Port’s revenge over defensive elite

Last updated: May 10, 2014

PORT Adelaide's stunning form-reversal against Fremantle came about after Ken Hinkley set out to model the Power's full-ground defence on the Dockers.

Aussie triathlete gets breakthrough win

GILLIAN Backhouse has served notice of her arrival as a triathlon force with a maiden ITU World Cup win in Chengdu, China.

Justice Crew debut at No. 1

JUSTICE Crew join Silverchair, Midnight Oil and, er, Bardot and Scandal'us as the only Australian groups to enter the ARIA singles chart at No.1.

', gcseBox = '

'; if (drawLightForm) { gcseBox = '

'; } if (isResultPage) { $(resultsContainer).append(gcseResults); } if (pre) { $(container).prepend(gcseBox).length; } else { $(container).append(gcseBox).length; } // Always load on results page of or light form option it toggled off if (cx && ! drawLightForm || isResultPage) { gcse = document.createElement('script'); gcse.type = 'text/javascript'; gcse.async = true; gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx; s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s); } }); })(ndm.jQuery || window.jQuery, ndm.gcse || false); //]]>

16.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

LIVE: Sluggish Bombers lead Lions

Paul Duffield could be in trouble with the match review panel for a contentious bump on Chad Wingard.

14/05/2011 SPORT: SPORT. BSM. 14/5/11. Heath Hocking of the Bombers elbows Jed Adcock of the Lions during the AFL match between the Brisbane Lions and the Essendon Bombers played at the Gabba. Pic Darren England. Source: News Limited

ESSENDON has scratched its way to a 13-point half-time lead over a young Brisbane Lions outfit at the Gabba.

The Lions led by three points at quarter-time, however four goals to the Bombers in the second term helped them to a slight advantage at the main break.

Dyson Heppell, Jobe Watson and Paul Chapman are the Bombers' major ball-winners, while James Aish continues to do his AFL Rising Star chances no harm.

FOR FULL LIVE HQ COVERAGE WITH SUPERCOACH SCORES CLICK ON THE GAME IN THE SCORE CENTRE ABOVE OR HERE IF YOU ARE ON A MOBILE DEVICE

In the early game Port Adelaide moved to the top of the AFL ladder with its seventh win over a dogged Fremantle side at the Adelaide Oval.

SPRAY TURNED BOY INTO A MAN

CROSS' RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

ROUND 8 FINAL TEAMS

Saturday's Round 8 AFL action:

Port Adelaide 13.16 (94) def Fremantle 11.10 (76) at Adelaide Oval

Brisbane Lions v Essendon, 4:40pm at GABBA

Melbourne v Western Bulldogs, 7:40pm at MCG

Fox Sports AFL correspondent Julian de Stoop says Lance Franklin can be pleased with his efforts against his old club Hawthorn last night, after he played a major role in the Swans' 19-point win at ANZ Stadium.

16.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

‘We are mediocre’: Lyon

FREMANTLE coach Ross Lyon was brutally honest when assessing the Dockers' 18-point loss to Port Adelaide yesterday: as a team, the Dockers are plainly average and there is much improvement required from here.

Fremantle Dockers press conference

16.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Port weathers Docker pressure storm

Chad Wingard has starred in Port Adelaide Power's 94-76 win over the Fremantle Dockers, booting five goals.

Chad Wingard celebrates one of his five goals in the 18-point win. PIC SARAH REED. Source: News Corp Australia

PORT Adelaide has broken another hex after a last-quarter blitz led to an 18-point win against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval.

Two weeks after they broke a longstanding hoodoo against Geelong, Port's players pencilled in their first win against the Dockers since 2009 after six straight losses.

It was defensive, congested, crowded and messy until the game finally opened up in the last quarter.

Before that, Port had not managed to kick two goals in a row.

Jasper Pittard runs into Matthew Pavilich. PIC SARAH REED. Source: News Corp Australia

But the time Aaron Young slotted a set shot in the 17th minute they had banged on six in a row. The work was done.

There were three obvious sparks to the change of complexion in the game. Jackson Trengove went into the ruck after Brent Renouf was subbed off and was brilliant in his job in containing Aaron Sandilands. The way he crashed into his taller opponent was a match changer.

