Morningside 27.11.173 defeated UQ 11.10.76

Yesterday’s game was a bit like the Melbourne weather. In the space of a half of football, we saw it all.

The result may read that Morningside were big winners to the tune of 97-points, but it’s not that simplistic.

The game started as most expected. Morningside kicked five of the first seven, and were in control of the footy.

Abey looked very dangerous early, with three first quarter goals.

At quarter time, it was a 23-point advantage to the Panthers, and all signs pointed to another comfortable win.

Morningside kicked the first two of the second courtesy of Delbridge and McDonald, as they skipped away to a 35-point lead.

That’s when the Red Lions stepped up a gear.

UQ kicked the last three of the second to get within 17-points at half time, and they were up and about heading into the sheds.

It was obvious Morningside would come out with a real intent after half time, but UQ were ready, willing, and able to take it right back to them.

Stewart and Hannaford kicked goals within the first five minutes, and all of a sudden it was a two-point ball game.

At the seven-minute mark, young gun Harry Milford goaled, and UQ had hit the front.

But, when you poke the bear, or panther in this case, it usually bites back.

Morningside went back to basics in the middle. Mollison went into the ruck, Dalton put the midfield group on his back, and they put the afterburners on.

They kicked 17 of the last 18 goals of the game to blow the contest to smithereens.

When the final siren rang, Morningside were 97-points up.

Dalton was best on ground for the Panthers, and in a nice little positive for UQ, Mark Mccutchan did a good job on McNiece for most of the day. They may have just found themselves a new tagger.

It might have taken them a while to kick into gear, but a 97-point win is nothing to sneeze at.

Coach’s thoughts:
David Lake – Morningside

“To their credit, they had a crack.

“It was a matter of respecting the opposition. It was a matter of getting back, doing the basics, doing them well, and respecting the person in the other room.

“We were getting away with being mediocre, we went back to basics, engaging your opponent, and winning the ball out of the middle.

Darren Pfeiffer – UQ

“The first two and half quarters were good. We played some good attacking football. I said to the boys, we needed to go out and take the game on and see if they could go with us.

“We had a few blokes in that haven’t played too much footy, so that might have cost us at the end of the third and forth, we just ran out of steam.

“After half time I was really impressed. Morningside would have gone in and got the big rev up because we were three goals down. They were going to bring it, and we were able to get in front. That was the real positive.

“You do have to take the positives from it, but it tells both sides of the story. We can play really good footy, but in a quarter and a half they have put on 90-points, so that’s unacceptable.”

Palm Beach Currumbin 19.9.123 defeated Mt Gravatt 7.14.56

Full recap here:  https://aflq.com.au/live-1-45-palm-beach-vs-mt-gravatt/

There’s something special building at Salk Oval. Palm Beach is getting better and better by the week.

Yesterday was probably their most consistent performance of the year. Apart from 10 minutes in the second quarter, they dominated the contest against Mt Gravatt.

Their run from half back, their pressure around the ball, and their ability to get it in long and quick was the difference in the end. They just didn’t allow the Vultures to get on their bikes.

Jesse Derrick and Todd Bryant kicked the first two for the Lions in the first ten minutes of the game, before Jamieson booted one off the ground from the goal square against the flow to open Mt Gravatt’s account.

The margin at quarter time was 11-points.

The Vultures were kicking with a slight breeze in the second, but it was all Lions in the first half of the quarter.

Wilson kicked the first of the quarter, before Stubbs imposed himself on the game with the next two.

The tables were turned in the next 15 minutes. Mt Gravatt found space out wide, they were winning the footy in the middle, and propelling forward.

They couldn’t buy a goal though, kicking four behinds in a row to trail by 13-points at the main break.

You just felt that Mt Gravatt threw everything at them in that 15-minute period, that the Lions had weathered the storm.

The second half turned into a very one-sided affair.

The Lions ramped up their contested work, and shut down the outside of the contest to control all aspects of the game.

They kicked seven goals to two in the third, including another two to Stubbs, to blow the game wide open, and head into the final change 45-points up.

When Michael Goody kicked the first goal of the last for the Lions, it was lights out.

Mt Gravatt finished with no fit players on the bench, which didn’t help their cause either.

