| HARBOURSPORT |
A wild hailstorm in Melbourne on Saturday saw flash-flooding around the city and substantial damage
to Docklands stadium. Parts of the roof caved in, the power was cut. The NAB Challenge game at
Princes Park was cancelled, and doubts were raised as to whether the NAB Cup semi-final would be
able to go ahead. Eventually the decision was made that the match would go ahead, and despite the
city of Melbourne being flooded and transport links being cut, a crowd of 5,000 still somehow
managed to get to the game.
Once the action finally got underway, it was barely a contest as St Kilda cruised to a 70 point victory.
The lead was 14 points at quarter time, and by half time the lead had blown out to 35 points. After the
long break, the Dockers came out swinging, two super-goals and another major in the first 5 minutes
after the resumption cutting the margin back to 11 points. But that was as close as the Dockers could
get, as the Saints again asserted themselves, with 6 unanswered goals seeing the Saints win the
quarter and lock the Dockers out of the contest. From there it was just a matter of going through the
motions, the Saints cruising into the pre-season grand final.
Despite missing on silverware in the game that mattered last year, the Saints have another chance to
add to their trophy cabinet. But the Dockers' cabinet remains bare, the Western Australian side yet to
take part in any form of grand final.
St Kilda 0.4.1 1.6.2 1.12.4 2.15.7 (115)
Fremantle 0.1.5 0.1.6 2.2.7 2.3.9 (45)
Nine Point Goals : St Kilda - J Geary, J Gram. Fremantle - A Morabito, M Pavlich.
Goals : St Kilda - S Milne 4, J Gram 2, A Schneider 2, R Stanley 2, D Armitage, J Geary, J
Koschitzke, T Lynch, A McQualter. Fremantle - M Barlow, R Hayden, R Murphy.
Best : St Kilda - J Gram, N Dal Santo, C Jones, D Armitage, S Gilbert, S Baker.
Fremantle - G Broughton, P Duffield, M Barlow, K Bradley, C Tarrant, P Haselby.
Injuries : St Kilda - L Hayes (calf), J Blake (back tightness) - late withdrawal.
Fremantle - Nil.
Reports - Nil. Umpires - Jeffrey, Chamberlain, Pannell.
Crowd - 5,241 at Docklands.
NAB CHALLENGE RESULTS
Collingwood 11.24 (90) d Richmond 9.8 (62) at Princes Park.
West Coast 16.9 (105) d Carlton 9.12 (66) at Leederville.
North Melbourne 12.11 (83) d Hawthorn 6.7 (43) at North Ballarat.
Brisbane v Geelong - cancelled due to lightning & hail.
Adelaide 9.15 (69) d Melbourne 10.7 (67) at Elizabeth.
Sydney Swans 14.7 (91) d Essendon 9.9 (63) at Blacktown Olympic Park.
Click here to see Harboursport's photo gallery from the Sydney v Essendon match.
to Docklands stadium. Parts of the roof caved in, the power was cut. The NAB Challenge game at
Princes Park was cancelled, and doubts were raised as to whether the NAB Cup semi-final would be
able to go ahead. Eventually the decision was made that the match would go ahead, and despite the
city of Melbourne being flooded and transport links being cut, a crowd of 5,000 still somehow
managed to get to the game.
Once the action finally got underway, it was barely a contest as St Kilda cruised to a 70 point victory.
The lead was 14 points at quarter time, and by half time the lead had blown out to 35 points. After the
long break, the Dockers came out swinging, two super-goals and another major in the first 5 minutes
after the resumption cutting the margin back to 11 points. But that was as close as the Dockers could
get, as the Saints again asserted themselves, with 6 unanswered goals seeing the Saints win the
quarter and lock the Dockers out of the contest. From there it was just a matter of going through the
motions, the Saints cruising into the pre-season grand final.
Despite missing on silverware in the game that mattered last year, the Saints have another chance to
add to their trophy cabinet. But the Dockers' cabinet remains bare, the Western Australian side yet to
take part in any form of grand final.
