AFL Round 2


Now the football season's started.


An interesting bit of news for American readers, former Brisbane and
Hawthorn full-back Nathan Chapman is set to follow in the footsteps of
Darren Bennett and become a punter in the NFL. Oh, and just a reminder
that the next round sprawls over Easter, during which I'm going away.
So don't expect a report until next Tuesday (13th), or possibly later.



At the MCG:
Melbourne  6.7   12.10   16.12   20.15.135
Richmond   3.1    6.1     8.3     12.4.76


No surprise really. Melbourne had been under more pumping than Paris
Hilton last week. General bagging. Jeff White and Travis Johnstone
should be traded. Alistair Nicholson is rubbish. David Neitz's back is
wrecked, etc, etc. For this, the Dees' first home game of the season,
Melbun had organised a special pre-game 'unification' function and
'unity march' of their former stars. Names like Barassi, Flower,
Cordner, Dixon, Ditterich, Mann, even 1948 premiership captain Geoff
Collins along with recent retiree David Schwarz graced the MCG turf
before the game, as did coach Neale Daniher, new president Paul
Gardner and the current players. It was clear to everyone that the
Demons were going to be 'up' for this game. Everyone except the
twenty-two strugglers selected to represent Richmond on the night,
lads who are clearly ready to believe their own publicity. After last
week's disastrous effort the Demon selectors made three changes to the
side, one forced with Daniel Ward suspended for clobbering Hawk Nick
Ries. Chris Heffernan and Luke Williams felt the axe, but the Dees had
some handy replacements in Cameron Bruce, Peter Vardy and former Eagle
Phillip Read, making his Melbun debut. Just one change for the Tiges,
Mark Chaffey returning at the expense of junior Jay Schulz.


The Dees bounded out led by erratic but gifted ruck-rover James
'Junior' McDonald. After a couple of early misses each the Deez booted
three quick goals, Cameron Bruce scored the first following some messy
scramble, McDonald won a free-kick at the following centre-bounce and
planted the footy on the chest of the leading David Neitz, he
converted. Former Tiger Ben Holland bagged the next major, marking
White's high kick and the Dees led by 19 points. Widely-hailed new
Tiger Nathan Brown scored their first goal, created by Andrew
Krakouer, but on came the Demons. Holland missed poorly before Neitz
majored again, from the restart Pete Vardy passed for Brad Green to
mark and convert. A Russ Robertson shot was just touched through to
have the Dees 28 points ahead. The Tigers introduced Greg Stafford and
Tim Fleming at this point and they began to see some ball, Krakouer
goaled after roving to Matty Richardson and Brown sausaged again with
a terrific left-foot snap. Normal service soon resumed though as the
Dees' Travis Johnstone roved a throw-in to steer a tight-angle goal,
at korter-time Melbun led by 24 points. More of the same in the second
as the Tiges fell down badly across half-forward, where Melbun's Clint
Bizzell drifted unopposed. The Demons kept hittin' 'em on the rebound.
Tiger full-back Darren Gaspar pressed forward to kick an early goal,
after which there was an entertaining bit of fisticuffs between
McDonald and Tiger skipper Wayne Campbell, leading to a bloodied nose
for Campbell. Symbolic. The Dees scored three quick majors, each from
a free-kick. Brad Green was shoved out of a marking contest, peep!-
goal. Fleming was caught holding and/or throwing the ball, peep!-goal
to Bruce. Jeff White was scragged in a marking contest, peep!-mark and
goal to Neitz. A 38-point lead to the Dees as the Tiger fans went
ballistic over the officials, although the frees were there. Just bad,
panicky play by the Tiger defenders. Consecutive goals to Richmun's
Greg Tivendale and Shane Morrison narrowed the gap to 26 points, but
the Dees hit back of course as a pass from Simon Godfrey led to
Neitz's fourth goal. Green collected an awkwardly-bouncing ball and
thundered a massive kick for a terrific major, then Neitz capitalised
on some Tiger bumbling in defence to snare his fifth goal and see off
Gaspar - Ray Hall was to be Neitz's new opponent.       


The Tigers emerged a steadier, more respectful unit in the third
quarter, but made little progress on the scoreboard. Richardson had
been starved of opportunity in the first half, so now moved upfield
with Nathan Brown and the resting ruckman at full-forward. It made
little difference, apart from one moment where Richardson and Brown
combined to set up a goal for Greg Stafford. The terrific play of
Bizzell, Matthew Whelan, Paul Wheatley and the Dees' Nathan Brown
across half-back confounded many a slow, indirect Tiger attack and
their rapid rebounding provided the Melbun forwards with the chances.
Pressure built before Brad Miller snapped a good goal. Tigger ruckman
Brad Ottens won a free-kick at the following centre-bounce and it led
to a goal for Campbell, the Tiges trailed by 39 points. But the Demons
kicked away in the final minutes of the term. Richardson's bizarre
attempt at a left-foot pass turned over possession and led to a goal
for Neitz. Melbun cleared the restart and their Aaron Davey majored,
just before the three-quarter siren Russ Robertson took one of them
jumping-backwards marks and converted after the hooter. The Dees led
by ten goals at the final change, more than enough. A true massacre
threatened with three quick Melbun goals to open the final term, the
first two to Neitz who was now opposed by the modestly sized and
talented Ty Zantuck. Davey's second goal had Melbun leading by 70
points, they eased off though and Richmond scored the next four goals
before Neitz ended proceedings with his ninth sausage, a free-kick
against the hapless Zantuck.   


