Brisbane – 13.19 (97)
Adelaide – 15.14 (104)
For the second week in a row Brisbane has played in a close match, but unfortunately for them this time they did not prevail. Adelaide on the other hand did, but unfortunately they are still two and a half games out of the eight so will not play finals. (more…)
Brisbane – 12.12 (84)
Western Bulldogs – 15.12 (102)
The Western Bulldogs have held on to fourth spot on the ladder with an 18 point victory over the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night. The Doggies were on the rebound from a very disappointing loss to the West Coast Eagles last week and looked out to prove a point by beating the home side for much of the night. A late charge from the Lions saw the margin cut quickly to just two goals in the last quarter but the Dogs had built a solid enough lead and were able to steady.
Big Moment
With the Lions coming hard in the final term, Jason Akermanis snapped for goal on the boundary line and slotted the goal in a truly Aker moment to put the result beyond doubt.
Key Players for Brisbane
Simon Black – He had the highest disposal count for the night with 37 to his name, a game high 9 clearances, 12 contested possessions, and 3 inside 50s. Not a bad effort in a losing team really.
Mitch Clark – Continued his good year with 24 hitouts, 22 disposals and 5 marks.
Key Players for Western Bulldogs
Jarrod Harbrow – 31 disposals at 84% disposal efficiency is a very nice night out. Add that to 4 tackles and 3 inside 50s and his supercoach score is well deserved.
Nathan Eagleton – Celebrated his 200th game with the dogs in style collecting 21 posessions and kicking 3.1. He also had a whopping 8 inside 50s and 2 assists.
Musings from the match
Supercoach news
Jarrod Harbrow – His fantastic night earned him a massive 147 points and was close to doubling his 2009 average of 81.
Josh Drummond – Continued his great 2009 Supercoach season with a haul of 116, beating his average of 100.
Essendon- 13.9 (87)
Brisbane Lions- 12.15 (87)
Essendon’s 2009 finals aspirations are in ruins because of an after the siren goal by Daniel Bradshaw which caused the Brisbane Lions to draw with the Bombers.
It was a see-sawing game for the majority of the night. The Bombers appeared to be home especially after Adam McPhee took what seemed to be a game saving mark with 43 seconds to go. He ran against the flow of play and took a strong mark in front of Jonathan Brown.
McPhee seemed to steady and kicked a short direct pass to Sam Lonergan. He tried to kick it back to McPhee when Jonathan Brown intercepted it to force a throw in with 19 seconds left on the clock. The ball was then thrown in and Brown once again got his hands on it and kicked it out of a pack towards the Lions goal square. An unattended Daniel Bradshaw marked the ball and kicked truly after the siren.
Big Moment
The Lions were up by 2 goals and the ball went into their forward 50. Jonathon Brown after already having a not so good night up forward, marked the ball unattended in the forward 50. There was a Lions player free in the goal square and instead of chipping it over Jarrod Atkinson’s head for an easy goal assist; Brown took one step and went for the goal himself. The ball then got smothered by Atkinson, who picked up the ball, took on Brown and ran down the field.
Key Players for Essendon
Dustin Fletcher – Played on Bradshaw for the whole night and held him to 2 goals (both kicked late in the final quarter, and one which caused the draw). He was instrumental in clearing the ball from the Bombers defensive 50 with a game high 8 rebound 50s and limited the Lions forward approaches. He ended with 21 touches, 7 marks and 5 tackles.
Jobe Watson – Had a good solid game, after being quieter for a couple of weeks. He had 5 clearances and4 inside 50s, and was important when the Bombers got up and running and lifted their intensity in the third quarter. He finished the night with 32 possessions, 3 marks and tackles, including 20 uncontested possessions and game high 12 contested possessions.
Key Players for the Brisbane Lions
Mitch Clark – Rucked against Paddy Ryder all night and dominated him not in the ruck contests (as they had 31 apiece), but in all other aspects of the match. He finished with 31 hit outs, 28 disposals (19 uncontested) and 11 marks.
Simon Black – Had McVeigh tagging him but was excellent especially in his ground work and run through the mid-field. He had 23 disposals, 5 marks, 10 strong tackles, 18 uncontested possessions second game high 6 clearances and 2 goals assists.
Musings from the Match
- In the last minute of the match “play on” was called by the umpire near the Brisbane Lions forward 50, which probably should not have been “play on”
- At one point the Bombers had possibly over 10 handballs in the defensive 50, the Essendon supporters were all yelling “kick it, kick it”. It was eventually kicked, and the Essendon supporters clapped in response.
- Jonathon Brown did not have the best of evenings, despite trying. He ended his night kicking 0.5 and was well held by Tayte Pears.
