AFL Preliminary Finals

So it's Essendon and Melbourne and despite all the guff over the 'real'
Grand Final being between Essadun and Carlton, the Bombers v the Demons
will probably be a better game. Carlton's one-point victory in last
year's prelim was their only victory over the Dons in their last
ten-or-so meetings, and most of those have been beltings. On the other
hand Melbourne have given the Dons some trouble in recent years and next
week should be great. Except for Demon president Rabbi Joe Gutnick, his
observance of the Sabbath means he can't go and he couldn't attend on
Friday night either. Ah well. Melbun and Essadun last met in a Grand
Final in 1959, where the Dees triumphed by 37 points and Ron Barassi
starred.

Injured Blue Anthony Koutoufides goes into tonight's Brownlow Medal
Count as favourite (7/4), but punters are a bit cool on him after
team-mates Scott Camporeale (7/1) and Brett Ratten (13/1) won media
awards this week. Fear that they may have taken votes off the Golden
Greek. Many reckon Pie skipper Nathan Buckley (5/2 second favourite) and
Bulldog rover Scott West (third, 7/2) are a big show.

Lots of contracts signed this week, the major ones at Footscray. Coach
Terry Wallace and rover Scott West autographed 4-year agreements while
Luke Darcy and Nathan Brown signed up for 3 years. Wallace rejected a
big offer from St. Kilda. Hawthorn got Daniel Chick to sign a new deal,
Nick Holland will be a Hork for 2 more years as well and Richmond
secured junior ruckman Brad Ottens. At St. Kilda president Andrew
Plympton stood down after a boardroom disagreement. He's replaced by Rob
Butterss. The Saints' new vice-president is Michael Gudinski, the bloke
who used to own Mushroom Records. Very strong rumours that the new Saint
coach will be Brian Royal, the former champion Footscray rover currently
an assistant coach at Melbourne.

And finally Adam Heuskes, who quit football after round 21, was charged
with rape. Not from the incident in London last year, but one in
Adelaide last week. Lethal Leigh had been a bit upset by Heuskes's
departure. Perhaps less-so now.

At the MCG:
Melbourne        6.5   14.10   18.14   23.18.156
North Melbourne  5.1    9.1    10.4     17.4.106

The Demons coasted into the Big One, their speedy and keen kids
over-running a tired Kangaroo side. It's Melbourne's first Grannie since
1988 but just their second since the glory days ended in 1964. Norf's
performance suggested that 2000 may be a watershed for them, although
nothing's gone right at Arden St. this year. In selection the Demon
line-up was unchanged for the third consecutive game. Despite heavy
media scutiny of training there wasn't even a question mark over any of
their players. Not so at Norf, where Carey's dodgy groin was much
discussed. They had two changes, fit-again bulwark Mick Martyn and
winger Shane Clayton were recalled, they replaced Shannon Motlop with
his broken leg while Adam Lange was dropped.

There'd been a fair bit of rain on the 'G over the preceeding days and
during the early part of the game, which should've helped the Roos. But
right from the start the excellent Melbourne midfield was faster,
stronger and better than that of the Kangas who relied too much on too
few. However the Roos made the most of their attacks with straight
kicking. Sloppy Demon tackling helped North kick four of the first five
goals and jump to an 18-point lead. David King copped one high and
booted the opener from the free kick. David Schwarz should've had a
chance at the Dees' first when he caught Roo Byron Pickett in a superb
tackle, no free was forthcoming but Jeff Farmer pounced to soccer it
through. Carey was biffed in the head by Anthony Ingerson and
free-kicked a goal, then Peter Bell won a mystery free at a throw-in,
Adam Simpson accepted his pass and kicked long where Craig Sholl roved
and blasted it through. Brent Harvey cleared the restart for the Kangas,
Corey McKernan clutched a good grab and converted. Across the middle
though the Dee trio Shane Woewodin, Andrew Leoncelli and Stephen Powell
were getting a heap of the agget, Steven Febey and Peter Walsh mopped up
continually across half-back and it wasn't long before their influence
told. The Roos had opted to put their best stopper, Adam Simpson, on
Adem Yze and Woewodin profitted. Demon capitan Dave Neitz missed a shot
but Febey gathered the kick-in and handballed for ruckman Jeff White to
roost a major. Woewodin punted 'em forward at the next centre-bounce,
Farmer roved the pack and snapped a left-footer. And Melbun attacked
from the following bounce too, Cam Bruce dished a good handpass to Neitz
who picked out Woewodin with a pass. He punted the Dees in front.
Schwarz roved to Neitz and goaled, but the Neiter himself couldn't get
on target. A banana-ed Brent Grgic sausage extended Melbourne's lead to
15 points before Norf broke the run. From the subsequent centre-bounce
Clayton got the ball to Stuart Cochrane, his high kick was well-marked
and converted by Sholl. Roo defender Pickett, having already conceded
two goals to Farmer, made a poor turnover on the wing but Yze failed to
punish it fully.

