For those who couldn’t make it to a cold & windy Hamra Homes Oval tonight, following is my review of the how the night went for the boys:
RESERVES TEAM:
Louis HADDEN, Chad OBST, Alex STENGLE, Joel BALDWIN, Brodie HUDSON, Nick WHITE, Ben WOODS, Nathan STEINBERNER, Jayden KELLY, Gerard McGRATH, Ryan PORTER, Brayden O’HARA, Daniel McGEE, Ashley DUNCAN, Jarryd COLE, Todd WHILEY, Travis UREN, Adam VARCOE, Owen SHARPE, Sean BRADING, Charles EDWARDS
FINAL SCORES:
Centrals: 1.1 0.2 3.1 1.0 5.4 = 34
North: 1.0 2.2 4.1 4.7 11.10 = 76
GOAL KICKERS:
Steinberner 2, McGrath 2, O’Hara 1
BETTER PLAYERS:
O’Hara, Whiley, White, Woods, Sharpe, McGee
GAME SUMMARY:
Well what a great sight to see Nathan Steinberner in a Doggies gurnsey once again. The game started with a pretty strong wind blowing to the Northern end, probably about a 3 or 4 goal breeze. It was a pretty scrappy start by the boys with the ball going back and forth the two sides half forward lines for a while. Skills were letting them down and at times, caused turnovers which cost them goals. We looked as though we lacked a little height with Brodie Hudson and Gerard McGrath (not a recognised ruckman) sharing the duties. We were probably lucky to only be 2 goals down at half time. The quarter was marred by what looked like a serious knee injury to poor young Adam Varco. Hope he pulls up okay.
The second half started with a bang, especially for Nathan Steinberner, who kicked 2 quick goals in the first 3 minutes. Nick White looked good from full back but it was a lack of height and forward line pressure that limited our goal scoring opportunities. We didn’t really play smart footy in the second half with skills again letting us down and not running the ball into the breeze.
A few young guys were impressive, Daniel McGee had a good third quarter and Gerard McGrath bobbed up with a couple of goals. Hicksy would know that there is plenty of room for improvement and with a few guys to come back into the league team, he can expect an influx of a few quality players for the Round clash against the Maggies next week. I also noticed Mossy didn’t play, although I did see him train with the Crows earlier in the day. At the game, he looked to be hobbling with a sore toe ?
Now onto the League team, with a few noticable absentees I might add:
LEAGUE SQUAD:
Heath LAWRY, Leigh WESTHOFF, Ian CALLINAN, Luke McCabe, Trent GOODREM, Scott DUTSHKE, Lee SPURR, Paul THOMAS, Jason MacKENZIE, Matthew WESTHOFF, Luke COWAN, Daniel SCHELL, Cameron FAULKNER, Ryan WILLIAMS, Yves SIBENALER, Keiran McSHANE, Daniel BOYLE, Daniel HAVELBERG, Adam SWITALA, Luke BARMBY, Mathew SLADE, Earl SHAW
FINAL SCORES:
Centrals: 2.2 4.4 8.1 4.1 18.8 = 116
North: 1.0 1.4 2.4 0.0 4.8 = 32
GOAL KICKERS:
Callinan 4, Schell 3, M.Westhoff 2, Williams 2, Shaw 2, Cowan 2, McShane 1, Havelberg 1, Mackenzie 1
BETTER PLAYERS:
Callinan, Boyle, Williams, Cowan, Shaw, M.Westhoff, Thomas, Schell, Goodrem, Switala, Faulkner
GAME SUMMARY:
First of all it is great to state that we actually had a win. It was an absoluty different side from what I’ve seen and heard from the first two trials. The good sign from tonight was that this was done with a few key personnel not playing tonight. North Adelaide were missing some quality as well. Although it was only a trial, we now take good form into Round 1.
We started the game without the likes of Ware, C.Gowans, J.Gowans, Hayes, Cochrane, Giles, O’Sullivan and Slattery. Some quality guys named there, shows we still have good depth.
The start of the game was a little sloppy, players just adjusting the greasy conditions. We dominated possession for the majority of the quarter but only went into quarter time with an 8 point lead, with our skills early letting us down at times. Ian “Nutta” Callinan made a welcome return with an awesome start, kicking 2 goals in as many minutes. He ended up with 4 goals in the first half. The cream rises to the top doesn’t it… ?
Once again Daniel Boyle was impressive with his run and attack from half back, I can see he will be a quality player. Cameron Faulkner played his best game for the club to date but spent most of the second half on the pine, not sure if there was an injury there. Luke Cowan was good, again grabbing everything, but, his poor kicking for goal stopped him from bagging 5. Ryan Williams seems to improve every week and looked good on the ball, with run, carry and with good skills he was able to set team mates up as well as kicking a couple of goals himself. We seemed to dominate in the ruck for all of the first half, but weren’t dominating the centre clearances. That improved immensely in the second half. It was good to also see nothing has changed with the umpiring standards, with a shocking call given aginst Keiran McShane. He took the ball out of the ruck in a half forward throw up and just about had his head ripped off. He then got done for holding the ball ? Explain that one umpie ?
Going into half time we only had a 4 goal lead but that was all about to change after the long break. They say the third quarter is the premiership quarter and we certainly lifted another cog to slam home 8 goals to 2. Our work rate lifted, skills were better and we attacked both body and ball with the typical style us Doggies supporters have become accustomed to. It was also good to see the goals shared with 8 individual goal kickers for the 3rd quarter. They were Williams, Havelberg, M.Westhoff, Cowan, Mackenzie, Shaw and McShane.
Trent Goodrem was tried off half back and did a few nice things, including charging full on into a pack and crashing it, bringing North forward Daniel Stewart crashing to the ground, eventually limping off. Matty Westhoff started to look potent up forward and was working really hard, getting to contests, bringing what he didn’t grab to ground which also ended up in a few goals. Still has a bit of work to do with his skill letting him down at times but looked impressive.. He was unselfish in the last quarter, taking a good grab then handballing a gimme goal to Schelly in the goal square. Earl Shaw was again impressive in ruck and down forwarded kicking 2 goals.
I listened to Roy’s 3 quarter time address and right in front of me Schelly pulled him aside. After spending the 3rd quarter on the bench he saw he was to go back to CHB but asked Roy to be sent to the forward lines. Roy obliged and swapped Schelly with Hav (who was in ear shot and wasn’t too happy about it, mumbling a few crude words !!) In the end it paid off with Schelly taking one of customary hangers and bagging 3 goals for the final quarter. Hav played good from CHB as well. Another thing Roy asked was to keep North to 5 goals for the game. We did that perfectly keeping them SCORELESS for the whole quarter. Well done to the backline.
All in all, it was a pleasing turn around of form from recent trials and with a few quality names to come in for Round 1 next Saturday night, we are starting to look the goods. I’m not too sure of our injury situation, but Sladey did spend the second half off with ice on his calf and Cameron seemed to get a knock somewhere. Nothing too much to worry about I wouldn’t think. So with some good form from the boys now, it should creative a positive situation for the match committee causing a few selection headaches. Now we look forward to playing Port for points. Should be a cracker !!! Can't wait for next Saturday night now...
GO U DOGGIES…
Big Phil...
