When I sat down with you the better part of eight hours ago I foreshadowed a packed day of action. Little did I know it would be one of the most intense days as well for the on-field results. Some absolutely brilliant finishes. Our codes at their best.
To start at the end. The Dees. Wow. Three goals in five minutes to win in Perth. Their third interstate win this year. Into the top four. Has a familiar ring to it. I wouldn’t be booking any September holidays if my heart was red and blue.
The Dogs know how that is from last year. And after sneaking home by a point over a fast-finishing North - controversially so - their back-to-back dream is still vaguely alive. But from where they were, excuse the cliche, they’ll be just happy with the four points.
A bit like those Wallabies. Albeit without the points at play bit. Italy got over the line twice in a minute inside the final ten to get within a point, with all the momentum and Australia’s scrum in a tatters; a man sent off too. But they steadied, to ensure their perfect record against Italy remains.
(New Zealand, meanwhile, loom. Doing their own job on the British and Irish Lions at Eden Park.)
In the league variety of the sport, some screaming NRL results. Not least the Roosters. Twice they had to score in the last seven minutes to force a draw against top of the table Melbourne. They did that, then only went and nailed the golden point. Mitchell Pearce the catalyst for pretty much everything to do with that.
The Cowboys came from behind to see off the Panthers, a wonderful, athletic try securing the late winning try.
In less compelling affairs, the Broncos went to Canberra and did what they needed to. Likewise Port, when they took the points from the Pies at the ‘G.
And you know what? That’s me done. A massive day sharing that with you all. Thanks for your company on sportwatch as ever. We’ll be back tomorrow to do it all again. Goodnight.
AFL: Bit more detail on the Doggies win by a point. A touch of controversy. via AAP:
The Western Bulldogs are back in the AFL top eight after a controversial one-point win over North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium. The Kangaroos were denied a goal late in the match and also potentially at three-quarter time on Saturday night as the Bulldogs won 15.17 (107) to 16.10 (106). Ben Brown marked and scored to put them ahead, but it was disallowed because a free kick was paid against the Kangaroos for a shepherd in the goalsquare. The Bulldogs moved the ball down the other end of the ground and Jake Stringer marked. He kicked a behind with about a minute left and the Bulldogs hung on grimly for the win, putting them back in the top eight.
Tom McDonald, five goals, two in the final term. Are we in an episode of Sliders on an alternative universe? Melbourne are three and zip interstate. And if their win in Adelaide last month was the price of admission for this young side in season 2017, beating the Eagles tonight earns them the right to be discussed as a serious top four contender. Your hearts should beat true tonight, Melbourne fans. That’s special.
MELBOURNE HAVE DONE IT! SING THE SONG! I’m singing the song and I hate this mob, they were that good. Three goals in five minutes to steal a thriller. First time they have beat the Eagles since 2009, and the first time they have been in the top four this deep into the season since, well, a VERY long time.
AFL Q4 0:24 remaining: WCE 14.10 (96) v Melbourne 15.9 (99). MCDONALD BLOODY GOES IT! HIS FIFTH! 11TH LEAD CHANGE! No idea how he got boot to ball. Special game, special winner. From a defender! 24 seconds to go, 17 men behind the ball! FOOTY!
AFL Q4 1:00 remaining: WCE 14.10 (96) v Melbourne 14.9 (93). BONE CRUNCHING TACKLES! Superb attack on the ball. In Melbourne’s forward pocket. A minute to go. Clear possession? Need one, somehow.
AFL Q4 3:00 remaining: WCE 14.10 (96) v Melbourne 14.9 (93). Huge hit! Shannon Hurn runs into a wall: Jack Viney. Looks bad, but both looked genuinely to be at the ball. He leaves the field with the trainers. They all take the time to slow the heart rate down a fraction. Three minutes to go, three points in it.
AFL Q4 4:00 remaining: WCE 14.10 (96) v Melbourne 14.9 (93). Pedersen again! He’s everywhere! Contested mark, leans back on the set shot, but pops it across the face. Can’t say they didn’t have their chance. WCE need another goal. Oh how they will rue that Jetta miss from 20m - would have iced it. Talking point (as they say) if they get rolled here, that’s for sure.
AFL Q4 5:30 remaining: WCE 14.10 (96) v Melbourne 14.8 (92). LIQUID FOOTBALL! Pedersen moves it forward with the most precise kick to Tom McDonald running into the hot spot 20m out. Grab taken, set shot kicked, we’re inside a kick. They move the ball beautifully. Tons of time.
AFL Q4 6:30 remaining: WCE 14.10 (96) v Melbourne 13.8 (86). Take marks just like Cam Pedersen, Cam Pedersen’s what I need, whooah-oh! Big contested mark, clutch set shot goal. Game stillllll on.
