West v Central review round 3 5/4/2012

well firstly i want to say well done to Centrals' M.Prior tonight, T.Slattery went up for a 'specky' on his back & it would've been a beauty but failed to hang onto it & the fell heavily onto the ground & was motionless for a little while & seeing this Matthew called/signalled for the stretcher, the trainer arrived & Tyson started to get up & was ok, i'd suggest he was probably winded at the time but the fact Matthew was thinking of the health of an opposition player speaks volumes for the young man, well done Matthew.

it is just as well Central didn't win by less than a goal as Hardy's first goal came from a goal umpire blunder when quizzed by the field umpire he said Hardy mark it in play, well i'm sorry but he marked it clearly over the line by about half a metre, i was in the pocket level with the goals & everyone around me agreed

the deliberate out of bounds paid in front of the past players & officials was totally given by the reaction of the crowd calling for it

as for the game it was an absorbing dual albeit scrappy at times, i thought both teams tried to 'flood' & thus it kept the scoring low but i'll admit R&B i think West tried to go more direct than Central did & while both teams had their chances to win i'd suggest West did have more of the ball, the 3 goals in quick succession by West early in the last term (going long & direct) was basically the difference in the game, i thought Willits, Hartlett & Ezard (when the game was on the line) were good for West & for Central i thought Symes was especially early, Sansbury did his job as a forward, Marschall & Nason


Westies', best is good enough for finals

Central, i know it's been said before but they maybe heading to the end of the reign, definately not the force they were & i know Sutherland, Obst, J.Gowans & possibly Callinan can come back in but is there any others ?

Centrals were an embarrassment last night. After surviving the initial West Adelaide onslaught before fighting back and actually started to dominate play in patches of the second and third quarters, I can't believe how badly they capitulated in the last quarter. To see them fight their way back in the game only to roll over in the last quarter was really disheartening.

Centrals forward line was a joke all night. How many times did they kick straight to a West player inside our 50. How many times did Centrals forward players slip over at the wrong time. Their forward line really needs to learn to lift their game, they need to learn not to kick directly to opposition players inside 50, they need to stop chipping around inside 50 and just have a shot.

If they keep serving up the crap they've served so far this season, then it's going to be a long season.

I'm still waiting to watch West beyond Round 8 to see how they can stand up physically and mentally.

I wouldn't get too worried about results early on in the season.

With our Top 5, you could make the finals with a negative record. You could lose the first 8 and then win the next 12. In West's case last year it was just the opposite.

However, I'm very happy to hear West finished off the game in the way they did. A good positive step.

Interesting post from a neutral supporter, bayman.

I agree about Prior, that's a big tick to him in those circumstances. Thanks for the explanation about the first goal. I was near the race and couldn't see it well, but even from there it looked as if it was over the line. You're also right about the deliberate out of bounds. I don't think I've ever seen such a delayed decision and it was clearly a change of mind from the crowd reaction. It's unusual in recent years for any deliberate out of bounds to be paid, but West had two last night, so it might be a change of instruction to the umpires. Actually, I think both were there, it's just that they haven't been paid for years.

A week changes a club's fortunes, as West are now 2 and 1 in each grade, after comfortably winning both junior grades last night at Elizabeth.

It was also Jonno Beech's 50th game and he's made himself one of the premier forwards in the competition, IMO.

Thanks for your comments about West going direct, bayman. Even I was getting a bit frustrated with the style of play in the second and third quarters, but that busted open the game for West to run away with it in the last quarter.

West needed to win last night. Except for Fort Caruso, it was about as good a line-up as they could field and Central were well short of their best line-up. As I've often said, to judge West you have to decide which half of last year was their true form - a successful first half with their best team, or a poor second half with a lot of injuries. Central are currently showing how that should be judged perhaps.

West are also fortunate in having a lot of players in the 2's knocking on the door. Silverlock, Blesing, Homburg, Borholm are all playing well, while Rory Laird has just been outstanding. Young ruckman Peter Nelson contiues to improve and kicked 3 goals in the last quarter. All that is apart from NIck Westhoff (sorry, Central fans) kicking 6 and CHF Tom Keough kicking 4.

Finally, good to meet Central historian, Robert Laidlaw, last night.

Robert Laidlaw ... nice fellow.

Yes, early season wins are nice but it's important to remember a season is a marathon, not a sprint. As a Norwood supporter I was so pleased with Westies' win last night because it may serve as a reminder that beating Central in round 1 proves nothing. Doing it in finals is what matters.

Early days yet, but it looks as though it's shaping up to be a very interesting season.

Very defensive minded game with many mistakes. The 1st half as a supporter was very hard to watch.

Happy for the bloods to get the points. Would love West to move the ball quicker from defence

I thought Hartlett played his best game for the club & beech always plays well. Brad Fisher needs to find form as he has struggled so far this yr.
I think centrals will still be around the mark with players such as Obst, O'Sullivan, Hayes, O'Hara, Sutherland and Nash to come back

Good to see the bloods win well in the ressies. Loved the way they played an attacking brand of footy.

Players such as Silverlock, Newton, Poynton, Laird & Gallard are close to league selection and they give us more option in the midfield.
Westhoff also very good & if he gets in the gym in the offseason he can become a good power forward for us in the future

Adelaide Hawk wrote:Robert Laidlaw ... nice fellow.

Here's his match report, freshly uploaded: http://cdfc.com.au/2012-round-3-central-vs-west-adelaide/2012-round-3-central-vs-west

Another poor performance from the Dogs, but we're severely undermanned at the moment.

Thanks, CC, Robert's column can be a regular feature here.

And for a West point of view, here's a post from 'blackandred' on the blood'n'tars forum.



