Mumford cleared to play decider

Updated September 24, 2012 13:25:43

Sydney ruckman Shane Mumford is free to play in the grand final against Hawthorn after the match review panel found he had no case to answer following an incident with Collingwood's Chris Dawes on Friday night.

Mumford came under scrutiny following an off-the-ball incident with Dawes, who entered the preliminary final at the Olympic stadium hampered by a knee injury.

Dawes complained to a field umpire after the pair clashed during the Swans' 26-point win, leaving Mumford in danger of missing the decider for misconduct after making contact with an injured player.

But after reviewing fixed camera footage of the incident the MRP concluded that "no reportable offence occurred," clearing the way for Mumford to take part in his first grand final.

The AFL Tribunal will not sit tonight as no other incidents were lodged from the weekend's preliminary finals.

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, sydney-2000, nsw, australia, melbourne-3000, vic

First posted September 24, 2012 13:13:30

View the original article here

Swans make decider after suffocating Pies

Raman Goraya

Updated September 22, 2012 00:07:29

Sydney snapped an 11-match losing streak against Collingwood to secure a spot in the grand final after a 26-point victory over the Magpies at the Olympic stadium on Friday night.

The Swans took advantage of a week off to end a winless seven years against the Magpies, dominating from start to finish with their trademark pressure to run out comfortable 13.18 (96) to 10.10 (70) victors and progress to their first decider since 2006.

Sydney will play either premiership favourites Hawthorn or Adelaide next Saturday at the MCG.

The final margin could have been wider if not for Collingwood's commendable fight in the final term and Sydney's profligacy in front of goal, which kept the contest alive as late as 10 minutes into the fourth quarter.

The Magpies, who looked clueless going forward for much of the match, kicked four straight goals either side of three-quarter time as Sydney's 42-point lead was whittled down to just 20 before Craig Bird kicked a crucial settler.

Bird said the Swans tinkered with their structures a little bit after losing to the Pies in their last seven matches played at Homebush.

"We were able to make their defenders a bit more accountable tonight," Bird told Grandstand.

"We made those blokes like [Heath] Shaw and [Ben] Reid really play on a forward and really hurt them."

Bird said the Swans 160-132 dominance in the contest football also paid obvious dividends.

"I think the midfield also did a great job tonight and really got on top," he said.

"I think we ended up smacking them at the contested footy, and that goes a long way to winning the game when you do that."

Sydney's ferocious tackling and pressure suffocated the elite Collingwood midfield, which struggled to find its feet after two weeks of intense finals football and an emotional build-up following the funeral of former team-mate John McCarthy on Thursday.

Midfielder Josh Kennedy led an inspirational inside effort by Sydney, finishing with 19 contested possessions, five tackles and two goals alongside the hard-working, blond-haired brigade of Ryan O'Keefe (34 touches), Daniel Hannebery (33) and Kieran Jack (25).

Jude Bolton capped a memorable 300th match with 18 disposals and two goals and fellow premiership star Adam Goodes showed his finals experience.

The next generation was also on show with the electrifying Lewis Jetta thrilling the Sydney faithful among the 57,156-strong crowd with two sensational goals and three in total.

Jetta used his lightning pace to give the Swans an early 20-point advantage when he sprinted from the centre square into an open goal, underlining Sydney's ability to not only win the contested ball but use it effectively on the outside.

All Australian defender Ted Richards was also exceptional down back for the Swans after rolling his ankle early in the game.

In contrast, the injury-hit Chris Dawes had little to no impact as a key forward or as ruck relief for Darren Jolly, who battled manfully against Sydney twin towers Shane Mumford and Mike Pyke.

Scott Pendlebury played a lone hand for the Magpies with 19 contested touches and 30 disposals in total while Harry O'Brien offered the visitors' limited run off half back.

Travis Cloke finished with three goals after being forced to feed off scraps with the Swans playing a spare man in defence with great success in the first half.

"We were beaten by a better team on the night," Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell told Grandstand, after missing the game through suspension.

"A team that beat us across the board. They were outstanding."

Maxwell said coach Nathan Buckley told his charges to put in a last-term effort that made sure they could "look at each other in the eyes" when they walked off the field.

"I thought we never gave up and kept working and fighting," Maxwell added.

"That's the type of team we have. Our boys will never throw in the towel.

"I'm very proud of the way we went about it, but ultimately we have failed."

Sydney enjoyed a 27-point half-time lead but left the door open for Collingwood by failing to convert its chances in front of the sticks.