The early part of term two saw the Roos battle to cling on. McKernan
kicked them forward from a mystery free kick, Winston Abraham spilled a
mark but recovered to snap the goal. Yze raced away from the restart and
passed nicely for Farmer on the lead, gol. Melbun pressed and Norf held
until a breakout, Cochrane threatened to make a mess of it but got the
handpass to Carey who snapped skilfully on the left boot. Still all Dees
though, Anthony McDonald failed to make the distance from 35m and Neitz
missed again before a well-constructed North move ended with Anthony
Stevens finding Bell all alone in the Paddock, his major levelled the
scores. The Demons charged on, Farmer sped onto the ball at a bounce 40m
out and speared it through. Dee ruckman White went for a rest and was
replaced by Troy Simmonds, Simmonds's first kick was a free which he
gave to Leoncelli to pass to Neitz. At last Neitz kicked straight and
Melbun led by 12 points. A smart major from Bell dragged the Siddeyroos
back to a goal down, but the Dees rattled on five unanswered sausages to
end the half and the match, effectively. Following Bell's goal Demon
Powell roosted a 50m reply, made by tough play from Leoncelli. Woewodin
found Neitz who marked as Martyn fell over. Mick was receiving a bit of
a hiding and his creaky lethargy was typical of his team-mates. Neitz
spotted Yze alone in the goalsquare and delivered for six. A terrific
spoil by Russell Robertson fell perfectly for Powell to snap truly, at
the next centre bounce rapid handpasses from Travis Johnstone to
Woewodin to Febey occurred, Febey kicked long where Farmer marked at the
back. Through went The Wizard's fifth and Melbun led by 5 goals. Mick
Martyn was benched as Bruce soccered the ball into Powell's path and he
kicked his third of the term to end the half. North seemed doomed.

The third quarter featured less scoreboard action as the Dees sought to
block out the Kargarse's renewed effort. John Blakey now picked up
Farmer, but within a minute Jeff plucked the ball from a a collapsed
pack and a high snap bounced through for another goal. The Demons led by
45 points and North's position was clear. Carey's most exciting action
so far was blowing a kiss to the Melbourne Cheer Squad, he received a
free kick 15m out when dragged down by Ingerson, but he missed. A
shocker. King missed a shot shortly after. Eventually Yze's high hooked
kick was marked by Robertson for a Dee sausage. Bell worked hard to mop
up in defence only for Stevens to be tardy kicking it, Febey's smother
led to a goal for Neitz. Demons by 57 points and Carey trudged back to
stand Neitz, Sholl came off the bench to play at full-forward for Norf.
King picked out Sholl's lead immediately and Sholl golled, but Melbourne
cleared the centre bounce yet again and Powell bagged another. Roo coach
Pagan made the traditional appeals to pride at the final break. Neale
Daniher opened a stubby. Early in the last stanza Abraham passed to
Carey and the Roo Buoy smacked a huge kick home for a goal. Sholl kicked
consecutive majors from strong marks and the Ruse had three on end,
trailing by 40 points. Brooce tried to inject excitement. The coasting
Dees had missed a few shots but kicking in from one Roo King overstepped
on the mark, Brad Green roved the ball-up and majored. Another bad King
kick-in went straight to McDonald, he passed for another sausage-roll to
Farmer. It arrested any possible Roo momentum. There were seven more
goals kicked, North's Sholl kicked two more from good marks and Farmer
played a nice 1-2 with Powell to bag his eighth. Wiz later missed for
the first time, a ninth goal would've given him a club record for a
final. Upon the siren Norf players carried Craig Sholl from the field,
the winger-turned-forward is retiring after 235 games for the Roos. Well
done Sholly.

