AFL Qualifying Finals

I can now reveal my favourite football quote of the year, stated after round 1 by The Age's Essendon-supporting football editor, Rohan Connolly: "Well I haven't over-rated Essendon. I've only tipped them to finish fifth."

Multiple movements among coaches during the week. As expected Fremantle appointed Damian Drum, Eade's assistant at Sydney as their new coach. Drum played 63 games for Geelong and coached VFA side Port Melbourne to a Grand Final loss in 1994 before heading up to the Swans. Asked about his preferred style of play, Drum said he greatly admired Sydney's tactics. So all the Dockers need to do is find the next Lockett. Collingwood confirmed that Tony Shaw would coach them next year, the extent of his contract. In announcing the decision president Kevin Rose lambasted leaks from inside the club (they did have discussions with Drum) and the heavy media attention given to Shawry's future. Brisbane are almost certain to appoint Leigh Matthews as their next coach, the remaining sticking point being Matthews' insistence on taking Graeme Allan with him, Allan is currently at Collingwood.

The biggest surprise was Port Adelaide dumping John Cahill. Club president Greg Boulton said "Under John, Port Adelaide has exceeded everyone's expectations." So why not offer him a new deal then? "The decision was not based on past achievements," continued Boulton."It is a forward-looking move to equip, position and strengthen the Power for the 21st century. We need a coach to take us forward in the next 3-5 years." Sounds like a bite from the election campaign. Cahill's assistant, former Port and Collingwood player Mark Williams is widely expected to get the job although Bomber Kevin Sheedy's name has also been mentioned. Cahill himself, a Port legend, will have a testamonial year in 1999.

By the way, our friends at Footy Tipping Software have a final-8 calculator at: http://www.footy.com.au/dags/final8/final8.htm

At the MCG:

North Melbourne  1.1    2.7   8.12   11.16.82
Essendon         2.4    3.6   5.11    8.12.60

Unstoppable Carey's 5 goals led North into their fifth consecutive preliminary final after a tough game in the wet. The match was dubbed "The Marshmallow War" from Bomber coach Sheedy's comments following the Norf/Essadun clash earlier in the year, where Sheeds twisted a commentator's comment about the Dons being soft and called North CEO Greg Miller and boardman Mark Dawson "a pink marshmallow and a white marshmallow". Despite widespread criticism then and since, Sheeds still refuses to back away from it. "After that episode we won 10 of the last 12 games and made the eight," he said. In selection here the Roos dropped Anderson and Hewitt and Scott was a late withdrawal, not fully recovered from concussion received last week. In were Chandler, Martyn and Longmire back from injury. The Bombers lost Fraser with 'flu and dropped the formless Coackatoo-Collins, underdone Symons and too-slow Misiti. In came Barry Young, Denham, Moorcroft and Caracella, all adding to the Don midfield.

Fired by the 'soft' allegations, the Bombers came steaming out as a heavy shower drenched the ground. Hird, Mercuri and Long were very busy early as the Dons hurled themselves at the ball. Long slotted the first goal and the Bombers did all the attacking, North crossed their attacking 50m for the first time 15 minutes in. A couple of posters denied Essendon a bigger early lead. Their second goal came after Hird marked on half-back and his frustrated opponent, Pike, hurled him to the ground. A 50m penalty ensued and Hird passed to the leading Lloyd, he converted and it was 2.4 to a point. An interesting bit of umpiring in the first term, Lucas claimed a mark as he scooped the ball on the half-volley only for the umpire to wave play-on, yet the boundary umpire raced out to confirm that it was a fair grab and another field ump awarded it. Late in the term Carey recovered after Wellman spoiled him, an excellent shepherd allowed the North talisman to snap the Roos' first goal. The Bombers got an early goal in the second quarter, Long weaved away from a flying Pickett (that's the North half-back flanker, not a dreadful acapella singer from the 80s) and handballed to Calthorpe alone in the goalsquare. It got very tight after that as North switched match-ups around, Blakey went onto Hird and King was moved away from the burning Long. Kangas Bell and Stevens started gathering the loose ball more often and Simpson did well across half-back. They did a bit more attacking but missed some shots, Abraham kicked two behinds. Eventually Carey goaled after a lead and mark, but the concensus was the Bombers had done well in the first half.

