Eagles vs Sturt elimination final

Hopeful Jelly wrote:Micky I saw one bloke leave at the 10 minute mark of the 3rd quarter after we slotted through another goal.

It was great stuff today, especially after the arrogance of Sturt fans last week.

Hopefully we can put together a similar performance next week to get over the line against the Bays.

There were some irate Sturt fans having ago at aussie .mind u I egged him on
Sturt = Bad winners =worse losers

Glenelg will be a tough team to beat next week.

We will need to find another cog still; for next week to beat a wounded Tigers outfit.

I think last week must have been a Trojan Horse for Sturt. We helped gift them the match (and over confidence) by resting Grocke, and playing a style of footy not suited to the wet weather.

Then, when the soldiers came out (Grocke, Welsh and Hentschel), suddenly we play a fantastic brand of footy - long, direct, less handballs, tough at the ball and tackling ferociously and every opportunity. Seriously, we looked like a machine out there! Grinding out the first quarter (which was a good thing for McKenzie to do and kick into the breeze) and keep grinding away before the gates opened.

That Jarrad goal (which the ABC rated the best for the day), when he kicked the ball from there, I knew it would be a goal, despite being on the wrong side for a left foot. Because he is such a great kick on the run! I thought Parry played well, but when I saw he had 13 kicks, 7 marks and 6 handballs, I thought, that's gotta be a BOG for a ruckman! That also stifles the "oh, but Giles went off early" bit, because how often do you see ruckmen man up on each other around the ground? Add that to his 34 hit outs and that's easily BOG status.

Also, that Treeby is a wanker thing, well, it just goes to show you what kind of effect it has on a player - determined to do your hardest out there. Which is why my first sentence is so important when it comes to next week.

Thanks for that form
What else can you say, do again next week

Commitment, Courage & Pride.

That's what wins Finals games.

Both winners yesterday showed ALL 3.
Both losers, didn't.

Simple.

Go You Eagles !!!

Absolute team effort, thanks boys.
Best players from presentation last night:
1st Powell
2nd Parry
3rd Grocke
4th Jarrad
What a great game from Craig Parry having to carry the rucks after we lost Todd Miles (Groin) & a very proud father over from WA to see the win.
What a way to celebrate your birthday, happy 32nd Cica.
Thanks again boys, now for the Bays.

As usual, I agree with everything you write Eagle014.

The Eagles were pumped from the minute they ran onto the ground. You could sense that they were turned-on as Cicca was marshaling the troops and barking encouraging words of advice to the boys. This was reminiscent of the 06’ grand final vibe. (yes, It’s the vibe.)
A strange thing happened at the 7min. mark of the first Qrt. A sturt supporter sitting in front of us jumped up and ran up the steps.
Was he:
a) Over confident and heading home to beat the rush.
b) Going home because he left something on the stove’
c) So excited that sturt kicked a goal he needed the loo
d) Collecting his winnings of $3.60 as he bet that Johncock would kick the blues first goal.
One thing I know for certain, he didn’t collect any winnings after the game.

Toodlepip to him & them

What's that smell???

MOTHBALLS

spell_check wrote:We will need to find another cog still; for next week to beat a wounded Tigers outfit.

I think last week must have been a Trojan Horse for Sturt. We helped gift them the match (and over confidence) by resting Grocke, and playing a style of footy not suited to the wet weather.

Then, when the soldiers came out (Grocke, Welsh and Hentschel), suddenly we play a fantastic brand of footy - long, direct, less handballs, tough at the ball and tackling ferociously and every opportunity. Seriously, we looked like a machine out there! Grinding out the first quarter (which was a good thing for McKenzie to do and kick into the breeze) and keep grinding away before the gates opened.

That Jarrad goal (which the ABC rated the best for the day), when he kicked the ball from there, I knew it would be a goal, despite being on the wrong side for a left foot. Because he is such a great kick on the run! I thought Parry played well, but when I saw he had 13 kicks, 7 marks and 6 handballs, I thought, that's gotta be a BOG for a ruckman! That also stifles the "oh, but Giles went off early" bit, because how often do you see ruckmen man up on each other around the ground? Add that to his 34 hit outs and that's easily BOG status.

Also, that Treeby is a wanker thing, well, it just goes to show you what kind of effect it has on a player - determined to do your hardest out there. Which is why my first sentence is so important when it comes to next week.

