Rd 18 2007 Central v Eagles

[JamesH]

I certainly didnt feel the umpires helped the Eagles.... it was bad for both teams.

At the moment the Dogs greatest rival is injury.

As an Eagles supporter I was angry about the loss.... but happy with our spirit. Hopefully McKenzie, Inkster, Passador to return before the finals........

[doggies4eva]

I was disappointed with the dogs first 3 quarters. I counted about 4 goals that they gave away by being too cute - trying to switch the play when all options were covered. I suspect that they have been getting away with this for many weeks now but the Eagles were playing tighter footy than other SANFL teams. Well done to the Eagles but a little arrogant on the doggies part.

The last quarter however, I liked. I felt they switched on and played percentage footy. Great coaching again by Laird. He has the ability to create mismatches which lead to gaols at crucial times. The Sturt - Eagles game will decide whether the Eagles make the top 3.

[MightyEagles]

Another belter of a game between these two sides. Very little separated the two teams

Once again, the Eagles got an armchair ride from the Eagles, and the umps did their dearest to give the Eagles the win, but Centrals overcame that minor obstacle (and we didn't even have Williams umpiring).

Given what could be heard from the Eagles coaches box in the first quarter, could Ron Fuller be getting coaching advice from Brendan Joyce? **** **** **** ****

The Eagles got an Armchair ride from the Eagles. Am a bit confused with that, please explain? Did you mean the Umpires? Don't know about the last sentence.

[MightyEagles]

You're right, I guess it'll have a negative affect on the South Adelaide football club if I post their U/17s score in a match thread that's not theirs.

BTW, you never responded to my question about last week's umpiring in the Eagles v Norwood U/17s match. Do you have a free moment to do that now? I was in attendance at that match and am keen to hear your views.

I think it was with some of the frees that Norwood received that got to us, that's all.

[Roobunny]

For some reason I was looking down at an ant (seriously) when the stretcher came out, can someone fill in the blanks?

As for our performance, I tend to agree with the too cute at times, we were honestly quite disappointing for a lot of the game. Very pleased to have won.

[MightyEagles]

For some reason I was looking down at an ant (seriously) when the stretcher came out, can someone fill in the blanks?

From the pictures on ABC, it looked like he rolled his ankle and was in lots of pain. It was the second time that it happened to the guy during the game, according to ABC, I believe.

[Aerie]

For some reason I was looking down at an ant (seriously) when the stretcher came out, can someone fill in the blanks?

As for our performance, I tend to agree with the too cute at times, we were honestly quite disappointing for a lot of the game. Very pleased to have won.

The incident was near where I was standing and I missed it as well. Can only assume he got his foot stuck in the turf when tackling Salter, as MightyEagles suggested. Was a brilliant goal by Jarrad at the same time as well!

[Mickyj]

For some reason I was looking down at an ant (seriously) when the stretcher came out, can someone fill in the blanks?

As for our performance, I tend to agree with the too cute at times, we were honestly quite disappointing for a lot of the game. Very pleased to have won.

The incident was near where I was standing and I missed it as well. Can only assume he got his foot stuck in the turf when tackling Salter, as MightyEagles suggested. Was a brilliant goal by Jarrad at the same time as well!

I missed it as well all I saw was two dogs players and 1 eagles player,then him laying on the ground.
Was nice to see a large number of eagles fans in attendance.

[FlyingHigh]

Wasn't able to watch all of it on telly, mainly 2nd and 4th quarters, but from what I saw I was very disappointed with the way we played, considering it was a very winnable game and what it would have meant to our season. Felt the disposal was ordinary, options taken were ordinary, esp going acroos ground through the middle at times rather than looking forward on the big ground, and so was forward line, apart from Salter.

[Apachebulldog]

DOGGIES 4 EVA, spot on man doggies gave the WOOGLES 4 goals because of really stupid errors around the forward lines and let them into the game.

As for the umps pretty consisitent they put their whistles away for both sides and let the game go could this be the prelude for the Grand Final ?????

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF !!!!!!!!!!!

[Brucetiki]

The Eagles got an Armchair ride from the Eagles. Am a bit confused with that, please explain? Did you mean the Umpires? Don't know about the last sentence.

I should stop posting on here at 1am - thanks for pointing out the error.

As for my last sentence, lets just say the Eagles coaches box was quite **** animated in the first quarter.

[eaglehaslanded]

What a grand effort. To no avail though. We took it right up to the today without taking the choccies. We have proven with today's effort we're still around the mark. Salter was brilliant with 6 but Schwarze had a down day. Maybe passa should have been playing 1's, afterall it would have given us that extra option up forward. The game was there for the taking but we didn't have that ko punch today. All going well with more players due back into the 1's over the coming weeks I would predict an Eagles foray in the latter stages of finals.

