West v Central at City Mazda Thursday night

Well done West AND well done Central, 6 Central players made their league debut, not a bad effort PLUS West had Cassisi, Gray & Crouch, 3 pretty handy AFL players. Another reason why the Crows & Power need a reserves side away from the SANFL.

Last quarter
WA 0.2
CD 3-6

Did WA ease up ?
Did WA run out of legs ?
Did CD outplay WA ?
Was there a breeze ?
Any other reason ?

THere was a good breeze to Central's end in the last quarter, but Central deservedly won the quarter, playing good footy.

Collin's moves at half time had a big bearing on the result.

The usual suspects have written West off again this year, but I think we'll be OK.

Not sure what they'll do without being able to make their 7 millionth joke about West being defensive.

I know, they'll keep making the same jokes anyway

This from the Footy budget
Titled Skippers have their say

Brad Symes
Question asked : Where is your most feared away venue and why ?
"Probably down at Hickinbotham
My biggest fear is running out of petrol and not being able to get to the game
That would have to be my number 1 fear."

JUICEBOXMAN wrote:Well done West AND well done Central, 6 Central players made their league debut, not a bad effort PLUS West had Cassisi, Gray & Crouch, 3 pretty handy AFL players. Another reason why the Crows & Power need a reserves side away from the SANFL.

Gray was a liability at times IMO

Reckon your best player last night might be an AFL listed player too

Last quarter I think West reverted to trying not to lose the game rather than kill them off

I think. Centrals last qrt was very good and they worked their butt off.

I also think some of the West players were underdone

1. Fery played only 1 trial
2 Webb played 1 trial ( had a hamstring issue)
3. Gray had a limited Pre season due to injury
4.Cassisi limited Pre season due to health and injury
5. Schmidt played 1 trial game

Mangan,Fielke,and Beech played one and half trial games

lachlan wrote:I think. Centrals last qrt was very good and they worked their butt off.

I also think some of the West players were underdone

1. Fery played only 1 trial
2 Webb played 1 trial ( had a hamstring issue)
3. Gray had a limited Pre season due to injury
4.Cassisi limited Pre season due to health and injury
5. Schmidt played 1 trial game

Mangan,Fielke,and Beech played one and half trial games

Your right Lachlan, speaking to a few players after the game that you mentioned above, all said they ran out of puff and legs in the last quarter. Not only was the win valuable for West but the match fitness was also valuable for those players still slightly under done. Expect them to run out next weeks game a little better.

Black and Red's write-up from bloodntars.com

Tonight we could finally put behind us the frustrations of last year’s finals, the salary cap violation and our fiscal failures and play footy again. Despite injuries to Tuck, Hartlett and Green we were able to field a very impressive outfit that included AFL listed Cassisi, Gray and Crouch. Homburg and Rankin dropped down to the 2s.

The first Q saw Westies with most of the play but unable to convert our chances and Centrals picking up 3 goals from frees, one of them when the ball was in the centre and the free was paid 30m out right in front. Despite these frustrations Beech booted 2 and we took a narrow lead at Q time, WA 4.2, CD 4.1. The game was being played at a frantic pace, it was of high standard and great intensity. James Boyd kept the Dogs in the game and James Ezard was everywhere for the Bloods.

The second saw Centrals dominate the first 7 minutes and it took this long for Westies to go forward but they then kicked 2 goals against the flow in 3 minutes. A fine mark and goal to Webb and Silverlock got his second. Half time CD led 7.5 to Westies 6.5.

Most games Westies struggle to kick ten goals but we kicked ten in the next 30 minutes in some of the finest footy played by the club in many years. This was simply brilliant to watch for long suffering Westies supporters. Fergy went forward and got the first at the 1 min mark. Webb goaled at the 6 min mark. At the 8 min mark Silverlock booted a massive 60m left footer from deep in the NE pocket, Macreadie a lovely running goal at the 14 min mark, Beech got 1, Fielke chipped in and Webb got another from a free and Ezard another running goal from 45 and when Beech ran into an open goal at the 31 min mark we had ten goals in a wonderful display of power, running footy. At this point we had gone inside-50 51 times to Centrals 31. 3Q time score was WA 16.7, CD 10.6.

Centrals had 6 first game players and it seemed as though the relentless pressure on them had split the game open and it would be a runaway win to the mighty Bloods. Not so. We had our chances to put the game away. Anderson missed a long set shot followed by another set shot where he failed to make the distance from 30m and it was marked on the goal line by their ruckman. Laird made some critical mistakes when going forward and Centrals took advantage and stormed back into the contest. The scoreboard couldn’t deal with the pressure and went blank while the Dogs booted 3.6 to our pathetic 2 pts and if they had been a little more accurate could have stolen the game. Final score WA 16.9, CD 13.12.

19yo Brad Crouch had 31 touches (7 marks) and was best afield. Ezard was good early. Ferguson had his usual reliable game, showing great leadership and marshalling our 3Q effort. Beech kicked 4 goals and Webb and Silverlock 3. We struggled to take a mark up forward with the majority of our goals coming from hard running shots outside 50. Of the Power players Cassisi did some good things but Gray was pretty quiet – which probably means, knowing the AFL, that Gray will go back to the Power next week and we will keep Cassisi. Mangan played back, is a big unit but had very few touches and looked off the pace. Nelson was beaten by the unfashionable Guilhaus and we lost the hit outs 59 to 29. The crowd was 2971.

It’s always great to win the opening round and to put together some fine passages of play. It was a terrific night for the club. Our pressure and tackling were superb but our fade out will concern the coach.

The 2s won 15.13 to 10.7. They booted 7 goals in the last Q. This team plays very exciting and attacking footy. Try and see them play if you can. Homburg injured his right arm in the last Q

lachlan wrote:I think. Centrals last qrt was very good and they worked their butt off.

I also think some of the West players were underdone

1. Fery played only 1 trial
2 Webb played 1 trial ( had a hamstring issue)
3. Gray had a limited Pre season due to injury
4.Cassisi limited Pre season due to health and injury
5. Schmidt played 1 trial game

Mangan,Fielke,and Beech played one and half trial games

if picked & your out there you are fit

I think his comment is aimed at explaining his perception for why the final quarter drop out after the 10 goal third quarter occured --- fit and match fitness are two different things.

Great summary by Black and Red, and to be honest, I don't think I can add anything more to that.

It was a very tight first half with both sides trading blows. Centrals started to gain the ascendency late in the second quarter, and when they kicked the opening goal of the third quarter, it looked like they were full of momentum. Westies, to their credit responded and began to completely overwhelm Centrals, kicking 10 goals to 3 to race out to a 6 goal lead. Centrals didn't give up though, and when they kicked the first 2 goals early in the last, the scoreboard had had enough, malfunctioning, and seeing the small emergency scoreboard activated. Centrals, however, could only muster one more goal for the quarter and Westies held on to win.

From a Centrals perspective, they didn't play too badly for most of the game, and basically it was only one bad quarter that ultimately costed them the match.

BT, I feel your summary is also very good and accurate.

I was impressed with many of the central youngsters and feel with experience they are going to be a strong unit. Any team that takes this group lightly does so at their peril. Westies squad is still a young one and I was impressed with the maturity of all their young players when the going was tough.

This was a great game to watch and whilst one game does not make a season the future for the SANFL standard looks good in the hands of the young players from these two teams.