Port Adelaide Power coach Ken Hinkley and star Chad Wingard address the press following their side's win over Fremantle.

Kane Cornes went to Nat Fyfe, who had been outstanding for Fremantle, and managed to slow him down. And Chad Wingard made the forward line his personal centre stage. He had kicked five by the time was under lock and key and could easily have had another couple had it not been for a couple of misses.

Others muscled in on the game when it was there to be one, few more than captain Travis Boak and former captain Dom Cassisi, who were calm but unrelenting around the packs and helped set up goals from stoppages — something that had been a rarity in the first half.

Alipate Carlile tries to stop Matthew Pavlich. PIC SARAH REED. Source: News Corp Australia

For the bigger part, the game was a mess. Both teams were running like a toddler through a living room; as a spectator you were just waiting for a fall. In football, that means turnovers and they were plentiful.

One in the last line of defence led to a goal from Matt De Boer, who cashed in for the Dockers' first goal. But it was one of many.

Paul Duffield could be in trouble with the match review panel for a contentious bump on Chad Wingard.

One of the game's most controversial characters, tagger Ryan Crowley, spent the bulk of his time on Port captain Travis Boak and it made for a riveting duel. Like the match, it took time to settle.

Jay Schulz, who was leading the Coleman Medal race leading into this round, kicked Port's first from a tight angle in the forward pocket but Fremantle were mindful of him, making sure that at most time there was more than one of their players paying attention to his moves.

Lachie Neale and Dom Cassisi vie for the ball. PIC SARAH REED. Source: News Corp Australia

What Port Adelaide did exceptionally was keeping the ball in their forward 50; there was a passage when the Power were leading by two goals to one when they stayed in there for minutes, which seems like forever in a game of football.

But if Fremantle hasn't replicated last year's form, the Dockers are bringing the same amount of courage to matches. It was typified by a mark from backman Alex Silvagni, who crashed into teammate Nick Suban when taking a pack mark. Suban was helped off the ground but returned later.

The Dockers are also exceptionally hard workers; they manage to have outnumber the competition at contests and make good use of their spare players in the backline.

Tendai Mzungu was exceptional in that role against the Power. He roamed the backline, anticipated the play and kept running into the right spots. The amount of times he took a mark in the last line of defence would have been deflating for the Power midfield.

Chad Wingard celebrates his goal. PIC SARAH REED. Source: News Corp Australia

But it also had itself to blame: the forward entries came from a long way out and Schulz and the other forwards were rarely marking on an easy lead-up from a 30m kick.

Ruckman Matthew Lobbe was a late withdrawal for Port Adelaide after reporting a sore calf before the game which left Brent Renouf with the job of standing the game's biggest player in 211cm, 120kg Sandilands. By half time, the Dockers were leading the hit-outs by 27 to 19 and were 7-3 in centre clearances.

Fremantle Dockers coach Ross Lyon addresses the press following his side's loss to Port Adelaide.

What made it worse was Sandilands' form around the ground. He linked up, took off on the odd run worked from contest to contest. When 299-gamer Matthew Pavlich dribbled his first jail through in the second quarter it was the direct result of Sandilands' efforts.

Others stood out for Fremantle, among them Suban and Fyfe.

Then Port brought Trengove into the ruck, Wingard made it known that he was a central character and Cornes went to Fyfe.

Alex Silvagni and Jay Schulz collide. PIC SARAH REED. Source: News Corp Australia

PORT ADELAIDE: 13.16 (94)

FREMANTLE: 11.10 (76)

JESPER FJELDSTAD'S BEST PLAYERS

PORT ADELAIDE

Boak, Wingard, Cornes, Trengove, Wines, Hartlett, Cassisi

FREMANTLE

Fyfe, Mzungu, Mundy, Sandilands, Clarke, Suban, Johnson

16.19 | 0 komentar | Read More

Power spark lights up dreary capital

Last updated: May 04, 2014

PORT Adelaide brought its free-wheeling act to Canberra on Saturday and did its best to brighten up a dreary afternoon in the nation's capital.

You have reached your daily Guest Access
limit of 2^* FREE ARTICLES.

^*Subject to change

Hoppa's happy return to rep footy

WILL Hopoate capped his return to rep footy with a dramatic late try to seal an unlikely draw for City against Country.

