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Battle on to contain Riewoldt
Bombers a different outfit
Hawks’ test without Roughead
KEY defender Joel Patfull is Brisbane coach Michael
Voss’s starting point to shut down Richmond’s lively
Jack Riewoldt at the Gabba tonight, but he’s not the
only option. Guarding Riewoldt, the AFL’s secondhighest goal scorer this season, is no mean feat. The
Lions’ leaky defence has conceded 36 goals in the
past two matches. If Patfull fails then the
responsibility will be handed to either Matt Maguire
or veteran Josh Drummond.
NORTH Melbourne says Essendon’s recent poor form
is irrelevant as the two AFL sides prepare to clash at
Etihad Stadium today. After an impressive start to
the season, Essendon has slumped to three straight
losses, and the club wielded the axe on Thursday
with five changes. Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said
the new inclusions meant the Bombers would be a
different outfit, but he was quick to add they held
‘‘no great fears’’.
JARRYD Roughead’s season-ending injury means
plenty of extra work for Hawthorn assistant coach
Leon Cameron. Hawthorn’s AFL match against Gold
Coast in Launceston today will be the first test for
how their attack can function without Roughead in
the side. As the Hawks’ forward coach, Cameron now
must re-jig their avenues to goal. Ruck-forward David
Hale will come into the team to replace Roughead,
but it is as much a question of tactics as personnel.
PUB: NT NEWS
Crows
hit new
depths
FOOTBALL
By MICHELANGELO RUCCI
in Melbourne
DATE: 18-JUN-2011 PAGE: 54 COLOR: C M Y K
PREPARE for more insults
— such as the word dunces —
to be thrown at the Crows
and more heat on Adelaide
coach Neil Craig.
And if the reality has not
sunk in that this is the worstever Crows squad, there cannot be far to go on that conclusion after last night’s
30-point loss to the Western
Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
They are stuck in 14th spot
with a miserable 3-9 win-loss
count. They have a midfield
that does not function, let
alone create plays as emphasised last night when it was
smashed at the clearances
(36-26), in particular by Dogs
pair Ryan Griffen and captain Matthew Boyd who guided their embattled club out of
a four-game losing streak.
The Crows kicked just
four goals in the last three
quarters after opening with
six and were smashed from
time-on of the second
term as they conceded a
16-point lead by giving up
10.9 to 3.5.
Adelaide’s six-goal start
was the best in 12 games this
season, giving it a 22-point
lead at quarter time.
BULLDOGS
CROWS
Rueful
Saints
look for
revenge
100
70
WESTERN BULLDOGS
2.4
6.9 10.12
14.16 (100)
ADELAIDE
6.2
7.5
9.7
10.10 (70)
Goals: Western Bulldogs: D Giansiracusa 4 J Sherman 3 R Griffen 2 E
Barlow E Wood L Dahlhaus R Murphy
W Minson. Adelaide: K Tippett 3 A
Otten B Vince C Knights C Schmidt M
Wright R Sloane S McKernan.
Best: Western Bulldogs: R Griffen R
Murphy C Ward D Giansiracusa L Dahlhaus D Cross M Boyd S Higgins.
Adelaide: S Thompson R Henderson
B Symes A Otten M Jaensch.
Umpires: Robert Findlay, Jacob Mollison, Brett Rosebury.
Crowd: 19,363 at Etihad Stadium.
Despite convincingly losing the clearances (6-13),
the Crows dominated the
inside-50 thrusts (18-8). It was
a twist that would not last as
the Bulldogs lifted their work
ethic in the second term.
The Bulldogs barked back
winning the clearances 14-2
and forward thrusts inevitably dried up (just 10).
The Crows managed just
one goal — a snap from halfforward Chris Knights —
while Tippett missed two set
shots and Craig was writing
a heap of notes.
And many would have
been about the way Adelaide
gets very wobbly when it
has to kick rather than run
the ball from deep defence
turning over the ball to the
opposition.
Adelaide’s Richard Douglas is spoiled by Western Bulldogs opponent Dale Morris at Etihad
Stadium last night
Picture: MICHAEL DODGE
500
Week 2
54
NT NEWS. Saturday, June 18, 2011.
ST KILDA can be forgiven
for looking back to the start
of this AFL season and musing ‘‘what if . . . ’’.
The Saints and Geelong
will clash tonight at the
MCG, with the Cats unbeaten
and St Kilda ninth on four
wins and a draw from 11 games played.
Geelong are flying at round
13, while the kindest critique
being made about St Kilda
for now is that they still have
a pulse this season.
These two teams met in
round one and Geelong’s new
era under coach Chris Scott
started with a one-point win.
A week later, St Kilda drew
with Richmond and also lost
their star midfielder and
vice-captain Lenny Hayes for
the rest of the season with a
knee injury.
Coach Ross Lyon will not
go as far as to say the Cats
loss was a ‘‘sliding door’’ moment, but he notes the importance of winning the tight
matches.
‘‘When you’re grinding for
wins and trying to find some
confidence and form, if you
get over the line it helps,’’
Lyon said.
Of St Kilda’s four matches
this year decided by two
goals or less, their only joy
has been the two premiership points for the Richmond
draw. By contrast, the Cats,
who will now be without gun
midfielder Joel Selwood for
four matches through suspension, have won four
matches by less than a goal.
The recent Saints-Cats history has been tight — in the
last five matches between
them, the average margin
has been just under 10 points.
Bradshaw heals
rift with Lions
Sheedy eyes first
win over Swans
RETIRED former Brisbane spearhead Daniel Bradshaw says that he no longer harbours a grudge
towards the Lions.
The 32-year-old officially hung up the boots yesterday after losing the long battle against a chronic
knee injury which limited him to just nine games
with Sydney in the past 18 months.
His 16-year AFL career yielded 231 games, 524 goals and two flags with Brisbane in 2001 and 2003 which he nominated as his career highlights.
Offered as trade bait for Carlton badboy Brendan Fevola at the end of 2009, Daniel Bradshaw
Bradshaw instead left Brisbane for the Swans with a
broken heart and a fractured friendship with former
teammate and Lions coach Michael Voss.
Bradshaw was the only player from Brisbane’s
2001 premiership team who did not attend the
10-year reunion this year.
‘‘I’m fine with all of that now,’’ Bradshaw said.
‘‘Brisbane have given me a lot in terms of what I’ve
been able to achieve there and I’ve got a lot of good
mates there. So there’s no ill feeling there at all.’’
— GREG DAVIS
GREATER Western Sydney AFL coach Kevin
Sheedy hopes his side grabs bragging rights and experience today when it hosts Sydney reserves.
GWS’s progress has been closely linked with its
struggles against Sydney, a rivalry Sheedy suggested may carry the moniker ‘‘the battle of Parramatta River’’.
A goalless GWS opened its pre-season
campaign with a 79-point loss to Sydney
in a condensed AFL clash with
20-minute halves.
The Swans reserves enjoyed a crushing 98-point win at ANZ Stadium soon Kevin Sheedy
after and a 60-point win followed in round 6 of the
North East AFL.
Sheedy says his side is narrowing the gap before
next year’s berth in the AFL. ‘‘We’ve improved a hell
of a lot. After the last Swans game we’ve beaten the
Suns and there were players with AFL experience in
that side,’’ Sheedy says.
‘‘We’ve come a fair way. We’re up for this game, we
want to keep working on getting a win on the board
as soon as we can against the Swans, even if it is at
the reserve grade level.’’
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