AFL Football Round 4 Review – Part 2
Port Adelaide are in real trouble! The Brisbane Lions staged one of the biggest comebacks in their history in AFL Football to win by 20 points and AAMI Stadium. The Lions were 47 points down 23 minutes into the third term and ended up winning. Port Adelaide now sit 0 – 4 and their will be some calls for some heads to roll this week.
David Rodan started like a house on fire for the Power and had 12 touches in the first quarter and the Lions just couldn’t stop the little man. But enter Simon Black, Travis Johnstone, Jonathon Brown and Daniel Bradshaw. These 4 players were the reason the Lions won the game. Jonathon Brown even spent some time in the middle against Chad Cornes to give the Lions of grunt and presence in the middle considering that Jamie Charman withdrew late and youngster Matthew Leuenberger was left to tackle probably the best ruck division in the comp Dean Brogan and Brendan Lade. Brown ended the game with 4 goals as well and was arguably best on ground, although Simon Black could plead his case as well. What was more remarkable is that they were able to do this during a torrential downpour and watching this on TV you could hardly see the players, it was and amazing effort.
The emergence of Daniel Bradshaw this year is great for the Lions he is becoming the key forward for the Lions, he ended the game witha match high 5 goals and the Power just had no match up for him. The Port Adelaide Football Club need to have a hard look at the way they play football. They are a great front running side but when the chips are down alot of their players go missing. It will be interesting to see who stands up i the coming weeks.
Geelong Still Number 1
The Geelong Football Club again flexed their collective muscles and easily accounted for the St Kilda Football Club. It was touted as the game of the Round and the Saints were widely tipped to take it up to the Cats this year but on the weekends performance they have got a hell of a lot of work to do. The Saints started well and took the honors in the first quarter but that was where it ended, they failed to capitalize on the scoreboard and only went in at quarter time 7 points up and should have been a few goals up which may have been deflating.
Cameron Ling was outstanding in shutting Nick Dal Santo down but he also has the knack of being able to get the pill himself and that is what makes him such a brilliant player. Jimmy Bartel and Garry Abblet got on top after quarter time and the Saints just didn’t have the man power to put a stop to it all. Stevie Johnson was in pretty good knick and was at his skillful best booting 4 goals and big boys Cameron Mooney and Tom Hawkins booted 3 each. The Geelong defense was again tight and creative with Matthew Scarlett leading the way and gave Fraser Gehrig nothing. I was listening to some talk back radio after the game and the Saints fans are calling for Gehrig to find some form in the VFL. The Saints just can’t seem to get an operational forward line with the big 3 talls down there, they need to do something and that may mean the Gehrig misses out. Lenny Hayes would have been the best for the Saints and worked his butt of all day as did Leigh Montagna and Nick Riewoldt.
The Saints need to find a forward structure that works and fast if they are going to challenge the might of the Geelong Football Club at the end of the year.
Melbourne, Competitive One Week But Not The Next
In a better performance last week against the Cats at Skilled Stadium the Melbourne Football Club might have been quietly confident going into this round, but they were again dismal against the North Melbourne Football Club at the MCG losing by 48 points. In a great sign for the Kangaroos power forward Nathan Thompson booted 5 goals and moved very well. Brent Harvey has found some form and was at his running best for the Roos doing as he liked through the middle of the ground and up forward. The Demons were nothing short of embarrassing at times on the weekend and the skill level of the players there at Junction Oval is just not up to the standard that it needs to be. They continually missed the targets both with hand and foot and continuously fumbled the ball. They are never going to win a game if the y continue to play like that no matter how COMPETITIVE they are.
They were let off the hook by the Kangaroos though as the Kangaroo forwards were a bit wayward towards goal finishing with 18.19 and should have won the game by alot more. Russell Robertson again was disappointing, he ended with 3.1 but all of them came in what they call JUNK TIME and had no impact on the game. The only player that had some impact was Aaron Davey who finished the game with 20 disposals and 2 goals.
Brad Miller again tried to show some toughness by running through a Kangaroo defender Daniel Pratt from behind and was reported. The sooner Melbourne get rid of this guy the better. I have said it before and I will say it again How is this gut in the team let alone in the leadership group!!!! Daniel Wells after starting on the bench found some much needed form with 16 skillful touches. On a bad note Josh Gibson went down with a knee injury, cartilage damage I think, and will miss 4 – 6 weeks.
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