AFL Round 6

Nicks. Sounds very South African. Incidentally, does anyone know why
Richmond's senior players, Knights, Daffy and Gale, had torn the AFL
logo off their guernseys yesterday?

Remember last week's sellout at Colonial Stadium where Channel Seven
showed the match live in Melbourne, yet there were 7,000 empty seats?
Colonial boss Ian Collins reckons it didn't sell out. Channel Seven said
that the ticketting agency, Ticketmaster, told them it had. Channel
Seven owns 49.9% of Ticketmaster. This is a bit of a worry. "Gee, that
Hawthorn/Fremantle game is gonna rate BIG TIME!" "But there's a
potential audience of 56 people…we can't show it, or they mightn't turn
up." "I reckon it'll sell out" "Why" "I own the ticket company". In fact
Ticketmaster is copping a bucketting from all sides as low crowds
continue to plague the new ground. Folks don't seem to realize
pre-booking a ticket is still foreign to your Melbourne-based punter.

At Colonial:
Footscray  1.3    4.4    7.7     12.9.81
Essendon   6.5    9.8   12.12   22.12.144

Yawn. Bombers easily in the end. Bulldog Danny Southern had a shot early
in the last quarter which would have made it 17 points the diff. But he
missed everything and the Dons piled on three quick ones to end it.
Footscray had Chris Grant back and also called up Mark Robbins to
replace injured Dimattina and dropped Macri. Bombers made no initial
change but ended up with two widely expected alterations, injured
Mercuri (hamstring) and Barnard (cut foot) missing. In came Michael
Prior and Danny Jacobs.

The roof was closed after some rain during the day and the Dons were
quickly away. Lloyd took an early mark and didn't whinge, like he did in
the paper over treatment from umpires alerted to his mastery of the
forward somersault with pike. Soon Lucas found a paddock to mark and
convert, Dons cleared the restart and Alessio roved for a good goal.
Their backline was well on top of the Doggy forwards, Fletcher
controlling an out-of-sorts Grant while Heffernan and Hardwick patrolled
the smaller men. In the middle Jason Johnson was excellent again, a very
strong, honest and skilful man. Far more use than the vastly overrated
Misiti. JJ did very well to win the ball and punt for Lloyd to mark over
Kretiuk, goal and Kretiuk departed with a leg injury. He does that a
lot. Fletcher pushed up the ground to boot a long running goal and 23
points, 4 goals to none to the Bombers. Or Bummers as Seven's Dunstall
referred to them inadvertantly. Freudian slip as most of Melbourne's
footy media have their noses and/or tongues up that part of Esserdin's
figurative anatomy. Lively Lucas goaled again from a good, tough mark
and then he got another after poaching a Dog handpass. Finally Grant
found Rohan Smith 30m out and he kicked the Pups' first goal after the
siren. The game was much tighter after quarter time as the Dogs knuckled
down, but they had trouble kicking goals all night. Garlick and Kolyniuk
did well to set up the first goal of term two for Smith, a bit later
Smith chipped his free kick to Luke Darcy who pumped it through, the
Dogs were within 21 points. Don captain Jim Hird was off after copping
Wynd's knee in the ribs (accidentally). No scoring for a while before
the Dons broke the deadlock, Caracella capping off Wellman's two-bounce
run and pass. Darcy kicked into the man on the mark before Wellman
marked and goaled, then a disorganised Dog defence allowed Lloyd over
the back for a grab in the goalsquare. The Bummers by 40. Romero managed
to suck Dean Wallis into conceding a late free kick for a goal.

Third stanza saw more solid Footscray work come to nothing on the
scoreboard, the strong-tackling and hard-running Dons answering every
challenge. Pup Curley won a dodgy free and passed it to leading Cox for
a good goal, Dons' Moorcroft replied with some perfect roving to Lloyd
and opponent Hunter. Darcy, playing well in attack with Grant benched,
kicked a 50m goal following a nice mark and it was Dons by 28 points. A
bit later and Ramanauskas facing the boundary was allowed to throw the
ball - one of those backwards-over-the head handpasses - and Alessio
punted to the goalsquare for an easy sausage to Bewick. Darcy was caught
in possession and the turnover led to another goal for Lucas. The Dons
hurt you that way. They led by 41 points before Grant's nicely-executed
running goal, which put the Bullies back where they were at half time.
Plough moved Danny Southern to full-forward for the last quatrain, he
soccered a rapid goal. Wynd punted forward from the next centre bounce
where Darcy marked and kicked a good major. Dons by 23 points and West
won the next centre clearance, Southern marked it 40m out directly in
front. Kicked outta bounds. Immediately Lloyd led up the ground for a
strong grab in front of Hunter, his long kick led to an simple
tap-through for Blumfield. Lloyd also created the next goal for
Caracella and the Bummers were back 6 goals up. Lucas made it seven with
a big kick. All over, although the Dons launched an assault on the
sticks with five of the next six goals before Southern kicked two late
majors, just to emphasize that miss early in the quarter. The gods can
be cruel.