Only want to pick u up on a couple of things spelly nothing major
Luke Powell won the toss and kicked into the breeze and the empty northern stand.
sturt lost giles we lost Miles .Parry virtually rucked 99.9% of the day.With Grocke taking the forward rucks.while Sturt had bowen and that old afl hack thrustans !

go u Eagles !!!!

Personally the way we started I thought oh my god we are in with a chance here.
Almost lost the old voice in the first term the eyes were welling up !!!
And didn't those sturt mongrels bitch whine and leave early

I got there about 1/2 a minute into the first, and heard on the radio it was McKenzie who won the toss...I should have known it was Powell who did it, being his 150th.

spell_check wrote:I got there about 1/2 a minute into the first, and heard on the radio it was McKenzie who won the toss...I should have known it was Powell who did it, being his 150th.

Thats ok spelly as I said its not a biggy
Don't worry I was 3rd car in the public car park

Oh, I like that way the "the loss of Giles was the end of us" line was used. I also heard some fan say something about the free kicks and the "it's not how many, but where they are paid" thing. I know North got a good ride a few weeks back, but they deserved their win anyway.

No way did the umpires make up nearly 12 goals!

spell_check wrote:Oh, I like that way the "the loss of Giles was the end of us" line was used. I also heard some fan say something about the free kicks and the "it's not how many, but where they are paid" thing. I know North got a good ride a few weeks back, but they deserved their win anyway.

No way did the umpires make up nearly 12 goals!

Actually and this is rare for me I thought the umps weren't that bad.Compared to what has been dished up to us the last month.
Best message play in front all day it helps.

Zest actually said something true yesterday Sturt players were only looking to take the easy hand balls .Or IMHO get the easy kicks .Their CHF Johncock being a prime example in the end Flash made him look very ordinary.
One of my funny calls was yelling at Cheep to hit a sturt player (lets say Hinge not certain).He gave the free away but he hip and shouldered him just as I finished yelling it out
Mind you the next Sturt player had marked the ball anyway.

From Adelaide now
GODDEN'S GATECRASHERS

This was supposed to be the next step in Sturt's charge towards another Grand Final.

Instead it became Godden and his new Eagle boys' coming out party - as they basically did as they pleased at AAMI Stadium.

Sturt's pressure was ordinary, but some of the Eagles link-up handball was really impressive and their experienced stars all fired.

Luke Powell (27 disposals, five clearances), Scott Lewis (25, 5), Leigh Treeby (22) and Justin Cicolella (16) were all great in the midfield and Craig Parry (19, 34 hit-outs) made the most of Jon Giles' absence.

Adam Grocke was a star up forward with five goals and despite not really playing that well Scott Welsh and Trent Henstchel both finished with three.

The win basically earns Godden a pass in his first season as coach.

The Eagles have equalled last year's effort of an elimination final win (the club's overall record in elimination finals is now 4-0) and have unearthed some genuine talent in Angus Rowntree, Brode Smith and Pat Giuffreda.

But Sunday's win was more about the Eagles' core of senior players outperforming Sturt's best six to eight and it will again be up to them to take it up to Glenelg this week.

The Tigers certainly look vulnerable.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK


`I thought Craig did a really good job. It's been a long time coming to get out on AAMI for him. We lost Todd Miles who was our back-up ruckman, so he had to stand up Paz, he had to ruck the whole second half but we knew Bowen was in the same boat.'' Eagles coach Mick Godden.


AWARDS

Forward of the week: Adam Grocke (Eagles). Scott Welsh and Trent Hentschel should play as decoys to Grocke - that's how good he was yesterday. He gave James McLeay a bath early and Luke Norman couldn't find a match up for him all day. There's no secret to Grocke's game, he just works harder than nearly any other key forward in the SANFL. Finished with 14, kicks, seven marks and 5.1 in a great reward for his effort. ``He can jump high, lead hard and he's a hard worker and he's hard at the contest,'' Eagles coach Mick Godden said. ``You wouldn't want to stand in front of him and you don't want to stand under him, but look I think the boys used him well today. He does do a lot of work off the ball as well which goes unrewarded."
Coach of the week: Mick Godden (Eagles). Godden's decision to ignore reviewing the game tape of last week's loss to Sturt was the right decision and paid off in spades. ``I felt I didn't have any other choice. If I came into the game on a negative point of view I didn't think that was ever going to work,'' Godden said. ``We went with being positive and focussing on what we can do, because really we can't control what the opposition's doing and in the end it worked out well for them, the guys were fresh in the mind and they certainly played that way.''

