunately an error from Haysey trying to kick across the face of goal, missing his target, saw Brett Backwell run into an open goal to square kicking the home side’s 8th major and extending their lead out to 22 points.

The improving Ryan Williams was impressive on the ball and was able to win possession to find Schelly with a bit of space inside 50. The 2 time Ken Farmer medallist calmly slotted his first six pointer to cut the deficit back down to 16 points. In the blink of an eye, Glenelg’s lead was back to 10 points after Justin McConnell temporarily went from hero to villain, dropping a simple chest mark in his defensive goal square gifting Schell his 2nd goal in as many minutes. The Bays then settled after Tom Holmes was unintentionally taken high in a tackle by Richie Cochrane and went on to kick a goal from the resulting free kick. In true sea saw fashion, the Dogs answered straight back with a first goal to heath Lawry after his clever snap shot sailed through for six points bringing the Tigers lead back to 10 points once again. Then at the 19 minute mark, it was man of the moment, or at least the 3rd term, Daniel Schell who took one of his customary big pack marks and kicked truly to bring the Dogs to within 1 goal, now only trailing by 4 points. To move Schelly into attack from defence was a great decision by Lairdy and looked as though it could end up being a match winning choice from the legendary coach after the number 27 had a 4th goal for the quarter shortly after his third one.

The Doggies now had the lead, albeit a slender one of 3 points but it was a 15 minute period of play throughout this term that had a lot of Doggies fans smiling as it was no doubt one of the best quarters of footy we have played all year. It was the kind of football that we all knew the team are capable of but for varying reasons, had struggled throughout the year so far to really put this kind of onslaught on display. More importantly though, it had us right back in the contest and although there was still a few minutes of play left in the 3rd term, the game was now set up for an intriguing Dog fight in the last. In the last few minutes we extended our lead by a further goal to 9 points after a classic front and square crumbing goal to James Gowans who was his at his usual best despite not having brother Chris out there, a late withdrawal with knee ligament damage. Against the flow of play and just before the ¾ time siren, Todd Grima took a 1 handed speccie and kicked truly for the last score of the quarter, bringing the Dogs lead back to the 3 points again. Clearly, the game was set up for a thrilling finish and although the home side would be finishing with the breeze, it had died off a fair bit and was probably now only a 1, maybe 2 goal advantage for the home side. The team that shows more desperation and has a superior fitness level will probably win the game.

At the ¾ time break, the Bays supporters were quite vocal getting behind their team who had all huddled in tight, pleading for their players not to drop this crucial home clash. The Dogs fans of course were behind their team as well and it seemed to work better than the Tiger’s fans as Centrals were the quicker team out the blocks once play got underway. Impressive and improving Ryan Williams got us off to the perfect start by winning the centre clearance and getting the ball long into our attack. His fine effort didn’t stop there as he followed the ball into our 50 where he became an option for Heath Lawry who took possession, squaring up with a pass to Willow who kicked the goal from just on 50. The visitors lead was now 9 points and it looked like the great performance by the Doggies in the previous quarter was going to carry over into the last term. Unfortunately, shortly after, Leigh Westhoff missed his target by foot and the resulting turnover saw the Bays take the ball forward where a high, long kick was judged better by Todd Grima, than his opponent Haysey, with the former Geelong VFL star marking well and kicking his 3rd goal for the day, again bringing the difference back to 3 points in favour of Centrals. In the blink of an eye, the Bays had a 3 point lead themselves after yet another slight misjudgement by State Squad member Andrew Hayes, where Justin McConnell was awarded a dubious mark going back to slot his 5th for the game. All the loyal Tiger’s fans could sense a win for the home side and were getting behind their side vocally.

Unfortunately for Dogs fans, and for Charles Slattery of course, there was a 5 minute stop in play as the former West Adelaide defender was stretchered off with what looked like either a serious knee injury or perhaps a reoccurrence of his bad ankle injury from last year. The stop in play kind of halted the game momentum and the next few minutes were pretty scrappy from both sides. This was probably attributed by the high pressure and intensity of the game so far as well and it was the Bays who got the next score after the short halt in play. The impressive Todd Grima showed why the Dogs were keen for his signature pre season as well after taking another strong over head mark and kicked his 4th goal of the game, now taking his sides lead out to 10 points at the 15 minute mark of the last term. With a bit of momentum now in their favour, the Tigers took control of the next 3 or 4 minutes in play but only managed a couple of behinds to now make their lead 2 straight kicks at 12 points. However the Dogs weren’t going to lie down and play dead, of course, and a great contested effort from Leigh Westhoff saw an open Adam Switala who found Noodles on the lead who took an impressive leap and mark. A former AFL listed player, the number 50 certainly has a great leap for a small bloke, as most Indigenous players do, but unfortunately his resulting shot on goal faded late for a behind that may prove to be handy with the scores being so tight.

But the bays got the next two scores in the form of behinds which now meant the Dogs would have to kick 3 majors to take the lead back from the home side. At the 20 minute mark of the last term, this was looking as though it might be a pretty tough ask for the reigning premiers but, of course the Dogs were not done yet. Running into an open goal, Noodles missed a shot on goal from about 30 out on his left foot and the Bays were able to take possession from the resulting kick out. They had the perfect opportunity to seal the victory but both Byron Murphy and ex Crow John Hinge squandered opportunities in front of goal to keep the visitors slim hopes of snatching an unlikely win, alive. It was the returning veteran Luke McCabe who was able to show his class and experience crumbing a pack well to kick his sides 12th goal but was it going to be a case of too little too late ? You would have thought so after probably the defining moment of the game came when another ex Crow, Matty Bode ran down Elijah Ware who was streaming towards our goals. This would prove to be the match winning tackle with the Bays now holding a 9 point lead with surely no more than a minute, or 2 left in the game. Centrals had one more dig at snatching the win after man of the moment, Luke McCabe took an impressive 1 handed mark from a 1 on 1 contest.