AFL Q4 7:30 remaining: WCE 14.10 (96) v Melbourne 12.8 (80). Jetta, oh no! A wonderful tackle to ping Viney holding it. Goes back from 20m directly in front and sprays to the right. Moments before, Nathan Vardy (let’s go party) just misses from 50. They will need one more to be safe.
AFL Q4 11:30 remaining: WCE 14.10 (94) v Melbourne 12.8 (80). Tired boys out there now at Subi. But that doesn’t make McGovern any smaller. Fantastic contested mark deep in the 50. And after missing some earlier chances tonight, he does the job here from 30m. That pushes the lead back out to 14 points half way through the final term. Melbourne hit back but the Eagles have steadied.
No crowd do a hammy trying to get on TV like Subiaco. The simple things.
Heartstopper at the Docklands! Here I was thinking we had the close one at Subi, but the Dogs have got home my the smallest of margins via a Jake Stringer behind. Goodness me. All the best bits of that as it comes to hand (well, twitter).
Bit more detail from the ground. A touch of controversy! Via AAP:
The Western Bulldogs are back in the AFL top eight after a controversial one-point win over North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium. The Kangaroos were denied a goal late in the match and also potentially at three-quarter time on Saturday night as the Bulldogs won 15.17 (107) to 16.10 (106).
The Bulldogs led by 26 points 11 minutes into the last quarter, but North roared back with the last four goals of the match. Ben Brown marked and scored to put them ahead, but it was disallowed because a free kick was paid against the Kangaroos for a shepherd in the goalsquare. The Bulldogs moved the ball down the other end of the ground and Jake Stringer marked.
He kicked a behind with about a minute left and the Bulldogs hung on grimly for the win, putting them back in the top eight.
NRL: How the Roosters did it. Not surprisingly: Mitchell Pearce in the middle of it all when it mattered. Via AAP:
Mitchell Pearce has recovered from Wednesday’s State of Origin heartbreak to kick the Sydney Roosters to a 25-24 golden-point win over Melbourne at the Adelaide Oval. After the Roosters trailed by 12 points with eight minutes to play, Michael Gordon kicked a conversion from the sideline to send the match into golden point. In front of 21,492 fans - the biggest NRL crowd in Adelaide since the Rams’ first game in 1997 - Pearce slotted an off-balance field goal from 35 metres out to claim the victory over an Origin-depleted Storm team on Saturday. Pearce had earlier set up two tries, as the Roosters worked over Melbourne’s right-edge defence in the second half through Latrell Mitchell and Daniel Tupou.
AFL Q4 17:20 remaining: WCE 12.10 (82) v Melbourne 11.8 (74). Scampering down inside 50, Stretch to Petracca, into the open goal. All arms and legs; ugly but effective. Don’t strike me as a team about to give up. Salem don’t be back for the Dees tonight, done a hammy according to Ch 7. Viney’s shoulder has him resting too. So it’s huge job from here.
AFL Q4 19:00 remaining: WCE 12.10 (82) v Melbourne 10.8 (68). Super footy from Hutchings, taking the ball inside 50 by foot, taking a bounce, taking a shot and going just enough. Broke a tackle in the process. They have the last four of the game.
AFL Three-quarter time: WCE 11.9 (75) v Melbourne 10.8 (68). Mitchell puts another brilliant handball through, a snaked kick from Sheed hits the post. Sammy still doing this at will (1:33).
AFL Q3 4:00 remaining: WCE 11.9 (75) v Melbourne 10.8 (68). Another free kick and goal, McGovern infringed close to goal and given a 50m penalty to ensure he kicks West Coast’s second in a minute. Their lead now swells beyond a single straight kick, which isn’t for nothing in the context of this oscillating evening. They have the last three!
AFL Q3 5:00 remaining: WCE 10.9 (69) v Melbourne 10.8 (68). Not the sort of game you can look away from for more than a minute or two. The tempo is finals-like. If this is an audition for September, Melbourne are ready for a part. But Hutchings from WCE is the beneficiary of Jordan Lewis being Jordan Lewis after the mark, a 50m penalty taking him to the kick-off line. That’s our tenth lead change!
The Roosters have done it! A converted try inside the last minute then the golden point victory over the top of the table Storm. Indeed, it was two tries inside the last seven minutes to get the draw to begin with. Have that!