Melbourne's middlemen are the best group going 'round. Standouts were
Shane Woewodin on the ball, with 31 disposals and goal, Andrew Leoncelli
who played on the defensive side of the centre square and had 24
disposals (17 in the first half) and 9 marks and finally Bulldog reject
Stephen Powell, booting 4 goals from a hefty 37 touches with 10 kicks
and 3 goals in the second term. All-Australian forward pocket Jeff
Farmer thrashed Pickett and booted three more goals on Blakey for a
total of 8 majors from 14 kicks, 4 marks. Farmer's effort was a big
turnaround from the last Demon/Roo clash, when Pickett had Farmer
benched. David Neitz kicked 2.4 from 7 marks, 20 disposals. There were
good games down back from Peter Walsh (22 possessions), Steven Febey (15
kicks) and Daniel Ward (20 touches), all of whom rebounded very well
while Anthony Ingerson stopped Carey, although Carey clearly wasn't fit.
Jeff White played a solid game in the ruck with 31 hitouts, 14 disposals
and a goal but compared to the Roo trio, especially the near-invisible
Burton and Capuano, he was brilliant. Russ Robertson booted 3 goals, two
in the last quarter. Not many were mentioned in despatches for North.
Tenacious rover Peter Bell got the ball 27 times and kicked 2 goals,
although it was interesting to hear Demon assistant coach Brian Royal
claim they "weren't worried" about Bell, David King was of greater
concern (Kingey didn't do much). Craig Sholl closed his career with 7
goals from 7 marks and 11 kicks. Sholly's struggled for a regular game
over the past two seasons but reminded a few of his ability. John Blakey
in game 323 plugged away for 23 disposals with 8 marks, Adam Simpson
successfully curbed Yze in the first half and did slow Woewodin in the
second, having 15 handlings himself. At CHB Jason McCartney beat Schwarz
to end a fine personal year, probably his best. Carey kicked 3 goals but
had just 8 kicks, a handpass and 2 marks. He did very little as he
struggled with the inflamed groin. Glenn Archer kicked 2 goals. Thus
ended North's worst season in Denis Pagan's time but it's a tribute to
them that they still reached the preliminary final, for the seventh
successive year. The season started poorly with Anthony Stevens nearly
being killed in a freak accident, then came boardroom upheaval over
Pagan's son (he's going to be delisted), a rash of suspensions,
injuries, Martin Pike's drunken-ness, Ron Casey's death and a number of
bad losses despite a very friendly draw. Pagan refused to say the era
was ended. "Every time we've had a disappointment like this we've
responded, we've bounced back. I can assure our supporters it'll happen
again. I don't know if an era's over. We're disappointed we didn't play
well tonight, we were beaten by a better side on the night...You could
see a lot of tired players out there tonight, you could see six or eight
players screaming for a spell...We just haven't had any real consistency
(this season). But ever since I've been involved, we just try to get
better every time we run out each season. We've always tried to get
better and we'll continue to do that now." Daniher kept a lid on. "All
we have done is get into the Grand Final, we have got to be real careful
of that. What can happen with clubs that haven't been there for a while
and haven't had a lot of success, they celebrate actually being in one
and we won't fall for that. We still have a big job ahead of us, you
don't celebrate prelims, you celebrate next week. Getting into the Grand
Final is not the prize." Go Dees.

At the MCG:
Essendon  4.2   8.7   14.13   18.17.125
Carlton   2.3   5.4    6.7     12.8.80

There was no miracle, no Dean Wallis stuff-up, Kouta inspiration or
Lockett after-siren shot to deprive the Bombers this time. They were
rarely troubled, despite not playing at full power. Carlton made a few
challenges but very little went right for them. Their supporters were
left to go on about injured Kouta and Silvagni and bloody Melbourne,
kinda ignoring the Bommers' travails over recent seasons. It was Carlton
boss David Parkin's final game as a coach, he's strongly hinted as much
through the year. One of the great ones, Parko coached in 511 games
across 23 years at Hawthorn, Carlton, Fitzroy and Carlton again for four
flags, three with the Blues and one at Horforn. Parkin liked to describe
his approach as holistic, he delved into the lives and very souls of his
players. Others may remember him as an amazingly intense character whose
head went purple and jugular veins bulged alarmingly during frequent
rants. And Parko didn't suffer fools, particularly in the meedya. In
selection for Elliott's Grand Final Essendon made no change from two
weeks ago, despite queries over Matthew Lloyd's thumbs (how the hell do
you injure both thumbs?) and Darren 'Evil One' Bewick's knee. Mark
Johnson's shoulder was healed. Carlton recalled Fraser Brown, chiefly
for psychological reasons it seemed, along with veteran backman Dean
Rice. They replaced Steven Silvagni who tore his hamstring off the bone
last Saturday (ouch) and the discarded Brett Backwell. Koutoufides
trained last Monday in an effort to get fit but simply aggravated the
knee and didn't play.