The plaudits went to David Neitz, the Demon captain and spearhead
booted a personal equal-best of 9 goals from 10 marks and 13 kicks.
The Dees' half-back line was the springboard, led by the terrific
Clint Bizzell (24 disposals) with Nathan Brown (22 touches), Matthew
Whelan (18 handlings) and Paul Wheatley (18 disposals) all very good.
Brad Green managed 15 disposals and 3 goals from a wing, early in the
game James McDonald (17 touches) was an important player in the
centre. Aaron Davey's speed and skill impressed again, he managed 11
possessions and 2 goals. Alistair Nicholson can dine out on the fact
he kept Richardson goal-less, although Richo lacked decent supply and
a decent break from the umpires against the leech-like Nicholson.
Cameron Bruce kicked 2 goals. The Tiges had a few triers but no clear
winners, their Nathan Brown (18 disposals, 3 goals) showed some
sublime skill and Wayne Campbell (25 touches, a goal) put up a fight
in every sense of the word. Half-back Mark Chaffey (20 kicks, 9 marks)
wasn't bad. Mark Coughlan (18 possies) got stuck in a bit, Kane
Johnson had plenty of the ball (32 disposals) but didn't do much with
it. Andrew Krakouer was okay with 15 disposals and he kicked 2 goals.
"The opposition was super-hard and we were probably ten percent off
where we were last week," suggested Danny Frawley. Just the ten? He
continued. "In any game of footy you play, that hardness factor that
they (Melbun) showed and our at times 'waiting for something to
happen', it was very disappointing. That steamrolls and that fishtails
into indecision, some fumbling, playing staggered footy. Our tackling
last week was sensational, tonight it was very substandard." Some
surreal imagery there, with the fishtailing steamroller. Neale Daniher
said "I'm really happy for our supporters to be able to witness a
Melbourne team really firing up. It was a great night for the club.
The players did a bit of soul-searching after last week and they knew
we were better than that."      


At the MCG:
Collingwood  2.5   5.8    10.14   15.16.106  
Footscray    6.5   8.11   10.16   13.19.97


The Poise were below their best again but roused themselves for a
second-half effort that saw off the battling Bullies. The game had a
familiar feeling for the Dogs, a solid effort undone by some poor
shooting for goal, particularly from new spearhead Jade Rawlings who
booted 3.7. Following the Pies' poor start last week and accusations
they were 'underdone', Malthouse axed some players he felt had enjoyed
thorough pre-seasons but hadn't delivered: Steven McKee, Tristen
Walker, Rhyce Shaw and Andrew Williams. Anthony Rocca returned from
suspension and three players were given their AFL debuts, ruckman Guy
Richards from the Eastern Ranges, forward Tom Davidson from Geelong
(Falcons) and Bo Nixon of the Calder Cannons. Richards and Davidson
were drafted a few years ago, Richards has been 'developing' while
Davidson underwent a knee reconstruction last year. Sadly for Davidson
he injured his other knee in this, his first game. The luckless
Bulldogs lost Steven Koops with an injured jaw, he was replaced by
Matthew Boyd. 


The Pies were away slowly once more, out-run and out-tackled by the
Bulldogs. Experienced Dogs in Chris Grant and Rohan Smith were
excellent in defence. The Dogs' Mitch Hahn opened the scoring with a
great snap from a throw-in, a minute later Danny Giansiracusa centered
the ball for Adam Morgan to mark and convert. The Bullys' Sam Power
snapped a good goal which wasn't awarded, the goal umpire getting it
wrong. No mind, soon Simon Garlick was out-marking the very ordinary
Richard Cole to boot another Bulldog goal, the Pups cleared the
restart and Matthew Boyd (Buckley's opponent) booted the Doggys into a
24-point lead, 4.4 to 0.4. The Pies managed a goal at last, Josh
Fraser curling a very good shot from the boundary line. But the Dogs
carried on, Brad Johnson created a running goal for Patrick Bowden,
young Morgan held a strong mark on the 50m line and punted to the
'square, Adam Cooney roved the pack to soccer it through. Footscray
led by 31 points, before a late Anthony Rocca goal broke their run.
The second stanza began well for Colinwood, Matthew Lokan's long run
and a couple of handpasses ended with Rocca's second goal. Then the
Dogs managed a coupla majors, Ben Harrison marked 55m out and dished
off for Robert Murphy to bang it through. After Sam Power roved a
ball-up and cleverly toe-poked the ball for full points, the Dogs led
by 32 points. The Scragpies dug deep however, Malthouse with a key
move of Scott Burns into the centre. Playing as a forward, Burns had
been unsighted last week and in this game to date. Now he revelled in
the engine-room. Two Chris Tarrant goals got the Pies moving again,
the first created by a Ben Johnson pass, the second a free kick
against Tarrant's opponent Ryan Hargrave. The Poise trailed by 21
points at the long break.


The Maggies carried their momentum into the third term. Defender Shane
Wakelin kicked for 'Neon' Leon Davis to clutch a with-the-flight mark
and convert, Buckley hit the post with a tight-angle shot before Davis
turned provider, passing for Tarrant to mark and goal. A Josh Fraser
sausage cut the Pies' deficit to 2 points, a minute later Shane
O'Bree's dogged work sent Lokan on a run, the baldy backman thumped it
through from 50m to put the Maggies ahead for the first time. Buckley
was terrific at the following centre-bounce, winning the ball and
combining with Fraser to send it forward, Brodie Holland roved the
pack and stabbed it through. The Pies had kicked seven unanswered
goals and now led by 10 points. The Dogs finally broke the run,
Garlick kicked forward for Luke Darcy to tap-on to Rawlings, who
dribbled a tight-angle goal. Rawlings and Rocca missed set-shots for
their respective teams before the very ordinary Richard Cole was
caught in possession, allowing Rawlings to kick his second goal and
restore the Pups' lead at the final change. It didn't last long
though, early in the final Mario Rocca goaled to have the Magpiss in
front once more. Bulldog forward Jade Rawlings marked twice in a
minute, both from Nathan Eagleton kicks. Rawlings missed the first
shot but converted the second to put the Dogs 2 points up again.
Direct from the restart Brad Johnson sausaged, Dogs by 8 points. They
might've done it but with Burns and Buckley winning the contested
ball, the Pies surged again. O'Bree majored, then Davis drilled a
running punt to have the Maggies ahead once more. Jason Cloke used his
first touch of the game to set up Matty Lokan for a gutsy mark and
goal and it were Maggies by 11 points. Rawlings missed again from a
set-shot, the kick-in went the length of the field and ended with
Rocca marking Tarrant's pass and slotting a good goal, Poise by 16
points now. The Dogs had a glimmer of hope when Eagleton and Rawlings
combined to make a goal for Pat Bowden, but the game ended with a
familiar scene, Jade Rawlings outmarking Simon Prestitooslow, yet
booting another point with his awkward kicking style.     


As the game progressed the Pies began to control the ball around
packs, through the efforts of Scott Burns (22 disposals, 17 in the
second half) and Nathan Buckley (24 disposals). Chris Tarrant worked
hard in attack for 9 marks and 19 disposals, he was a bit off-target
though with 3.5. Josh Fraser again proved useful about the ground (6
marks, 15 disposals, 2 goals) but fairly poor as a ruckman where he
was out-pointed by Luke Darcy. Elsewhere in the midfield Ben Johnson
(16 kicks) and Shane Woewodin (17 kicks) weren't bad, defender Shane
Wakelin continued his good start to the season with 21 possessions and
7 marks. Anthony Rocca seemed below-par but still managed 4 goals from
7 marks and 8 kicks, Matthew Lokan kicked 2 handy goals as did Leon
Davis. Veteran Bulldog backmen Chris Grant (9 marks, 22 disposals) and
Rohan Smith (7 marks, 19 disposals) were very good. With Jade Rawlings
so good at marking the ball (8 grabs with 16 kicks, as mentioned 3.7),
Bulldog coach Peter Rohde must think about swapping Grant and Rawlings
- the latter's poor kicking meant he rarely played near the sticks for
Hawthorn. Brad Johnson (28 disposals, 9 marks, a goal) and ruck-rover
Mitchell Hahn (13 touches, a goal) both played well, ruckman Luke
Darcy was terrific with 27 possessions and 10 marks. Nathan Eagleton
saw plenty of the ball (27 possies) and Patrick Bowden kicked 2 goals.
Peter Rohde was left to explain another blown opportunity. "It's very
tough. There's no doubt that the way we have lost over the last two
weeks has been very hard to cop. We have worked very hard in both
games at times but haven't done enough to get over the line*It looks
like we are a better team (than last year), there's no doubt but it's
very hard as a coach to separate the fact we haven't won from the way
we are playing." Blame Rawlings. Mick Malthouse said "I think we were
well short of their possession rate in the first half. We won more of
the fifty-fifties in the second half than we did in the first."
awthornH 


At Football Park:
Adelaide   1.1    6.8    8.12   11.17.83
Brisbane   8.5   11.7   14.11   15.14.104


A brilliant first quarter by the sublime Michael Voss was enough for
the under-strength Lyin's to defeat the uninspired Camrys. The fact
that Brisbane do not have a good record at Castle Greyskull was even
more reason for them to celebrate. The Camrys seem short on ideas and
hunger at the minute, typified by the fact that captain Mark Ricciuto
spent plenty of time on the bench in this game, restricted by a
stomach bug. The Camrys reacted to their first-up pasting by axing Ian
Perrie, Robert Shirley and Matthew Bode while regular backman Ben Hart
missed with a back problem. James Gallagher, Chris Ladhams and Jacob
Schuback came into the side, along with former Swan Scott Stevens for
his first game with the Corollas. The Lyin's were still without Al
Lynch and Jon Brown and also Luke Power, they did fear Power suffered
knee ligament damage last week but it turned out to be a slight
strain. Aaron Shattock replaced Power. 


Brisbun skipper Michael Voss started the game at full-forward. The
Lyin's did have the aid of a breeze to start with, but that didn't
explain it all. Ensured of constant supply by the upfield work of
Nigel Lappin and Shaun Hart, Voss booted four first-quarter goals, two
from marks and the other two great snaps including a ripper left-
footer. Voss also dished off a handpass to set up Craig McRae for a
goal and another of his contests led to a major for Brad Scott. That
was it for Voss's alleged opponent, Nathan Bassett. He was replaced by
Nigel Smart for the second term, where the Cows did a bit better.
Scott Stevens and Graham 'Stiffy' Johncock managed early goals as
Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards started to win some midfield
possession, Kris Massie was kinda okay. The Corollas missed a few
shots though, they trailed by 28 points when Lyin' Tim Notting burst
away from a centre-bounce and thumped a great 50m into-the-wind goal.
The Cows won the subsequent centre-break and Wayne Carey crashed into
and over the pack for an idiomatic mark, turning the clock back. Carey
converted but Notting careered away from the next restart and
thundered an identical goal to his earlier effort, great play. Such
touches of class continued to keep the Lyin's ahead. Midway through a
goal-less third term Carey missed a shot, the Lisbon Brians took the
ball end-to-end through some great play from young Jared Brennan and
Voss (of course) where Daniel Bradshaw stabbed a goal. Mick Voss
himself proceeded to boot two more goals, despite a late Johncock
major the Cressidas found themselves 35 points behind at the last
change. A proper Camry comeback never eventuated, several minutes
ticked by in the final stanza before Jason Akermanis took advantage of
a free-kick to set up an easy goal for Michael Voss again. Some late
goals to Edwards and Scott Welsh provided window-dressing for an
outclassed unit.


