North Melbourne – 7.15 (57)
Western Bulldogs – 20.7 (127)
The Western Bulldogs put on an extremely dominate display this afternoon at Etihad Stadium against an inaccurate North Melbourne side.
The Kangaroos seemed to start well and did much of the attacking, however wasted way too many opportunities. By quarter time they had only 5 behinds, and were not able to kick their first goal until the 27 minute mark of the second quarter, which came from a 50 metre penalty.
The Bulldogs on the other hand made the most of their opportunities and kicked the first 10 goals of the match and never looked back. They lead by 31 points at quarter time, 45 points at the main break; 75 points at the last break and came out winners by 70 points.
Key Players for North Melbourne
Andrew Swallow – Swallow was one of Roos best and didn’t stop the entire match despite the game being pretty much over at the end of the first term. He had 25 possessions, 4 marks, 6 tackles and clearances and 4 inside 50s.
Brent Harvey – Captain Harvey was first tagged by Harbrow and then Picken and was one of the Kangaroos best alongside Swallow. He collected 28 touches (14 kicks and 14 handballs), had 5 marks, 4 clearances and 6 inside 50s.
Key Players for the Western Bulldogs
Brian Lake – Spent the whole match running off the Roos first game Nathan O’Keefe easily and absolutely dominated the backline. He had 22 disposals to half time (21 were effective) and ended the match with a MASSIVE game high 41 possessions (including 35 kicks) 22 marks (20 uncontested) and 2 inside 50s.
Adam Cooney – Cooney was tagged by Levi Greenwood and absolutely dominated him and was deadly in the Dogs midfield. He had 36 possessions, 9 marks, 5 tackles, 6 clearances, 4 inside 50s, 2 goal assists and kicked 2 goals of his own.
Musings from the match
- In the first quarter North Melbourne went inside their forward fifty 10 more time than the Western Bulldogs (20-10), however the Bulldogs were able to capitalise more once inside.
- In the first quarter the Bulldogs had 58 more uncontested possessions than the Roos and ended the match on top with 106 uncontested possessions.
- In Nathan O’Keefe’s first AFL match he was up against Brian Lake who spent pretty much the whole match running off him. O’Keefe collected 10 touches (at 20% efficient), kicked 3 behinds, laid 3 tackles and had both 1 inside 50 and 1 goal assist.
- Barry Hall was pushed by Scott Thompson in the second quarter when bent over doing up his boots. Hall then seemed to put Thompson in a headlock and throw a punch (that didn’t make contact). He gave away a free kick and was reported for the incident.
- Scott Thompson was also reported for head butting Hall.
- The Western Bulldogs had 71 more uncontested marks.
- The Kangaroos kicked the last 2 goals of the match.
- Scott McMahon was reported for kneeing Picken in the head.
Tags: Adam Cooney, Andrew Swallow, Brent Harvey, Brian Lake
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I wonder what would have happened if Riewaldt was the one bowled over tying his shoelace? Honestly, the umpires need to make up their minds. Either physical contact off the ball is OK or its not. If they are going to let full-backs intimidate full forwards they will need to accept the odd full back getting a fist in the face. Don’t recall this happening to Lockett or Ablett most FB’s were too shit-scared.
North’s Scott Thompson is a prick and should go for a few weeks for being the protagonist. Clearly he can’t beat players on his skill so he resorts to gutless tactics such as having a go at Hall when he’s down and not looking. The football was won by the best team, North are nowhere and if that’s the best their players can come up with, then they have no future in the AFL.
players get stuck into other players every game… if garry ablett, nick dal santo, adam cooney etc got into a fight with anyone who gave them a bit of niggle, the game would be a mess… the difference with hall is that he has an anger management issue, thats his problem, the rules shouldnt be changed to suit the player… when niggling goes to far, it is penalized… when retaliation goes too far, its penalized…
minor niggling is not illegal, its part of the game, its friendly sportsman ship, every player cops it, not just poor old barry…
grabbing someone in a headlock is illegal, its not part of the game and its not showing any kind of sportsmanship…
hall is a thug, i hope he goes for weeks, and i hope who ever plays on him in his first game back gets right up into his face and makes him snap again…
no place for thugs in the afl…
Where do you draw the line. In last years Prelim. Final the umps suddenly decided Riewoldt was being harassed and awarded a free kick which may have decided the Saints and Bulldogs seasons. Is it that players with”Anger management issues” (whatever that means) are playing a different game?
In the 90s the rules were clear- don’t scrag or you will suffer the consequences. Ask anyne playing on Diesel, Dermie, Lockett and Ablett.
I agree Bob – the difference is that any other player would have been given free kicks for a number of incidents leading up to the laces. Reiwoldt gets called a name and he a gets a free + 50m.
Any wonder Hall has anger management issues as he has to deal with a lot more than most.
To Alec’s comment, I agree that the rules should not change for a single player, but I do believe the same rules should apply to all players – and the point being, if they were, then Barry wouldn’t feel the need to take matters into his own hands.
Hall only knows one way to react, at the core of it thats the problem. There are plenty of guys doing similar stuff to Thompson, Ballantyne and (?someone else) pulling hair last week, or twisting nipples. None of the guys they attacked reacted the way Barry hall did. The best part was the vision of Rocket, screaming down the phone to get him off before he hit someone!!
the riewoldt free kick was a joke, everyone can at least agree on that…
it should be noted that riewoldt didnt take the brian lake’s head off for doing it, and barry hall shouldnt be commended for ‘restraining’ himself (well done barry, you didnt kill him but we know you could have, good job…) because he didnt… maybe thats why riewoldt gets frees and barry doesnt, i dont know…
umpires having different rules for different players is a real problem… no doubt we will see a ‘crack down’ on behind the play niggling this week in response to barryhallgate, just like we saw a ‘flavor of the week’ rule change with regards to carrying the ball too far last weekend, with half a dozen players pinged in different games (ben johnson in the pies/cats match)…
its not a good thing to have the rules altered all the time in a reactive and subjective manner, its actually a bit of a disgrace…
ps. i do see the lighter side of bulldogs fans now arguing that barry was being unfairly harassed, yet screaming blue murder when lake was penalized…
Full-backs have been goading Bazza all season, its been well documented and commented on by Eade. Do you think it should become standard practice to allow players to barrell each other into the ground everytime they bend over to tie their laces? Who knows whether Riewoldt fell over- the umpires need to get their story straight- in the Prelim. the St Kilda defenders were doing much worse than Lake, Shaggy and Morris.
Alec did you actually see the Reiwoldt incident? I think the reaction to Barry is b/c of it. The contact was so minimal that Reiwoldt would probably be asked to explain the staging, if it happened now. That is why he didn’t react to lake – cause it was all an act.
Barry gets the same, and more, contact every minute of the game and is expected to stay calm.
You obviously have never played a contact sport…..
I’m a North supporter, and what Scott Thompson did was just plain stupid! I for one am glad that Barry Hall wasn’t suspended over the incident! I didn’t go to watch fighting, I went to watch football and I’m very disappointed that North Melbourne couldn’t keep their cool and had to resort to fighting and dangerous tackling! Very disappointed
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