From the ground (AAP):
Mitchell Pearce has recovered from Wednesday’s State of Origin heartbreak to kick the Sydney Roosters to a 25-24 golden-point win over Melbourne at the Adelaide Oval. After the Roosters trailed by 12 points with eight minutes to play, Michael Gordon kicked a conversion from the sideline to send the match into golden point. In front of 21,492 fans - the biggest NRL crowd in Adelaide since the Rams’ first game in 1997 - Pearce slotted an off-balance field goal from 35 metres out to claim the victory over an Origin-depleted Storm team on Saturday. Pearce had earlier set up two tries, as the Roosters worked over Melbourne’s right-edge defence in the second half through Latrell Mitchell and Daniel Tupou.
AFL Q3 11:10 remaining: WCE 8.8 (56) v Melbourne 9.6 (60). Brillllllliant from Mitchell, wins the contested ball as he has done a thousand times before, dishing outa pristine handball to Karpany who kicks straight from 30. Important they got that one straight back. Margin back inside a kick. Jack Viney down the race for some medical treatment too. He’s been best on the ground, so that’s significant.
AFL Q3 11:30 remaining: WCE 7.8 (50) v Melbourne 9.6 (60). Two goals in a minute for Tom McDonald. It means another lead change, then extending it to ten points for the Dees. First, a set shot after a kicking in danger free at half back. The second, from a tighter angle on the 50 arc and drains it. Beautiful set shot kicking. Why they are the best in the comp on that measure. Noteworthy that the bounce from the middle wasn’t a good one - umpire should have called it back. Anyway, let’s get on with it.
AFL Q3 14:00 remaining: WCE 7.6 (48) v Melbourne 7.8 (50). Make that eight! Sloppy from Melbourne. Don’t see that with them often in 2017. Gawn gets the tap from a throw in close to goal, Dom Sheed roves it with easy, snapping truly.
AFL Q3 16:00 remaining: WCE 7.6 (48) v Melbourne 6.8 (44). Anoooother lead change at Subi, the seventh of the night, when Jake Melksham bangs home a conventional set shot.
AFL Q3 19:15 remaining: WCE 6.7 (43) v Melbourne 6.6 (42). Carbon copy to the start of the first quarter, a bomb into the 50, taken well by Petrie, who turns around the does just enough to pop through his fourth. The Dish turning the clock back. The Eagles back in front!
NRL: Game on in Adelaide. Melbourne briefly looked home with a try to Jahrome Hughes, but the Roosters hit right back via Daniel Tupou. And they have converted it. So it’s a six point game (24-18) with six minutes remaining.
Old school from Leon Cameron. His Giants flogged Brisbane by ten goals but he’s given them a spray for not winning by more. Like this a lot.
“For three quarters we were good but we were really, really ordinary in the last quarter,” he said at the press conference. “It was concentration, not fatigue ... and probably just some players getting ahead of themselves.” (via AAP).
Let’s go... around the grounds. What a hectic half of footy that was. Hope you’re enjoying it. Plenty else going on around the country.
NRL: Melbourne Storm maintain their lead, with a quarter hour to go up 20-12. But Sydney have the most recent score, a converted try by Latrell Mitchell.
AFL: Just into the second half at Docklands, the Dogs lead stayed around the three-goal mark that they took into the first change. A goal to Picken makes their advantage 22 points over North.
Women’s World Cup: England might be regretting that decision to insert India, the visitors now 113-0 after 23 overs, Mandhana 73. Uh oh.
Channel Seven just used this as a half-time montage. Good enough excuse for me before we get back into it.
AFL Half-Time: WCE 5.7 (37) v Melbourne 6.6 (42). “His ruckwork over the last little while has been extraordinary,” says Peter Ball of Max Gawn who lands a picture-perfect pass in the hands of Hannan. A bad, unMelbourne-like miss from close range. Gawn earns another free at the traditional centre half-forward postion, to the hot spot. It ends up to Melbourne’s advantage. McGovern saves the day with a heaaaavy tackle. Siren! THEN IT BEGINS. They’re all at it. Clayton Oliver cops a whack to the chest after the siren by Schofield. He’s reported! Ha - barely touched him. Brilliant theatre at the end of a hotly contested half. And breathe.
Did Schofield make any contact with Oliver at all there? #afleaglesdees
AFL Q2 4:00 remaining: WCE 5.7 (37) v Melbourne 6.5 (41). Petrie’s third! Nice set shot from 40m, makes no mistake after a strong contested grab. Melbourne come screaming out of the guts from the restart, but Neal-Bullen has jusssst missed from outside 50. A quarter of near-misses. Don’t look away, this is a cracker. Jack Viney has already had 23 stats, by the way. Most of them contested.
AFL Q2 5:00 remaining: WCE 4.7 (31) v Melbourne 6.4 (40). Another brilliant defensive effort, Salem laying a perfectly timed and executed tackle, preventing Cripps of a shot on goal. Moments before, a late West Coast fist prevented Melbourne’s own certain goal. Tremendous defensive pressure on display from both sides. And now it’s Melbourne who need to make the most of the play they’ve largely controlled in this second term.