Realising there was not much time left, he hurried back off his mark and went on to kick the goal but as the ball sailed through the big sticks, the final siren blew. This handed the Bays a nail biting 3 point win and their fans were elated as their club song played out across the PA system. The Doggies were somewhat gallant in defeat but simply did not play 4 consistent quarters of footy to justify taking the points. There were no doubt some pleasing aspects that Roy Laird would take form the game, including that awesome 15 minute period in the 3rd term where Schelly kicked all 4 of his goals. With a few key personnel still sitting on the side lines and plenty of areas requiring improvement, Centrals fans can take heart that their team are still playing well enough in patched to stay in the contest. As disappointing as the loss is, we just have to learn from it, as with did with the Sturt loss in round 2, and make sure we come out next week against the Eagles with an attitude of playing 4 good quarters of football. Of course, another sour note to come out of this game was the serious injury to Slatts who had to be stretchered off the ground in that enthralling last term. Fingers crossed it is not a bad knee injury and hopefully he will be back in action sooner rather than later.

LEAGUE TEAM:
J.Gowans, Havelberg, Cowan, Goodrem, Lawry, Ware, L.Westhoff, O’Sullivan, Faulkner, Williams, Schell, Switala, Cochrane, Sibenaler, Hayes, Shaw, Slattery, Slade, Mackenzie, McCabe, Dutschke

FINAL SCORES:
CDFC: 1.2 3.6 10.10 13.12 = 90
GFC: 0.5 6.6 10.7 13.15 = 93

BETTER PLAYERS:
McCabe, Dutschke, Schell, Williams, Ware, O’Sullivan, L.Westhoff, Cochrane, Faulkner

Despite the loss today, it was a very entertaining display of SANFL football. As good as Glenelg played, and were of course the better side on the day deserving the win, it shouldn't be all doom and gloom for the Doggies as we still have a couple of pretty important players to come back into the League line up. As much as the decision has been made and there is nothing that can be done about it now, I really liked the look of Todd Grima for the Bays today, very impressive and dissapointing, after today's performace, that the Dogs didn't get him...

GO U DOGGIES...

Big Phil...

[Big Phil]

Round 7: Woodville West Torrens @ Hamra Homes Oval (N) 10/5/08 - Rivalry Round

DOGGIES CLIP EAGLES WINGS IN RIVALRY ROUND

Central Districts had 3 wins out of 4 on Saturday in an intruiging weekend that involved an AFL Exhibition Match at the MCG, the SANFL promoting Rivalry Round, our U/17’s having their first win for the year (unfortunately the U/19’s lost), the reserves easily winning in their home game at Woodville, a Barossa Valley curtain raiser to a hard fought League win and then finishing it all off with Mother’s Day on Sunday. Anyway, I arrived at the picturesque Woodville Oval on a fine, beautiful Saturday morning just after half time of the Under 17’s game. It was played before the reserves clash with the Under 19’s following in a triple header. I must admit though, at a first glance of the scoreboard I honestly thought the young attendant had got the teams scores around the wrong way. It showed Centrals, winless in bottom place with 5 losses and a draw, leading 10 goals to 1 against the 2nd placed Eagles, with 5 wins and 2 losses. In the end, they really were the correct scores as I had a chat to the Dad of a Dogs player who said that they kicked 8 goals to nil in the first quarter, setting up their lead and hopefully doing enough to hang on for a win. But as well all know, footy is a strange game and it does involve a basic principle of playing 4 consistent, team orientated quarters of football. Certainly being 9 goals up at half time was a pretty good position to be in, but by no means does it guarantee a win for any team.

They still had to play another half, which I watched enjoyably, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a players list for the Dogs but I will mention a couple of the young boys that impressed me, identifying them by jumper number, not by name. The first player who caught my eye was a small blonde haired lad wearing # 7 who was being called “Barmbs”. I was pretty sure he's Chad Barmby, who I think is the young brother of reserves player Luke. Just like his brother, he has plenty of pace and isn’t afraid to run with the ball while taking on opponents along the way. Our # 8 was Josh Wittwer, I think, who also has a bit of pace and did a couple of nice things, while # 21, a tall lad being called “Whitey” by team mates was pretty good playing from CHB. There was also a couple of “Slatts” being called out there and I did notice in Friday’s paper that there was actually 2 Slattery’s listed for Centrals. Are they any relation to current injured League player Charles, I don’t know ? In the end, the boys did enough to hang on for a well earnt 7 goal win, their first victory of the year. It was slightly marred by a huge all in brawl at ¾ time, that from what I was told to believe, actually involved the Dogs runner getting reported for touching one of the Eagles players during the scuffle.