Special shout out to Josh Woolley. He flew that high over the pack on the half forward line that someone ran an oxygen tank out to him.

Woolley was quite in the first, but was outstanding for the next three quarters; this man can do it all.

Palm Beach is coming into some really hot form at the right end of the year. Keep an eye on them.

Coach’s thoughts:
Chad Owens – Palm Beach

“Today we were on top for three and a half quarters. We lost the second half of the second quarter, they got on top of us, they got us on the outside and they were on top around the ball.

“We thought if we could address that, get our contested footy back, we could address the outside after that.

“For a majority of the game we were able to control the middle. People like Danny Darnett, just running, pressuring, tackling, that’s where we won the game, because they are young and they are bloody quick.

“We have just got to keep winning, we think we can get to third spot on the ladder.”

Brad Pollock – Mt Gravatt

“I just felt we were a bit off all day. We hung in their in the first half, we just weren’t polished with out disposal and weren’t running the ball as well as we could of. The second half they stepped up and played some really good footy.

“Unfortunately we just lacked a bit of leadership out there today. We couldn’t stop the rot, and made a lot of mistakes.

“They certainly did put a lot of pressure on us, but I felt like we created a lot of that as well. We weren’t giving the first option with the football.

“They were getting some really good run from half back, credit where credit is due they were good, but we are really disappointed with that.”

Sandgate 10.7.67 defeated by Wilston Grange 17.15.117

It was physical, it was tight, it was tough, and it was attacking, it was exactly the brand of football we expected.

Wilston Grange were just a better for longer yesterday, their bigger bodies got them over the line in the last, but Sandgate certainly didn’t lose any fans.

Aden Rutledge kicked off the scoring three minutes into the first for the Hawks, before the Gorillas responded through Lipscombe and Christie.

The teams couldn’t be split at 32-points a piece and the first break.

Sandgate started the better in the second. They were up in the contested stats early, and goals to Hedger and Barker saw them skip away to a 12-point advantage.

Wilston Grange got it back on their terms late though, kicking the last three of the quarter to be eight-points up heading into the sheds.

The third quarter was a very even contest, and the game was very much in the balance.

Getting hands on the ball first in the middle was going a long way to producing shots on goal.

Both teams kicked three goals for the quarter, meaning the three quarter time margin was 11-point in favour of the Gorillas, but it was still game on.

The forth quarter was all one way traffic. Wilston Grange began locking the ball in the forward line, had fresher legs, and experience around the ball.

The Gorillas kicked six unanswered goals in the final term to run out 50-point winners, but the margin certainly wasn’t a reflection of how tight the game was.

Albert Proud had a heap of it across halfback all afternoon, and Sandgate may have found a center halfback for the next decade in Hayden Thompson

The Gorillas win sets them up nicely for their makeup game against the Magpies next week.

Coach’s thoughts:
Graham Adams – Sandgate

“We were good for three quarters, and fell away in the last quarter, but we competed well, and I was really pleased with the effort for three quarters against a good side.

“It was a tough, hard game, and the bigger bodies got us in the end, but there was a lot of improvement, so there are a lot of positives.

“Our forward structure was really good early, but Grange were probably just a little bit more polished in the end.

“I’m a lot more happy now than I was this time last week.”

Matt Trewhella – Wilston Grange

“It was a really tough game. We ran away in the last quarter but up until then they scored really freely from our turnovers.

“Their pressure around the ball was good, they are pretty physical. Once we started to set up better outside 50 with out mids and defenders we were able to keep the ball in there for a lot longer.

“It’s terrific to bounce back, and now we have got some guys in form leading into the Magpies this week.”

Western Magpies 12.15.87 defeated Broadbeach 7.11.53

Nine and three; did anyone pick this at the start of the year?

The Western Magpies train just keeps chugging along of late. Yesterday’s win over Broadbeach makes it nine wins from their last 10 games.

The stakes were huge for Broadbeach. It was another mini elimination final, and they started this week how they finished last week.

Klessens kicked the first for the Cats, but not long after that his day would be done courtesy of an ankle injury; a massive loss to the forward line set up of Broadbeach.

Following a low scoring quarter, Broadbeach were in front by five-points at the first change.

The second quarter opened up a little bit. The Magpies got their hands on the footy a lot more, but it was the Cats who were making the most of their chances.