With a brilliant last Q the Bloods came from behind to beat 2011 grand finalist, Centrals, by a pretty convincing 16pts on a warm and windless night at Richmond oval.

The first 3Qs were a low scoring, tough and dour contest. Plenty of mistakes from both teams, lots of stoppages but still entertaining. Westies started well but let themselves down with poor disposal, missing targets and opportunities but took a handy lead into Q time. WA 3.2, CD 1.2.

The Dogs dominated the first half of the 2Q but couldn’t score a major until half way through as the ball rebounded between the half back lines. When Westies wrestled the ascendancy late in the Q they delivered the ball poorly to their forwards and wasted many chances until Birss found Ben Fisher for a goal at the 20min mark and we led into the long break 4.4 to CDs 2.6. Anytime you keep Centrals to 2gls in a half is a good effort.

The 3Q was Centrals best. They kicked 3 and were helped out by some mistakes from the Bloods. Hartlett dropped a mark to let them in for one and a Green blunder another. Westies fought back late but Still, Webb, Fielke and Macreadie all missed set shots as we lost the chance to take a good lead into the last break. The Dogs were also wasteful in front of goal. A Macreadie goal at the 20 min mark was our only one for the term. 3Q time, WA 5.8, CD 5.10

The game was then set up for whatever team wanted to win most and the Bloods played the best footy of the match to dominate the term. A strong Michael Still mark and goal, he then gave one away to N Caruso and we had 2 in the first few minutes. Ezard snapped truly from a pack. The sealer came late from some Jonno Beech magic in his 50th game. He took possession out on the eastern flank, was chased by his opponent, twisted, turned, inexplicably bounced the ball, lost it, grabbed it, was tackled, shook off his opponent, steadied and drilled it through from 35mtrs to the delight of the Bloods supporters, most of whom were wearing their new members caps with a new found pride. ‘Bruce’ Willis then marked in a pack for our 10th and final goal and when the siren sounded at the 27min mark the Bloods had triumphed in grand style. Final score WA 10.10 to CD 7.12.

Ben Fisher and Willets kicked 2 apiece. It was a pretty even team effort and hard to pick best players. Centrals pressure forced many mistakes. When you play them you must be able to perform under great hardship and Westies played them hard and close, forced them into mistakes and the whole team deserves credit for the effort on the night. Joel Tippett is a real find on the last line and is a worthy replacement for Silvester. Michael Still is a ‘small’ 192cm but has wonderful hands and with Brad Fisher, Webb, occasionly Ferguson, Slattery and Willets makes up a forward line that will provide headaches for opposition coaches. Ben Macreadie played well, one of his best games for a while. Willets got first touch in the ruck. Ferguson is working back to his best. As mentioned though, this was a good, tough team effort and all contributed. The challenge will be to take confidence from this contest and maintain focus. No-one wants to endure another 2011.

The 2s won 22.11 to 10.8. A good night all round.

Happy Easter.

Very surprised by that result ... didn't think they could attack enough to get the points.

If they forget about the ultra defensive stuff they're a very good side, but somehow have trouble backing that game plan for long enough.

Too early to comment on Central ... let's see where we're all at after 9 rounds.

Fantastic win by the Bloods, I really enjoyed it, was jumping in the air during the final quarter, nearly pulled a hamstring

The second and third quarters were terrible though, apart from the defence, which stood firm except for a burst by Central where they scored three goals in four minutes and threatened to blow the game away.

I haven't changed my view that West struggles to move the ball quickly through the midfield to forwards in good position. We had plenty of breaks yesterday, but slowed down in the middle while forwards pushed back into position, usually out wide with no crumbers to capitalise.

There were plenty of times when there was nobody in the West forward line. How does that help a team to score if there's a quick break from defence? Still, Fisher, Fielke and Webb are obviously talented, we just need to get it to them quickly and have someone on the ground to rove.

Loved our defence. Ferguson had 15 disposals and looked dominant. Central though turned it over many times with poor kicks into attack.

Can't understand why professional footballers (from both sides) missed easy set shots from within 30 metres.

Great to win, but hope we can score 15 goals or more in similar conditions against North Adelaide.

Yes the game was frustrating to watch at times in particular through the second and third quarters due to the pressure and desperation of both sides trying to gain ascendency together with continual skill errors and turnovers also from both sides but a couple of points are worth posting.

1: A hard fought and desperate first quarter by West was encouraging. It is always good to get out of the blocks and West should have been a couple of more goals ahead at quarter time but for wasted opportunities and a couple of bad decisions. The players reported after the game that regardless of the warm temperature the ball became slippery with increasing due on the grass making the ball hard to handle. This may explain some of the unsure ball handling by both teams.

2: Centrals were never going to lie down the whole game after Roy Laird stated during the week that he felt, regardless of their injuries, they still had the fire power to kick a winning score so they were expected to fight back hard at some stage during the game.

3: When Centrals hit the front late in the third quarter it was great to see West hang tough to remain in the game at three quarter time. When asked the question at the break as to who would end up winning, I can honestly say I had no idea how it would go from there so it was really pleasing to see West play so strong in the last. They actually ran over the top of them so was this a fitness or confidence thing? Only time will tell.

4: A strong controlling and resounding last quarter resulted in a great result for the Bloods. Just goes to show that injuries to key players have a huge bearing on performances of any side when their depth is challenged like it was for West in 2011 after Round 11 v NA, as it is now for Centrals in the early part of 2012. For example Centrals Reserves, U18's & U16's all lost by more than 10 goals to the Bloods in this round.

5: I think West will take a win over Centrals any day regardless of the circumstances so I can't understand the negativity of some West posters on other forums at the moment. Get a grip guys and have a Happy Easter.