St Kilda 0.4.1 1.6.2 1.12.4 2.15.7 (115)
Fremantle 0.1.5 0.1.6 2.2.7 2.3.9 (45)
Nine Point Goals : St Kilda - J Geary, J Gram. Fremantle - A Morabito, M Pavlich.
Goals : St Kilda - S Milne 4, J Gram 2, A Schneider 2, R Stanley 2, D Armitage, J Geary, J
Koschitzke, T Lynch, A McQualter. Fremantle - M Barlow, R Hayden, R Murphy.
Best : St Kilda - J Gram, N Dal Santo, C Jones, D Armitage, S Gilbert, S Baker.
Fremantle - G Broughton, P Duffield, M Barlow, K Bradley, C Tarrant, P Haselby.
Injuries : St Kilda - L Hayes (calf), J Blake (back tightness) - late withdrawal.
Fremantle - Nil.
Reports - Nil. Umpires - Jeffrey, Chamberlain, Pannell.
Crowd - 5,241 at Docklands.
NAB CHALLENGE RESULTS
Collingwood 11.24 (90) d Richmond 9.8 (62) at Princes Park.
West Coast 16.9 (105) d Carlton 9.12 (66) at Leederville.
North Melbourne 12.11 (83) d Hawthorn 6.7 (43) at North Ballarat.
Brisbane v Geelong - cancelled due to lightning & hail.
Adelaide 9.15 (69) d Melbourne 10.7 (67) at Elizabeth.
Sydney Swans 14.7 (91) d Essendon 9.9 (63) at Blacktown Olympic Park.
Click here to see Harboursport's photo gallery from the Sydney v Essendon match.
| NAB CUP FINAL Saturday 13 March St Kilda v Western Bulldogs (Docklands, 7:10pm) NAB CHALLENGE Friday 12th March Carlton v Adelaide (Princes Park, 4:00pm) Brisbane v Hawthorn (Southport, 3:30pm) Sydney v North Melbourne (Narrandera, 7:00pm) Saturday 13th March Melbourne v West Coast (Casey Fields, 2:00pm) Richmond v Essendon (Morwell, 3:30pm) Fremantle v Geelong (Fremantle Oval, 4:00pm) Port Adelaide v Collingwood (Mt Gambier, 4:30pm) (All times shown are Sydney time) |
| AFL |
Friday night saw another thriller in the first NAB Cup semi-final, with a last minute goal by Brian Lake
getting the Western Bulldogs over the line by 3 points against Port Adelaide at Docklands.
Port were the better side early, having the better of possession while the Bulldogs were putting in a
series of basic errors and were second to the ball. But the Power failed to make the best of their chances,
while a super-goal to Ryan Griffen late in the quarter saw the Bulldogs trailing by 9 points when the run of
play had indicated the Power should have been leading by much more.
But the Bulldogs lifted their intensity in the second term, and although the Power managed another three
goals the Bulldogs chipped away at the lead and hit the front late in the quarter. And a mark to Barry Hall
on the stroke of half time saw the former Swans skipper, who had been well held until then, having a set
shot at goal. His successful kick gave the Bulldogs a 7-point lead at the break.
The third quarter was one of fluctuating fortunes. The Bulldogs early on looked to stretch their lead, before
a Port fightback saw the Power regain the advantage. A super-goal to Danyle Pearce saw the Power skip
to a lead, before two late Bulldogs goals levelled the scores at the last change.
And so it came down to the last quarter, and it was a fluctuating arm-wrestle. Both sides were playing
hard, but neither was able to establish a match-winning break. A double to Barry Hall, taking his tally for
the game to 4, gave the Bulldogs the advantage, but the Power then scored three in a row to hit the lead;
the third, a long bomb by Scott Harding, narrowly inside the 50m circle. Had the ball been marked just a
few steps further away, the match would have been drawn after regulation time.
Port led by 3 points as the clock ran down. With just a minute to go, Barry Hall marked in the pocket; within
kicking distance but on a tight angle. Showing good vision to spot the team-mate in better position, the
cross from Hall found Brian Lake 25 metres out. Lake made no mistake, and the Bulldogs had taken the
lead with just seconds left on the clock. The siren sounded shortly after the bounce in the centre, and the
Bulldogs were through to the pre-season grand final.