Gangling Bommer forward Scott Lucas is playing so well you wonder how
they won without him. Lucas kicked 6 goals from 8 marks and 11 kicks.
Down back Fletcher beat Grant early and had 13 touches with a goal,
Hardwick (15 touches) was also good in stopping the smaller Pup
forwards. Jason Johnson had 20 disposals in a very good game against
Liberatore. Forward flanker Blake Caracella found plenty of space for 24
disposals and kicked 3 goals. Still don't know why he was dropped a
fortnight back. Wellman didn't seem to have an opponent as he had 14
kicks with a goal. Louganis Lloyd kicked 3.4 from 7 marks in a good
battle with Hunter - and got 2 free kicks. Blumfield also kicked 3
goals, all in the last quarter. Luke Darcy was probably the Bulldogs'
best, taking 13 marks and booting 3 goals from CHF. Tenacious Scotty
West had 31 disposals burrowing into packs. Rohan Smith ran busily for
29 possies and 2 goals, swapping between the forward line and half-back.
Nathan Eagleton was handy with 22 handlings and a last-quarter goal.
Johnson (20 touches) was alright despite copping a whack in the ribs.
Southern kicked 3 goals, all in the final term like Blumfield. "After
the start we had, we had sort of worked our way steadily back into the
contest...we at least showed that we were prepared to stand up at that
point and to have the floodgates opened up like they did late in the
game was very disappointing," said Wallace. Sheedy looked ahead to the
rest before the Anzac Day game against the Pies. "That was our best win
so far. We are quite happy that we have an opportunity to get Mercuri
and Long up, see what's wrong with Hird (bruised back and kidney) and
have the extra couple of days because we have probably had a half season
already." Should be a huge day at the G next Tuesday.

At Princes Park:
Carlton        6.2   13.7   23.11   26.13.169
Port Adelaide  3.3    6.3    8.3     12.6.78

Back at Fort Elliott against an undermanned and formless visitor from
interstate, the Blues were in their element. Each Bloo midfielder had 60
kicks and they kept up their Fort Elliott average of 23 goals per game.
Port aren't going too well at all. In selection the embattled Blues lost
Fraser Brown, suspended four matches after pleading guilty to hitting
Misiti last week. The Blues were fairly happy given Brown's woeful
tribunal record and two other charges from the same game, of which he
was found not guilty. Carlton also dropped the two players for whom they
traded their first three draft picks, O'Reilly and Mansfield, and Massie
was out with a fractured cheekbone. Replacements were Brett Backwell for
his first game of the year plus Hickmott, Hulme and Nelson. Port were in
trouble losing reliable skipper Wanganeen with a foot injury and handy
midfielder Josh Francou (knee) while Danny Morton was axed, in came Stew
Dew, Nick Stevens after suspension and Michael Stevens.

After I bagged Brett Ratten last week, he came out and booted three
goals in the first quarter. Camporeale and Bradley jogged about getting
kicks, on the back of Allan's winning ruck performance. Hickmott and
Lappin lurked about while Hotton, Whitnall and Hamill were rampant in
attack. Port players trotted around behind their men, unable or
unwilling to exert any pressure. Bode and Tredrea did kick some goals in
the first quarter. Blues kicked away in term two, Ratten found space
again for two more goals and Whitnall dobbed his third. Port lost
Francis with bruised ribs but they had some pleasure in seeing Tasmanian
forward Mark Harwood kick two goals from strong marks. Just before half
time Bloo Simon Beaumont kicked one of those goals that defines a game,
stripping the plodding Mead with a tackle, gathering the ball and
snapping truly. Carton's second halves have been good so far and they
came out to boot the first five goals of the third quarter on the way to
ten for the period. Camporeale had 10 touches for the term, Ratten 9 and
Hamill 9 in attack. Lappin kicked 2 goals in the stanza, his second a
great team goal created by McKay. When Whitnall kicked his fourth goal
late in the final quarter the Bloos led by 115 points, Port were staring
at a record defeat. But they roused themselves to kick four quick goals
and avoid that ignominy.

