The following information is provided by Tim Murphy - [t.murphy@rmit.edu.au], distributed via news groups and email and is updated here Monday evenings after the weekends games. All credit for this information goes to Tim and is being used with permission.
It's St. Kilda and Adelaide. The Crow mob snapped up their allocation of 11,000 tickets in less than 3 hours yesterday, it's the Saints turn this morning. Both were underdogs going into this weekend, St. Kilda were deserved winners. The Bulldogs blew it, although try telling the Camry supporters that. Credit to the Camrys though, who became the first side since the 1994 GF to win a final outside their home state...that's 18 games. Thus we Melbourne folk were denied the "fairytale" St. Kilda/Footscray Grand Final, but instead get a battle between Good and Evil. Next weekend we'll be flooded with Crow supporters who are living in tents outside Ballarat. Call me eccentric, but when I travel interstate I usually stay inside a building located in the city I'm visiting. Then again, having been to Adelaide a few times, Ballarat could be quite exciting (gotta get in early in case they win it).
The 1997 All-Australian team was announced on Monday:
B: David King (NM) Stephen Silvagni (Carl) Paul Roos (Syd) HB: Peter Matera (WC) Michael Sexton (Carl) Adam Heuskes (PA) C: Austinn Jones (StK) Craig Bradley (Carl) Nathan Buckley (Coll) HF: Rohan Smith (Foot) Chris Grant (Foot) Michael O¹Loughlin (Syd) F: Fraser Gehrig (WC) Tony Modra (Adel) Paul Kelly (Syd) Foll: Paul Salmon (Haw) Robert Harvey (StK) Nathan Burke (StK) Int: Peter Everitt (StK) Daryn Cresswell (Syd) Mark Ricciuto (Adel) Coach: Stan Alves (StK) Umpire: Hayden Kennedy
Most discussion centred on the absence of any Geelong players despite the fact they missed top spot on percentage. This was interpreted by selectors as complimenting the Cats on their "very even" team. Sholl and Burns could've been there. Gehrig and Heuskes were seen as a little lucky, Lloyd, McLeod and Bulldog coach Terry Wallace as a bit unlucky. Amusingly, umpire of the year Kennedy was dropped this weekend for refusing to report Chris Lewis last Saturday and is unlikely to be recalled for the Grand Final.
The tribunal suspended Adelaide ruckman David Pittman 1 game for elbowing Riccardi in the head last Saturday night, perhaps a little fortunate not to get more. No other tribunal or injury controversies in the build-up, apart from Bulldog Romero's shoulder test which was conducted in secret, in contrast to Mick Malthouse's 1982 public pre-GF breakdown at Punt Road. Elsewhere rumours continued to circulate regarding player movements, the strongest one concerning History's Greatest Full Back. Carlton, under salary cap pressure, baulked at his demand for 800K for the next 3 years. Richmond have made formal overtures. Come on down Steve!!
Leaks and betting were the other big story, in WA Sandover Medal winner Brady Anderson was backed in from 20/1 to 7/4 favouritism a couple of days before the count. The sandgropers then launched another plunge on Peter Matera for tonight's Brownlow Medal, backing him in from 9/1 to 9/2, equal second favourite with Buckley. Robert Harvey remains a strong favourite, Kelly, Bradley, Burke and Salmon are also in the market. My tip...get on Paul Bulluss.
St. Kilda 6.3 9.6 13.12 15.14.104 North Melbourne 4.0 8.2 8.4 11.7.73
St. Kilda's superior midfield overpowered the tired and suspension-and-injury-hit Roos, the Saints play their first Grand Final since 1971. Previews had focussed on the Saints' ruck inadequacies in the absence of the injured Everitt, a problem which vanished 10 minutes in when North's McKernan dislocated a shoulder, giving their season a grim symmetry. In initial selection St. Kilda replaced Everitt with ruckman Brett Cook, as expected. Fitzroy fringe player to Grand Final in a year. Traianidis was dropped for defender Matthew Young. North discarded Daniel Stevens for Jason Daniltchenko, playing his first senior game since round 2. His selection was seen as an attempt to exploit St. Kilda's supposed lack of defensive height.