Michael Voss booted 7 goals from 6 marks and 21 disposals, a superb
effort. The question now is whether he can recover in time for
Thursday night's Grand Final Replay. Of the midfield Nigel Lappin (32
disposals) and Shaun Hart (22 touches) were best, although Lappin
committed a number of errors. Simon Black (22 disposals with 15
handpasses) was good in-close, running backman Chris Johnson (19
possessions) was good again. The muscular Mal Michael had the better
of Carey while Richard Hadley (21 disposals) won his duel with a
clearly ailing Ricciuto. Jason 'Motormouth' Akermanis (18 disposals)
played quite well. Tim Notting and Dan Bradshaw kicked 2 goals each.
The Camrys' best was experienced half-back Simon Goodwin with 23
touches and a goal, Tyson Edwards (19 kicks, 9 marks, a goal) worked
very hard and Graham Johncock was their best forward with 4 goals from
7 kicks. Difficult to identify other Camry winners, Tyson Stenglein
played well in defence and ruckman Matthew Clarke did some nice
things. Scott Stevens had 16 touches, took 6 marks and kicked 2.3,
Scott Welsh also kicked 2 goals "At least I thought there was some
spirit and some effort there, it was pretty bloody hard work to hang
in there and keep going*this might be a big statement, but winning at
the moment is pretty much irrelevant, I feel, from where we've got to
go," said Gary Ayres. Messrs. Frawley, Thompson and Sheedy would
appear to agree. Leigh Matthews said "We just hung in there after
quarter-time. They missed a few shots which helped us a bit, so the
scoreboard pressure didn't get as pronounced as probably the game was
starting to be*It was good to get that (early) ascendancy because we
were just going that last bit of the game."

At Subiaco:
West Coast     4.0    7.3   12.10   17.13.115
Port Adelaide  3.3   10.6   14.7    18.10.118


Just like last week Weegle forward Ashley Sampi thumped a terrific
running goal late in the game, but this time it wasn't enough - the
Weegs managed to hit the post three times in the final quarter as Port
hung on for a rare visitor's victory at Subi, although not so rare for
the Power, they've won seven of ten games at Subi. In selection for
the game West Ghost made just one enforced change, veteran defender
Drew Banfield hyper-extended his knee at Docklands and was replaced by
midfielder Daniel Kerr, back from suspension. Port had the one change
too, Byron Pickett suffered shoulder damage last week and was replaced
by Brett Ebert. The son of Port legend Russell was debuting this week,
not last week as I said. Port's Chad Cornes played his 100th game. 


This was a great game by all accounts, played in very warm, humid
conditions. I'd tuned the teev to Essadun/Stinkilda instead (below) so
didn't see much. The Eegs began brightly as small forwards Phil Matera
and Ashley Sampi confounded the lumbering big men assigned to them
(well, to Sampi. Wanganeen was on Matera). The locals kicked the first
three goals before the Power stormed back late in the term, with
Warren Tredrea and Peter Burgoyne bagging some goals. Port took
control in the second term, their Kane Cornes and Dominic Cassisi
producing effective stopping jobs on Eagle men Ben Cousins and Chris
Judd respectively, allowing Port's Peter Burgoyne and Jarrad Schofield
to win the midfield. Tredrea continued to be the key man in attack,
but resting ruckman Toby Thurstans proved a useful key forward too.
The Weegs improved after half-time as Andrew Embley and Daniel Chick
spiced up the midfield, Judd started to break away from Cassisi. The
Weegs sprayed a few shots early though, and goals from Tredrea and
Adam Kingsley extended the Power's lead to 29 points. The Weevils got
a move-on now though. Sampi snapped truly and Glen 'Robocop' Jakovich
snapped an equally good left-footer. Junior Weeg Brent Staker was on
the beneficial side of some poor umpiring to dob a goal, Chick booted
a great running sausage just before three-korter-time to have the
Weegs just 9 points down. The Weegs kept on comin' in the final
stanza, but cruelled the charge with some wayward shooting. Dean Cox
and Chris Judd hit the post from set-shots about 25m out, with little
angle, while Phil Matera ran right in after roving a contest but
snapped the ball hard into the upright. Judd also blasted a superb
running goal from a centre-clearance, but at the other end majors from
Tredrea and the little-seen Brendon Lade kept the Flowers' noses in
front. Sampi's great running goal narrowed the gap to 3 points, but
the Power won possession from the restart and despite a few jitters
managed to run the clock down 'til the end.  


Centre half-forward Warren 'Wozza' Tredrea played very well, booting 5
goals from his 12 marks and 18 kicks, he's started the season in fine
style and even improved his kicking accuracy. The other key Powerman
was rover Peter Burgoyne (20 disposals, a goal), his ball-winning
ability and pace proved decisive, with assistance from Josh Carr (22
possies). Kane Cornes (16 touches, a goal) restricted Cousins to 13
possessions only, brother Chad Cornes played well as a defender again
with 7 marks and 16 disposals. Toby Thurstans booted 3 goals from his
7 marks and 10 kicks, Adam Kingsley and Shaun Burgoyne kicked 2 goals
each. The Weegs were led by their small forwards again, Ashley Sampi
bagged 5 goals from 14 disposals while Phil Matera troubled Wanganeen
by kicking 3 first-half goals from 9 kicks. Chris Judd emerged as a
force following his early travails, ending with 18 disposals and 2
goals. Daniel Kerr (25 possessions), Chad Fletcher (26 possies) and
Andrew Embley (23 touches, a goal) were the best of the other Weeg
midfielders, with agile ruckman Dean Cox (22 disposals, 6 marks) also
playing well. "Winners are grinners. Obviously we understand the
Eagles had a lot of opportunities in the last quarter to win the
game," began Mark Williams, "I thought at half-time we were actually
dominating play and didn't make the most of our opportunities, and
coming to Perth and playing a great team like West Coast, it's hard to
keep them down all the time. We were lucky to take the points, but
we'll take them*" John 'Woosha' Worsfold said "Maybe it was a good
effort to get so close to them, considering the way we played. We just
didn't play well enough to win. We got close, so your hunger's there,
but we didn't play well enough*We just played some pretty average
football with both skills and making decisions at times." Harsh man.  