On came the Roos in the second half, led by Carey with Stevens and Bell in support. Sheedy helped with his usual, suicidal moves as Lloyd and Lucas went to play in the backline, joined at various times by Hird and Alessio. Who was supposed to kick goals? Wayne grabbed the ball from a throw-in and snapped it through. The next was a flukey soccer goal for Carey, Bomber fans incensed as the ball appeared to hit Wellman on the foot. But replays confirmed Wayney got his foot to it first. Carey handballed for Grant to major and fisted a massive Fletcher kick-in back towards the goal where Archer gathered it and converted. The Dons weren't done, they got majors from Heffernan and Caracella but answering sausages from Roberts and Simpson saw North hold the game in a tight grasp. Harvey snapped the first goal of the final quarter and Norf led by 26 points. The Dons gave it one last tilt. Bewick, who'd started the game on the bench, kicked a goal. Long marked and kicked to a vacant square, only for Pike to race back and rush it, but then Long manouvred perfectly to mark and pass to Young, he goaled. Another goal for Bewick and the Dons trailed by 8 points with 8 minutes to go. They didn't score again. Under pressure on the wing, Don Hardwick flipped the ball over the boundary line and was pinged for deliberate out-of-bounds, from the free Carey plucked the mark over tiring Wellman and banged it through from close-in. North by 14 points, Carey missed a couple of shots but the exhausted Bombers had stopped to a walk. The final goal was typical North, they used any means possible to keep the ball alive in their forward line before Stevens soccered the ball at the sticks where Grant was all alone, he marked and blasted it deep into the stands. As Sheedy walked around the boundary after the game jeering North supporters pelted him with marshmallows.

La Carey had 20 kicks, took 8 marks and booted 5.6 despite the extremely close attention of Wellman. Close behind him in influence was Peter Bell who roved superbly around the rucks and throw-ins, he cleared many a centre bounce for 35 disposals (29 kicks), terrier Anthony Stevens was also very good around the ground for 27 possessions (25 kicks) Simpson did an excellent sweeping job in defence for 24 touches and a goal too. Archer was good on Lloyd and Blakey slowed Hird, Roberts was handy across half-forward. Grant kicked 2 goals from 14 kicks. For the Bombers Mercuri was very good, showing all his considerable skill for 27 disposals and 18 loose-ball gathers. Hird battled manfully again, before Sheedy's moves, Blakey and tiredness helped slow him, with 23 possessions. The heavily left-sided Lucas had 17 kicks. Significantly, only one goal came from Hird, Lucas and Lloyd. At the back Hardwick did very well again with 20 kicks, like Croft last week Wellman probably did as much as he could on Carey, Fletcher did well at full-back. Long was classy with 16 disposals, kicking 1.3., Bewick was their only multiple scorer with his 2 last-term goals. So ends an improved but disappointing year for the Dons' expectant hordes, struggling into eighth despite an extremely friendly fixture list and an improved (although far from ideal) run with injury. Said Sheedy "We played very well against probably the best side in the country. We tried to play a brand of football we felt would take the game up to them." Much speculation over Sheedy's future, despite allegedly alienating most people at the club he's exercised a contract option allowing him to coach Essendon next year. Reports suggest it'll cost the Dons between 500 and 700K to sack Sheeds and pay him out. Pagan looked forward to the weekend off. "We didn't play anywhere near our capabilities early and I can name half-a-dozen players who can do a hell of a lot better. At quarter-time we should have been further behind than we were. Five goals from the captain, you find it hard to find new adjectives to describe him." In a couple of weeks, perhaps Brownlow Medallist?

At the MCG:

Melbourne  6.6    9.8   16.9   17.13.115
Adelaide   2.2    4.4    7.6    9.13.67

This Melbourne team is being compared favourably to the Essendon one of 1993, inexperienced but talented, brimming with confidence and committed to the team. The handed the Crows a thorough belting here in a performance very similar to last week. White won the rucks, their midfielders dominated possession and tackled ferociously when they couldn't get it, Farmer and Neitz did the scoring. Makes you think back to Neil Balme's last game in charge of the Dees, his forward line consisted of Sean Charles and Leigh Newton. Melbourne made one change from the side that slaughtered Richmond, Schwarz returning from his hamstring strain at the expense of ex-Crow Collins. Adelaide were weakened by the losses of ruckman Pittman (hip muscle strain) and Johnson (hamstring), replacements were Liptak and young ruckman Marsh. Liptak had the first scoring chance but was too slow to get ball to boot. However with White jumping all over Rehn and Tingay getting plenty of the ball, the Dees were soon to the fore. Farmer led his opponent, McLeod, to Seecamp's pass and kicked the first goal, Lyon scored the next after controlling the ball with one hand and snapping truly. Cow coach Blight made an early change by moving Smart to CHF, he kicked their first goal. Melbourne continued to flood forward, Lyon, Tingay and Schwarz missed shots before Farmer kicked 2 goals in rapid succession, one a bouncing snap after roving the pack, the other a running shot set up by Rigoni. The Camrys managed a reply when Vardy converted a free, shepherded out of a marking contest. Crow ruckman Rehn was benched, not only was he getting beat but he'd been shafted twice by inconsistent umpiring. Indeed the umpiring was all the Camry supporters had to get excited about, they got a poor deal. Immediately following Vardy's goal, White tapped perfectly for Rigoni, his kick forward ended up with Lyon who majored, White missed the next centre bounce but Rigoni showed toughness to get the ball anyway, his kick was marked strongly by Neitz who converted. For the second term Blight moved McLeod into the centre and Edwards onto Farmer. Their big guns silenced, the Crows resorted to sniping. Ricciuto decapitated Viney and seconds later Hart crashed into Anthony McDonald after disposal, Farmer thumped the downfield free for a long goal. Dees by 34 points but the Crows worked hard. A tight spell with plenty of hard tackling was broken when McLeod semi-accidentally booted the face of his tagger, Matthew Febey. McLeod and Ricciuto immediately combined to find Modra on the lead, he goaled. An Ingerson spill led to a mark and goal for Smart and the Crows trailed by 22 points. The ruckmen provided an interlude. A Crow kick-in went straight to the unopposed White, but his shot fell short and was marked by Rehn. The Camry follower assessed his options at length before kicking the ball back to White, who goaled this time. Rehn trudged off as White fisted the ball forward, visiting skipper Bickley led to it but Leoncelli was allowed to push him firmly in the back, gather, run on with a bounce and raise the twin calicoes. Neil Kerley outraged for all SA.

Adelaide began the second half with Modra on the bench, Caven at full forward and Ricciuto at CHF. But it mattered little. Neitz kicked two quick sausages from marks, Schwarz supplied the first one and Tingay the second. Dees by 46 points. From the next centre bounce Liptak raced away and found the leading Caven for a Corolla goal. Lyon and Yze couldn't quite hold marks in the teeth of goal, then a superb handpass from Farmer led to a major for Schwarz. Vardy replied as the luckless Liptak damaged a hamstring. Melbourne led by 39 points and booted the next 4 goals. Woewodin won the centre clearance following Vardy's goal and Farmer miraculously extracted the ball from a pack to snap truly, the same Farmer handballed for another Neitz goal. Robertson passed for Neitz again who roosted it through from 50m, then Farmer marked on the flank, played on with a couple of bounces and side-footed it through from point blank. Demons by 61 points. Jarman goaled for the visitors just before the final break, to much sarcastic cheering. Boring final quarter as both sides thought about next week, ten minutes elapsed before the first goal, to Crow Edwards and he got another easier goal a few minutes later. Neitz slotted his sixth goal from another dodgy decision.

Radio 3AW's Rex Hunt showed a rare bit of wisdom when he called Jeff White a ruckman and Jim Stynes a follower. Whites stats aren't huge - 13 possessions, 10 marks, 8 effective hitouts and a goal - but he set the Dees up from the centre and completely obliterated Rehn and anyone else opposed to him. In the Dees' attack Jeff Farmer kicked 6 goals from 11 kicks and confident Neitz also booted 6 majors, 9 kicks and 6 marks for him. But perhaps the Demons were most impressive in midfield, where Viney (25 disposals), Stephen Febey (21), Matt Febey (17), Rigoni (21), Tingay (22) and Leoncelli (15) were superb in both their gathering of the ball and disposing of it. Ex-Crow Ingerson saw off Robran and did reasonably on Smart at CHB. Lyon contributed 2 goals during his brief spells on the ground. Few Crows could hold their heads high, Jarman moved into the centre mid-way through the second term and finished with 28 disposals and a goal. Edwards had a victory of sorts in holding Farmer to 3 goals after quarter-time and kicking 2 goals himself in the last stanza. Smart kicked 2 goals and was the only Camry threatening to take a mark on the forward line. Ricciuto finished up with 24 touches, 10 of those coming in the irrelevant final term. No reported sighting of any other Adelaide midfielder. Vardy also kicked 2 goals. Just to help things, McLeod had a recurrence of knee soreness and isn't certain for next week. "To cop that, it's going to take a fair resurrection, I'd suggest. If we get the chance it's going to be ...pretty honest stuff from now on. For the first time this year, we haven't wasted a good game on a loss," was the best sheen Blight could put on it. "No doubt , that's our worst four-quarter performance for the year. We got completely overwhelmed in the midfield and that's the first time that's happened this year." To Sydney now, where they won well during the home-and-away round. Daniher said "It was a terrific day for the Melbourne Football Club against a quality team, last year's premiers, who were coming into form. We have a fairly potent forward line and if we get it up there, our opponent might hold one or two of them, but can they hold four?" The Saints get to try next. Gutnick is trying to get the Grand Final shifted so he can go...

At the SCG:

Sydney    4.2    9.8   11.11   12.17.89
St. Kilda 3.1    6.2   11.8     13.9.87

The Swans defied their poor home record against the Saints with a tough win, bad goalshooting almost costing them. Not the greatest game, wet, windy weather and the Saints' defensive tactics turning it into a war of attrition. A great final though, close and very tense. At the selection meeting Sydney lost the unlucky Chapman with a groin strain and dropped Ahmat and Arnott to fit in Roos and Stafford, both withdrawals last week, Filandia was recalled too. Saint coach Alves was as good as his word last week and selected hardheads Hall, Daniels, Sziller, Heatley and Young to replace Tim Elliott, Keogh, Traianidis and Ben Thompson, all dropped, plus Peckett who withdrew late with food poisoning. Hasn't anyone told him not to drink the water in those third-world cities?

Strange start on TV, we saw noted Sinatra impersonator Frank Bennett do a Frankie-style national anthem in the pouring rain. Then an absolutely saturated Stephen Kernahan presented Lockett with the John Coleman Medal, which Plugger wore for 5 seconds before tossing it to a trainer as if it were a water bottle. Surely Brownlow night or Grand Final day would be a better time. Plugger was opposed here by Shane Wakelin. St. Kilda took advantage of a strong, gusting breeze and an Eade tactical error to boot two quick goals. The Swan coach had rookie O'Farrell start in the ruck with Stafford parked in a forward pocket, Saint Everitt proceeded to dominate the early ruck contests and Harvey burned. He passed to Heatley for the first goal, Heatley snapped the second too. Stafford was soon in the middle and O'Farrell the forward pocket. Dale Lewis scored the Swans' first after confounding Harvey by kicking it left-footed. O'Farrell marked strongly in front of the shorter Hall for a major, then Cresswell raced through the centre and was flattened by Mitchell in a carbon-copy of the Hird/Hardwick incidents. Lockett slotted the downfield free. Not good for a team with the wind, but Harvey and Burke drove the Saints on and Young snapped a goal. O'Loughlin gave a glimpse of things to come when he marked on the boundary line and just missed, then moments later repeated the action and goaled. Already Seven's Brooce McAvaney was proving intensely irritating with his mindless barracking for the Swans. "You'd say that was a very handy break," quoth he at the start of the second term as Harvey weaved superbly and slotted a lovely major, cutting the handy break to a point. Of course, he meant with the wind and all and the Swans moved clear as O'Loughlin starred across half-forward while Lewis mopped up around half-back. Mooney slotted a left foot-goal, then Lockett steamed into the centre, gathered, turned and passed to Lewis who found O'Loughlin on the lead - goal. Plugger had been moved out to CHF, frustrated earlier by the weather and the excellent Wakelin. A quick Swan kick from the next bounce flopped into Saddington's arms, he goaled and O'Loughlin got another, bathing Hudghton. While all this was going on the Saints were managing rare attacks, Lappin kicked a point and out-on-the-full with identical snaps before the very good Andy Thompson snaggled two late goals to keep 'em in touch.