RESERVES: “ Diligent Dogs Easily Account For Star Studded Eagles ”

This reserves clash was shifted to Woodville Oval earlier in the week after both the clubs mutually agreed to play it in between the U17’s and U19’s game. This was to accommodate a Barossa Light & Gawler (BLG) game being played at Hamra Homes Oval from 3.45pm. The game was battled out between South Gawler and Gawler Central as a curtain raiser to the league game that was being played later on that evening at 6.30pm. The reserves opponents, Woodville West Torrens, had a pretty talented team including league experienced players and a home grown star making another comeback from injury. A few names like Hentschel, Colville, R.Fiacchi, Geddes, Petrenko, Heir, Twomey, Gogoll, Malinsovski, Giuffreda, Pavlich, Redden and Lane. The Eagles had a team strong enough on paper to think they should have a comfy win but the Doggies had a few quality players themselves, including a handful of very talented, consistant youngsters. Guys like young Duncan, Stengle, Spurr, Shaw, Hadden, Boyle, Barmby, O’Hara and Brading are all very, very solid reserves performers that could step and play league if required. Centrals had their own comeback as well with league premiership player big Jeremy Aufderhiede playing in any game of footy for the first time in about 12 months.

The game got underway with the Dogs winning the first centre clearance and taking the ball inside 50 almost immediately with hard run and link up from Louis Hadden, Luke Barmby and Keiran McShane. After an early boundary throw in we had our first goal on the board after a nice goal to Sean Brading. The Eagles responded instantly with a crumbing goal to the young Travis lane after former league skipper Gavin Colville drove the ball deep into his attacking 50. The Dogs were able to answer back with a second goal of their own after comeback king Jeremy Aufderhiede managed to hold the ball inside attacking 50, pick up a loose ball and run on to kick a nice goal from about 40 out on a 45 degree angle. After a few scrappy passages in play, WWT had their 2nd goal on the board after Alex Stengle gave away a silly free kick at the top of the Eagles goal square. Dumped league ruckman Earl Shaw was getting his hand on the ball early and Brayden O’Hara was good in the middle where he and played a part in Chris Musolino having the next shot on goal that did unfortunately miss, scoring a behind only. We seemed to be switching the play well coming out of defence and it worked in setting up our next attacking foray but only resulted in a rushed behind.

The Eagles, who were the home side playing an away game, then had the ball inside their 50 for about the next 3 or 4 minutes in play, mainly thanks to a couple of blunders in kick outs by Luke Barmby. The next kick in was taken by Stinga Stengle with a much more desirable result after Spurr, Barmby and McGrath played a part in getting the ball up inside our 50 to the full forward in Aufderhiede who marked well but was unable to convert the resulting shot on goal. The within a minute though he had a chance to redeem himself after Dan Boyle found the big # 41 with a lovely long, penetrating pass from which Jezza was able to kick the goal this time. Once again it was our defenders who were holding up well, in particular Ashley Duncan and Alex Stengle across half back were providing plenty of run and rebound throughout the majority of the opening quarter. It was an unfortunate error by Nick White though that gave the Eagles the very last goal of the term after he was chasing a ball back to the goal line looking to rush it for a behind but he just couldn’t get it through. He slightly over ran the ball turning back to the contest only to see the Adelaide Crow listed player Trent Hentschell swoop on the now loose ball to kick his first goal of the game from the goal line and giving his side a 1 point lead at quarter time.

We started the 2nd term with some real aggression in our attack on the footy but were just let down way too often with some pretty poor delivery into the forward line. Former Dog’s player Craig Gogoll was mopping up our poor skills well but a turn over through the middle of the ground saw the ball rushed back inside our 50 where North recruit Ryan Porter had a free kick paid to him but former Eagles under age player Todd Whiley ran on to pick the ball up and kick it through for a goal so the umpire called play on to advantage and the six pointer counted. Ash Duncan was really good in the early stages of this quarter and Sean Brading was given way too much space, finding plenty of the ball in the open off a wing or even across half back, but once again, at times our skill execution by foot was letting the team and our forwards down. The ball actually spent the next 5 or 6 minutes in our forward line but the Dogs were just not able to capitalise with any more goals on the board in that period of play. A couple of behinds during this dominance of possession and play saw Centrals with a small 7 point lead at the 10 minute mark of the 2nd quarter.

It was another dubious free kick paid, this time in favour of the Dogs that attributed the next goal of the game. Ryan Porter took his free kick from about 40m out in front to calmly slot the major then after the ball spent the next 5 minutes in our attacking 50 without scoring a major, Brodie Hudson laid an excellent tackle at the top of the goal square to win the free for holding the ball and went back to drill through his first goal of the game. The Eagles were able to get a goal back of their own after former Panther Nathan Twomey kicked truly, cutting back the margin to 13 points in favour of the home side playing at an away venue which sounds a bit confusing but was the result of the venue shift agreed by both clubs. We managed to get one straight back ourselves within a minute thanks to a strong mark and long kick inside 50 from Mussa that saw the talented Ryan Porter crumb off his own marking attempt to kick his 2nd goal of the first half. It was another interesting umpire decision as well as a 25m penalty that saw Brayden O’Hara kick the next goal and then within a minute of that Ben Woods had a six pointer himself to see the boys from Elizabeth extend their lead out to 32 points.

The Dogs, at this stage, were completely in control of the contest and were basically on top in all positions across the ground. This also become evident on the scoreboard now as well after quick goals to Chad Obst and a 3rd for Jeremey Aufderheide, both players in their first game for club for 2008, to establish an impressive 44 point lead just before the long break. To see that Woodville West Torrens were 5th and Centrals position on the ladder was 2nd bottom, was not really a true indication of how good a team our reserves boys were and are. They kicked 8 goals to 2 against a side with plenty of players having league experience and was a real solid team effort that would probably be the best quarter of football I have seen the ressies play so far this year. It was once again, the Eagles who managed to kick the last goal of the quarter and yet again, Crows listed Trent Hentschel was the goal kicker after he marked strongly and kicked truly with only a couple of minutes left before the half time break. The Dogs went into the long break, no doubt full of confidence, and with a pretty handy 38 point lead set up by both team work and solid individual efforts from guys like Ash Duncan, Aufderheide, Stinga Stengle, Louis Hadden, Spurry, Ryan Porter and Mossey just to name a few.