At Docklands:
Essendon   2.3   3.5    5.9     8.12.60
St. Kilda  3.5   5.10   7.15   13.16.94


Another impressive performance from the Saints, withstanding a
physical assault from the thuggish dinosaurs at Essadun before
clearing out to victory. Bommer fans were extremely angry with the
umpires, who did give Dons a hard time of it. But hey, if you're a
bunch o'thugs, you deserve it. Perhaps a less biased assessment of the
current Bommer team came from Essadun-supporting journo Rohan Connolly
last week - he suggested the Bombers have plenty of hard workers like
Damien Peverill, Jason Johnson and the like but no smart, skilful
ball-users like Michael Long and (gulp) Darren 'Evil One' Bewick. In
other words, the Bommas are good on grunt but low on skill. The
Essadun team for this game was significantly stronger than the
skeleton crew flogged in Adelaide last week, with Dustin Fletcher,
Dean Solomon, Mark Mercuri, Mark McVeigh, Mark Johnson and Aaron
Henneman returning to action - a couple of those too quickly, as it
turned out. Ex-Bulldog Mark Alvey was called up for his Essadun debut.
Out went Jason Johnson (thigh strain), Jobe Watson (hand injury),
Andrew Welsh (thigh strain), Nathan Lovett-Murray, Ted Richards,
Kepler Bradley and Brent Stanton (all dropped). The Saints were
unchanged from Round One, Andrew Thompson played his 150th game.


Smarting from a physical Wizard Cup Semi-Final, the Dons had arrived
determined to put 'pressure' on the Saints, i.e. to belt them. It
started early, a downfield free against Mark Johnson at the opening
bounce leading to the game's first goal, for Saint Nick Riewoldt.
Thereafter Aaron Hamill, Stephen Milne and Riewoldt were the prime
targets of this barrage, Mark Johnson, Adam McPhee and Justin Murphy
the chief perpetrators. Wrestling matches broke out all over the
ground as the footy went on, Milne was benched early 'for his own
protection' while Hamill was forced off with a large gash to the head.
The aggro from Johnson was short-lived though, he re-injured the
hamstring shortly afterwards and departing for the night. While all
this was occurring the Dons played some good footy, Scott Lucas kicked
for James Hird to clutch a fine back-pedalling mark and convert. A
free-kick to Hird set up a shot for Marc Bullen, he postered, before
Hird himself snapped a great goal. Gathering a loose ball, Jim ducked
under a would-be tackler and snapped superbly under pressure. Essadun
led by 8 points at this stage, as Hamill returned to the fray. A mark
and goal for the Saint forward steadied his team, then Stephen Powell
handballed for Stakilda veteran Justin 'Frankie' Peckett to ram it
home from 55m. The second term started in instructive fashion, some
terrific roving by Sainter Luke Ball got the ball forwards where
Riewoldt won a free kick against opponent Mark Bolton. Riewoldt missed
the shot, but Ball and team-mates would proceed to carve the Dons to
pieces around packs, while the umps looked upon the Saints in a
benevolent light. Both factors annoyed the hell outta the Don
supporters. Loud Bronx cheers greeted Essadun free kicks, but an
equally noisy one greeted the Dons' first centre-clearance for the
night, midway through the third quarter - the Bummers were thrashed
17-7 in centre-clearances by the end. They stayed in touch chiefly
through their own defensive efforts. Anyways, Saint spearhead Fraser
Gehrig took a great mark on the lead and centred the ball for Hamill
to juggle an equally good grab, the ex-captain converted and the
Saints led by 15 points early in the second. A goal to Andrew Thompson
from a doubtful free-kick, supposedly spear-tackled by Dean Rioli, had
the Saints 22 points ahead. Essadun's forward-line was largely
impotent with Matty Lloyd well-held by Luke Penny, so Lloyd shifted
out to half-forward with Scott Lucas moving to the focal point. Late
in the first half it worked, Lloyd marked and passed for Lucas on the
lead, Lucas threaded a good shot for full points.


