Central v Port at Elizabeth on Saturday.

Port well and truly showed what they can do, but a win against South at Alberton might not be enough to be confident against a resurgent Central outfit.

I think Port have come up against the Dogs at the wrong time of the form cycle.

Central comfortably, but not by a huge margin.

Big game for Centrals with Paul Thomas celebrating his 200th match, and Scott Dutschke and Ryan Williams celebrating their 100th matches. The team will not want to let these three loyal servants of the club down and will win by 23 points.

Centrals will do enough & win by 5-8 goals

bayman wrote:Centrals will do enough & win by 5-8 goals

Agreed.

Centrals line up, courtesy of SEW Eurodrive

http://www.cdfc.com.au/season-2012/fixtures-and-results/league/view/2012-06-16/12

In: C Gowans, Haydon, O’Hara

Out: Symes, Henderson

Port's line up (from http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/teams-round-12/story-e6freckc-1226395897106)

F: Gray, Wilson, Clayton
HF: Rose, Thurgood, Harder
C: Biacsi, Summerton, Salopek
HB: Dolling, Beard, Slattery
B: Butcher, Raikiwasa, Scanlon
R: Meiklejohn, Young, Kirkwood
Int: Cockshell, Watt, Brain, Heath, McKenzie
In: Watt, Heath, McKenzie
Out: Kulikowski

Central by 3 goals.

Centrals by 6 + goals . Premiership favourites for me.

waddayamean wrote:Centrals by 6 + goals . Premiership favourites for me.

Not sure about favourites, but would be well priced. Norwood flag favourites for mine, at present, but still a long way to go...

Port came to play today and gave Centrals an almighty scare to kick the game off, kicking the opening 2.1 of the game. Port's early 13 point margin would be the biggest lead of the game until early in the last quarter though as Centrals responded, and actually hit the lead late in the quarter before a late goal to Port gave them quarter time honours.

Centrals lifted a notch in the second quarter and hit the lead early in the second. From there, Port would issue the challenge and Centrals would respond each and every time without blowing Port out of the park. It was a gutsy game by both sides, who did not give up on taking the win, ensuring the game would go down to the wire. Even when Centrals hit a game high 14 point lead early in the last, Port mounted one last challenge and got back to less than a goal. They blew a couple of straight forward shots though, and Centrals responded with 2 late goals to take out the win and make sure that Dutschke, Willo and Thommo were all able to celebrate their milestone matches in style.

I watched this on TV and it was a pretty good game. Full marks to Port, who hung in almost all day.

First chance I'd had to look closely at Marschall and everyone's right - he's a good player and will be AFL bound next year.

Port's was an even effort. I'm not sure any one player stood out for them, but most did something at some stage.

Lawton is interesting. Four goals, but I doubt he had more than another few touches, but he marks well and kicks straight. Can't ask for more.

Despite the great effort, it's another narrow loss to Port and they've got the job in front of them to make the finals.

On the other hand, the teams competing with them keep losing too.

Big Phil wrote:

waddayamean wrote:Centrals by 6 + goals . Premiership favourites for me.

Not sure about favourites, but would be well priced. Norwood flag favourites for mine, at present, but still a long way to go...

before the weekend

Norwood were even money ($2.00)

Central were 2/1 ($3.00)

Here is Robert Laidlaw's match report

http://cdfc.com.au/2012-round-12-centrals-vs-port/