In a three goal to two quarter, Broadbeach extended their lead to seven-points at the main break, but you sensed the Cats were just hanging in there.

The Magpies put their stamp on the game in the third.

They used the ball a bit better, they were getting numbers around the footy in typical fashion, and they were putting it on the scoreboard.

Two goals to Mitchell and one to Bain gave the Magpies the lead for the first time of the afternoon, and an 11-point three quarter time lead.

Broadbeach were out of petrol tickets in the last, as the Magpies kicked away.

They booted the first four goals of the quarter to put the nail in the coffin, before running out 34-point winners.

Nathan Quick was best on ground by a country mile for the Cats, and despite missing last week due to injury, Richard Wenham didn’t skip a beat across halfback.

They may have had to slog it out, but the Magpies can have a serious look at that second spot on the ladder if they keep this up.

Coach’s thoughts:
Glenn Humphrey – Western Magpies

“We had to grind it out in the end, and really work our way through it, but we kept persisting with it and got a good win in the end.

“We had control of the footy in the middle of the ground, were getting it into our forwards quickly and had a few midfielders kick goals as well.

“Our use of the ball for most of the day was pretty horrible. We had plenty of the play we just weren’t capitalising on it and scoring goals. In the end we broke through and scored some goals.”

Brett Andrews – Broadbeach

“We started okay, and we probably should have been a bit further up at half time. We had a lot of the ball early.

“We got a bit of a touch up in the middle, and we just didn’t have enough forwards to go with them.

“No excuses though, we just had a lot of blokes who were down today.

“They are a good side, they just cut us up when we turned the ball over.”

Labrador 24.15.159 defeated Surfers Paradise 11.12.78

Steve Daniel said in the Friday Forecast that you are only as good as your last game. If that’s the case, the Tigers are back in town.

They were back to their best today with a big win over a gallant Surfers Paradise outfit.

There has been a bit of an issue with accuracy in front of the sticks at times this year for the Tigers. Not today.

In the first quarter, against the breeze, Labrador had seven scoring shots to the Demons five.

The difference? Labrador kicked seven straight, whereas the Demons kicked 2.3.

Surfers were winning their fair share of the footy through the middle; it was their disposal that was letting them down at times.

Labrador lost Billy Hicks in the first 15 minutes, and Adam Baird before the game even started, which really hurt the midfield stocks.

The Demons kicked the first two of the second thanks to Matulis and Newton, but the Tigers hit straight back with two each to Brain and Lappin to lead at half time by 41-points.

The third quarter was a much more even affair. Both teams were making the most of their forward fifty entries, and it became a bit of a stale mate on the scoreboard.

At three quarter time, the Tigers were up by 46-points.

Someone must have taken a can opener to the contest at the final change, because it was cut wide open in the last.

The Tigers kicked nine goals to three, including another two to Fraser to take his tally to seven, to put the foot down and cruise off into the sunset in the last.

They were eventual 71-point winners, and make amends for last week’s loss.

Adam Clarke continued his stellar season for Labrador with another best on ground performance today.

Trent McIntyre and Caleb Hay were very good up forward for the Demons today, working well together.

Surfers may not be getting the results they desire, but one thing is for sure, they are going about it the right way.

Peter Young is blooding kids and getting them playing a good brand of footy, it’s only a matter of time before the rewards are there for all to see.

As for the Tigers, they are still number one.

Coach’s thoughts:
Steve Daniel – Labrador

“Today was pleasing. Winning is why we all play footy so it was good.

“We just slowly started to build a good lead and never got headed.

“To kick seven straight, where last week we were 2.10, so we were really happy with that. Surfers hung in there, and their young kids were really good.

“We are really happy we got away with a really good win.”

Peter Young – Surfers Paradise

“I thought we were pretty good, in the end they just had polish. Early in the game I thought we had a lot more of the footy than them we just turned it over by foot.

“Our stoppages and centre bounces were good. We looked dangerous, but when we turned it over we just got hurt the other way, they punished us.

“They are a good side, with good foot skills, and when they run they run hard.

“We knew they were going to come out storng after last week. We just didn’t put any scoreboard pressure on.

By Andrew Wiles – @andrewjwiles