The match continued in a slogging vein into the third term, with much
uncertainty and caution on both sides - as one of the commentators
remarked, it may well have set a new record for smothers as players
dithered in possession. Hird and Lucas muffed a golden opportunity
early, Xavier Clarke missed a shot for Sinkilda before the Dons lost
another player to a hamstring injury, Mark McVeigh. He was upset. A
minute later Justin Murphy's turnover led to a second goal for
Stakilda's Peckett, the Stains led by 23 points. Scotty Lucas revived
the Bommers, he juggled a good mark and booted a needed goal, some
good work from Hird created another chance immediately which Lucas
missed. No mind, soon Lucas had a free kick for in-the-back against
Penny and converted it for a goal, the Dons trailed by 12 points. Joe
Misiti won that aforementioned first centre-clearance, Lucas marked
again but his long-range effort was rushed through. The Sainters
needed to steady and they were helped out by yet more Essadun
indiscipline, Heath Black was flattened by Misiti and passed his free-
kick to Fraser Gehrig, the big Saint booted his first goal and the
Moorabbin men led by 18 points at the final change. Still the Dons
came on, Lucas missed with a tight snap early in the final Mario but
more poor umpiring, Hamill not paid a mark, allowed Lloyd to find
Lucas yet again. Lucas converted and the Dons were 11 points behind,
the Sainter fans must've worried as full-back Penny limped off with
injury. But you can always count on Bomma stupidity. Rioli clobbered
Saint captain Lenny Hayes after the latter kicked downfield, a
downfield free to Gehrig resulted from which he duly sausaged. Another
free-kick, against Bommer ruckman Matthew Allan, had Riewoldt
majoring, Rob Harvey cleared the restart and Hamill marked and goaled.
Three quick ones and the Saints were home with a 29-point advantage.
Things kinda petered out from there, Lloyd's first and last goal for
the night followed shortly after (he's since been reported for
striking Nick Dal Santo), Saints Clarke and Brett Voss kicked good
goals, ruckman David Hille got one for the Dons. But it was clearly
St. Kilda's night, again.


The decision to rotate the Sinkilda captaincy was seen as an odd one,
given the natural leadership ability of Aaron Hamill. Whatever the
case it hasn't changed Hamill's approach, he stood up to the barrage
here and emerged with 8 marks, 17 disposals and 2 goals. In the centre
rover Luke Ball (22 possessions) exposed the Dons in that area, with
Lenny Hayes (29 disposals) equally good. Nick Riewoldt impressed
again, despite being a 'target' for most opponents he stayed focussed
on the footy and finished with 6 marks, 19 possies and 2 goals. The
defence was held together by Brett Voss (19 touches, a goal) and Matt
Maguire (8 marks, 14 kicks), Maguire doing the job on Lloyd after
Penny had done well early. Fraser Gehrig was mostly beaten by Dustin
Fletcher but finished with 3 goals, Justin Peckett and Xavier Clarke
chipped in with 2 goals each. The very good Scott Lucas was the Dons'
best, if he'd kicked more accurately in mighta been different, Lucas
finished with 4.4 from 9 marks and 16 kicks (21 disposals in total).
James Hird (33 disposals, 8 marks, 2 goals) was terrific as usual.
Mathematicians may note Lucas and Hird kicked 6 of the Dons' 8 goals -
with Lloyd beaten, Essadun look remarkably impotent in attack. The
midfield struggled, Joel Reynolds (13 touches) did some nice things
and had the better of Harvey, Adam Ramanauskas (19 disposals) and Dean
Rioli (20 disposals, 8 marks) weren't bad. Justin Murphy (24
disposals, 11 marks) enjoyed a purple patch during the third quarter
but failed to hurt the opposition with all his possession, a common
problem. Dustin Fletcher (16 touches) was generally good against
Gehrig. Sheeds was unapologetic. "I don't think it (the aggression)
was anything over the top than what we've been like the last four or
five years. At the moment we just want to get a reasonable amount of
free kicks like Riewoldt gets*you can't touch Riewoldt, so we just
need that kind of stuff going our way sometimes." Ahh, Sheeds. Grant
Thomas reckoned "Essendon obviously wanted to throw everything at us,
and we were really keen to give some younger guys a chance to face
that and we started with Thompson, Harvey and Peckett on the bench for
that reason, to give the younger players as much experience and
opportunity in that situation as we could. And we're really proud of
the way they not only withstood it, but went on with the game."
    
At the SCG:
Sydney     5.1   7.6   12.9   15.12.102
Fremantle  3.2   5.6    8.9   10.11.71


Comfortable win for the Swans, shrugging off a third-quarter challenge
from the Dokkas. The biggest concern arising for Siddey was the hip
injury suffered by Nick Davis last week, Davis may miss 4-6 weeks.
Handily for the Bloods they had a couple of decent players come in,
Tadhg Kennelly and Adam Schneider. Big man Mark Powell was dropped.
The Dockers travelled east without Des Headland (ankle) from last
week, in came Ben Cunningham.


Light but persistent rain shrouded the season's first encounter at the
SCG. Freo started well enough with rarely-seen forward Justin Longmuir
kicking two early goals, Matthew Pavlich got one as well. But the
Swans managed the last three goals of the stanza, from Brett 'Captain'
Kirk, Barry Hall and youngster Paul Bevan. Another one for Hall early
in the second, followed by a Kennelly sausage had the Bloods leading
by 22 points. Kirk was restricting Freo leather-magnet Peter Bell,
while some decent work was coming from Nic Fosdike and Tadhg Kennelly.
The Swans began to miss some shots though, while Paul Hasleby got busy
for Freo. Two late goals from Pavlich, the second a terrific snap,
dragged the Shockers back with 12 points at half-time. The Docks
started the third term strongly, some goals from Clive Waterhouse and
resting ruckman Troy Simmonds got them within 2 points. But the Swans
steadied with some one-percenters; tackles from forwards Hall and
O'Keefe, a great defensive spoil from Jason Saddington. Siddey booted
the final four goals of the third Mario (O'Keefe, Hall, Jared Crouch,
Jude Bolton) to turn 24 points up. They followed up with the first
three goals of the final stanza to end the contest.