A crowd of 84,778 - 7,000 fewer than their round 20 meeting - saw the
Blues start well enough. Wayne Brittain, Carlton's match-day coach, put
Andy McKay in the centre and ruckman Matthew Allan at CHF, Mark Porter
did the rucking. Aaron Hamill chipped a short left-footer to Allan for
the first goal as the Blues were about early. Justin Blumfield
handballed to Joe Misiti and he delivered to Jim Hird on the lead for
the Dons' first. Bloo Simon Beaumont was on Hird while Glenn Manton
played full-back on Lloyd. Brett Ratten roved to Allan's contest for a
major and Carlton led by 7 points. Their next goal was a while in
coming. For all the Blues' midfield industry neither Hamill nor Lance
Whitnall made much impact, Dons Dean Solomon and Dusty Fletcher
respectively doing good jobs and Damien Hardwick also played well.
Porter was free-kicked for throwing, Blake Caracella passed for lleading
Lloyd to mark and thump it home from 55m. Caracella, who had 11 touches
in the opening term, snapped the Bommers ahead thanks to a slick
Blumfield handpass. Whitnall was caught in possession on the wing as he
chased a kick, Mark Mercuri gathered and passed to Caracella, then ran
downfield to receive from Caracella and slot on the run to leave the
Dons 11 points up at the first break. However Mark Johnson copped
another shoulder injury, his left this time. His day was over. Lloyd
wasted a great move with a miss early in quartier du, but helped atone a
bit later by venturing onto the wing for a mark, he gave the ball to
Chris Heffernan who picked out Caracella again, he majored from 50m.
Essadun led by 18 points and Brittain shifted McKay back to the back and
Allan into the ruck, forward Brendan Fevola came on. However the Dons
were on a roll now, Hird postered from a difficult shot and Sean Wellman
missed too before Solomon and Heffernan combined to find Mercuri on the
lead, he punted the Dons 26 points ahead. Carlton needed something and
got it with a goal from Craig Bradley, well set-up by Ryan Houlihan and
Adrian Hickmott. That fired the Bluebaggers, they cleared the restart,
Bradley held a gutsy wrong-way mark but Hickmott snapped a point. No
mind, soon Houlihan clutched a strong grab in the centre and booted long
where Darren Hulme goaled with a superb bit of roving. Then Ratten
chipped a short pass, Hamill soared over Hardwick for a mark and goal.
The gap was down to 8 points and the Bloo supporters found voice, Sheedy
introduced Evil One, his son Gary Moorcroft and Scott Lucas, probably a
cousin. Evil One and Lucas combined to set up Essadun's steadier, from
Lloyd following a terrific, if slightly lucky, pack mark. Lloyd fumbled
it but the ball bounced off his head and into his arms. With 20 seconds
to go a series of handpasses from Caracella to Adam Ramanauskas to
Mercuri ended with Mick Long, he whacked it through from 15m and the
Dons had extended their quarter-time lead at the long break.