Need an extra file for the stats. Winger Scott Camporeale, allegedly
tagged by Wilson, had 44 disposals (30 kicks, 14 handpasses) and kicked
a goal. Brett Ratten finished with 6 goals from 32 touches swapping
between midfield and half-forward. Thirty-six year-old Craig Bradley had
39 disposals.(20 handpasses) and a goal. His opponent Kingsley went off
with concussion in the third. Ruckman Allan had his best game of an
ordinary season to date with 27 hitouts and 25 disposals, 9 marks.
Hickmott (24 possies, 2 goals) and Lappin (24 possies, 2 goals) ran riot
across half-forward and the marking forwards were handy too, Whitnall (8
marks, 4 goals), Hamill (22 touches, 3 goals) and Trent Hotton (7 marks,
2 goals). Backwell kicked 2 goals as well. Port's best were battling
small forward Matthew Bode (11 touches, 3 goals) and taller Harwood who
also kicked 3 goals. Barnaby French wasn't too bad in the ruck and Nick
Stevens had 22 touches with a goal. Tredrea kicked 2 goals and finished
the game in defence. Williams said "It was a very disappointing day for
us...I thought their midfield killed us. We look for reasons, but they
are hard to find. It was worse than the first round. Essendon was very
indirect and we had a lot of the ball...whereas today, we didn't even
get the ball." He looked forward to next weekend's Showdown against
fellow battlers the Crows. "We're a side that has to draw the line now,
or the season is blown. Our guys' confidence is down and that's
something that I have to work on and try and get up." Parkin didn't hit
anybody and allowed Wayne Brittain to do most of the press conference,
after charges that he did the wins and Brittain got to face the music
after Carlton losses. "We just needed to get back into the contest and I
think we did that." Excitement.

At the MCG:
Collingwood      2.5    2.9    6.11   11.16.82
North Melbourne  3.3    7.5   13.8    17.12.114

The Pies' dream run came to an end at the hands of Wayne Carey and the
Roos. On the Saturday morning The Age's Jake Niall suggested that Magpie
skipper Buckley was as big a matchwinner as Carey. They had an equal
number of touches here but there's no doubt who had the bigger
influence. One significant change in selection for Collingwood, Anthony
Rocca suspended 2 weeks for donging Ellis last Friday, Brent Tuckey
replaced him. That was probably balanced by North losing McKernan with a
bruised kidney, Kingsley and Rawlings were dropped. In came Brady
Anderson, Evan Hewitt and Mick Martyn back from suspension.

Collingwood started quickly again, Buckley handpassed to Williams for an
idiomatic running goal, Tuckey set up the next goal for Lockyer, down
from defence. North's rookies got them going. Teenage ruckman Shannon
Watt roved to snap their first sausage, then Lange's high kick was
well-marked and converted by Hewitt. Late in the quarter Lange led,
marked and.golled to give the Sydneyroos the lead. In the second stanza
Carey ventured into the midfield and backline, meaning that both sides
had trouble scoring. The Magpies wasted a few chances although Buckley
appeared to scuff one through, only for the goal ump to signal touched.
Bucks didn't like that. Eighteen minutes elapsed before Martin Pike
marked and goaled for the Roos and they booted three more before
halftime to take charge. Carey ran into Pagan's Paddock for a mark,
played on and hooked it through left-footedly, King kicked a running
goal, Carey marked and pumped a sausage from 50m on the siren.

From the opening bounce of the second half Spider Burton tapped for
Harvey, his pass found King for a major and the Pies faced a hefty
32-point deficit. More tough, goal-less struggle for a while before the
Maggies broke their lengthy goal drought, Freeborn roving Fraser's
contest and handpassing for Shane Watson to punt his 100th career goal.
Carey answered immediately for Norf with a lairy one-handed mark in the
goalsquare, holding off Prestigiacomo with the other. The Pies then made
a bit of a challenge. Lockyer won a soft free and passed to leading Sav
Rocca. Sav had spent plenty of time of the bench so far, but he drilled
it. Then Tarrant soared for a spectacular two-grab mark in the teeth of
goal and duly converted, the Pies were 21 points down. Orchard was
tripped by Pike, the Norf man was reported and Orchard received a free
and 85m penalty. He missed. A few behinds for both teams before Carey
once more made the crucial intervention, tackling fiercely to dispossess
O'Bree and handpass for a goal to Grant. Pie ruckman Fraser majored from
a free kick to make it 21 points again but the Harbourkangas kicked
away, Burton converted a mark, Carey was awarded a doubtful grab over
Fraser for the full six, Bell roving to  Carey handpassed for another
Grant major. Norf by 39 at the final break. Collingwood got the first
goal of the last quarter, Orchard banana-snapping a far more difficult
shot than he'd had during the preceeding stanza. Immediately Calthorpe
punted a running goal, Harvey created Grant's third sausage and Carey
gave away a six-pointer for Bell. The Roos were 51 points up and the
game was well over. ABC commentators Lane and Russell indulged in an
awful pun-making contest as the Magpies finished strongly. Watson
majored after being punched in the nether regions by Archer, who was
reported (Lane: "He's a bit testy"). Goals for Pies Tuckey, Sav and
Watson again followed before Roo Adam Simpson ended the game with a 55m
roost.