The Swans' best was skilful wingman Nic Fosdike (25 disposals) with
full-forward Barry Hall a consistent scorer (8 marks, 16 disposals, 5
goals). Mop-up man Ben Mathews (28 dispsoals) and winger Tadhg
Kennelly (18 touches, a goal) both played well, half-forward Ryan
O'Keefe (18 touches, 2 goals) and ever-present centreman Jared Crouch
(20 touches, a goal) both performed. Young Paul Bevan kicked 2 goals,
which would've pleased him. Talented All-Australian Paul Hasleby was
Freo's best with 28 possessions (14 of each) and Matthew Pavlich was
excellent early before fading a bit, he kicked 3 goals and had 21
disposals. Although subdued a bit by Kirk, Peter Bell still managed 22
possessions, forward Clive Waterhouse showed glimpses of his best with
11 disposals and 2 goals. Justin Longmuir and Troy Simmonds kicked 2
goals each. The reverse of the norm for Freo, Jeff Farmer and Paul
Medhurst managed just one goal between them. Freo coach Chris Connolly
said "We came to play four quarters of solid footy and we didn't do
that. It was something we set out to do. Our inexperienced players
also made fundamental errors and ultimately it cost us." Paul Roos was
altogether happier. "I thought we were very good today. Difficult
conditions, good opposition, probably at times we got ourselves into a
little bit of trouble and got caught with the footy but generally we
controlled the game throughout. Late in that third quarter our forward
pressure really picked up and our forwards really threw themselves at
the footy*it certainly made a big difference to the result."  


At Princes Park:
Carlton   2.4   6.6   12.6    16.8.104
Geelong   3.2   3.9    5.11   6.14.50


There's mutterings from dawn to dark down at Kardinia Park. The Cats
have ear-marked this year, the fifth in charge for coach Mark 'Bomber'
Thompson as one for clear improvement. A promising pre-season campaign
led to some bold statements in the press. Then came last week's
flogging at the hands of Stakilda, injuries collected against the
Saints weakened the side drastically. Everone expects to beat Carlton
these days, before the game Geelong president Frank Costa ratcheted up
the pressure by declaring "a loss today will cost us a thousand
members". Oops. The Bluesers began the season with no expectations, so
a win is great and a big win an occasion for revelry. It'll take time
to assess their Foreign Legion of recycled battlers, but they won't
fail for lack of effort. Carlton kept faith with the 22 that tried and
failed in Perth last week, but Geelong's cause was weakened by the
loss of the four most experienced players in the side: Ben Graham
(pectoral strain), Darren Milburn (knee), Brenton Sanderson (calf
strain) and Peter Riccardi (calf strain). Replacements were Brent
Moloney, Charlie Gardiner, David Johnson and first-gamer Kane Tenace,
a speedy wingman from Shepparton. As a result the Cats ran out without
a single player having played more then 100 AFL games, the most
inexperienced team they'd fielded for forty years.


Just like last week, Geelong began well. Tenace joined the club of
players to score a goal with their first kick, snapping nicely from
30m. Nuggetty Paul Chapman scored a near-identical goal a minute
later, David Spriggs's speared runner had the Cats 19 points ahead
with the first three goals of the game. Then, nothin'. The Blues
started to take over in the vital midfield, stand-in skipper Scott
Camporeale leading the way with great support from Heath Scotland.
Forward Brendan Fevola bagged an early goal against the normally
difficult Scarlett, Brad Fisher scored one. Things began to go awry
for the Catters in the second term as they booted seven points,
spearhead Kent Kingsley responsible for three of them. Scarlett
conceded a 50m penalty and certain goal when roughing up Fevola (Lance
Whitnall kicked the goal), Brent Moloney was reported for biffing
recent team-mate David Clarke. Camporeale broke the game open in the
third stanza, booting an early running goal and then speeding through
the centre to deliver to Fevola on the lead, 'Fev' converted. The
Blues had jumped to a 27-point lead. Cats Cam Mooney and David Spriggs
missed shots before a bit of goal-mouth scramble - it wasn't a high-
skill game - ended with Clarke stabbing a close-range goal for
Carlton. The Bluesers won the restart, a high kick forward was marked
by Cat backman Jarad Rooke - he played-on, found himself with nowhere
to go and was caught by Fevola, who dobbed the resulting free-kick for
a goal. The Blooze led by 37 points and were as good as home. James
Kelly snapped a belated goal for Geelong before Fevola snared another,
a free-kick against Tom Harley for holding - Scarlett had been moved
to the forward-line by now. The final quarter was a celebration for
your success-starved Bluies, adorned by two superb, long-range running
goals from Camporeale. When he's tearing you apart, you know you're in
trouble. Upon the final siren Bloo fans celebrated their first win
since round 12 last year. 


A lovely Indian summer day for Scott Camporeale, capping off his 32
disposals with 4 goals. Nice effort. Heath Scotland showed at
Collingwood he can get the ball, he did here with 29 possessions and
10 marks. In attack Brendan Fevola did the job again with 5 goals from
4 marks, 10 kicks while Digby Morrell (9 marks, 10 disposals) was
handy across half-forward. Full-back Bret Thornton (12 touches)
restricted Kingsley to one goal (1.4, in fact), midfielder Ryan
Houlihan (20 disposals), backman Trent Sporn (11 touches, 4 marks) and
half-back Matthew Lappin (21 touches, a goal) all played well. Lance
Whitnall shuttled between defence and attack and kicked 2 goals. Few
worth mentioning for Cats. Half-forward James Kelly (25 disposals, a
goal) at least looked dangerous, Brent Moloney (13 touches) is a
rugged type and as usual Joel Corey (19 touches) found a bit of the
ball. David Spriggs kicked 2 goals. Bomber said "I think a lot went
wrong today, similar to last week. We had a few out, but that's no
excuse for the way we played today. I thought with the group of boys
we played, we should have put in a much better effort than that. Their
pressure lifted, they put in a few different match-ups in the middle
and we didn't cope with that." Denis Pagan said "


At the MCG:
Hawthorn         3.1   5.4    7.5     11.8.74
North Melbourne  5.2   7.5   12.10   15.13.103


The Hawks 'did a Richmond' and allowed their dark side to emerge in
round 2, an error-plagued performance the salient feature of this
defeat at the hands of the honest Roos. Television viewers who don't
barrack for Hawthorn mighta been a bit peeved by the fact the
commentators did. McGuire, Brereton and Lyon spent most of the game
analysing, spruiking and talking-up the Hawks while expressing
occasional surprise that North were still in front. In selection the
Hawks made one change, fit-again Nick Holland returning at the expense
of Ben Dixon (knee). The Kangas axed Leigh Harding in favour of small
forward Jeremy Clayton. 