I actually found myself chatting to both Chris Gowans and Ian Callinan during the half time break as I made my way round to the canteen for a bite to eat. Of course, both guys were fairly annoyed about their time out of the game due to injury and understandably, desperate to return to the action as soon as possible. Nutta said that he would defiantly not play in the game against West Adelaide next week and will see how it is for the Port game at Alberton the week after. I saw him earlier chatting to state coach Darrel Hart and asked whether this time on the sidelines would affect his chances of playing in the state game later in the month. He pretty much said that Harty wants him to play one game for us before the clash against the Vics and if he gets through that okay he’ll play for SA. He didn’t seem to bothered about not playing, to be honest and I guess being a native Tassie and having already played representative footy, ironically against the Vics, he seemed like he wasn’t fussed wither way. Lining up for a pasty at the canteen, in true Gowans fashion, I got a little nudge in the side as he came up from just behind me, jokingly coming out with “trust you to be in the canteen line Big Fella”. Chris really was disappointed about how he injured his knee, in the Alleway incident, but was clearly more disappointed about being out for possibly the next 8 weeks or so.

Anyway, back to the action now as the boys run out onto the ground from the long break. The 3rd term got off to a scrappy start from both sides and it was basic skill errors, at times, that was just too costly, resulting in turn overs. The Doggies were great in defence, especially with Ashley Duncan, Alex Stengle and Nick White all doing their job to clear the ball out and set up attacking opportunities. Unfortunately this good work was being let down further up the field with the poor delivery into our forward line just too ineffective. At times, it was rubbing off one some of the defenders when the ball came rushing back in and it was Luke Barmby who helped the Eagles get the first goal of the term. It did take until the 8 minute mark for the first major from either side after Barmb’s attempt at switching the play was turned over. Because of a poor kick not executed and the Eagles having more numbers at the contest when it came back inside their 50, managing to grind out their first goal of the 2nd half. However, within the next 2 minutes, the Dogs had a couple of goals themselves, firstly thanks to Sean Brading who kicked an nice running goal after bouncing it through an open goal square. Then, thanks to an absolute bullet pass from the very talented Brayden O’Hara, Big Jezza had his 4th in an amazing comeback game.

The Dogs seemed to have full control now, half way through the ‘premiership quarter’ and this was typified in the next passage of play, where great team work saw Ben Woods get on the end of his second goal of the game to date. Centrals now had a commanding and game high 55 point lead and looked in a great position to go on for a very comfortable win. Despite both teams turning the ball over at times and skills scrappy on the odd occasion, the Doggies simply looked the superior outfit and were pretty much dominating all positions across the ground. It was the Eagles who got the next goal however, after an umpire, who shall remain nameless, awarded a mark that was kicked to the top of the goal square from just next to the point post. The ball would have just travelled 8, maybe 10 metres at most but needless to say, it was paid and Nathan Twomey kicked the resulting goal to bring the deficit back to 50 points. The next 5 minutes of play were once again fairly scrappy and this would be how the quarter would finish up with the ¾ time siren blew as the play wasn’t that greatest spectacle to watch. Now 50 points up at lemons, you would have to think Centrals to win easily from here.

No doubt, Eagles coach Andrew Rogers would not be happy at the last break and he must have gave his troops a bit of a blast as they came out to start the last term pretty fired up. This rubbed off after they got the first goal through big Twomey to bring the margin back to 44 points and it was clear the Eagles were more desperate for the footy, albeit probably about 3 quarters too late. The blue and gold side had the first half dozen inside 50’s of the final term but all for no result, thanks to our solid defence lead by Ash Duncan and Alex Stengle mainly. It was then a great chase down and diving tackle from Ryan Boyle that saw Luke Barmby in a bit of space, driving the ball into our attack for the 1st time of the final stanza. In a move by coach Rogers to clearly stop the bleeding, Trent Hentschel was thrown into defence on the dangerous Sean Brading with the AFL star just too strong in the ensuing 1 on 1 battles. It was then the Eagles who scored again shortly after, assisted by back to back 25m penalties paid against the Dogs, for a bit of backchat to the umpire, but no sure who the culprit was though. Early into the last quarter, the Eagles managed to peg the Dogs lead back to 38 points and were showing that they still had a bit of fight left in which put a few thoughts in my head of the huge Glenelg comeback from a few weeks ago.

Any worries I did have were temporarily resolved thanks to a great contested effort from Chad Obst that saw a handball go over the top to a free Aufderhiede in an open goal square who calmly slotted his 5th goal, amazingly in his first game back in 12 months. The lead was now up to 43 points and was mainly due to Jezza’s 5 goals as well as great games from the likes of Ash Duncan, Alex Stengle, Nick White and Brayden O’Hara who have all basically been in the better players in every game so far this year, very consistant. A quick behind to Luke Barmby, the same result for Twomey and then a Dogs rushed behind saw our lead at 44 points at the 19 minute mark, from where you would say the game was all but won. The last 5 or 6 minutes of the contest were a bit of a scrappy affair with few highlights, until my man and BOG for me Ash Duncan took an absolute speccie across half back, 1 handed and all, a real contender for AFL Footy Show’s Almost Football Legends. Brayden O’Hara managed to kick the last goal of the game giving his side a very handy and comfortable 50 point victory and would possible make up for last weeks very disappointing loss against The Bays at Glenelg Oval. Of course, the coach Damien Hicks would be really pleased with the solid team effort and would no doubt, have to acknowledge the great individual games of Duncan, Stengle, O’Hara and Aufderhiede.