Carey showed who's boss. 26 disposals, 12 marks and 4 goals with several
more given away, he was the game's dominant figure and exposed a
potential Pie weakness in defence, although Malthouse stoutly defended
Prestigiacomo. Adam Simpson produced an important effort on Buckley,
reducing Bucks' effectiveness while having 21 kicks and a goal himself.
Equally useful was John Blakey's game on Paul Williams, Blakey had 25
disposals to Willo's 17 with one goal. Brent Harvey played very well in
the centre with 29 possessions, King was useful with 22 touches and 2
goals. At full back Martyn saw Rocca benched early and kick his 2 goals
after the game was over. Shannon Grant booted 3 goals from 14 kicks and
Shannon Watt showed some good form in the ruck. For the Maggies forward
Watson played his best game for a long while, gathering a hefty 31
disposals with 15 marks and 3 goals. Tarrant was lively in attack with
21 touches, 8 marks and a goal. Two bad misses though. Buckley mightn't
have been omnipotent but he was still pretty good with 34 disposals,
Burns played well down back for 33 disposals. Lockyer (29 touches, a
goal) played more in midfield this time and Freeborn had 30 touches. Sav
kicked the 2 goals. Malthouse said "We put ourselves under enormous
pressure by doing things we haven't trained for...That was our worst
game. Don't take anything away from North Melbourne, I certainly
haven't, but I just reckon time caught up with us today." Long rest
before Anzac Day now. Pagan was happy with the win, but unhappy with the
reports. "We've been ripping our hair out...We've discussed it as a
group, we're just so disappointed. We've enough players out without
reports. Collingwood are the genuine article and we were very pleased
with the win."

At Colonial:
St. Kilda  1.3    4.7    8.9     9.12.66
Brisbane   6.4    9.8   11.11   15.15.105

Heard on Coodabeen Champions on Saturday: Death, taxes and St. Kilda.
Which is the odd one out? The answer's death: the other two get worse
every year. Saints lost again in front of another paltry crowd. They had
the retreat during the week, they've had the meetings, the axings, the
lot. Only coach sacking remains. Or player sacking, as most of 'em have
had plenty of coaching. Saints had five changes going in, McLaren,
Thompson and Hall missed with injury while Walton and Shane Wakelin were
dropped. Plapp, Monkhorst, Knowles and Young were recalled and a bloke
given his first game, Brett Moyle from the Oakleigh Chargers U-18s.
Brisbane lost Steven Lawrence with a lacerated finger after the feisty
Lion punched a window at a teammate's party last weekend. Akermanis
missed with a thigh strain, McDonald a late withdrawal with a groin
strain and Headland was omitted. Handy replacements though in Craig
Lambert, Luke Power, Martin McKinnon and Tim Notting. During the week
Brisbane president Alan Piper, a huge force for good in Queensland
football, succumbed to a long battle with cancer.

Within three minutes of the start Brisbane forward Bradshaw had already
kicked two goals and opponent Hudghton was replaced by Dazza Wakelin. He
booted another and Molloy bagged a couple as the Lions kicked the first
six goals of the game. Everitt seemed concreted into the goalsquare but
he roused himself for the Saints' first on the stroke of quarter-time.
That seemed to awaken the Stakilda boys and they kicked the first three
goals of the second quarter. But they wobbled when Harvey was forced off
with a thigh strain and the Brians steadied with the next three to be 5
goals up at half time. Two more majors in the early third and the Lions
were cruising, 43 points clear. It was all quiet in the western
front-end of town-stadium. Everitt converted a grab to arrest the trend,
then he repeated the dose, Mitchell converted on the run and
unbelievably so did Stewie Loewe, the Stains got to within 20 points.
Timmy revved the lads at the final change, but to no avail. Lion's Luke
Power booted a long goal to start the final quarter and they coasted in
from there.