It'd been a very wet Friday, also seen as a factor favouring North although the rain stayed away for the game itself. The umpires threw the ball up in the muddy centre. Saints lined up with Cook in the ruck, Darryl Wakelin on Carey and Shanahan opposing Sholl. North had Longmire at CHB on Loewe and Scott tagging Jones, Stevens on Harvey. >From the outset St. Kilda got the ball more often and looked more dangerous but North received some friendly umpiring and took advantage of every scoring chance. The Saints got the first goal when Thompson roved a pack and snapped accurately, North replied through a soft Crocker free. Loewe marked in the goalsquare, running with the ball and converted. McKernan was winning hitouts and frees at the centre bounce as Cook was penalised for shepherding. Then 10 minutes in McKernan was tackled and driven into the ground by Cook and Burke. It happened right in front of us in the Northern Stand. McKernan was slow to get up and his right shoulder jutted at an unnatural angle. The Saint fans around me cheered as McKernan trudged miserably to the bench. Saint spearhead Heatley booted three consecutive goals as Pike became his opponent, Martyn was shifted onto Loewe and Longmire into the ruck. Two of Heatley's sausages came from leads and gunbarrel-straight kicks, the other was a snap which took a lucky bounce over Martyn's head. North trailed by 27 points but clawed back when Crocker soccered a goal from 30m, the busy Scott set up Sholl for one. Winmar kicked a classy major for St. Kilda before Carey snapped a late, miraculous goal.
The second quarter was even as North, already worried, reverted to man-on-man marking and closed the game down. Their half backs ran the ball out, Bell worked hard and Carey and Allison looked dangerous. Allison weaved away from defenders and kicked accurately for a goal. Much midfield work before Keogh crashed through a tackle and kicked long for Loewe to mark and convert. Straight from the centre clearance Winmar took a strong two-grabber and goaled. North clung on as Carey marked and passed cleverly to the hard-running Allison, he majored and when Carey bounced a snap through North were 9 points down. Burke pressured Stevens into a poor clearing kick which went straight to Lappin, the return pass found Loewe who slotted his third goal. Allison marked just before the half-time siren, his shot was touched by Peckett on the mark but the goal stood as the umpire didn't pick it up. Alves later commented that his team were confident at half-time, convinced that North players were already "going up and down in the one spot."
The third quarter decided it. Sziller shifted onto Allison and Wakelin did better on Carey, Saint big guns Harvey and Burke had 18 kicks between them for the term and there were very good efforts from Keogh and Jones. Heatley ran back to mark Jones's goalbound shot and blast it through. Rob Harvey passed to Hall, he gave a handpass to Heatley who baulked Blakey and raised the twin calicoes. Loewe planted a superb tackle on Allison after giving the North man a 10m start. Heatley kicked another goal after judging Brown's high kick. The Kangas were in more trouble when Longmire twisted his ankle trying to scoop up Brent Harvey's poor pass. Sholl missed a shot, Heatley led and marked again 80m out and chipped into space for Harvey who converted the set shot. St. Kilda led by 38 points at the final break. North were clearly knackered and were put out of their misery by conceding the first two goals of the final term. Thompson handballed to Winmar who celebrated after slotting it, Heatley gave Martyn a gentle nudge which Mick exaggerated but Heatley's mark stood and he bagged another. That was it, the Saints eased up and North kicked the last 3 goals including 2 for Crocker. Winmar wasn't paid a superb grab over King, another poor decision in a year full of 'em. Upon the siren Saint supporters wept and hugged each other, and me. Just as well I left the Richmond scarf at home.
Even team performance from the Saints but the "big four" were vital. Loewe plucked 12 marks and kicked 3 goals at CHF, after a quietish first half Harvey finished with 34 touches and a goal and Burke was great throughout with 29 disposals. Jason Heatley kicked 7 goals to go with the 9 he booted against North in their only home-and-away meeting. He'd want to play North again next week. Sziller played an important role in shutting Allison down in the second half, Daniels was good again at the back and Keogh and Jones were useful across the centre. Winmar kicked 3 good goals. Few good players for North, Carey did reasonably with 6 marks and 2 goals although Wakelin also played well on him. King was probably their best with 17 kicks off half-back and Blakey was handy, Bell worked hard to handle 13 times in the first half but wasn't spotted in the second. Allison flared briefly with his 3 second-quarter goals. Stevens had 20 kicks and Rock 17, but neither had much influence. Crocker kicked 4 goals, North's first 2 and last 2. Pagan said "We didn't grab our chances as well as St. Kilda did early. They were a fraction harder than us in 50/50 situations in the first quarter and won most of them...that cost us...we made some bad mistakes straight after half time. Without McKernan and having to ruck people like Roberts and Adam Simpson...didn't give us much strength in midfield." Alves was unapologetic. ³All week, all we'd heard was how good North are and what North were going to do...I thought our players had been undersold." He's right. "They (his players) are on the verge of something great. I think we can do it...I've got total confidence that they'll do the right thing. It's going to be one where we need to get sharp and focussed." They're favourites and rightly so.