RESERVES TEAM:
Hadden, Stengle, Spurr, Giles, Baldwin, Moss, Hudson, White, Woods, Musolino, Boyle, McGrath, Porter, O’Hara, Duncan, Whiley, Brading, C.Obst, Aufderhiede McShane, Barmby

FINAL SCORES:
CDFC: 3.4 11.7 14.8 16.10 = 106
WWT: 3.5 5.5 6.6 8.8 = 56

BETTER PLAYERS:
Duncan, Aufderhiede, Stengle, O’Hara, Barmby, Spurr, Moss

GOAL KICKERS:
Aufderhiede 5, Brading, Porter, Woods, O’Hara 2, Obst, Hudson, Whiley

Just on a personal note, a couple of highlights for me were having the mickey taken out of me by Chris Gowans in the canteen line, with him jokingly saying “I’d trust to see you in this line Big Fella” as we had a bit of chat about his knee and how he REALLY feels about the Clint Alleway incident that led to the injury. Also, chatting to Ian Callinan was good, he’s a top bloke to talk with. Then of course, last but not least, meeting Centrals ‘unoffical’ photographer and fellow forum user, Callum. It was nice to finally meet you mate, keep up the great work with all your snaps. It was great to also see the end result for the boys in the reserves, who certainly deserved it. Also, it was a great come back game for Jezza with 5 goals who needs to keep up the good form, as we need as many key position players and versatile big men performing at their best if needed to be called upon to league level at any stage.

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BAROSSA CURTAIN RAISER: Gawler Central v South Gawler

In an interesting move by Central Districts, they decided to have a local BLG (Barossa) game as a curtain raiser to the League clash with Woodville West Torrens. It seems like a good way to get more numbers from the local competitions to come along to SANFL and would clearly be a great experience for some of the players to play under lights at Hamra Homes Oval. Now I’m not going to do one of my in depth match reviews of this clash, I don’t know all the players well enough and would be an injustice to the game, plus I wanted to have a rest and watch it. But in saying that though, it was interesting when I first picked up a team sheet, the first thing I did notice was the amount of familiar names from both sides.

There were ex Centrals players out there, from both League and Reserves level, players from other SANFL clubs, former juniors and even an old team mate of mine from when I was half fit and good enough and to play in the SAAFL at Division 3 level with local club Eastern Park. But instead of doing a game review, I thought as well as listing the final scores, goal kickers and better players, I might just touch on a few of the former Centrals and ex SANFL players etc etc that played in this game. In the end, it was a fairly high standard of game, despite being a bit scrappy at times, but some good footy was put on display. Gawler Central got off to the better start to the contest, never really being challenged the rest of the game although South were good in patches. But when the final siren blew, the Gawler Central coach Mark Brant would have been pretty happy with an 11 goal win.


GAWLER CENTRAL:
The first home of our wonderful co-captain and 6 times premiership player Matty Slade…

# 6 - Jason Wozniak:
Played a few years here at Centrals in the mid to late 90’s from memory. Pretty sure that he played a handful of league games before switching to West Adelaide for more opportunity.

# 8 - Scott Hahn:
Former West Adelaide veteran and consistant goal sneak who looks like he would still get a league game at West today. Brother of AFL player and Western Bulldogs listed, Micth Hahn.

# 20 - Casey Thomas:
Originally from Salisbury West I believe but played a few reserves games with Port Magpies before going to Seaton Ramblers. Brother of Craig who played in a CDFC U/17’s flag in ’96.

# 22 - Michael Agan:
No star here, just the lad that I played a bit of A grade with out at Eastern Park in 2000, 01.


SOUTH GAWLER:
A well known breeding ground for a few stars of Centrals from both current and past years…

# 7 - Aaron Bevis
Played a bit of footy for Centrals in the late 90’s, early 2000’s from memory. Mainly played in the reserves but did play a couple of league games. Brother Andrew also played for the Dogs.

# 8 - Alex Carapetis:
Not 100% sure, but I think he has played Under 19’s games for Centrals in the last few years.

# 9 - Casey Schell:
Not brother I don’t think, but cousin of Centrals star Daniel Schell. I remember Casey playing a little bit of reserves footy out with the Doggies, from memory was in the fairly early 2000’s ?

# 12 - Luke Officer:
I’m pretty sure he is the young brother of Kane who returned to Central this year after retiring.

# 17 - Anthony Johnson:
Played in Centrals underage teams in the mid 90’s, possibly in the ’96 Under 17’s flag, but has recently played a bit of footy with Norwood’s reserves side. Now back out North again.

COACH - Damien Herzick:
Played a few years as a full forward in Centrals reserves team, back in the early to mid 90’s I believe. Has certainly let himself go a bit but has coached a few teams now, including SAAFL.