Nicky Winmar had longish spells on the bench in the first half, his on-field efforts had been accompanied by pathetic booing from ignoramuses in the crowd. He rapidly silenced them at the start of the third quarter, beginning at full forward Winmar led to the first kick of the half, chest marked and goaled. From the subsequent bounce the Saints went forward again, Winmar marked strongly amidst heavy traffic and punched it between the big sticks. Burke, Harvey and Thompson fired handballs at one another under pressure until Harvey found space to snap a superb left-foot goal. The Swans' lead had been mostly erased in 3 minutes. It got tight after that. Schwass extended the Swan lead with a long goal, taking advantage of an advantage. From the next bounce O'Loughlin kicked an extraordinary goal, gathering a long kick superbly on the half-volley with his back to the posts, then swivelling and snapping truly in one motion. Brooce won't be needing the Viagra for a while if his reaction is any guide. An interesting incident when Lockett marked on the wing, his kick was smothered by Wakelin, whereupon Lockett re-gathered and smashed his forearm into the Saint defender's face. No whistle and Plug played on over the comatose Wakelin. One for the video, shorely? The Swans missed a number of into-the-wind shots from distance, Cresswell did twice, Luff and O'Loughlin were also guilty. Just 30m out, O'Loughlin elected to pass to Lockett, just 15m out. He missed. Everitt punished them by goaling from a mark, then Daniels marked 48 m out. "If he was a Bulldog, he could pass it off," said Brooce seconds before Daniels slotted it cleanly between the big sticks. Just three points the diff going into the last and the Saints got the first two goals to pinch the lead. First Heatley goaled from a free to put Stakilda in front by a point, then Winmar bagged his third to extend it. The Bloods attacked furiously and the Sainters defended with equal vigour, helped by terrible misses from Lockett, Filandia, Stevens and O'Farrell. After blasting Hudghton at 3/4 time, Alves had put lumbering Sierakowski onto O'Loughlin, a risky move but it seemed to be working. Very tense as the Swans edged closer through behinds before O'Loughlin was awarded a soft free for in-the-back 50m from goal. He chipped a short sideways pass to Stafford, who took his time before drilling it. Sydney by 3 points with 4.5 minutes to go. With Sydney's general dominance it seemed the Saints would get one chance only to go ahead again. That chance arrived when Thompson ran spiritedly up the ground and kicked long to lone pair Winmar and Warfe. Winmar did very well to gather the greasy ball on the bounce and slip away from Warfe, but as his foot connected with the ball Schwass arrived with a bump, Nicky's kick slewed wide for a behind. That was the final score.

Michael O'Loughlin was very, very good, his skills and speed belying the slush. MOL(ly) kicked 4.3 from 14 kicks and 5 marks. Lewis had one of his better games, reading the play superbly for 35 disposals, 7 marks and 2 handy goals. He was opposed to Harvey after quarter time and probably had more influence on the game, especially in the second half. McPherson was good and reliable with 23 disposals off half-back and fellow defensive flanker Nicks was reasonable. Cresswell had 28 touches and Stafford quelled Everitt and Loewe. Filandia, on Winmar early, then Brown, seemed to run fast and be in the play a lot but actually did very little. Gratifed to see the paper's called him "Finlandia". For the Saints Harvey had a brilliant first half, he was quieter in the second but still had 32 disposals, 26 gathers and 2 goals. Andrew Thompson was no less terrific, he managed to "run through the lines" and had 15 kicks, 18 handpasses and 2 goals. Shane Wakelin beat Lockett, helped by Plug's wayward 1.2. Winmar kicked 3 goals from 11 kicks and inspired his teammates, Burke and Jones battled away. Heatley kicked 3 goals. Just 4 marks each for the quiet Loewe and Everitt, although the conditions didn't help. Channel Seven showed Eade before his press conference, taunting Melbourne-based journalists whom he saw as  barracking for St. Kilda. "I didn't think we got out of it, I thought we deserved to win by five or six goals," said Eade. "We showed a lot of spirit in the end and a lot of ticker. I was very pleased with the players." Alves wasn't too unhappy. "I said to my boys after that game that regardless of what the scoreboard says, they were winners in my eyes today...the second quarter was the problem. Sydney just got on top and as they do so well, created the loose man and we stopped taking risks and attacking." Saints face the rampant Demons, whom they beat by 15 goals in the home-and-away round.

At the MCG:

Footscray   5.0    8.7   14.11   18.13.121
West Coast  1.1    4.4    5.6      7.9.51

Easy win for the Bulldogs, propelling them into a Preliminary Final while the injury-weakened Eagles completed their worst season under Malthouse. Shows how good they've been, I suppose. The Bullies went in without full-forward Cook, suspended 2 matches for charging North's Scott last week and Dimattina who was dropped. Replacements were back-up spearhead Simon Minton-Connell and young Brown. West Coast came over without Peter Matera (hamstring), Donnelly (knee) and Mainwaring (groin strain), later Worsfold pulled out with knee soreness and McKenna also withdrew with a hamstring strain, to no-one's surprise. In came ruckman Gardiner, defenders Metropolis and Stone, midfielder Schofield and goalsneak Phil Matera. You know the Eegs are battling when Phil gets a game.

