Hawks' Guerra loses fitness battle

Updated September 24, 2012 19:24:14

Hawthorn defender Brent Guerra has run out of time, declaring himself a non-starter for Saturday's grand final against Sydney.

Guerra had hoped to recover from a hamstring injury he suffered in the final quarter of the Hawks' win over West Coast in round 23.

However he spoke to coach Alistair Clarkson on Monday to tell him he would be unavailable for selection, before sharing the news with his team-mates.

The club issued a statement late on Monday confirming Guerra's decision.

"As desperate as I am to play on Saturday, I realised that I couldn't guarantee to Clarko or the team that I could do everything that would be asked of me in a Grand Final," Guerra said in the statement.

"It was a gut wrenching decision to make and it was difficult to address my teammates and coaches today, but they know they have a job to do on Saturday and that needs to be their only focus right now."

Guerra played 19 games for Hawthorn this season.

He was part of the Hawks' last premiership side in 2008.

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted September 24, 2012 18:54:39

View the original article here

We will win big battle: Naitanui

Updated May 22, 2012 15:52:10

The battle of the big men will be an intriguing contest in the Western Derby and Eagle Nic Naitanui insists he expects to get the better of Docker giant Aaron Sandilands.

Two of the better ruck pairs meet at Subiaco Oval where West Coast's Naitanui and Dean Cox will line up against Sandilands and Zac Clarke.

The 'Flying Fijian' is 10 centimetres shorter than Fremantle's 211cm Sandilands, but the man whose leaping ability was shown before a Perth Wildcats game in the preseason says he and Cox fear no one in the ruck.

"We're pretty confident when we go in there and we get pretty dirty when we do lose a tap," Naitanui said.

"We put the pressure on ourselves. We don't want to lose a tap, but it does happen. We go in there looking to win every stoppage and clear it pretty well so we'll be looking to do the same this weekend."

"I don't really try to nullify against anyone. I should win it against him - I'll be looking to win every single (hit-out).

"He's a bigger player, but there's always ways you can get around him. I'm pretty lucky I've got a bit of a leap, so I don't really look to nullify unless he is getting over the top.

"I always love playing against big Sandi because he's a big challenge, a big guy.

"Having Coxy alongside [gives me] a bit more confidence, so I'm ready to go. I look forward to opposing him and Zac Clarke as well. He's come a long way."

With the Dockers struggling in clearances against Hawthorn, despite Sandilands and Clarke dominating hit-outs, Naitanui is sure his side has the edge in the midfield.

"We'll be pretty confident that we can get a few of those taps and the boys can read them off myself and Coxy," he said.

"Our midfielders are developing pretty quickly. Guys like Scott Selwood, Luke Shuey and Andrew Gaff are racking up the numbers and doing pretty well.

"They've improved pretty quickly over the last two or three years so it'll be a good battle in there.

"[Fremantle] has got a bit of pace in there, guys like [Stephen] Hill who will try and break us open.

"We look forward to it. It's going to be a big challenge to everyone around the ground.

"They've come off a pretty big loss on the weekend and they'll be fired up."

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, perth-6000, fremantle-6160, wa

First posted May 22, 2012 15:52:10

View the original article here

Pies battle to see off Bulldogs

Updated May 04, 2012 23:33:43

A brave Bulldogs challenge ran out of puff in the final term as Collingwood made it three consecutive wins with a 15.8 (98) to 11.11 (77) victory on Friday night.

The Dogs led by as many as 17 points halfway through the second quarter but ended up going into the main break three points behind after the Magpies booted three straight to end the half.

Brendan McCartney's men returned from the sheds with the same vigour they showed from the opening bounce to eventually trail by only one point at the last change.

But the Dogs ran out of legs in the final term and were guilty of bad mistakes, managing to kick just 1.1 to the Magpies' 4.3 as a chance of a shock upset slipped through their grasp.

"It's slowly, slowly coming together," Magpies star Scott Pendlebury told Grandstand.

"I thought it was a pretty flat performance.

"I don't think we pressured the Bulldogs as much as we would have liked."

Pendlebury admitted winning ugly is sometimes just as satisfying as a big win and said coach Nathan Buckley was pleased his side was able to tough it out after a scratchy first half.

"He was just happy we were able to hang in there even though we weren't playing our best footy," he said.

"We were able to stick around, find a way in the last quarter.

"More importantly for us I think that was our first last quarter that we have won. So that's a positive."

Two mistakes by the experienced Shaun Higgins at either end of the field and another by Dylan Addison gifted the Pies crucial, late goals to seal the much-need triumph and lift them temporarily into the eight.

Pendlebury (34 possessions, 9 tackles) and Dayne Beams (33 touches, 11 tackles) were central to the Collingwood fight back after a sluggish opening term which saw the Pies kick two goals from their only two scoring shots of the quarter.

Travis Cloke was limited to just 2.2 up forward while Heath Shaw made a influential return from a hamstring injury with 22 touches and two goals.

Ryan Griffen was again outstanding for the Bulldogs with 33 disposals and two goals and had reasonable support from veterans Daniel Cross and Matthew Boyd.

Pendlebury said all the Collingwood midfielders are being expected to contribute at stoppages more with the loss of Luke Ball.

"We have to find that 10-15 per cent around there," he said.

"Beamsy and Steel [Sidebottom] - we have asked them to come in now and fill a role, not just for 15-20 minutes, they are permanent midfielders now.

"We all have to lift in the absence of Bally. I think we are getting there."

Despite their fervent pressure on the ball and improved performance down back, the Dogs again struggled with a poor forward structure despite three goals to Daniel Giansiracusa.

Brian Lake's unexpected long bomb from the pocket late in the piece, to narrow the margin to seven points, folloing Griffen's behind straight after three-quarter time, were the Dogs' only scoring shots of the last term.

The Bulldogs recorded an inside 50 per goal percentage of 21.6, while Collingwood also struggled at 27.3 per cent but boasted 10 different goal-kickers.

Collingwood's Ben Johnson was substituted at half-time by Kirk Ugle after suffering a shoulder injury.

Ruckman Darren Jolly was also a late withdrawal for the Pies.

Magpies: 15.8 (98) - B Sinclair 2, T Cloke 2, T Goldsack 2, H Shaw 2, B Reid, D Swan, H O'Brien, S Wellingham, C Dawes, A Fasolo.

Bulldogs: 11.11 (77) - D Giansiracusa 3, R Griffen 2, S Higgins 2, E Wood, R Hargrave, B Lake, M Boyd.

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, collingwood-3066, vic, australia, footscray-3011

First posted May 04, 2012 22:37:40

View the original article here

Coach expects Ablett-Crowley battle

Updated April 29, 2012 14:00:16

Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna predicted Ryan Crowley will mark Gary Ablett next week after the Brownlow medallist criticised the Fremantle tagger.

Ablett was watching the Fremantle-Carlton game on TV on Friday night and described Crowley's close-checking tactics on Carlton playmaker Chris Judd as a joke.

"Play the ball, not the man!" Ablett said on his Twitter account.

"That's why Lingy (ex-Geelong skipper Cameron Ling) was such a great player he ran both ways! #givejuddafreekick."

McKenna, speaking after Gold Coast suffered a 34-point loss to North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, was keen to play the incident down.

The next chapter in the Crowley-Ablett rivalry is set to be played out next Saturday at Gold Coast's Metricon Stadium, if Ablett recovers from a knee injury in time.

"If he plays next week, I know Ross reasonably well but I reckon Ryan Crowley might line up against him," McKenna said.

McKenna said he would have preferred Ablett to tweet about the high quality of the food at the team's hotel in Melbourne this weekend.

"I wasn't expecting that sort of tweet. I've spoken to Gaz about it," McKenna said.

"He understands what he's done. But we're in the modern world.

"Would we prefer it not to happen? Of course we would.

"But we can't keep living in a cocoon all the time. It's technology.

"It's hard to control. It's hard to stop.

"He tweets all the time.

"You don't want to incite a riot or hurt anyone's feelings and I don't think he's quite done that."

Earlier on Saturday, Western Bulldogs president David Smorgon said Ablett was out of line.

"I wouldn't like it, wearing my (president's) hat, and I can assure you that Brendan McCartney, our senior coach, wouldn't like it and I'm sure a lot of the team-mates wouldn't like it either," Smorgon told SEN radio.