More Adeliade now
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/woodville-west-torrens-thumps-sturt-by-70-points/story-e6freckc-1225919520336
Woodville-West Torrens thumps Sturt by 70 points
WOODVILLE-West Torrens capped a stunning week-long transformation with a 70-point smashing of Sturt in yesterday's elimination final at AAMI Stadium.

The Eagles had won just one of their past four games - which included a big loss to Sturt a week earlier - but responded to their critics with a convincing win.

The goals flowed thick and fast after a tight first term and came via the Eagles' three inclusions - Adam Grocke, Scott Welsh and Trent Hentschel who bagged 11 between them.

The form of midfielders Luke Powell, in his 150th game, Justin Cicolella, Leigh Treeby and Scott Lewis also sent a warning to the rest of the competition that they're far from a spent force ahead of this week's semi final against Glenelg.

The win guaranteed rookie coach Michael Godden a pass mark this season and he said it was built on pressure on the ball-carrier and being first to the loose footy.

By Peter Argent



What a difference a week makes!

After one of the weakest performances for the season in round 23, Woodville-West Torrens completely turned around their on-field performance in seven days.

After a tight first term, the Eagles completed dominated the remainder of the game, with the 70 point win being a 108 point turnaround from the previous week.

Their six goal-to-one second quarter set up the win, and this was assured with the frugal defence on conceding one goal in the vital third term.

The game blew out in the final quarter, with the Eagles finishing the task with 5.7 to two straight goals.

Adam Grocke was a tremendous target across half forward, being supported by Scott Welsh and Trent Hentschel; with this trio kicking 11 of the teams 17 goals.

Grocke, in this best on ground effort finished with 5.1, while former AFL footballers Welsh and Hentschel didn’t have as big an impact, but slotted through three each.

In his milestone 150th SANFL game, 2006 premiership player from Port Arlington in Victoria, Luke Powell won plenty of the ball and drove it forward with regularity.

Ben Grieger was superb at full back, closing down Sturt’s 600-plus goal full forward Brant Chambers.

Losing support ruckman Todd Miles with a groin injury, Craig Parry was asked to ruck for the last two and half quarters by himself; handling this mammoth task manfully and giving his team drive.

Scott Lewis was hard working an industrious around the ball, while Luke Jarrad was impressive as the Eagles outlet player from defence.

Angus Rowntree was creative, playing predominately off a wing, while 2009 Star search winner Jarred Allmond won a lot of possessions, although his coughed the ball up occasionally.

Dale Symmons and Pat Giuffreda beat their direct opponents and also sent the ball forward with method. Both Leigh Treeby and Justin Cicolella also had a positive influence on the contest.

Another positive is there were six other goal kickers, along with Grocke, Welsh and Hentschel.

Next Sunday is another elimination game against a Glenelg side that suffered a demoralising defeat against Norwood. Expect the Bays to come out of the blocks with plenty of aggression.

Michael Godden may have both Nick Salter and Matthew Broadbent as options at the selection table for this game.

Michael Godden - Senior Coach Report



Elimination Final – Eagles vs Sturt



I know we all have experienced this before but isn’t this game a great one, when in seven days you can go from anger, frustration, disappointment to happiness.



The last few weeks have really tested the resolve of this group, and as I mentioned post match to the players it made me very proud to see the way they went about their business on Sunday. Sometimes the result (even though obviously it’s extremely important) is secondary as a coach to the way you play, and the thing that stood out the most was the unrelenting commitment to every contest. The challenge now is to find that trigger and make it happen again.



The first step is to move on, as I mentioned last week you must move on quickly and look forward to the next challenge, because what we have just done only gives us the right to continue the following week. So this week our focus will be on us and what we need to do to win against Glenelg.



This week has been really pleasing to see the way the players have conducted themselves; they have been very level headed whilst being very excited about the next challenge. The main thing from a coaching point of view is to make sure the players are fresh, so the early part of this week we will be doing some solid work while keeping the intensity down, with the view of ramping things up later in the week so we can hopefully peak at the right moment.



This week’s game against Glenelg is going to be a huge test. Glenelg play a lot differently to Sturt so we must be ready to adapt to any situation. I can assure everyone that the group was encouraged by our performance on the weekend but have a clear understanding that that game is now in the past and means nothing, so we look forward to Sunday and make sure we bring the same amount of effort and courage so we can stay alive in this 2010 season.