FINAL SCORES:
Gawler Central: 22.8 = 120
defeated…
South Gawler: 11.7 = 73

BETTER PLAYERS:
G.C - B Taylor, B Niklaus, S Hahn, K Heberle, C Thomas, J Wozniak
S.G - A Johnson, A Bevis, D Coombes, S Foster, C Schell

GOAL KICKERS:
G.C - B Niklaus 6, S Hahn 5, B Taylor 4, D Hillebrand 2, A King, J Scott
S.G - A Johnson, A Geradis 2, A Costa, A Bevis, C Fowler, J McViccar

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LEAGUE: “ Doggies Pluck Eagle Feathers In Tough Night Fight ”

It was once again great to see our new ‘unofficial’ cheersquad a banner for the League team to run through before tonight’s game. This week, it was a big plug for local business Sports Power and then of course acknowledging big Jason “Buckets” Mackenzie for his 100 games milestone tonight. Unfortunately I found myself chatting to fellow Centrals forum users Callum and CC, who I for the first time, so I actually missed the coin toss between the two captains. Anyway, the game got underway way and was off to a frantic pace from the get go with Nick Salter winning a free for holding the ball after a strong tackle on Andrew Hayes. A booming kick from the Port Power rookie found Mark Passador on the lead and within the first 45 seconds, the Eagles had the perfect start with the 1st goal of the game on the board. From the resulting centre ball up the Dogs worked the ball forward where Heath Lawry kicked it inside 50 to a contest where hard work and desperation saw Scott Dutschke winning a holding the ball free kick for himself. But from about 35 out dead in front, he jagged his kick, giving the home side the first score, albeit a point.

Daniel Schell started at CHB on the sometimes dangerous Adam Grocke but, then after last weeks cameo performance from Schelly, there is a chance we might see him up forward again, tonight. After a slightly frantic opening couple of minutes in play, the next 4 or 5 were scrappy as it just seemed both sides were finding the intensity of the battle. Then at the 7 minute mark of the opening term, we had our first goal on the board thanks to Heath Lawry who managed to find a bit of space pushing forward. A few undisciplined efforts from our boys gave the Eagles the next few inside 50’s but as proven in the past, our defence was standing strong, mainly thanks to the ever reliable Richie Cochrane and Andrew Hayes. Heater was off to a cracking start winning plenty of the ball, kicking an early goal as well as showing quite a fair bit of pace for a big man, but we just struggled to be effective when we did the ball inside 50. Ben Schwarze seemed a good match up on Havelberg early, doing well in the few 1 on 1 contests they had and we just couldn’t hold the ball in our attacking zone well enough early. This was somewhat due to both teams playing a real aggressive, hard brand of footy from the first bounce and it looked like this was going to be a great contest by nights end.

The Eagles managed the next goal scoring opportunity after taking the ball forward but a shot on goal from Adam Crocke didn’t make the distance thanks to a sweeping Richie Cochrane on the last line of defence. With the Eagles having numbers pushing forward we managed to counter this with an attack of our own but because our forwards followed their opponents into the midfield and defence, the whole attacking 50 arch was completely empty for the Dogs. It was Luke Cowan who got Scott Dutschke on the end of our next inside 50, but like mentioned above, there simply was absolutely nothing for him to kick to. He managed to find the boundary line, cleverly, but the Woodville West Torrens outfit were able to take the ball the full length of the field where a 2nd shot on goal from Grocke was yet again denied on the very last line by the sometimes underrated Richie Cochrane. The home side then countered this with their own forward foray, this time for a much better result with veteran Luke McCabe setting up a very clever mid air soccer goal to Dan Havelberg, his first for the game. Late in the quarter we had a slight 5 point lead from a real enthralling start to the game.

Then at the 24 minute mark of the opening stanza, we had our 3rd goal on the board thanks to another clever soccer goal, this time to Chad O’Sullivan who now took our lead to 11 points. This smart goal to Sully would end up being the final score from either side for the quarter with the siren sounding a short time after his major. We looked fairly swiched on early in the game, while in the mean time, Jon Giles was doing okay in the ruck in his first league game for the year, Heath Lawry was on fire up forward and Richie Cochrane was playing his usual sweeping role perfectly across the backlines. Cameron Faulkner was pretty good early as well showing he really has settled into the team now since crossing back home from his AFL stint with the Western Bulldogs while Andrew Hayes just seems to improve every time he takes to the field and his confidence continues to grow. Now, this contest between 2 Grand Final arch enemies was living up to it’s Rivalry Round expectations with a very entertaining, hard fought contest so far. Centrals got off to a reasonable start with the Eagles having their moments throughout the term as well, but with a slight 11 point lead to the Dogs at the first chance, this was probably indicative on the contest so far.

The second term got under way with the Doggies winning the first centre clearance through a quick clearing kick from Slade but the Eagles had first control of possession thanks to a fairly soft free kick to Crows youngster Jarrhan Jacky. Another solid effort from Cam Faulkner saw us win the footy back though and pushing forward, Leigh Westhoff was able to have a shot on goal but his kick floated and bounced through for a behind. Turning it over from the resulting kick out by the Eagles, James Gowans put team mate Heath Lawry into a difficult situation with a very poor handball where Heater was unfortunately caught holding the ball. This then lead to the visitors taking the ball into attack where consecutive and confusing 25m penalties paid against Haysey saw the Eagles with their 2nd goal of the game, both to Passador. His direct opponent, Yves Sibenaler had a victory in the next 1 on 1 contest and thanks to solid team work involving Schelly, Westy, Willow and Slade, the Dogs had the next shot on goal to Luke Cowan who missed the set shot for a behind only. The Eagles were then able to counter by moving the ball efficiently up the field and going on to kick their 3rd goal of the game thanks to the diminutive Craig Fitzgerald.