- The draw leaves the Bombers a possible a game and a half out of the eight depending on results for the remainder of the round.
- For the Lions the draw, almost secures their position inside the top 6.
- Michael Quinn, the young Irishman from the Bombers kicked his first goal in his AFL career.
- Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw had kicked 0.3 between them, by half time. By the end of the match the scores between them were; 2.6. However Brown had 4 score assists and Bradshaw had three (I guess this proves, their value isn’t always on the scoreboard).
- The Bombers had 45 more disposals than the Lions, but seemed to play around with it more especially with handballs in the Lions forward line. This statement is proved by the statistic that the Bombers had 40 more handballs.
SuperCoach News
Overall the Bombers scored better in SuperCoach for the week with an extra 103 points.
The biggest scorers for the Bombers were: Watson (111), Fletcher (124) and Pears (107). Watson is the only Bomber that averages 100> points for the year, with his average being 100.
The biggest scorers for the Lions were: Clark (121), Brennan (146), and Sherman (101). Brown is the only Lion that averages 100> points for the year, and even though his game wasn’t the best, he scored 85 points and averages 100.
Brisbane – 17.14 (116)
North Melbourne – 11.9 (75)
Brisbane Lions continued their charge to the top-4 position whilst all but confirming a spot in the finals with a 41 point victory against North Melbourne at the GABBA.
The story of the night was Jonathan Brown who dominated with 8 goals.
Key Players for North Melbourne
Corey Jones – He was North’s only viable forward with 4-goals after sneaking free a few times.
Liam Anthony – Another good game from the mature-aged recruit. Found space as he usually does with relative ease and used the ball very well with his 28 possessions.
Scott D. Thompson – Had the most contested possessions for his team with 12 in total. Always put his body on the line and was probably North’s best player.
Musings from the match
• Save for Jonathan Brown’s performance, it was a pret-ty darn’ boring game.
• Levi Greenwood played a good game on Daniel Rich who is so good now that he has someone minding him all game!
• Jack Redden, in his third game looks to getting better and better since his patchy debut. He kicked two goals, had 22 possessions and 10 marks as well.
• Justin Sherman was excellent off half-back as well with his run that he provided.
• The experienced duo of Brady Rawlings and David Hale were very disappointing for North.
• Brisbane had chances to bury North in the ground to claim extra percentage in the fourth quarter but could not kick straight.
• This game leaves North in 12th position, most likely hoping that they don’t win any games from here onwards.
• The good news for them however is that they are four points “in-front” of 15th spot.
• Brisbane now have a cracking clash against the Pies next Saturday night at the G’ in a game that will determine whether they will have a shot at 4th or even 3rd.
SuperCoach news
Despite the domination on the ground, North only had 24 less points than the Lions in total for the whole game.
As you would expect, Jonathan Brown scored well with a points haul of 133pt’s.
Scott D. Thompson scored the best for North with 125pt’s.
Brent Harvey had a bit of a shocker scoring-wise with 64pt’s; moslty thanks to his 4 clangers.
Jack Reddens good game was rewarded with a 93pt game. He has averaged 79pt’s from his first 3 games.
Fremantle – 7.5 (47)
Brisbane – 9.8 (62)
Fremantle looked set to stage an upset when they burst out of the blocks at home against Brisbane on Saturday night. The Dockers built what was a good lead in a low scoring match caused by the shocking conditions. Jonathan Brown managed to get his first of the night just before half time and the margin was back to 7. It was that same man who kicked 3 more in the second half to get his team across the line despite the desperation of the Fremantle side.
Big Moment During the second quarter Nic Suban of the Dockers kicked a long range goal after dodging a couple of Lions and throwing the ball on the boot. It was one of the more sleek moments of the night. Key Players for Fremantle Nic Suban – Worked hard in the conditions to collect his 20 disposals. He managed 16 kicks and that previously mentioned goal. 10 of his possessions were contested. Paul Duffield – He collected 26 disposals, including 21 kicks, in what was clearly a hard day to get disposals. Key Players for Brisbane Mitch Clark – Domintated the ruck with the absense of Aaron Sandilands. 37 hit outs, 15 disposals, 7 tackles, and a goal highlights just how much he has improved this season for the Lions with the absense of their main ruckman. Daniel Rich – Showed everyone why he should be the rising star winner for 2009 by gathering 31 posessions and a massive 12 clearances. He also chipped in with a goal. Fought hard for the ball with 15 contested possessions, and delivered the ball into the forward 50 on eight occasions. Jonathan Brown – Although he only gathered 15 possessions for the night he definitely got his team over the line. He kicked the goal that kept them in the game just before half time and then kicked 3 second half goals to basically kick half of his teams score. A massive 13 of his 15 disposals came from contested possessions. Musings from the match Supercoach news Daniel Rich scored 149, Jonathon Brown scored 131 and Mitch Clark scored 142 for the Lions. Anyone with those boys will be happy with that return, especially if anyone made them captain. For the Dockers, Steven Dodd scored 128, Keplar Bradley hit triple figures with 103 for a rare occurance, and Nic Suban also hit 112.
Port Adelaide 19.14.(128)
Brisbane Lions 11.14.(80)
Port Adelaide has kept its finals hopes alive in 2009 with an impressive victory over a disappointing Brisbane Lions who were looking to cement their ladder position. Port Adelaide now sit 8th on the ladder after this win; their only concern will be their percentage which is only 92.10. Brisbane on the other hand now sit 5th one game out of the top four and will look back on this game with regret on not taking an opportunity to push for the top four.
Big Moment
A sloppy 50m penalty against Ryan Hooper gifted Steven Salopek a goal; then to add to the Lions woes the Power won the next clearance and Brett Ebert (aka Might Mouse) kicked his fourth for the afternoon.
Key Players for Port Adelaide
Brett Ebert– The Powers number one forward line player of the day kicking 4 goals and 1 behind. Ebert had 17 touches which included 6 inside 50s.
Domenic Cassisi– Well rounded game from Cassisi racking up 25 possessions, 11 of which were contested. He also laid 5 tackles and had 4 clearances for the match.
David Rodan– had a wonderful day in the midfield with 30 possessions, of these 12 were clearances. Rodan also had 10 contested possessions with four inside 50s.
Key Players for Brisbane
Jed Adcock- A stand out for the Lions with his 8 tackles showing his team mates how it is done. Adcock also accumulated 29 disposals.
Mitch Clark- Struggled against the Power ruckmen but worked hard all day to finish with 20 touches and 19 hit outs.
Musings from the Match
• Jared Brennan is in trouble for a headbutt on Carr
• Daniel Rich hurt his shoulder in the third quarter
• Troy Chaplin caused Rich’s problems through a late bump that saw him reported
• Port Adelaide smashed Brisbane in the clearances 45-19
• Brisbane have missed a huge chance
• Amazingly this win keeps the Power’s top 8 aspirations alive
SuperCoach
The Lions struggled with only two players topping the 100 point mark; Jed Adcock was a stand out with 134 SuperCoach Points .
The injury to Daniel Rich will worry many of you and perhaps it is time to cash him in.
Here are a few players on that are worth selling/buying/keeping an eye on for SuperCoach from what we’ve seen so far.
Bargains of the week
Beau Muston
Backed up his excellent debut with a score of 95pt’s this week. From his form, he’s looking like a keeper. There is no doubting that he belongs in the AFL. What is the bit that makes me doubtful are the question marks on his ability to stay fit for the rest of the season.
Who am I kidding though, I traded him in last week!
Daniel Giansiracusa
For the past 4 weeks, he has progressively scoring more and more with a great score of 159pt’s against Sydney. At his price of $452 700, he’s a keeper that you could bank on for the rest of the year.
Mitch Clark
If you are too tight’ to splash the money on Big Mac from North’ and need a good ruckman, Clark is your man. He has finally found his feet in the position and the point’s haul from his past three games show’s, with an average of 108pt’s from them. His price of $410 700 is a bit expensive but it looking like he’ll keep it up.
Jed Adcock
Best on ground last week against North’ with 30 possessions and has been scoring pretty well over the past two weeks averaging 110pt’s. If you think that he is going to continue with his form then at $413 200, he is excellent value. Be wary though, his average before those two games was at 80pt’s. Still, he has managed to score well consistently before in 2007, where he averaged 110pt’s for the season.
Jordan Lewis
With 31 possessions in each of his last two games whilst averaging 114pt’s in them. He has been one of the few for the Hawks that don’t seem to be having a hangover. His price is $468 500 and he is playing like he’s worth that amount as well. Also, he is one who loves the hard-ball get and uses the ball pretty well too which suits SuperCoach.
Sharrod Wellingham
He had a very good game last week against Port showing clean hands and good ball-use.
He basically took Leons role when Kane Cornes took him out of the game and did a really good job as a replacement.
He is someone who belongs in the Pie’s best team but given the lack of previous consistency, you would tread carefully if you were thinking of picking him up. Added to the fact that he is a few bad games from a dropping,. With his price of $328 100,
I’d only pick him up if you have a lot of trades left and need to replace a mid that is averaging less than 70pt’s a week.
One-gamers to keep an eye on
Brad Fisher
Had a really good first-up game for the year against West Coast with a score of 91pts. He’s in direct competition with Simon Wiggins, so if you think that he can stay in the team over him, he could be a decent pick-up at his price of $344 600. I wouldn’t bother personally.
Mark Jamar
Another one that had a good first up game for the year with 109pt’s. Given that he has a 4 –year average of 40pt’s. I’d say that it was a one off.
Liam Shiels
Did pretty well in a poor Hawthorn performance, especially considering that it was his debut managing to score 60pt’s. Would have been handy earlier in the year but not at this stage.
Tom Swift
Got the ball 16 times but butchered it by foot. He was under pressure a fair bit thanks to the efforts of the opposition which admittedly didn’t help. He has massive wraps as a junior and he is one to keep an eye on for next year.
The ones that make you go ‘Ouch’if you’ve got / the ones that you are waiting to bottom out
Nick Malceski
A potential bargain at the start of the year at his starting price of $355 900, many; including myself were lured in with his form from 2007 when he averaged 101pt’s…..This year however, he has averaged 60pt’s, with his highest score being an okay 82pt’s. He is now at $296 100……
Chad Cornes
Carrying a knee and calf injuries have finally caught up with him and he will now be out from 4 to 6 weeks. If you are looking for a trade, Sam Fisher, Chris Newman will be perfect at with their similar prices. Jed Adcock could be a good choice if you want a bit of spare cash.
Dale Thomas
Still out of touch after his break from injury. He;s great if you want a player who scored 70pt’s a week. But who does ?
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Previous players mentioned revisited
For the Swans, get on Ryan O’Keefe($510 300/100+pt’s in his past four) and Adam Goodes($547 200/111 pt’s averaged ) who have both been in excellent form and will only be rising in price after 4 excellent weeks.
Alan Didak was mostly played up forward against Port and showed a bit of his class whilst also kicking 3. He’s at a low price of $432 600 so he could be a really good pick up if his form picks up.
Brad Dick had his best game of his 10 game career with 25 possessions, 3 goals and 126pt’s against Port. If you think it will continue, then jump on at his price of $210 800, but with trades at a premium, just wait and see for a few weeks.
Aaron Davey has been tagged for the past couple of weeks which shows with his price dropping to $485 100. Still, his lowest score has been 70pt’s which isn’t too bad so he could be a good pick up given how much Melbourne look to give the ball to him.
Jarrad McVeigh sure stuffed me up this week after trading him in, only scoring 50pt’s. Love’ his inconsistency……..
Those with Steele Sidebottom need to be aware that he will be one of the Pie players that will be most likely be dropped to make the way for Medhurst, Cloke, or McCarthy.
Greg Broughton finally got his 3rd game! He’s likely to stay in the team now thanks to Freo’s growing injury list as well. A nice reward for those who kept him.
It will be interesting to see how Chris Newman goes with a new coach next week…….. It may be worth getting on a bit earlier at his excellent price of $490 600.
Keep getting the cheap kicks in the backline Grimesy. We love it.
North Melbourne Kangaroos– 12.9 (81)
Brisbane Lions–15.9 (99)
The Brisbane Lions have managed to hold off North Melbourne in what was a hard fought match that the Lions led at every change. The difference between the two wasn’t so much the endeavor of the players but more the efficiency of each teams ball use with North often struggling and Brisbane showing just that little bit more composure and skill.
Turning points of the match
The premiership quarter, so named because of the impact the third quarter can have on a game of football and so it was again this week with the Lions winning it 5 goals to 3, setting up a handy 3 goal lead going into the last, a challenge that proved beyond the Kangaroos
Key Players for North Melbourne
• Adam Simpson– If you are looking for a scapegoat for the Kangaroo’s game, don’t look in this man’s direction. Simpson worked his butt off all day and ended with 37 touches (11 of which were clearances).
Key Players for Brisbane
• Jed Adcock- Kept the ball moving forward and inside 50 for his team all game; 30 touches and a goal.
Musings from the match
• Disposal efficiency is so important in the modern game and the Kangaroos were exposed in this area.
• From my perspective the Roos’ play the boundary too much as well.
• Nathan Grima was a late withdrawal- reason unknown
• Ziebell, Urquhart, Simpson, Hooper, Rischitelli, Henderson and perhaps even Wells looked sore at different points of the game.
• Brisbane looked good but with Brown and Bradshaw struggling they really needed to work for their goals.
SuperCoach news
Daniel Rich is continuing to deliver big scores (132), shame some of us had him on the bench.
Nathan Grima was a late withdrawal which seems to be something Laidley loves doing to SuperCoaches
Andrew Swallow showed how much hard work can boost SuperCoach scores with a great game scoring him 136 SuperCoach points.