"It's a difficult issue for clubs because players are individual ... but they also have a responsibility to their employers - AFL clubs."

Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton also said he felt Ablett had made a mistake by tweeting about Crowley.

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, carrara-4211, qld, australia

First posted April 29, 2012 11:28:06

View the original article here

Eagles battle past fighting Tigers

Updated April 29, 2012 18:37:36

West Coast was made to work to defend its undefeated record with a pulsating 10-point victory over a gutted Richmond at Docklands on Sunday.

The Eagles led by as many as 26 points before half-time, but the Tigers fought back to take a thrilling four-point advantage early in the last quarter.

But the boys from the west replied to kick four of the next five majors, making Richmond pay for costly misses in front of goal with the game on the line.

Daniel Kerr was outstanding for the visitors in the crucial stages, finishing with 28 disposals while Matt Priddis had 24 including two match-winning goal assists deep in the forward line late in the match.

Forward Josh Kennedy struggled with an ankle injury but Jack Darling and Josh Hill filled the hole with four and three goals respectively.

Trent Cotchin led the Richmond response with 29 touches along with Dustin Martin's 26 disposals and two goals.

Despite putting his side into the lead after three-quarter time, Jack Riewoldt had a disappointing day, losing his composure with some wayward kicking with the pressure on.

The Tigers started well but the home side struggled to work the ball efficiently out of defence, allowing the Eagles to lead 5.3 (33) to 4.2 (26) at quarter-time.

West Coast brought substitute Adam Selwood onto the field for the second term for Mitch Brown (head knock), who was a late replacement for defender Eric McKenzie.

Kennedy limped off with an ankle injury as Richmond's Brad Miller levelled the scores at the 14-minute mark, while Deledio and Riewoldt also needed attention on the bench.

But West Coast still had plenty of height up forward as Darling and Dean Cox sparked a run of four successive goals, broken by a spectacular mark and goal from Riewoldt.

Miller's second goal left the Tigers trailing by 14 points at half-time, 11.6 (72) to 9.4 (58).

Kennedy returned in the third term with his left ankle re-strapped but had little influence as the Tigers outscored the Eagles three goals to one in that period to narrow the gap to two points.

With scores locked on 14.11 apiece at the 21-minute mark of the final term, Priddis produced another superb handball to set up Scott Selwood's goal to put the Eagles back in front by six points.

Five minutes later, Riewoldt from 25 metres and Deledio from outside the 50m arc, missed set shots which would have given the Tigers the lead.

A huge mark on the wing by Beau Waters with a minute left was followed by a late goal to Darling which sealed the result before a crowd of 28,464.

Port Adelaide host the Tigers next Sunday while West Coast is at home to North Melbourne on the same day.

Eagles: 16.11 (107) - J Darling 4, J Hill 3, C Masten 2, Q Lynch 2, A Hams 2, S Selwood, D Cox, J Kennedy.

Tigers: 14.13 (97) - B Miller 3, D Martin 2, D Jackson 2, T Vickery 2, J Riewoldt 2, I Maric, B Ellis, T Ctochin.

ABC/AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, richmond-3121, vic, australia, perth-6000, wa

First posted April 29, 2012 18:08:55

View the original article here

Bombers battle past Lions

Updated May 14, 2011 22:19:00

Essendon's class eventually prevailed with a six-goal victory over Brisbane in a scrappy affair at the Gabba on Saturday evening.

The Bombers were slow out of the gates and trailed by a point following a forgettable opening half.

But the visitors clicked into gear after the break, kicking four goals to zero in the third term and powering away to a 15.12 (102) and 9.12 (66) triumph.

David Zaharakis finished with four goals while Stuart Crameri had a quiet night but finished with three goals in the final quarter.

It was Essendon's first win in Brisbane for 10 years.

Bombers: 15.12 (102) - D Zaharakis 4, S Crameri 3, A Monfries 2, D Hille 2, J Watson 2, K Reimers 2.

Lions: 9.12 (66) - A McGrath 2, C Stiller, D Rich, J Adcock, J Drummond, M Clark, R Bewick, T Rockliff.

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, qld, brisbane-4000, vic, essendon-3040

First posted May 14, 2011 22:13:00

View the original article here