The lead was now cut back to 1 single point in favour of the Dogs and despite the ball being deep inside our forward line for the next 5 or 6 minutes, we only managed to extend that by one single behind and that was rushed one by the Eagles. Only trailing by 2 points, Ronnie Fuller’s men lifted their work rate and intensity which saw then take the ball the full length of the field with Passador getting on the end of his 3rd goal so far. Then within a minute they had a 10 point lead after Ryan Williams dropped a difficult mark running at full pace only to turn around and see the impressive Craig Fitzgerald kick his second major of the term and as well as the game. Despite doing a few good things in the 1st term for us, his direct opponent in Richie Cochrane needed to tighten up a little on the Eagles clever goal sneak. The tide had turned slightly from the first term now with Woodville West Torrens the side who seemed to be controlling possession but importantly for them, were able to convert most of their scoring opportunities when inside 50. At the 20 minute mark of the 2nd term, Havelberg took a great contested mark, playing on quickly after his opponent over ran the mark, to find a free James Gowans who in turn kicked the goal, cutting the Eagles lead back to 4 points.

Late in the quarter, we seemed to pinch back a little bit of momentum, thanks in part to Dan Havelberg, who this time found an open Heath Lawry deep in the pocket, unfortunately on the wrong side for a left footer. Then, sensibly looking to square up inside to one of his skippers in Paul Thomas, Heater just didn’t push back off the mark enough and unfortunately he kicked it into the man on mark with the ball spilling out of bounds. We managed to work the ball back into the forward line where Luke Cowan took one of his customary big pack marks. But once again, his shot on goal missed, this time hitting the post to now bring the deficit back to just 3 points with only a couple of minutes left to play in the 1st half. The Eagles did manage the last score of the quarter though thanks to a Dale Symmons six pointer just after the siren blew to signal half time. His team mate Justin Cicolella celebrated the goal with passion and tried to fire up all of his team mates who would now go into the long break with a small 9 point lead. The first half of this game was typical of some of the great battles these 2 sides have had over the years and was set up for a rip snorting second half of football.

As expected, the Eagles were challenging the Dogs for the points after bringing some pretty good form into tonight’s game having knocked off Sturt the previous week. Their opponents and the reigning premiers in Central Districts have struggled to put 4 consistent quarters of footy together all year in the games to date. No doubt, after an okay first half, coach Roy Laird will , no doubt, be demanding a determined and desperate outfit to come out in the second half to challenge the Eagles for the important victory. The Eagles won the first centre clearance and inside 50 of the 3rd term but were unable to create a goal scoring opportunity from it. A great tackle to Cameron Faulkner was rewarded with a free kick for holding the ball but he gave it straight back to the Eagles after his kick to a leading Heath Lawry sailed out of bounds on the full. Then the visitors managed a behind from their next attacking foray from which the Doggies took the ball the full length of the field resulting in a solid team goal to Luke McCabe. Fellow skipper Paul Thomas had been moved onto the ball for the start of the second half and was having an immediate impact with his run and carry. He won the next disputed ball and drove it in long where Luke McCabe was immediately amongst the action once again.

In what can be described as bizarre and funny, the former Hawk veteran managed to find himself with the ball in his hands and an open goal square ahead of him. He then must have completely lost his bearings and sense of where the goals are as he ran in and kicked the ball through for a point, thinking he was on the goal line, not in between the goal and point posts. It will certainly be an incident that his team mates wont let him live down, especially if it ends up having an effect on the outcome of the game. The Eagles were then able to control the ball from the resulting kick out for the next 3 or 4 minutes but they were not able to score. Centrals then went the full length of the field with impressive team work before it was all let down after Dan Havelberg dropped a relatively easy mark above his head. Woodville West Torrens then countered with their very own attack but the vastly improved Andrew Hayes stood tall in defence, proving his entire worth with selection in the state squad. We went forward once again ourselves where big Hav had a chance to redeem himself for the earlier dropped mark. A set shot on goal that the fellow state squad member had, drifted late to hit the post. After the bemusing behind to McCabe and Hav’s poster, bringing the Eagles lead back to 2 points.

Luke McCabe was yet again amongst the action, this time playing his part in turning the ball over from off Eagles and setting up Trent Goodrem inside 50 with a shot on goal. Like Hav’s goal attempt, Goody’s shot also ended up fading late to hit the post, but this time Trent’s hit the point post for out on the full, not the goal post for a minor score. The Dogs now seemed to have the flow of play and shortly after the Goodrem missed attempt, Noodles hit Havelberg on the lead who then centred the ball to a free Scott Dutschke. Scotty managed to kick the major and took the lead back for the home side, albeit by a slender 4 points, however the Eagles managed to take the lead straight back themselves after a Power rookie Nick Salter got onto a huge 70 metre torp that actually sailed through for a goal. We then managed to work the ball back into our forward lines where a left foot snap shot by Thommo missed now bringing the margin back to 1 point in favour of the Eagles. Leigh Westhoff then managed to do well to keep the ball in play near the boundary line and found Heath Lawry inside 50 with plenty of space. Heater’s shot on goal missed for a behind which now tied the scores but it wasn’t long after this that the Eagles had the lead back again, albeit by the solitary point.

At the 25 minute mark of the 3rd term, a questionable free kick paid against Daniel Havelberg, who was playing in defence, saw Mark Passador with the ball in his hands within goal kicking range. The 2006 Ken Farmer Medalist calmly went back to slot his 4th goal of the game and give his side a 7 point lead now. The ball was then taken into Centrals forward line after we won the next centre clearance where a high bomb saw Elijah Ware drop a simple chest mark. As soon as the ball hit the ground, after bouncing off his chest, the siren sounded for ¾ time meaning Elijah missed out on a shot on goal after the siren. The little Bulldog number 50 then copped a pretty big spray from James Gowans, who happened to be in the grooms party at Noodles’ wedding only a few weeks before, for dropping the mark and ruing the chance to bring the margin six points closer. With a tight 7 point lead at lemons to the Eagles, the game was certainly set up for an enthralling last quarter of intense, hard fought football. With neither side really dominating the game so far, it will be the team that takes control on the final term who will likely go on to record a hard fought, well deserved victory.