Western Bulldogs 1.0.3 1.5.8 1.8.13 1.11.17 (92)
Port Adelaide 0.3.3 0.6.4 1.9.7 1.12.8 (89)
Nine Point Goals : Bulldogs - R Griffen. Port Adelaide - D Pearce.
Goals : Bulldogs - B Hall 4, A Cooney, M Hahn, R Griffen, J Akermanis, S Higgins, B Moles, B
Lake. Port Adelaide - D Stewart 3, R Gray 2, S Harding 2, W Tredrea, C Cloke, P Stewart,
M Banner, B Ebert.
Best : Bulldogs - D Cross, J Akermanis, B Hall, J Harbrow, R Griffen, R Murphy. Port
Adelaide - K Cornes, R Gray, D Pearce, D Cassisi, D Chaplin, M Banner.
Injuries : Bulldogs - Nil. Port Adelaide - D Stewart (concussion).
Reports - Nil. Umpires - Rosebury, Stevic, Donlon.
Crowd - 10,531 at Docklands.
getting the Western Bulldogs over the line by 3 points against Port Adelaide at Docklands.
Port were the better side early, having the better of possession while the Bulldogs were putting in a
series of basic errors and were second to the ball. But the Power failed to make the best of their chances,
while a super-goal to Ryan Griffen late in the quarter saw the Bulldogs trailing by 9 points when the run of
play had indicated the Power should have been leading by much more.
But the Bulldogs lifted their intensity in the second term, and although the Power managed another three
goals the Bulldogs chipped away at the lead and hit the front late in the quarter. And a mark to Barry Hall
on the stroke of half time saw the former Swans skipper, who had been well held until then, having a set
shot at goal. His successful kick gave the Bulldogs a 7-point lead at the break.
The third quarter was one of fluctuating fortunes. The Bulldogs early on looked to stretch their lead, before
a Port fightback saw the Power regain the advantage. A super-goal to Danyle Pearce saw the Power skip
to a lead, before two late Bulldogs goals levelled the scores at the last change.
And so it came down to the last quarter, and it was a fluctuating arm-wrestle. Both sides were playing
hard, but neither was able to establish a match-winning break. A double to Barry Hall, taking his tally for
the game to 4, gave the Bulldogs the advantage, but the Power then scored three in a row to hit the lead;
the third, a long bomb by Scott Harding, narrowly inside the 50m circle. Had the ball been marked just a
few steps further away, the match would have been drawn after regulation time.
Port led by 3 points as the clock ran down. With just a minute to go, Barry Hall marked in the pocket; within
kicking distance but on a tight angle. Showing good vision to spot the team-mate in better position, the
cross from Hall found Brian Lake 25 metres out. Lake made no mistake, and the Bulldogs had taken the
lead with just seconds left on the clock. The siren sounded shortly after the bounce in the centre, and the
Bulldogs were through to the pre-season grand final.
Western Bulldogs 1.0.3 1.5.8 1.8.13 1.11.17 (92)
Port Adelaide 0.3.3 0.6.4 1.9.7 1.12.8 (89)
Nine Point Goals : Bulldogs - R Griffen. Port Adelaide - D Pearce.
Goals : Bulldogs - B Hall 4, A Cooney, M Hahn, R Griffen, J Akermanis, S Higgins, B Moles, B
Lake. Port Adelaide - D Stewart 3, R Gray 2, S Harding 2, W Tredrea, C Cloke, P Stewart,
M Banner, B Ebert.
Best : Bulldogs - D Cross, J Akermanis, B Hall, J Harbrow, R Griffen, R Murphy. Port
Adelaide - K Cornes, R Gray, D Pearce, D Cassisi, D Chaplin, M Banner.
Injuries : Bulldogs - Nil. Port Adelaide - D Stewart (concussion).
Reports - Nil. Umpires - Rosebury, Stevic, Donlon.
Crowd - 10,531 at Docklands.
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |