Round 7 kicked off over in the West with the much awaited return of Chris Judd to Subiaco, with Juddy leading his beloved Blues to an easy win against the Eagles. For Carlton, Andrew Carrazzo (140) was in everything, racking up 42 possessions. Heath Scotland (112), Kade Simpson (114) and Nick Stevens (115) provided ample support. For the Eagles, Dean Cox (114) dominated the ruck as he so often does. But there wasn’t much else to celebrate for the Eagles who have slumped to second last, with just one win from seven matches.
Geelong hosted Brisbane at Skilled Stadium, with the Lions missing some big names. But despite the absence of Jonathan Brown, Simon Black, Nigel Lappin and Travis Johnstone, the Lions found themselves in the contest until the final minutes of the much, when Geelong kicked away. For Geelong, Andrew Mackie (137), James Kelly (127), Joel Corey (112) and Jimmy Bartel (108) helped to get their team over the line. While for the Lions, Joel McDonald (117) were Tim Notting (108) among the best, while Justin Sherman (84) played his best game for the club in months, suggesting that he may finally be over his shocking form slump.
Meanwhile at the MCG, Hawthorn cemented their place in the top two, with a 65 point thrashing of Collingwood. Lance Franklin (146) continues to demonstrate that he is not human. Sam Mitchell (122) did what he does best, while Brent Guerra (104), Jarryd Roughead (106) and Brad Sewell (101) all chipped in. For the Magpies, Heath Shaw (150) was a ball magnet racking up 34 possessions and hauling in 16 marks.
On Saturday night, St Kilda stumbled over the line against Richmond in controversial circumstances. A Kelvin Moore kick for goal, which would have put the Tigers ahead in the dying seconds of the match, faded late and hit the post. Jack Riewoldt had another chance to steal the game after the siren, but his kick from outside fifty dropped just metres short, leaving St Kilda with the four points. His brother, Nick (55) didn’t fair any better, injuring his knee midway through the third quarter. Milne’s (104) seven goals were enough to fill his void. Other major contributors were Robert Harvey (119), Nick Dal Santo (104) and Luke Ball (96). For the Tigers, once again Richo (133) starred, with support from Nathan Brown (112), Troy Simmonds (120) and Chris Newman (96).
Meanwhile, Adelaide played host to North Melbourne at AAMI Stadium with the Crows coming away easy winners. Brett Burton recorded his third consecutive score of 99, before injuring his shoulder in the final quarter. I haven’t done my research but I’m guessing this must be some kind of record in consistency. Scott Thompson (95), Simon Goodwin (110) and Nathan Bock (114) were among the best. For the Roos, Adam Simpson (114) and Leigh Harding (107) performed well.
The Bulldogs have remained undefeated, disposing of the Swans by 18 points at the SCG. Adam Cooney (111) led the charge, kicking 5 goals for the Bulldogs, along with Daniel Giansiracusa (90), Brad Johnson (114) and Robert Murphy (91). For the Swans, Ryan O’Keefe (109), Adam Goodes (100) Jude Bolton (100) and Jarrad McVeigh (100) all performed well.
Sunday saw the MCG host Melbourne and Fremantle. With Melbourne still winless after six rounds and Fremantle in pretty average form, less than 20,000 turned up to witness what should have been a non-event and for the first half at least, all was going to plan. Going into the main break 50 points down, Melbourne appeared to be on their way to their seventh straight loss. Obviously, a few Melbourne supporters agreed, with the crowd thinning out in the third quarter. What they missed is quite hard to believe. In the second half, Fremantle’s run dried up. Tarrant (80) and Farmer (86) who had been so instrumental in setting up such a commanding lead, suddenly disappeared from the game and for the first time this season, Melbourne showed some fighting spirit. Midfielders, Cameron Bruce (131), Brock McLean (105), Jeff White (113) and Aaron Davey (104) began to control the ball through the centre, kicking long to Russell Robertson (99) and Brad Miller (108), who played one of his best games for the club. After Fremantle led for almost two hours, an inspirational goal from youngster Austin Wonaeamirri (97) put Melbourne in front and in sight of their first win for the season. The Demons managed to hold on for the remaining few minutes to record their first win for the season and the second biggest comeback of all time. As per usual Matthew Pavlich (118) was a shining light for the Dockers. Other notable performers were Dean Soloman (107) and Garrick Ibbotson (88).
In the final match of the round, Essendon and Port Adelaide squared off at the Telstra Dome. In a high scoring match, Port powered to a 64 point victory to move to within one place of the top eight. For the Power, Steven Salopek (144) finally lived up to expectations, with a best on ground performance. Daniel Motlop (127) kicked seven, and despite a dismal first half performance from Kane Cornes (98), his second half was good enough to save some embarrassment for Dream Team coaches. For the Bombers, Bachar Houli (10395), Matthew Lloyd (88) and Andrew Lovett (84) were the top scorers.
Top Scores of the Week
Heath Shaw 150
Lance Franklin 146
Steven Salopek 144
Andrew Carrazzo 140
Matthew Richardson 133
Shocker of the Week
After scoring 118 last week, Nathan Jones crashed back to earth with an absolute shocker. After a blistering first half which saw Jones score 16 Dream Team points, he managed to rack up 0 possessions and give away 3 free kicks in the second half to finish with a score of 7 points in almost 100 minutes of game time. Superb stuff!