The AFL match review panel has cleared Adelaide midfielder Richard Douglas of any blame for his clash with North Melbourne's Jamie MacMillan.
Tags: australian-football-league, sa, adelaide-5000
Showing posts with label blame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blame. Show all posts
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Suns can't blame travel against Eagles
Updated June 3, 2011 17:38:00 Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna says there will be no excuses for his fledgling team to fall flat in Saturday's clash with West Coast at Subiaco.
McKenna claims the travel factor and last week's taxing game against Geelong should have little bearing on the match.
The Suns, who led Geelong at half-time last week before losing by 66 points, are rank underdogs against the Eagles but McKenna says there will be a price to pay if his team is not competitive.
"Certainly (we) wouldn't use travel as an excuse," McKenna said.
"I don't think any other clubs do and we shouldn't start either.
"With a young group, I think what that does is provide them with the opportunity (to shine).
"Now if they don't step up and grab their opportunity, well they know they're out of the side fairly quickly.
"We would have had 25 debutants after this weekend.
"Well, we'll play the 26th and 27th (if players don't perform).
"If you want to stay in the side, you understand how we expect you to play.
"And if you don't, you'll be quickly out of it. I don't think there'll be a letdown (despite the big build-up to the Geelong game last week), that's for sure."
McKenna says contact with West Coast coach and former premiership team-mate John Worsfold had been somewhat limited in the lead-up to the game.
"We went to the breakfast (function) this morning and I understand he's got (his) game face on, because it's probably the first social function I've seen him actually talk at and not eat," McKenna said.
"He loves his food. So he did his bit and got up and left before he had breakfast.
"If he's getting up and leaving his breakfast behind, he's deadly serious, so look out."
Gold Coast would be eager to celebrate skipper Gary Ablett's 200th game with a win, but McKenna says he will not use the milestone as a prime motivating tool for his troops.
"Why would I expect the boys to pull the rabbit out of the hat just for Gaz and a milestone?" he said.
"We'd expect the boys to be pulling the rabbit out of the hat every game they play and that's what we expect.
"Look, it's special for Gary and we're going to try to make it special.
"But I don't think it's going to be the motivation that tips us into playing 120 minutes of great footy."
McKenna hoped the inclusion of former Collingwood big man Josh Fraser to join Zac Smith in the ruck would help counter the influence of dominant Eagles duo Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui.
"Would we have liked him to play maybe one or two games in the seconds? We probably do," McKenna said of Fraser, returning from an ankle injury.
"But against that ruck combination, we're happy to bring him back in, because what that does is help the load of Zac, helps the load of Tommy Nicholls.
"And I don't think it was fair on Charlie Dixon and even Tommy Lynch to try and ruck up against those two boys."
- AAP
Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, qld, carrara-4211, wa, perth-6000 First posted June 3, 2011 17:21:00Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Saints blame loss on mental exhaustion
Published:Tuesday, May 17, 2011 7:25 AESTExpires:Monday, August 15, 2011 7:25 AEST
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says it is exhausting to remain one of the best clubs in the AFL and blames a loss to Hawthorn on a failure to stay fresh.
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Tags: australian-football-league, vic, melbourne-3000Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Don't blame Voss for Lions' woes: Power
Updated May 11, 2011 16:56:00 Lions veteran Luke Power feels sorry for besieged coach Michael Voss, admitting Brisbane's players are to blame for the club's worst-ever start to an AFL season.
Voss is struggling to keep his job after six straight defeats, topped by an embarrassing derby loss to the fledgling Gold Coast Suns, in the last season of his three-year contract.
But Power said his former triple premiership-winning skipper was paying the price for the rebuilding team's poor execution and the team has taken more ownership in fixing its problems.
"I feel sorry for the coach," Power said.
"It's been a lot of errors that have cost us games.
"We've lost six and we've lost five by less than four goals. They have usually been execution errors and that's what players have been focusing on in training - executing and getting their skills right."
Set to play his 300th senior match on Saturday night against Essendon, Power conceded the current situation was the most difficult in his 14 seasons at the Lions.
The midfielder stressed the playing group was united and had stayed tight, making its own group pact on Sunday in a recovery session and barbeque at injured skipper Jonathan Brown's house.
"It's definitely one of the hardest parts of my career," he said.
"That's why football is such a great leveller. If you play long enough, you are going to have the good times and bad times.
"It comes down to your character and your character as a group and I think we've got a lot of character in the group and we'll pull through this.
"The attitude is fine. We know we have things to work on and have plenty of areas in our game that need improving."
The two that most need addressing in the wake of the eight-point local derby loss is Brisbane's tardy work at the clearances and in contested ball.
Confronted with a rising young Bombers outfit this weekend, Power was adamant the Lions had enough talent and drive to spring a pressure-relieving upset at the Gabba.
"Essendon are playing good football but we know if we come out and play our best football we can be competitive and beat anyone," he said.
"Until we have our first win then every game is a line-in-the-sand game."
Power gains AFL life membership for playing 300 senior games, comprising 268 premiership matches, one State of Origin match, 28 pre-season matches and three International Rules Tests.
"The three premierships are special but I think the highlight is to have played with this great club," he said.
"It's a great honour to be awarded a life membership ... but at the moment I'm more focused on getting our first win for the Lions."
- AAP
Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia, qld, brisbane-4000 First posted May 11, 2011 16:41:00
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