Adelaide 0.7 4.11 8.15 12.21.93 Footscray 2.2 10.6 13.7 13.13.91
Weird game. Long, dull patches separated moments of sublime skill. The Crows dominated possession early but, as English soccer crowds would have it, they couldn't score in a brothel. Then the Dogs enjoyed a good spell and appeared to have done enough to win. However in the last quarter they booted a stream of behinds, then stopped to a walk and the Camrys accelerated to pinch it in the last 10 minutes and book their first Grand Final appearance. Unfortunately they'll be without All-Australian full forward and Coleman medallist Tony Modra, who snapped a cruciate ligament in his left knee in the first quarter. He had a reconstruction op Saturday night. Footscray made no change to their qualifying final team, Romero's shoulder suffering no structural damage, he played with it heavily strapped. Southern was available again after suspension but aggravated a back injury at training, Kolyniuk played in the reserves prelim. Adelaide surprised by replacing Pittman with ruckman Aaron Keating, who broke his pelvis on debut in round 1 and hadn't played an AFL game since (although he'd had a few games in the SANFL). Vardy (broken collarbone) was replaced by Tyson Edwards.
Sunny and warm on Saturday, both sides lined up as expected. Romero started on Jarman when the latter was on the ball. After Footscray's Cook bombed an early goal from 60m, the visitors did all the attacking but had little to show, misses included Modra kicking out on the full. A Montgomery handpass set up defender Dent for the Dogs' second goal. Modra held a 3-grabber but missed, Bickley had a wayward flying snap. Modra did his knee at this point, landing awkwardly after a marking contest. Later he said he "felt the snap straight away". Shocking luck. Blight brought Keating on and shifted full back Jameson to full forward. A terrible clearing kick from Croft went straight to Corolla CHB Caven but he shot like a backman, Ben Hart (playing on a forward flank) kicked the first of his 5 points. Late in the term Bulldog Darcy received a soft free within scoring range but he also missed, after which he was crashed to the ground by Keating. No free, it should've been.
Early in the second stanza Adelaide's Rintoul snapped their eighth behind before the first goal arrived, Hart taking a nice mark over Dent and passing to Jameson who finally split the big ones. Suddenly goals came from everywhere. Hudson's round-the-corner kick went to Grant, he majored for the Dogs. Moments later Rintoul snapped truly to level the scores and a snap from Jameson put the Cressidas up by 7 points. Footscray then enjoyed a purple patch, thanks chiefly to their Wests and Cook. Scott West was winning a bucket of kicks in the centre and around packs, Mark West came off the bench when Romero re-injured his shoulder. M. West swallowed Sampson's bad kick and blasted long to the square where Cook marked and goaled. A nice handpass from Cook saw Hudson gallop into an open goal and Footscray led again, Darcy passed to Cook for another. Jarman broke off whinging to the umpires to drill a low shot through for Adelaide. The Bullies booted the last three of the term, Mark West got the first of these from a free then his excellent tackle led to a goal for Brown, Mark West bobbed up again for a running goal. Staring down a 31-point barrel, Crow coach Mal Blight shuffled the board magnets at half time. Nigel Smart, who'd conceded 3 goals on Cook, was moved to full forward and Jameson returned to full back, ruckman Rehn (who'd been winning) was installed at CHF and the ineffective Robran benched, Keating took over ruck duties. Bond and McLeod, both quiet, were moved onto the ball.