Two more goals by Jetta, including a brilliant banana effort, extended the lead to 41 points before, late in the third quarter, retiring Magpie Chris Tarrant booted his side's first goal since the third minute of the second term.

Dane Swan kicked truly on the three-quarter time siren and two more majors by Travis Cloke and Tyson Goldsack had the Swans looking over their shoulder.

But the hosts steadied the ship with the next four goals to keep alive their dreams of a first flag since 2005.

Sydney: 13.18 (96) - L Jetta 3, J Kennedy 2, J Bolton 2, L Roberts-Thomson 2, R O'Keefe, A Goodes, C Bird, S Mumford

Collingwood: 10.10 (70) - T Cloke 3, D Swan, B Johnson, C Dawes, T Goldsack, D Beams, C Tarrant, A Fasolo

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, sydney-2000, nsw, australia, collingwood-3066, vic

First posted September 21, 2012 22:21:52

View the original article here

Big-name umpire dropped for AFL decider

Updated September 27, 2011 17:30:13

The AFL's highest-profile umpire, Ray Chamberlain, has been dropped for Saturday's grand final.

Chamberlain was one of the three whistle-blowers who officiated in both last year's drawn grand final between Collingwood and St Kilda and the grand final replay.

The other two, Brett Rosebury and Shaun Ryan, will again be in charge of this year's decider.

The third umpire for Saturday's match is Chris Donlon, who will be making his grand final debut.

Rosebury will be participating in his fourth grand final and Ryan in his fifth.

Umpires boss Jeff Gieschen says Chamberlain, who officiated in the Geelong-West Coast preliminary final, had been close to getting another grand final job.

"In Ray's case, he was part of the preliminary final panel and was down to the last six," Gieschen said.

"He'd be disappointed to miss today, but the bottom line is he was ranked under these guys and his season wasn't quite as consistent as these guys.

"He would know that."

Ryan says his advice to Donlon would be to umpire exactly as he had all year.

"The good thing for us as umpires is nothing changes. Free kicks are the same. The tempo of the game might pick up," he said.

"Chris has had a great year by doing the basics, being unobtrusive and paying the clear free kicks.

"That's all he needs to do on the weekend."

Goal umpire Chelsea Roffey narrowly missed out on becoming the first woman to officiate in a grand final.

She was named emergency goal umpire.

AAP

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

First posted September 27, 2011 10:23:56

View the original article here

Eagles dare to dream of decider

Updated September 22, 2011 16:47:01

West Coast's Andrew Embley thought his chances of appearing in another grand final were all but over after last year's wooden spoon campaign.

But just 12 months on, Embley and his Eagles team-mates are daring to dream about securing a spot in the 2011 decider.

Regardless of whether it wins or lose against Geelong at the MCG on Saturday, West Coast's season will still be safely regarded as a runaway success.

But the Eagles remain hungry for more glory, with Embley urging his team-mates to make the most of the opportunity that awaits them.

"Obviously it'd be fair to say we've exceeded a lot of people's expectations," he said.

"But our mentality at the moment is that the job's still not done.

"We're rapt to give ourselves a chance to play in a preliminary final.

"I've been playing footy for a long time and this is only my third preliminary final, so you don't get these chances all the time and, when you are there, you've just got to make the most of it.

"I must admit [I thought] my chances of playing in another grand final were quite slim [after what happened last year].

"In saying that, I was pretty optimistic and pretty confident that we were going to improve, but maybe not as quickly as we have."

Geelong will be keen to keep a tight check on Embley after the 230-match veteran tallied 32 possessions and one goal in the Eagles' eight-point victory over the Cats in July.

Embley says West Coast will take great confidence from that victory even though Geelong enters the re-match as raging favourite.

"I thought our ball movement that night was really good and we learnt a lot from how we played," he said.

"So I think at the moment, the guys are certainly very confident and we understand it's going to be a real tough match.

"But we feel like we're in pretty good condition, we're well prepared for it and we'll have a fair dinkum crack, that's for sure."

West Coast captain Darren Glass says he and fellow tall defenders Eric MacKenzie and Will Schofield would have to be on their game to quell Geelong spearheads Tom Hawkins, James Podsiadly and ruckman Brad Ottens.

"I watched the Hawthorn game. Their talls had a big influence over the game so myself and Eric Mackenzie and Schoey are going to work at it pretty hard," Glass told Perth radio station 6PR.

"I'll imagine I'll end up on all three at different stages."

Glass earned his third All Australian jersey earlier this week, adding to the ones he snared in 2006 and 2007.

"My three-year form slump's over," he joked.

AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, perth-6000

First posted September 22, 2011 16:47:01

View the original article here