Round 5: West v Centrals - Sunday 4 May @ City Mazda Stadium

West v Centrals

Sunday 4 May
City Mazda Stadium

Reserves: 11:25am
League: 2:10pm

NOTE: This game has been moved from it's original time of Saturday night

Last Week
West 11.10.76 lost to Port 21.8.134 @ Alberton Oval
Centrals 11.10.76 lost to South 12.12.84 @ Playford Alive Oval

Last Time They Met
Centrals 10.15.75 d West 7.3.45 @ Playford Alive Oval

Ladder Position
West 10th 0-4 39.35%
Centrals 6th 1-3 45.91%

Both sides have been disappointing so far in 2014.  Will West get off the mark, or will Centrals win their second game of the season?

another 50/50 match at this stage, must see the named teams first, perhaps Westies but only just, lets say 1 point

Central by 5-6 goals.

Centrals just, 8 points

West's side:

F: Webb, Still, Macreadie
HF: Schiller, Hartlett, Fisher
C: Beech, Stevens, Fielke
HB: Hill, Middleton, Ezard
B: Newell, Keough, Milne

R: P. Nelson, Caire, Tuck
INT: Schmidt, Bricknell, Silverlock, Jennings, Dijksman
IN: Schmidt, Hill, Jennings, Caire
OUT: Hayes (hamstring), Green (groin)

West are gradually coming back to good strength. The return of Chris Schmidt is a big bonus.

Central play wet conditions very well and it's a crucial game for both clubs.

Given good conditions, I'm fairly confident West can win and I'm hoping we're about to start a run of wins.

It would be nice to see Justin Hardy in action soon, so I hope his injury resolves itself.

West by 19 points

The Bloods to win there first game for the season.

This is proving the hardest one for me to tip this week, both sides have key players out injured. At the back of my mind I have seen CDFC turn it around to many times before to tip against the doggies, yet at the same time West seem to play Central pretty well at Richmond.

Draw..

West by 40

When was the Foxtel Cup draw known? I read somewhere it was months ago. If so, why did West wait so long to reschedule this game?

After I saw the original draw I organised to have my kids stay with me on Saturday (to take to the footy) and I booked tickets for a show on Sunday. Luckily the show was cancelled and I was able to get the kids to stay with me tomorrow.

People do make plans around the fixture. Changes should be critical ones only.

Oracle wrote:When was the Foxtel Cup draw known? I read somewhere it was months ago. If so, why did West wait so long to reschedule this game?

After I saw the original draw I organised to have my kids stay with me on Saturday (to take to the footy) and I booked tickets for a show on Sunday. Luckily the show was cancelled and I was able to get the kids to stay with me tomorrow.

People do make plans around the fixture. Changes should be critical ones only.

Yes these changes sometimes can be a bugger.

Good win by the boys. Thought Harts was BOG. Although cant go past Still with 5 goals. Did I hear correct that Centrals had more inside 50's

West supporters would be relieved and comforted to see their side at last playing like the tram who finished top 3 in the last two years.  Central fans would be anxious and worried with the confirmation that the glory days are past and there's a lot of rebuilding to be done.

West's first quarter was efficient, crisp, tough, flowing and accurate, giving them a 6.0 to 0.3 lead. It was marked by good skills and plenty of pressure and smothers,

The second quarter was something of an arm wrestle, with honours about even. The half was notable for the extraordinary display by West's Centre Half Back, Adam Hartlett, who marked everything he should have and plenty he wasn't entitled to. Having marked or cleaned up, his disposal was impeccable.

West seemed to play reactive and short-passing football in the 3rd quarter and Central looked the side more likely to score, but they wasted several chances.  Their forward line struggled, with Retzlaff appearing well beaten by the impressive Tom Keough and West rebounding most of Central's inside 50 entries.

Central continued to dominate the early stages of the last quarter, but couldn't find a winner up forward.  Scott Bricknell went down with what appeared to be a nasty rib or lung injury and couldn't continue, having played a bery good game.  The subsequent delay in the game seemed to deflate Central and West finished all over them with several goals, to record a 10 goal win.

Michael Still was again productive, with 5 goals to add to his 4 the week before, while Chris Schmidt dealt with the tag from Paul Thomas by accululating 35 possessions to be best on ground.  Ben MacReadie returned to form, Hartlett was excellent, Keough similar, while Webb dominated the ruck and was highly effective around the ground.  Riley Milne, West's 'spare', racked up 30 touches and was very good.

West jump from bottom to 7th or 8th and appear to be settling.

One amazing stat is that West had 145 marks to Central's 53, yet Central had more inside 50's.

Today was a matter of West playing their best game of the season and Centrals playing their worst game of the season.

Really struggling to see any highlights for Centrals in that game - they were just plain awful for most of the match. Delivery inside 50 was terrible, defence was awful, the midfield was smashed. To kick 4 goals in a game (and to go goalless in two quarters) is not good enough.

Full credit to West, they played a good game.

Can't believe some Central supporters are calling for Lairds head... surely the must realize that their domination of the competition had to come to an end some time.. I was listening to a Central supporter on radio on the way home and he threw everything at the coach and club bar the kitchen sink, highly unfair to a coach who has got them to so many grand finals and to win most of them...
The circle turns eventually, same happened to Sturt and the Magpies.. it can't go on forever. Both were dominant in their eras, Sturt mainly in the 60's  and Port, most of last century.
I'd love it if West were dominant for a decade like Centrals were, and then put up with a few years of rebuilding.
To say i'l never go watch the Doggies again until Laird is gone is unbelievable.
Perhaps Laird hasn't got the cattle at his disposal as he did a few years ago..the Gowans are gone, time to get over it. let Laird rebuild a decent side and put up with a little pain for a while as most of the other SANFL sides have done for years.
Iv'e only seen one West Adelaide winning grand final, let alone 7 or what ever the amount was in one decade with Centrals.. Same for the Panther supporters, most have never seen the Panthers in a Grand final let alone win one.

It's understandable (but not necessarily correct or fair) that supporters call for the coaches head. At the end of the day they are the primary person in the firing line, and they know this comes with the territory. In Laird's case, a lot of scrutiny will always come on whether the game and your style has passed by and it's time for a more modern approach, ie South replacing Fuller, appointing Gotch, and not making massive alterations to the list.

Well said, firstblood and scrunch. You are both spot on...

Only last week I heard some West supporters questioning whether Mark Mickan was the right person as our coach, this after only 4 weeks into his first season, great supporters