Nice effort from Brisbane skipper Michael Voss with 23 disposals (16
handpasses) in the middle and at full back Justin Leppitsch did a good
job with 19 disposals running off, although he was also reported for
biffing Mitchell in the first quarter. Heuskes mopped up time and again
in defence for 20 possies. Molloy had a good game with 3 goals from 13
possessions and solid winger Chris Scott played well for 20 disposals,
11 marks and 2 goals. Bradshaw booted 3 goals, all in the first quarter.
Power also kicked 3 goals but had a fairly ordinary night overall, Lynch
snaggled 2. For the Saints the usual trier, Nathan Burke (23 touches)
was best and Loewe produced a better effort with 16 disposals, 17
hitouts and a goal from the ruck. Knowles (13 disposals) was a goer and
Matt Young picked up a hefty 28 disposals off half-back. Traianidis had
22 touches with a goal, Everitt kicked 3 goals from 7 marks. "We'll keep
going in the same direction that we're going," commenced Watson. A quick
glance at the ladder suggests they've already reached their destination.
"We have set ourselves a course, we have a very strong and positive
belief about where we are at this point in time. We're not going to
alter that and the results will come in time." In time for what? No real
quote from Matthews other than ticking off a reporter for suggesting
Piper's death inspired the win. Still, Brisbane are handily placed now
with yet another away game to come before a fortnight at home.

At Subiaco:
West Coast  5.3   11.4   19.9   28.10.178
Fremantle   3.0    4.3    6.5     9.7.61

Like Carlton, the Eegs are much happier at home. That, and the memory of
last years' first derby loss inspired an absolute thumping of the
hapless Dockers. Just to make it worse for Freo, Modra had his shoulder
dislocated in the first quarter by McIntosh ramming Mods's head into the
ground. Towards the end Jakovich pumped his fists to the crowd so often
it's a wonder he wasn't arrested for visual obscenity. At selekshun the
Eagles dumped Donnelly and Chris Lewis for Guy McKenna, returning from
injury, and Laurie Bellotti. Initially Fremantle dumped Matthew Pavlich
plus struggling pair Brad Wira and James Clement for Clem Michael, Luke
Toia and Andrew Shipp. But in the end all of the 'outs' played and only
Toia came in, Kickett a late withdrawal.

Modra was hurt early, leading, being wrapped in a headlock by McIntosh
and pile-driven. He converted the free, then trudged off. Weagles Braun
and Morrison were particularly active in the first quarter but after
quarter-time it was lumbering Scotty Cummings to the fore again. He
booted two goals in the second term and seven more after half-time to
lead the Wiggle assault. After half time Jakovich was sent forward and
snapped a miraculous goal. Lotta fist-pumping there. Gehrig and the
Materas joined in the goalfest against the clearly intimidated Dockers,
although I suppose they did no worse than the winner of two of the last
three flags two weeks ago.

West Coast forward flanker Chad Morrison had a big game with 4 goals
from 23 possessions. Much drive from the centre came from Gardiner (21
disposals, 8 marks) and the excellent kicking of Michael Braun (20
kicks, 35 disposals altogether, 2 goals). Cummings booted 10 goals from
7 marks, 12 kicks (2 misses). Wirrpunda had another great game in
defence for 25 disposals and Metropolis did well with 15 touches - I
assume he might've had Waterhouse. Peter Matera kicked 3 goals and there
were 2 each for Philip Matera, Jakovich and Gehrig. Adrian Fletcher
battled away for the Dockers with 21 disposals and Cook had 28 touches
including a spectacular and brave mark I saw on Sunday. McManus was
aggressive at least and had 25 possies and a goal. Heath Black ran hard
for 12 kicks and a goal. Waterhouse and Pavlich kicked 2 goals each.
Drum said "It's very disappointing; any team which loses by that amount
has got to do some soul-searching." Judge pondered his teams'
Jekyll-and-Hyde form. "Tonight's effort just exemplifies the frustration
I've had at times. I was pleased with the way the players played and the
intensity the played with, we've just got to revisit it a bit more
regularly."

At Football Park:
Adelaide   6.1   13.3   17.8   22.11.143
Hawthorn   4.1    6.3    7.6      8.9.57

Camrys got on the board in a big way, belting the hapless Hawks who were
on the second leg of their Adelaide double-header. Fixturing by an AFL
still upset the Horks didn't merge with Melbourne. Some encouraging
signs for the Cows with the form of Rehn and Beinke. In selection the
Camrys axed new players Cicolella and O'Loughlin along with Mark
Stevens, back in were big man Ken McGregor and defender David Gallagher
for his first game of the year, plus a first-gamer in 20-year-old
Michael Doughty from South Adelaide. Hawthorn had forward/ruckman Nathan
Thompson back and also called up youngster Glen Bowyer, out dropped was
last weeks' debutant Rode and Jon Hay was a late withdrawal with a sore
back.

A decent first quarter began with Jarman goaling from a mysterious free
kick, Hawk Dixon replied with a nice set shot. They Hawks led briefly
when Thompson's left-foot snap took a series of fortuitous bounces to
trickle through. The Corollas had some luck of their own when Beinke
received a very late advantage call from the ump to run on for an easy
goal. And more luck when Ricciuto was palpably caught in possession by
Thompson, but the Crow got the free for being ridden into the turf.
Alright, a 50/50. Roo's free ended with Beinke firing out a very good
handpass for Byrne to snap a goal, then the busy Beinke snapped one of
his own. But the crowd (a good 38,234) were really excited by the next
two goals, Rehn marked and pumped it through from 55m, then Jarman
scooped a loose ball one-handed and weaved between tacklers to spear it
from 30m. Camrys by 25 points but two late goals from marks, Croad on
the lead and Chick doubling back, dragged the Hawks back in touch. Rock
lobbed a left-foot goal to open the second quarter and the visitors were
only 7 points down. But they were struggling in attack, Cressidas Robran
and Basett doing very well in the key defensive spots. Beinke lurked for
his third goal and back flanker Goodwin snuck down for a couple, Welsh
majored twice from marks in the second as the Cows cleared out.
Confidence restored, they cleared right away after half time. Tuned back
in for the last quarter. Rehn marked and created the first goal for
Vardy, then held another nice grab but missed. Barker kicked a good goal
for Horforn but soon Welsh displayed a bit of nous for his third goal
and Rehn had the crowd roaring with another juggling mark and long roost
for a sausage. Later he missed from a downfield free. Basset charged out
of defence and Jarman outjumped Harford for a grab and goal, then he
combined with Rehn for the last goal, lobbing high after twisting away
from multiple would-be tacklers for the big man to mark on the
goal-line. Your (non-Port) croweater's wet dream.

Rehn Is Back, they reckon. Playing mainly at CHF he took 6 marks and had
19 disposals for 4 goals. Back flanker Simon Goodwin was excellent with
31 disposals and 2 goals and fellow defender Robran saw off multiple
opponents for 21 handlings. Kym Koster held Crawford to a measly 9
possessions - just one kick before half-time - and had 23 handlings of
his own. Jarman destroyed his old team with 5 goals from 19 touches in
the forward pocket and fringe-type Brian Beinke booted 4 goals from 16
kicks, 7 marks. In the centre Marks Bickley (16 disposals) and Ricciuto
(23) was decent. Scott Welsh kicked 3 goals and Vardy 2. For the Hawks
skinny tall man Jade Rawlings played well at full back for 22 disposals
and 11 marks including an absolute ripper of a screamer. Richard
Vandenberg played a good game in the centre for 33 disposals and a goal,
Harford (20 touches) was alright too. Croad was constantly moved from
the forward line to the backline and back again, he had 14 disposals and
kicked 2 goals. Not many others worth mentioning though. Schwab said "We
were very poor, the Crows were very, very good. Let's face it, we're an
inconsistent footy team. And from their point of view, the return of
their champions would obviously gladden Gary's heart." And reduce his
house insurance premium. Schwab bristled when Crawford's fitness "or
other problems" were raised. "Can you stop that? The bloke puts up a
performance, judge the performance. He's a champion. He's won a Brownlow
Medal." Triumphant Ayresey said "There is a fair bit of purpose in what
we've been doing in the last couple of weeks. It probably just
vindicates that work ethic." Inspirational.

At the SCG:
Sydney    5.4   10.6   11.9   16.10.106
Richmond  5.4    9.6   14.9   17.10.112

An early start demanded by TV and the Swans played like they'd got out
of the wrong side of the bed. They were generally irritable, their
disposal was terrible, running sluggish and tackling crude. As the Tiges
showed last week, you take 'em lightly at your peril. Channel Sieben
folk were fond of calling the SCG the 'Colosseum' but it's far from that
now for the Swans, unless they're the Christians. They've lost all three
games there this season and eight of the last twelve. Swans made no
initial change from last weekend but Saddington was a late pullout,
replaced by Gerard Bennett. Richmond are considering setting up training
at the nearby Epworth Hospital. Leon Cameron will miss 8 weeks with a
broken wrist and Campbell a further 3 with a calf injury. On the upside
Jason Torney and Darren Gaspar returned from injury.