The Voice new series: Live

IT'S the third series of The Voice tonight on Channel 9. Join our blog and have your say. Are Kylie Minogue and will.i.am new stars or flops.

Dee-saster as Crows hit a new low

ADELAIDE'S season has hit another low after being stunned by Melbourne by three points at Adelaide Oval in one of the biggest upsets of the season.

Government's $200M for childcare

EXCLUSIVE: Childcare centres will be eligible to claim up to $10,450 for each full-time staff member under a federal government plan.

', gcseBox = '

'; if (drawLightForm) { gcseBox = '

'; } if (isResultPage) { $(resultsContainer).append(gcseResults); } if (pre) { $(container).prepend(gcseBox).length; } else { $(container).append(gcseBox).length; } // Always load on results page of or light form option it toggled off if (cx && ! drawLightForm || isResultPage) { gcse = document.createElement('script'); gcse.type = 'text/javascript'; gcse.async = true; gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx; s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s); } }); })(ndm.jQuery || window.jQuery, ndm.gcse || false); //]]>

16.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dee-saster as Crows hit a new low

Melbourne held on to claim a morale-boosting victory over Adelaide Crows on Saturday night.

ADELAIDE'S season has hit another low after being stunned by Melbourne by three points at Adelaide Oval in one of the biggest upsets of the season.

The Crows are still 3-4 and not out of the finals race but the loss to a vastly improved Demons side has exposed several holes in the way Adelaide plays and there will be some serious questions asked of the players as they prepare for Collingwood in two weeks' time.

The first is how poorly they start, with a lack of intensity and desperation, the second is the attitude they brought out.

It gets worse — they were beaten at the stoppages, found themselves outnumbered and the forward line was not functioning.

They came back at Melbourne after giving away a big start, but they left it too late and to too few players.

What's worse, if they begin this poorly against one of the top clubs, they will get slaughtered.

Two things stood out in the Crows' fightback in the third quarter, when they were starting to look lively again.

The partnership between ruckman Sam Jacobs and Scott Thompson helped Adelaide get the ball moving forward and David Mackay's drive and pace from half back was prominent when it was forced to rebound.

His run and carry was invaluable and he epitomised how the complexion of the match changed as the Crows were closing in.

Discarded Crow Bernie Vince celebrates the Demonss upset win over Adelaide. Picture: Morne de Klerk.

Adelaide also lifted it intensity after looking shell-shocked and out of sorts for much of the first half.

Adelaide has developed a pattern of slow starts but there were greater concerns to deal with after they opened their first match against the Demons, which included former teammate Bernie Vince.

None was greater than the Crows' lack of ability to win the ball back when the Demons were in possession. They were lacking in spark, work rate, pace and desperation.

But Melbourne, the widely considered as the competition easybeat, has transformed rapidly under Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos.

Not only has he introduced a ruthless full-field defence, he has also transplanted the Swans' stingy ways with the ball.

When the Demons had it, they held on to it and guarded it as though it was a box of cash: they were prepared to go sideways, stand still and kick to numbers only when the numbers were in the teams' favour.

More importantly, they worked mercilessly to make sure they had at least even numbers at each contest. More often than not, they had an extra man around.

Jeremy Howe was dominant across half back, around the stoppages they could bank on the burst of Lynden Dunn and Jack Viney and when the ball was in dispute few read it better than co-captain Nathan Jones, an experienced player who has a bit of clout and calm about him.

Melbourne players celebrate a goal during the match against Adelaide. Picture: Simon Cross.

And up forward was Chris Dawes, the former Collingwood player, who kicked two important goals and taught the young Crows defenders a bit about strength and positioning.

The Crows had their highlights and they came from the usual suspects: Patrick Dangerfield had minutes of dominance, Rory Sloane kept putting his head over the ball without any sense of self preservation and James Podsiadly took a super mark for the highlight reel and was a presence in attack.

But the forward line, of which the players have spoken so highly, was not functioning. It was partly a result of what the midfield did: entries were shallow — around the 50 or 60-mark rather than deep into attack where it can be locked in or an easy goal can be kicked.

It didn't help that Tom Lynch, the club's most obvious lead-up forward, came off with an injured in the 13th minute of the first quarter after clashing with both Viney and Lynch and Georgiou Alex Georgiou.

Then Matthew Jaensch, who has been in fine form, came off with what appeared to be a corkie and the Crows were one down one on the bench. But the biggest question is this: where are the goals going to come from?

Adelaide got the ball into the forward-50 enough, but nothing happened. This was how bad the early goal drought was: the Crows' first came in the first quarter, their second in the 22nd minute of the second.

Adelaide Crows coach Brenton Sanderson laments his side's performance as they slumped to a defeat at the hands of Melbourne.

16.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

An open letter to Gillon McLachlan

New AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan. Picture: Jay Town. Source: News Limited

DEAR Gillon, Just a quick note to say congratulations on your recent appointment.

Great to see some commonsense prevail at AFL House and a South Aussie given the controls of our great game.

Despite the great work Andrew has done during his time as "Top Dog" it's fair to say the game needs some serious attention at the moment.

With this job comes great responsibility and not just to the top end of town. We are sure you are well aware of that, but given we are going OK as a football state at the moment and given we are also boasting the best venue in the country, we thought it was an ideal opportunity to run some ideas past you for your perusal.

Please don't take for granted all of the mums, dads and kids that this game was built for.

Sometimes we appear to get overlooked when the big decisions are made and we all reckon the game's in a bit of a mess.

Not that it's an issue for us here in SA!

The Power is absolutely flying and a rough chance to win it and don't you worry about the Crows, their second part of the year will be as good as any and a top six spot is not out of the question.

But we all reckon it's about time our voice got heard and while the game is still great it just needs a bit of a tweak here and there.

Yes, yes, yes we hear you and yes we did see the Anzac Day clash at the G and a couple of other beauties but it hasn't been the best start to a season and the confusion on ground with the umpiring isn't helping.

We all agree that the less they blow the whistle the better the game is but they are simply ignoring far too many "obvious "free kicks in general play and then pull one out of their backside in front of goal.

Go figure!

Surely a free is a free no matter where it is? In front of goal, in the centre or deep in defence?

And Gillon, please, that congestion around the footy this year with all the bounces, give me a break.

I don't go to the footy to watch those blokes in white bounce the ball all bloody day!

Fix it, please!

Get them to blow the bloody whistle. Please! And throw it up!

While I'm on the umps can you do a favour for a mate of mine called Crowie and get Razor Ray to umpire some other games bar the Crows all the time.

We reckon we had him eight times last year and we know he's a good umpire but my mate reckons we get a rough trot when he's in charge.

Not a big one but had to mention it just to keep Crowie quiet.

One quickie before we leave on field issues.

What's the chance we can get the odd marquee game over here and perhaps more than just one Friday night game between the two teams?

Fair dinkum, we are all getting tired of watching Collingwood in every blockbuster!

Any chance we could at least get one decent timeslot, not just 12.40pm or 4.10pm all the time.

Some of us have got cranky wives at the moment and kids that are tough to get up on a Monday morning after another Sunday late game.

Anzac Round is great for the Power, thanks, but surely given where they are sitting at the moment one more would be OK and the Crows surely deserve one.

Good Friday is available I believe.

Some of us also think the game is getting a bit out of our reach every week.

Many of us have got kids and by the time they have a pie and a coke and the wife does like a quiet chardonnay or two during the game its hurting our hip pockets more than ever before.

I know we have a nice new Oval to be proud of but a little help please.

We don't want to miss our teams play but I might have to reconsider our options next year if we don't get some relief.

I can get the kids to BYO but I can't upset the missus!

OK that's enough grizzling, I'm sure you've had plenty of that over the last few days.

Good luck with the new gig, just don't forget it may be a National competition but we South Aussies stick together.

Cheers

The South Australian Football Fan.

P.S. Can you fix Essendon's issues quickly, equalise the comp as best you can, sign off on a night grand final and please let Andrew call the Brownlow votes for one last time, it's our highlight of the season.

16.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sando: We gave Dees a headstart

ADELAIDE has a problem, and for a football club chasing a finals spot it's a grave one: the Crows only get going when they are under the pump.

Adelaide Crows press conference

You have reached your daily Guest Access
limit of 2^* FREE ARTICLES.

^*Subject to change

16.18 | 0 komentar | Read More