Finally I would like to say thankyou for your support last week down at AAMI, and once again this week let’s see if we can get as many Eagles supporters in loud voice to help the boys get over the line.





Craig Smith – Reserves Coach Report



Qualifying Final – Eagles vs Port Adelaide



On Saturday the Reserves ventured down to Noarlunga to play the Qualifying Final against Port Adelaide. Our expectations were high as we had played some excellent football in the last half of the year. As the League showed on Sunday, minor round form counts for little when the Finals start.



The first quarter was pretty tight but we attacked well with the breeze and looked dangerous when we went inside fifty. It is fair to say though that we didn’t make the most of our opportunities. We went to quarter time in front by 7 points. It was Port Adelaide’s turn to miss some opportunities with the breeze in the second quarter and at half time we held a slender 4 point lead. In the third quarter Port missed some more opportunities and at three quarter time the scores were locked away.



There was a positive feeling in the huddle at three quarter time. Even though we were kicking into the breeze we felt that Port had thrown everything at us and had not been able to get in front. In the last quarter Port kicked 2 goals 3 and we kicked 1 goal 5. This meant that Port ran out 4 point victors.



While it is true that we missed several opportunities in the last quarter it is fair to say that Port had missed their fair share of shots earlier in the game. Whenever a game is that close, it is easy to look to individual moments and say that they have cost you. There is no doubt that we did not convert in the last quarter and the players were disappointed with these misses after the game. The reality of Finals football is that every moment counts and that there are thousands of little things that must be done well to be successful. In the end Port did more of these things well and this was reflected in the final score.



I tried to stress to the players after the game that the season is far from over. Yes we were disappointed to let an opportunity slip, but we have seven days to prepare for Centrals this week. They will provide us with a considerable challenge, but one I am certain our boys are up for. Only absolute commitment to the cause can be accepted. This is a good place to start if we wish to continue the Finals ride.



I would also like to congratulate the Under 18’s for such a positive Finals win. This means their Finals ride continues. Also well done to the League who on Sunday showed what is possible if all are committed and single minded about what must be done. Good luck to all friends of the feather for this coming week.



Terry Hutton – Under 18’s Coach Report



Elimination Final – Eagles vs Sturt



Sunny fine conditions with a NW wind blowing towards the scoreboard. Sturt won the toss and kicked with the wind which quickly paid off. They scored 5-4 goals to Eagles 0-2. Goss marked strongly in the pack on kick out and was holding his own in the ruck. Cashel spoiled strongly against quality opposition. Sutcliffe used pace and bounce to drive the ball in Von Bertouch who cleverly dribbled the ball towards goal. Harding from the wing kicked 60 m into the forward line. Hobbs marked strongly at CHF as did Batley whose shot for goal fell short. Poole was at the fall of the ball and passed well to Toumpas who was starting to make his presence felt on the wing. Sinor found the firm ground to his liking and broke through packs well. Jacquier provided plenty of strong contests at CHF despite attacks on goal we failed to score a major. Sturt marked strongly and had continuous back up play.



The 2nd quarter was a different Eagles side. The on-ballers started to get inside their opponents not allowing Sturt 1st touch, tackling and chasing was ferocious, and created Sturt fumbles.

The 3rd quarter was the best quarter as the Eagles only allowed Sturt to score 2 goals with the breeze while scoring 2 goals as well. Schwarz proved very strong in the back lines along with the cool ball handling of Mansell on the back flank. The captain Brusnahan came strongly into the game, mopping up the loose ball in the back lines and running the ball to the wing. After a quiet 1st half when on their star forward Drogemuller attacked the ball strongly, got in front to give positive rebounds.



The 4th quarter saw a struggle for a brief while as we seemed to give away so many frees in fact it was -11 frees against / 1 free for. This kept them in the game for a while. Desperation played a big part as BJ held on too long in front of goals which resulted in Sturt G8. Sinor hit the body after disposal for another 50m penalty down field. But these were all outweighed by the real TEAM effort. Poole disciplined himself and won many hard balls, twisting himself out of trouble and passing cleverly to L. Dunstan who just missed a set shot. Goss was everywhere, spoiling to the boundary if he couldn’t hit a target. His leadership was excellent. Appleton picked many touches around the half forward flank. His longer kicking has vastly improved his effectiveness.



Overall a very satisfying performance, an excellent team effort