Close first term. Sydney players fell over a lot 'cause they had the
wrong boots on. They got the first goal, Goodes with a nice grab from
Mathews's kick. Richmond got on the board when Nicks, who didn't have a
good day, played on from a kick-in and lost it, Rogers goaled. Tiger
Mills clobbered Schauble as the latter marked, Mills got reported and
Schauble limped off, O'Loughlin converted the free. Cresswell marked and
majored from Crouch's centering kick and it was Bloods by 13 points.
Daffy created consecutive goals for the Tiges, roving to Ottens and
Dunkley he snapped a goal and saw an almost identical effort soccered
through by Rogers. Jon Stevens marked and golled, Syd by 8. Ottens
sausaged when Dunkley fell over. Dunks had a miserable day. Ahmat roved
for a good major for Siddey, Ottens tied things up at the first break
following a big grab from Biddiscombe's long kick. Mathews did well to
create the first sausage of term two, for Nicks. Torney did equally well
to attack the ball and pass for Ottens, who was whacked by Nicks as he
marked and received a 50m penalty. Gol and the Tiges led by a point. Now
Sydney spurted, Stevens's good snap was followed by a centre clearance,
mark and goal for Goodes, a turnover in Richmond's forward line led to
Stafford booting a nice running goal, Goodes led and scored six again.
Sydney by 22 points. But the Tiges hit back late with Benny Gale going
to full forward and Ottens rucking. Daffy kicked twice for good marks
and goals for Gale over Dunkley, a nice tap-on by Knights allowed Rogers
to snap truly and the Tiges went in just a goal down.

Just before the halftime siren O'Loughlin, who'd been good, went down
after being hammered in a marking contest. To general surprise he
returned for the second half and to even more surprise he stayed.
Because he could barely move  Schauble was back too. Richmond pinched an
early lead when Gaspar, playing at CHF, converted a free for being hit
high by Nicks, again. Stevens answered for Sydney after marking
Schauble's wobbler. But the Tiges forged ahead thanks to committed
defence, many free kicks and Brendon Gale. Gale won a dodgy ruck free
and dobbed it, then he marked Bourke's long kick and dobbed it. TV man
Roos bemoaned the mounting Tiger free kick tally but reader, being a
veteran of these SCG Sundays in front of the teev I simply recalled a
phrase about things going around and coming around. Dragicevic was
upended by Nicks (him again!) while marking and KO'd as his head smacked
the turf, Nicks was reported at last and Rogers converted the free plus
50m. Harrison blasted a six-pointer from a standing start and it were
Tigers by 19 points at the last change. McAvaney sounded mildly shocked
by Dunkley being benched for the start for the last quarter. Perhaps it
was the seven goals he'd conceded, Bruce. The Tigres' lead became 24
points when Hilton majored from Andy Kellaway's pass. Goodes ended
Siddey's barren spell, recovering from his own spilled mark, but Daffy
replied for the Tiges after some awful dithering by Mathews. Ahmat
snapped one for the Bloods, Rogers found Ottens on the lead to preserve
the 4-goal lead. Time ticked away and the unhappy TV folk mumbled
backhanded compliments for Richmond. With about 4 minutes left, the
Bloods made a belated attempt. Cresswell converted a free and from the
restart O'Loughlin roved Goodes and majored. O'Loughlin's brave contest
allowed Goodes to rove and goal, suddenly the Tiggers were only a goal
up. But they hung on.

Many champion performances from the heroic Tiger conquerors (is that too
much?). Brad Ottens booted 4 goals from full forward and also rucked
well for13 hitouts. 'Old' midfielders Daffy (14 kicks, 2 goals) and
Knights (26 disposals, much gamesmanship) were very good, even older
Gale bagged 4 goals too although he went off during the third term with
a sore back. The ricketty backline held up with Mark Chaffey (23
disposals, 6 marks) almost BOG in a great performance, Bourke and
Holland also very good. Clint King tagged Schwass into oblivion while
Andy Kellaway was an excellent attacking flanker again with 20 disposals
and 8 marks. Rogers kicked 4 goals from 11 kicks, he weren't bad either.
Swans had spasmodic contributors. Adam Goodes kicked 5 goals from 8
kicks, just 4 marks. Ben Mathews ran hard and did well for 21 disposals,
Jon Stevens was handy in attack with 3 goals. Luff looked interested and
took 9 marks with 23 possies, shifting from the back line to CHF later.
O'Loughlin had a big first half with 14 possessions and finished with
19, but he shouldn't have been on after the main break. He also kicked 2
goals. Ahmat and Cresswell kicked 2 goals each. Cresswell did not have
22 disposals. That cannot be right. Eade said "I think the disappointing
thing was training all week to go longer (with kicks), mentioning it at
quarter-time, half-time too and we proceeded to go shorter in the third
quarter than we had in the rest of the game...we made too many mistakes.
The loss throws us back into the middle of the pack and we've got some
issues to address..." Frawley didn't cry this time. "We deserved to win
the game. We'd love to have Richo, but I think the other guys have stood
up and taken the next level." Huzzah Spud.