Minton-Connell repayed the faith shown in him by kicking two of the Dogs' first three goals, from good leads and marks - on his chest, of course. The Dogs were carving the midfield, Romero and Scott West worked around packs while Smith and Cameron sprinted forward from defence. The West Coast had Mitchell White at full-back on M-C while McIntosh minded Grant. Jakovich was at CHF. Gehrig opened the Eagle's scoring, a long shot which postered, later he had an easier shot but came up with a mongrel punt which tumbled into Wynd's hands. The ball rebounded where Smith kicked a running goal which he greatly enjoyed. The Eagles were doing a fair bit of attacking, but no scoring. Montgomery plucked another screamer, over teammate Croft, then Curley twisted inside Kemp and converted a left-footer. It was 30 to 1 and a disconsolate Heady jogged up the race with a strained hamstring, Kemp ran forward to get onto Cousins's long kick and boot West Coast's first goal just on the first break. The Weegs rallied a bit in the second quarter, Gardiner came on to ruck while Ball, who'd been doing it 'til then, went forward. Cousins and Kemp started getting a bit of the foody, Lewis gave 'em a forward target. Ball kicked an early goal following a strong mark and after Gehrig fumbled a chance in the goalsquare, Fewster snapped a nice one from the throw-in. Later on Gehrig kicked a goal, but they were answered by three goals from Grant. The second, after West Coast had closed to 11 points, came after Wira missed an absolute sitter but the kick-in went straight to Grant. The third was a very good set-shot from 45m on the boundary following a strong mark in front of McIntosh. In fact if it weren't for a stream of missed shots in the quarter, the Bulldogs could've ended it there.

Minton-Connell kicked the first goal of the second half, leading to Grant's pass after Gehrig had flown way too early on the wing. His confidence is lower than interest in the election. Fewster replied immediately following a good mark but then the Pups romped away. Kolyniuk raced onto a loose ball 40m out, only for the prostrate Read to boot him nastily in the shins. Report for Read, free kick, 50m penalty and goal for Kolyniuk. Hudson kicked consecutive goals, one supplied by his cousin Minton-Connell, the other by the now-dominant Grant, who had Gehrig as his opponent now McIntosh had picked up Minton-Connell. Garlick and Grant kicked more goals as humiliation beckoned for the Weegles. And it duly arrived. Early in the final stanza Gehrig, Schofield and Banfield made a mess of trying to clear the ball and it ended up with Kolyniuk, who had an easy major. Things kinda wound down to the siren after that.

Carey may get all the raves but Grant's influence is just as great, the Bulldog CHF had 21 touches, 7 marks and 4 goals from 4 shots. Johnson (22 disposals) and Montgomery (18, a goal) used their pace to good effect and drove the Dogs forward. Minton-Connell kicked 5 goals from 8 marks and 9 kicks. Croft did very well, frequently running off his opponent at full back, Garlick, West and Romero were their usual efficient selves. Darcy did well in a "following" role. Two goals each for Kolyniuk and Hudson. West Coast got a fair bit of the ball, but again scoring proved difficult. Despite his report, rookie Read did very well across half-back and midfielders Cousins (25 disposals) and Morrison (18) worked hard. Gardiner shaded Wynd in the ruck with 9 hitouts, 18 disposals and 8 marks. Lewis was busy across half-forward, but didn't kick a goal. Fewster was their only multiple goalkicker, booting 2 before departing with a knee injury. Malthouse was, of course, philosophical. "To say your worst game's your last game doesn't leave a very good taste. But what's happened has happened. Can't do anything about it. I don't believe - and this is just my opinion - that we're in a position where we need to have a revolution. What we need to have is an evolution, a very controlled evolution." They firstly need to kick more goals, and work out a way of clearing the centre bounce. On scoring he said "If you haven't got the confidence to go through the middle, you'll go through the outside. We need people to catch the football at centre half-forward. If you catch it at centre half-forward, you go through centre half-forward." He said Mitchell White could be the answer there. Wallace reckoned "I was extremely concerned about the Eagles all week, it's been one of the harder weeks for me as a coach...Everyone had said it was going to be a one-sided game but the West Coast Eagles have been notorious for performing very well at finals level. It was a real concern to make sure we were on our mettle." He believes the Dogs are better placed this year than last. "When the emotion drained out a few times last year we didn't have a lot left in the tank. This time we've got to delve into something more than that raw emotion to get us over the line."