The moves worked. Smart goaled at the start of the second half after marking Kane Johnson's kick, Bond passed to Rehn who was 65m out but Ellis obligingly clattered into him far too late. 50m penalty, goal. Footscray's Grant almost held a speccie but moments later Cook led, marked and converted to steady the Dogs. A poor kick-in from Rohan Smith allowed Smart to set up a goal for McLeod and Footscray led by 16 points. Smart appeared to be held moments later but no whistle, the ball whipped to the other end where Darcy shepherded opponents so Grant could mark and convert from 15m. Cook then roved a pack and galumphed into an open goal and Footscray led by 28 points. The Crows boxed on, Sampson kicked an excellent flanker's goal.
Surrealism took over. Cook and Romero (back on) collided attempting to mark the same ball in the goalsquare. Adelaide's Hart missed a sitter. Cook marked on the line between goal and point-posts right on the 3/4-time siren - the goal ump made to signal a behind but was overruled by umpire Scroop who couldn't possibly have seen where Cook marked. As Cook ran in to shoot, an apple hurled from the crowd sailed past his head. Cook missed. Footscray blew a series of chances to seal it early in the last. Romero missed with Cook kilometres in the clear in front of him. Then Cook marked but missed from 30m directly in front. Montgomery's soccer went the wrong side of the big ones. McLeod, Johnson and Jarman (shifted to the forward pocket) missed shots for Adelaide. Liberatore thought his high snap had gained full points, but it hadn't. Didn't anyone want to win? Rintoul drove the Camrys forward again and Jarman conjured a pack mark and finally kicked straight. Footscray still led by 17 points with 9:30 remaining. Jarman, who'd done very little, set about it. He took a superb two-grab mark over Ellis and missed the shot, but moments later Smart snapped a goal and the gap was down to 10 points. Short passes from Connell and Jarman led to a goal for Goodwin. 4 points. Jarman and Hart kicked a behind each as the nervy Bulldogs shuddered to a halt. 2 points. Mark West raced clear but hooked his kick, a behind. Puppies by 3. Then the excellent Kane Johnson planted his pass on Jarman's chest and he put the Crows in front by 3 points with 1:44 to go. Grant had Footscray's last chance, his close-range stabbed kick under pressure went wide...a shepherd from Hudson might have helped. The Crows locked the ball up 'til the siren, greeted with manic jubilation from Landcruiser fans and shocked disbelief from the Scraggers.
Mal's moves did it. McLeod had 13 disposals in the second half (total 22) and kicked a goal, Bond had 12 touches after the oranges (total 17). Smart bagged 2 important goals, Rehn smothered the disappointing Wynd in the ruck. Running defender Kane Johnson was very good, Caven did a decent job on Grant. Connell picked up 15 kicks. Ben Hart had 26 disposals and 7 marks across half-forward but sorta downgraded things with 0.5. Jarman stood up in the desperate hour with 3 goals, Jameson kicked 2. Footscray centreman Scott West was almost unanimously BOG with his 28 kicks and 5 handpasses, he ran all afternoon and gathered almost every loose ball. Mark West fired his side with 19 kicks, 2 goals and a number of solid bumps, some featuring an interesting raised arm. Carlton discard James Cook booted 6 goals from 7 marks and was reported for striking Jarman. Ellis did well at CHB and defensive flankers Curley and Dent were handy, Darcy grabbed 11 marks as second ruckman and occasional forward. Grant contributed 8 marks and 2 goals. "There's nowhere we can hide from a result like that," said Terry Wallace. "I hope this gives us a steely resolve...clubs of genuine character learn from things that don't go their way. I stress to the players, we don't want to be felt sorry for." Nevertheless it's a sad end to a great season for a team many tipped to finish in the bottom two and fold altogether. Self-belief failed them here. Not so the Crows, who've learned the hard way - 1993 prelim. Blight said "I thought we were controlling the game until halfway through the second quarter...Mark West came out and livened them up a bit, we couldn't get a goal. So I made changes everywhere. A lot of the kids today, would you believe, they've never been to the MCG let alone played in a final (a lot?). So I thought 'let's take the third quarter and try and win it'" Mal's well aware that no side has won four consecutive finals. "That is a sobering thought...St. Kilda look hot to trot don't they, they've won nine in a row?" Indeed, but these Crows are tougher than previous breeds and have nothing to lose and history to make.
AFL Grand Final: St. Kilda v Adelaide, MCG, Saturday 2:45 PM AEST. Reserves Grand Final: Hawthorn v Richmond VSFL U-18 Grand Final: Dandenong Stingrays v North Ballarat Rebels
Previous Weeks results and wrap-ups
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