Having cornered their prey, the Bummers slowly crushed it. Into the
third stanza an end-to-end move was completed by Blumfield passing to
Mercuri on the lead, he goaled. Bradley cleared the centre bounce and
tumbled a kick forward, Whitnall marked it but his 55m shot sprayed way
off target. Evil One turned over possession, Whitnall and Hickmott got
the ball to Fevola in the pocket but he missed. At the other end Bloo
Scott Freeborn kicked on the full, Long punted the free kick to the
goalsquare where Lucas roved and snapped it through. The Bombulator lead
was out to 31 points, almost double Carlton's score. They got a bit
complacent as their dominance grew, Hird missed a simple shot, Lloyd
missed a harder one but Manton's kick-in went straight to Moorcroft. He
missed too. There was another Don point before Bloo Houlihan hooked a
pass for Scott Camporeale to mark and goal. The Dons' lead was 29 points
and Fraser Brown came on for his first run of the afternoon. He sparked
the Bluies up a bit but Whitnall spilled a couple of (admittedly tough)
marks and Hulme behinded from a set shot. Don ruck Steve Alessio
restored their momentum by grabbing the ball from a bounce and snapping
a sausage. Hamill and Whitnall were tried in defence as a last-gasp
effort, Hamill's first contribution was to boot the agget out on the
full. As Lloyd attempted to lead Manton grabbed him by the arm, Lloyd
swung round and punched Manton in the ribs, Manton pushed Lloyd in the
face and Lloyd employed his renowned diving skills. The umpire saw that
last bit and awarded Lloydy six points. Fletcher plucked a one-hander
over Whitnall and passed to Blumfield, he galloped off to boot a goal.
Nothing went right for Carlton, McKay was pinged under the ridiculous
deliberate out-of-bounds rule, it led to a goal for Lucas. Esserdun by 9
goals now. Upon the siren announcing three-quarter time Jason Johnson
and Anthony Franchina started a scuffle, Carlton's last bit of fight.
Brown went to the bench to start the last quarter and didn't return. We
weren't shown all the final stanza, Carlton got a few goals via the
last-quarter specialist Fevola and Hickmott, Lloyd and Blumfield got
more majors for the Dons. Hird, Mercuri and co. were wrapped in cotton
wool and stored away for the Big One.

Many split BOG honours between Essadun defenders Dean Solomon and Dustin
Fletcher. Solomon held Hamill to one goal and three marks while having
21 disposals of his own and kicking a goal in the last quarter, Fletcher
kept Whitnall goal-less with just 5 marks, none of them inside the
attacking 50m from what I saw. Fletcher had 23 disposals. Fellow backman
Sean Wellman (19 possies) was also very good, part of a Don defence
which held Carlton to 6 goals in the first three quarters. Blake
Caracella found a heap of space on half-forward again for 23 touches and
2 goals, his first quarter was very handy. Joe Misiti was combatted by
Franchina, but later Franchina was moved around and Smokin' Joe ended up
being very good with 31 disposals. Matty Lloyd booted 4 goals from 9
marks and 11 kicks against Manton, Mark Mercuri bagged 3 goals from 9
kicks. Adam Ramanauskas was about again for 22 touches. Lucas and
Blumfield kicked 2 goals each. Carlton's best were their usual
hard-working midfielders, the constantly running Scott Camporeale with
35 disposals (22 kicks) and 2 goals and in-and-under man Brett Ratten
for 32 possessions (18 handpasses) and a goal. There was just nobody up
forward to capitalise. Simon Beaumont had the better of Hird, rover
Darren Hulme ended a good season with 16 hard-won disposals and a goal.
On the wing Adrian Hickmott had 22 disposals and pushed forward for 3
final-quarter goals, Brendan Fevola kicked 2 goals. He and Ryan Houlihan
would be the positive points of 2000 for the Blues, but you'd wonder
about the trading for Stephen O'Reilly and Mick Mansfield. Mansfield's
been alright but O'Reilly couldn't get into a team missing Silvagni,
Kouta and the retired Sexton. Carlton still have a lot of talent though
and whoever is in charge next year - probably Brittain - they're certain
to be up there again. The injuries came along at the wrong time. Parkin
said "The side we played today were one of the few that punished us with
the kind of pressure that we like to pride ourselves on. I don't think
we have been subjected to that kind of physical barrage all that often
this year and we didn't cope with that kind of pressure." He had one
last joust with a journo, who asked why Fraser Brown played just the
latter half of the third quarter. "We picked him to play nineteen
minutes and that's exactly what he played." Pause as questioner was
subjected to that piercing gaze. Of his future, Parkin said "I'm sure
you've been watching television and reading newspapers and you're sick
and tired of hearing about David Parkin. Well, I am. That might finish
the press conference...I'm very happy if it does."

Kev Sheedy refused to have the song rendered in the rooms afterwards -
unfinished business. "It was a pretty tough game. At least we showed
we're comparable with Carlton in the packs, because that's been one of
their strengths. They've been one of the best stoppage teams around in
the AFL for quite some time and I thought we matched them in that area."
On next week he said "Jeff Farmer is an unusual player who might be
given an unusual opponent. We've worked extremely hard to get where we
are now, and after 1993 it's been quite a long time...the boys are
looking forward to it."