[Grahaml]

Passador didn't look too sprightly in the reserves. I would have been quite happy to see him in the league team yesterday!

Dogs certainly did hurt themselves an awful lot, but these are the games that will prepare us for the finals, and not rampages like we have been getting. I do love to see the dogs winning by 150 points, but not at the expense of a flag.

Any news on Slattery? Paper says it's an ankle, but that can be anything from no games to 6 or so depending on what was damaged. Aufderheide apparently did a hammy in the reserves.

Thought the umpiring was good actually. I heard the booing at the end of the game from the stands, but the obvious ones were paid, the 50/50 ones were as consistent as you could hope for and the weak ones were let go. If you ask for more than that then you're not being terribly impartial IMHO!

Looking at the stats today the difference appears to be the big men. Lawry, Grima, Schell, Havelberg, Sibenaler, Hayes and the rucks took a lot of marks all around the ground while I felt only Dabrowski and Salter were the only ones of the eagles key players who had much inpact in the air. More height isn't the answer for the Eagles, just more contribution from the ones they've got there, especially Lindsay. For a big strong bloke he doesn't do enough. Lots of hitouts are a nice stat to look at, but how much advantage do the Eagles get out of them? Most of the time the tap ends up with our rovers anyway it seems, while Griffin killed him around the ground. I would even hazard a guess that Griffin had more advantageous hitouts than Lindsay while the raw number of hitouts were almost the same (16-15 for Lindsay by the paper) Is it time for Dabroski, who did do some real damage on the ball, to assume more time there? This has been a consistent pattern for the Eagles against the dogs for a while now, and Dabrowski seems to be a genuine lead ruck option. Lindsay has taken some strong grabs in the past, and while his goalkicking isn't the greatest his big body and strong marking could hurt a defense so would you play him in a goalsquare for most of the day, then rotate him onto the ball with Dabrowski going to the bench and changing the forward line dynamic with someone like a Lomas going up there? Force the opposition into changing his matchups and maybe cause some confusion there. One way or another, I still get the feeling that the dogs are that bit better and the Eagles need to find something extra beyond the natural improvement that will occur because the dogs have plenty of that as well.

[GWW]

Speaking from a Port AFL perspective:

Can anyone advise how Batsanis went in the Reserves? Only 1 goal, not in best players..

Also Paul Stewart, not named in WWT's Reserves side, presumably his shoulder is still causing problems??

Maybe CD, if he sees this, can give info on these players..

[Aerie]

I think the Eagles have room for improvement, besides natural progression. Cicolella is only just starting to play like we know he can after an injury interrupted first half of the season. Colville's first league game yesterday - he'll only get better. McKenzie is just about our most important player and will slot back into the side at half-back or run on the ball. Inkster could be a wildcard come finals. Passador is a proven goal-kicker and if he can play well, that gives flexibility to push Schwarze or Salter back to CHB. Pedler also was missing from the league team and is a solid kpp backman.

There are also a couple of young guys in the reserves who are yet to play a league game who could certainly have impact come finals, as we've seen from Stokes, Vince, Hier and Paul Stewart in the past.

However, as it currently sits, we're the fourth best team, so a long way to go before even thinking about taking the Dogs on again. A massive couple of weeks coming up against Sturt and North.

[Dogwatcher]

Watched it on tv.
Was a joy to watch, but at the same time horrible.
Centrals were definitely too cute.
Great to see Schell back up forward briefly - we're very lucky to be able to switch he and Havelberg.

[wedgetail]

Could Kenneth McGregor be the missing big man key link in the Eagles side come finals time? Assuming the Crows don't make it (which is highly likely and they let him play), Kenneth would be a HUGE bonus down back or even up forward if necessary. Or does Ronny pull a swifty like he usually does and play Lee Staple as a tall- a hard working, totally committed player?

[cd]

Batsanis doing well in ressies after returning from injury - scored agoal on saturday.
I thought Paul stewart was playing in the ressies on saturday but as i attended the Centrals lunch didnt see any of the twos.

Central fans get along to your clubs lunches - the club puts on an excellent do.

Eagle fans you have a few more opportunities to get to one of our home match lunches - ring the club for bookings - you'll have a great time.

[smac]

Have to agree with you on the lunches Col - I went on Saturday as a guest of the past players & officials association and had a blast. First one I have been to in about 3 years.

[Columbo]

Those lunches each week must be getting tough CD, but i guess someone has to do it dont they!
Paul Stewart was named in the budget for the 2's but didnt play due to injury, not sure if it was shoulder or not.