At Kardinia Park:
Geelong    3.6    6.12   11.16   15.19.109
Melbourne  3.2    6.5     7.6    12.11.84

Another good Cat win put 'em exactly where they were at this stage last
season, 5-1. Thompson continues to portray his lads as honest battlers
but they're getting plenty of media attention. You can't open a paper
without seeing Bomber being hailed as a genius or some spotty Cat
teenager being described as a footballing god. I'd thought Melbourne
were going well. Then I realised all they've dome is thrash St. Kilda
and that's not so much. Mind you they hadn't won in Geelong for 10 years
or something, so what the heck do I know? Two Cat changes in selection,
in-form Ronnie Burns suspended a week for hitting Read last Saturday and
Milburn withdrew with a foot injury, but Garry Hocking returned and
Arnott got a run. Melbourne swapped one big galoot for another, Seecamp
out and Nicholson in.

After a few good weeks from the Cat kids a couple of oldies took charge,
Hocking and Riccardi winning in the middle to drive the Cats on. The
Demons did alright for the first quarter-and-a-bit, Woewodin (he's also
in the meedya every time you look) and Yze winning plenty of kicks.
Farmer was busy early too, with three goals by midway through the second
term including a beauty snapped from the pocket after spoiling for a
mark, then recovering and wriggling out of two tackles. The Dees led by
16 points at this stage, but the advent of Paul Lynch reversed things.
Despite missing a few shots he sparked the Cats into action. Into the
third and Geelong booted five consecutive goals to kick clear. Graham
thwarted all Demon attacks, Houlihan was busy on flank and Danny O'Brien
bobbed up with 2 goals. Melbourne's normally busy midfield was gorn.
Just before 3/4 time Leoncelli broke their goal drought, but the Catters
kicked the first two goals of the final quarter to go 47 points clear.
Melbourne mounted a belated challenge, booting five consecutive goals
with the aid of the breeze and their fitness. With Anthony McDonald
firing in the middle Rigoni, Neitz (playing at full forward for the
first time this year), Schwarz and Farmer sausaged to cut the margin to
a scary 15 points, before Mensch and Clarke steadied the Pivotonians for
a comfortable win.

Big comeback for Buddha who battled all day against his younger Dee
opponents for 27 disposals and a goal. Forward flanker Houlihan,
apparently Geelong's leading mark-taker so far in 2000, had 17
possessions (just 4 marks) and booted 3 goals. Former rookie-listee
O'Brien came off the bench at quarter-time for 17 disposals and 2 goals,
Lynch got the ball 12 times for 2 goals. In defence Graham stood Schwarz
and had 25 disposals - 19 kicks - with 7 marks while Tom Harley did well
on Neitz, conceding just one goal. Mensch was value again with 3 goals
from 6 kicks, Clarke kicked 2 goals. Handy efforts too from Bizzell and
Riccardi (21 disposals, 6 tackles). Melbourne were led by the ambitious
Shane Woewodin in the centre (31 disposals, a goal) but he received
little support. Normal stat-machines Leoncelli and Powell were quiet.
Farmer did some extraordinary things for his 4 goals from 5 kicks, Yze
battled away with 24 disposals and back-flankers Peter Walsh (14
disposals) and Steven Febey (26 disposals) were OK. Their big men are
struggling. Schwarz was serviceable, kicking 2.3 and taking 11 marks,
mostly well away from anywhere dangerous, while Neitz and White did
little. Robertson had a big last quarter and kicked 2 goals. "It was
probably in the third quarter that we lost it...I was happy with the way
we fought it out, but at the end of the day they were too good for us,"
was Daniher's take on proceedings. Thompson said "There was a bit of a
scare, I thought we'd stopped...to our credit the areas we wanted to
work on before the game for three-and-a-half quarters we executed those
areas very, very well. We haven't got a Carey or a Lloyd or an Ottens
(actually I inserted that third one) up front but what we have got is
some honest toilers."