Now the challenge was there for the Doggies and this final quarter of action will be a real test of their character and determination as to how badly they want the win. We got the better start to the final staza winning the first centre clearance but struggled to find a target in our attack. It was then at the 4 minute mark that Centrals were the first to open the goal kicking account for the final quarter. Matty Slade missed Heath Lawry on the lead with a pass by foot but our little diminutive co-captain followed up well to receive the handball back from Heater and kicked an impressive goal, reducing the margin back to the 1 single point. Getting this vital opening goal seemed to help with our confidence and showed with a more desperate effort by the players, highlighted by a great running mark to Ryan Williams and an excellent smother by Westty. Depite seeming to take control of the game in the early stages, the Eagles managed to take the ball into attack shortly after and thanks to Adam Crocke, Mark Passador was on the end of his 5th goal and now gave his side a 7 point lead over the home team. Moving back into the forward line, Big Hav marked and kicked truly at the 9 minute mark to once again reduce the visitors lead back to 1 single point.

In what could have been a match winning moment, Heath Lawry chased a ball into defence and was forced to come inside on his right foot where his skills on his opposite foot where just not good enough, missing the target by a long way and turning the ball over. The Eagles then pounced on the lose ball where Adam Crocke ran into an open goal to have a shot from about 30 out. He tried to keep it low but it faded late to miss and could end up being the slight let off that the Dogs could end up making him pay for. After a couple more minutes of hard fought play, young Trent Goodrem manged to find Heath Lawry inside 50 who went back to kick the crucial goal, not only making up fir his earlier blunder but also letting Adam Crocke know his pretty easy shot on goal may end up costing his side dearly. The Lawry major now gave the home side a 3 point lead then after a quick Eagles behind, Noodles managed to find himself open and in space running toward the goals. Another clever kick into the space out in front saw Elijah run unto the ball to pick it up off the deck and kick the nice running goal to now take our lead out to 8 points. Then the former Port Power listed player almost had a 2nd goal in as many minutes but his shot was touched right on the line by Eagle Ben Schwarze.

At the 20 minute mark of the final terms, the game was still in the balance however, the next passage in play saw Scott Dutshcke receive a free kick for a high tackle and from right on the 50, he managed to kick the 6 pointer and then immediately headed for the interchange bench for a well deserved spell. The Doggies now seemed to be in control of both possession of the ball and looked like taking control of the match on the scoreboard. Then it was Daniel Havelberg who seemed to have sealed the win after kicking a big major from an awesome snap shot, which was, no doubt, the goal of the game and gave his side a strong 21 point lead. But for the 2nd week in a row, almost in identical fashion, Andrew Hayes took a super impressive overhead mark. Like last week against Glenelg, he looked to switch it across the face of goals, missing his desired target and gifting Dale Symmons an easy goal running into an open square. At the 25 minute mark of the final term, the lead was at 16 points in favour of the Doggies therefore meaning the Eagles had to kick 3 goals to snatch the win. Deep into the quarter, Noodles had another chance to kick a goal, this time it would have ended up being the game winner, but his shot from a tight angle just missed, registering a behind.

The margin was now at 17 points and with only 2 or 3 minutes left in the match, at the most, it looked more and more unlikely that the Eagles were going to kick 3 goals and sneak home with what would be somewhat of an upset 1 point victory. Well, it wasn’t meant to be anyway, as the full time siren sounded shortly after, sealing a hard fought win but still a bit patchy in form throughout the course of the night. It ended up being a great determined win by Roy and his charges which should now give the Reigning Premiers a fair bit of confidence going into next weeks clash with cellar dweller, West Adelaide. Despite still not putting 4 solid quarters of football together, it was still a solid won, considering there is still some class acts sitting on the sidelines due to injury. With their position settled inside the top 3 at present, the Doggies should look now at the Westies game hoping to really find some good form and ideally come away with a handy little percentage boosting win. A good even mix of both goal kickers and better players with no one totally dominating from either side, or kicking an big bags. From what I could see , we came out of the game uninjured which of course is another positive heading into next weeks game with an unchanged line up will be pleasing.

LEAGUE TEAM:
Lawry, L.Westhoff, O’Sullivan, McCabe, Cochrane, Goodrem, Dutschke, Thomas, Giles, Mackenzie, Hayes, Cowan, Schell, J.Gowans, Faulkner, Williams, Sibenaler, Havelberg, Switala, Ware, Slade

FINAL SCORES:
CDFC: 3.1 4.5 6.9 12.12 = 84
WWT: 1.2 6.2 8.4 10.7 = 67

BETTER PLAYERS:
Hayes, Cochrane, Lawry, Thomas, J.Gowans, Havelberg, Slade, L.Westhoff

GOAL KICKERS:
Havelberg 3, Lawry, Slade, Dutschke 2, O’Sullivan, Ware, McCabe

Well tonights game was a real hard fought battle and although we won well, we still played patchy at times and still need to get 4 quarters consistantly together. The other good thing is that we still have a few quality players sitting on the sidelines at the moment so we can only get better from here in.

GO U DOGGIES...

Big Phil...