The Hawks kicked the first two goals of the game, but North rallied
strongly with the last four goals of the korter to lead by 19 points
at the first break. During a tight second stanza Norf's plan became
apparent, flooding back and frustrating the Horks' desired short-
passing game. Strong rebound footy through Adam Simpson, Shannon Grant
and Anthony Stevens became the norm, Corey Jones booted a couple of
handy goals for the Kangas. The Hawks' midfield was restricted with
injuries to Richie Vandenberg (corked hip) and Luke McCabe (shoulder).
The third term started promisingly for the Horks with a Nathan
Thompson goal reducing their deficit to two goals. But the ever-
present Shannon Grant answered for Norf with two lurking running goals
before Thompson intervened again for Hawthorn, winning a pack ball and
handballing for Adrian Cox to dob truly. The Kangas led by 15 points
and cleared away a bit now, thanks to some typical Hawk errors. Their
Luke Hodge kicked the ball into oncoming Norf forward Drew Petrie,
Daniel Harris collected the rebound for a North goal. Nick Ries's poor
fumble lost possession, the turnover resulting in a goal to Brent
Harvey. A minute later Brady Rawlings roved a marking contest and
kicked long for Daniel Motlop to take an all-too-easy mark and
convert, the Ruse led by 35 points at the final change. "Why don't
they (Horforn) just kick long to Thompson?" Lyon enquired of co-
commentator and Hawk board member Brereton, to which Dermie had no
answer. The Hawk players agreed with Garry, though. Thompson held a
big grab in the early final stanza, but missed with a woeful kick. No
mind, soon enough Joel Smith booted long for Thommo again, the big man
marked again and this time was accurate. Then defender Danny Jacobs
snuck forward to boot a running goal and the Hawks had a sniff at 23
points in arrears. The Roos were tiring but found a way to forge clear
again, a good kick from junior Michael Firrito found veteran David
King in space, Kingy marked and converted. Grant missed a shot before
yet another Hawk mistake, a panicky clearing kick from ex-Blue Simon
Beaumont going down the throat of Norf's Anthony Stevens. Stevo
converted and the Ruse led by 36 points, they were home. There was
time enough for Nathan Thompson to take another grab and kick another
goal, and another, but it all came far too late. 


Wingman Shannon Grant was very good for the Ruse, booting 3 goals to
complement his 27 possesions. Looks fairly fit. Defender Leigh Colbert
(24 disposals, 7 marks) played very well again, in the Kanga midfield
Adam Simpson (28 touches, a goal), Brent Harvey (19 touches, a goal)
and Anthony Stevens (23 possies, a goal) were their usual professional
selves. Forward Corey Jones kicked 3 goals and half-back Brady
Rawlings (12 disposals) did some nice things, Michael Firrito (18
touches) shows promise. Even Corey McKernan showed some form in
dragging down 7 marks and kicking a goal. Hawthorn's best was prosaic
half-forward Angelo Lekkas (28 disposals, 10 marks) with tough rover
Sam Mitchell (25 touches, a goal) in the thick of it. Luke Hodge (15
touches, 2 goals) mixed sublime skill with comic blunders, full-back
Danny Jacobs (22 disposals, 11 marks, a goal) did the job on the Ruse
hero from last week, Leigh Brown. Forward Nathan Thompson kicked 3
final-quarter goals to finish with 4 goals. Schwabby fingered the
problem. "Our ball use was very disappointing. Our skill by foot was
well down on last week. One week we're praising it, the next week
we're looking at what went wrong. Maybe it was the intensity of the
opposition but I think it was just very sloppy. We hung in there, we
just weren't good enough today." Roo coach Dean Laidley said "Every
game we play we go out there thinking we can win, that's how it stands
at the footy club and we'd like to think that we can try and get the
results on the board." Okay so far.

Ladder after Round Two
                  Pts      %       Next week
St. Kilda           8    178.5    Richmond (Docklands, Monday)
North Melbourne     8    170.3    Carlton (MCG, Saturday)
Port Adelaide       8    155.9    Hawthorn (Football Park, Sunday)
Brisbane            8    114.3    Collingwood (Gabba, Thurs. night)
Sydney              4    119.2    Geelong (SCG, Sat. night)  
Hawthorn            4    111.6    Port Adelaide (Football Park, Sunday)
Fremantle           4    109.9    Adelaide (Subiaco, Sunday)
Melbourne           4    105.1    Footscray (MCG, Sunday)
--------------------------
Carlton             4    104.5    North Melbourne (MCG, Saturday)
West Coast          4    101.6    Essendon (Docklands, Sat. night)
Richmond            4     90.1    St. Kilda (Docklands, Monday)
Collingwood         4     84.0    Brisbane (Gabba, Thurs. night) 
Footscray           0     93.6    Melbourne (MCG, Sunday)
Adelaide            0     62.1    Fremantle (Subiaco, Sunday)
Geelong             0     49.1    Sydney (SCG, Sat. night)
Essendon            0     48.4    West Coast (Docklands, Sat. night)