SA Footy

From the Advertiser:

INJURIES OR NOT, BULLDOGS HOLD THE ACES

David once beat Goliath but history is unlikely to be repeated when West Adelaide faces Central District at Elizabeth tomorrow.

This time the giant is aware of the dangers of being complacent - and the Bulldogs are waking from what is becoming an annual slumber.

But injuries have hit again with Richard Cochrane (hamstring) and Brad Currie (knee) out and Elijah Ware taken by the Power, which will expose more pups. Alan Obst and Chad Norsworthy were recalled and pacy rover Alex Stengle (178cm, 75kg) and Crows' 202cm, 90kg ruckman Jon Griffin will debut.

Central still is not fully functioning but it has the talent and experience to account for lowly West and the next generation is emerging.

Justin Westhoff, 19, and his brother Leigh, 21, are genuine talents, Adrian Wilson is in his best form since returning from Essendon, Chad O'Sullivan is a goer and Adam Switala is enjoying the breaks that have eluded him for years.

Having the league's second-tightest defence against the weakest attack and being dramatically more efficient (Dogs third, Bloods ninth) with the ball also figure largely in Central's favour.

West coach Wayne Weidemann's eyes are on the future but his problems are immediate. Luke Jericho and big men Matt Cragg-Sapsford and Matt Illman come into a squad of 23.

The Crows claimed Jason Porplyzia, Simon Munn has a back stress fracture and Scott Lewis has returned to the Riverland.

Even so, Marc Dragicevic and James Ezard are handy in the middle and Ben Haynes might cause problems if he starts in the goalsquare as named.

For West it is all about clean ball use, having a touch of flair and giving an honest effort.

If they do that, they might conjure an upset of Biblical proportions. But it's unlikely.


Courtesy of The Advertiser
Story by Doug Robertson

Is this a similar situation to when Surjan was not getting a league game & was taken from Central? (If you don't play Griffen, we'll give him to someone else)?

Centrals by 68

CENTURION wrote:Is this a similar situation to when Surjan was not getting a league game & was taken from Central? (If you don't play Griffen, we'll give him to someone else)?

Yes and the Magpies turned him into an AFL standard footballer instead of languishing him in the forward pocket or extended runs in the reserves

my mail is the Crows are happy with the way Griffen has been handled given his run with injuries...... not to mention both clubs were prepared for him to take some time to develop the right frame for senior footy, Griffen has added 20kg in 2 years

i also know that the club rates Griffen and Roy Laird is a huge wrap for this kid........

both the Crows and Dogs rate this Kid and believe with a good run of senior footy he can be anything, not just a ruckman but also a power forward

My unbiased tip is westies by 13 points.

Sounds unbiased to me Strawbs!

Dogs by plenty, 7 goals at least. I don't think we will see any great heights, with Westies form well documented and the dogs tending to grind teams down lately.

SMAC

If you know coach LAIRD at all tell him to tag number 7
for Westies today, if you dont you will only win by 76
points and not 106 points.

fair call mal .... if it wasn't for ben haynes this year, god knows
how bad the season would have been ...as if it isn't bad enough now.

My apologies to all West Adelaide supporters after
thier terrific effort to lose by a meagre 10 points
cd 7-8 wa 5-12
Something at last for the club to build on.
Hopefully the effort will cheer up Doug Thomas
who is not well at the minute,

I suppose they only won by 10 points because Central played crap...?

Ohh well an 8 point loss is better than a hiding. If we have had just kicked straight.

On days like today its anyones to win. Heard Westies were very impressive in an honorable defeat.

spell_check wrote:I suppose they only won by 10 points because Central played crap...?

Or maybe cause good sides win the close ones as the season gets serious.

Yes Westies played well. the dogs were running away with it in the 3rd and the young Westies players kept at it with a never say die attitude to the end. I think The Weed can take alot away from this game. I honestly thought they had us towards the end with momentum going their way.


Buckets was best on ground for the dogs today. Very resolute on the backline. Yves was also solid in defence. Not sure if it was a good game to watch, but happy to take the points.

I heard a few stories about this game today, some said the umps were s**t, some said both teams were just average at best.

It seemed as if it was both of those, as well as the lousy weather. Glad I wasn't there to see it, probably would have gone to the club for the rest of the arvo.

The timekeeper is a West fan, too. The last quarter went for nearly 35 minutes with only 2 goals scored.

Centurion - there is two timekeepers one from each club - time on came from points and every time the ball went over boundary line & had to be thrown back in or when Umpire called time on.

there were only 5 or so points scored in the last quarter. Just how many times did the ball go out of bounds? 6,321,485?

CENTURION

Living in Sydney, obviously I wasn't at the game but usually games which are played in heavy and wet conditions even though goal scoring is low, game time is actually high, this is due to the amount of stoppages such as ball ups and throw ins, the umpires actually blow time off for all these stoppages

Also agree wet and heavy conditions definitely evens up any contest no matter where the sides are on a ladder, once I found out about the heavy conditions I was a little suprised at why the doggies selected such a TALL side, surely they should of went in to the contest with more ground type players...

Scoullar, McKenzie, Schell, Griffen, J.Westhoff, Graham, Sibenaler, very tall side for the conditions