On the earlier sling. This is the twitter consensus.
Shocking decision, legitimate tackle from Yeo, holding ball every day of the week. #AFLEaglesDees
AFL Q2 6:00 remaining: WCE 4.7 (31) v Melbourne 6.4 (40). Brilliant tackle from Frost to stunt a Melbourne surge. But they get it back eventually and... McGovern has spilled the easiest of marks directly in front! Reminiscent of Jack Darling in the 2014 Grand Final. Speaking of tackles: sling tackle paid! Yeo the man pinged, Tyson hits the deck. The Perth partisans hate it. Looked a bit harsh, but there was head-on-ground contact. No goals for a bit, but all happening.
Women’s World Cup: A quick look next door, and one of the very best players to watch in the world, Smitri Mandhana, has a half-century. India flying after being sent in, 71-0 after 15.
AFL Q2 12:00 remaining: WCE 4.6 (30) v Melbourne 6.3 (39). Here’s the thing: Melbourne are really, really good. It hurts a bit to say that, I am big enough to admit that. The whole merger thing, you know. But the way they moved the ball along the way, through half-forward, inboard to the spare man 20m out. What a delight. Tom McDonald is on the end of it. He makes no mistake. They seldom do, the Dees are the straightest kicking team in the comp at the moment.
AFL Q2 14:30 remaining: WCE 4.6 (30) v Melbourne 5.2 (32). Raining goals! Josh Hill got one back for the Eagles, but Mitch Hannan’s to put Melbourne back in front the more impressive, slamming it onto his boot with perhaps a tenth of a second reaction time (I’m making that up). 40+ out, and true! Up to five lead chnges now
AFL Q2 16:00 remaining: WCE 3.6 (24) v Melbourne 4.2 (26). Jeremy McGovern steps back for his fourth shot at goal for the night and it’s coming back and coming back... but hits the post. Down the other end and Melbourne kick a coast-to-coast goal to again stunt the Eagles momentum! Jazzy Jeff Garlett involved as usual, on the end of the inside 50, finding Bugg who converts from point blank range. Lead changes with every goal. This is good stuff.
NRL: Over at Adealide Oval, it’s half time in the top of the table stoush between the Storm and the Roosters. The Melbourne side lead 12-6 via converted tries to Addo-Carr and Croft.
AFL: Dogs have started well at the Docklands, ahead of North by 15 points half way through the second term. Ten marks inside their F50 for five goals. Efficient.
Before going around the grounds. Prompted by hearing Luke Darcy’s voice, the funniest thing I’ve seen in footy for a while for your quarter time enjoyment (one swear word, if you don’t like those). Can’t. Stop. Watching.
AFL Quarter Time: WCE 2.5 (17) v Melbourne 3.1 (19). A few wifi issues that quarter, my apologies for the silence. Resolved now. I did see West Coast spray a couple of late set shots adding to their sense of frustration. And Melbourne finally missed one too, Vince unable to convert from long-range after the siren.
AFL Q1 6:11 remaining. WCE 1.1 (7) v Melbourne 3.1 (19). Jack Viney brilliant on his opposite foot, and Melbourne are putting a dent in this early. Talk about making the most of limited chances. Here is the previous one. Class.
AFL Q1 8:30 remaining. WCE 1.1 (7) v Melbourne 2.0 (12). Melbourne have barely had a sniff, but they do have the leads! Clever punch back into the corridor, and Neal-Bullen gets the burners on inside 50 slamming it home. That’ll hurt the Eagles.
AFL Q1 9:30 remaining. WCE 1.1 (7) v Melbourne 1.0 (6). Subdued start far as the board is concerned. All very end to end, but no penetration. Shuey misses a set shot from 50. They lead the inside 50 count 9-2 early. Then we hear on the call - and this is pretty gear - that Jordan Lewis had to leave the field to pop his contact lenses in. Ever heard of that before?
AFL Q1 16:55 remaining. WCE 1.0 (6) v Melbourne 1.0 (6). Billy Stretch back in the senioors and straight into the book. Set shot converted after Gaff infringed deep inside the 50. Bit sloppy from the Eagle mainstay. A goal apiece it is.
AFL Q1 19:16 remaining. WCE 1.0 (6) v Melbourne 0.0 (0). Baaaaaaaaaaaaah! Consider that my ‘Peeeeeeep’ equivalent for an AFL goal-by-goal siren. And there’s a goal inside a minute! The Big Dish, Drew Petrie, gets his hands onto a bomb inside 50. Nice grab, nice set shot. We’re away at Subiaco.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion