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97.7 FM 3SER Match review

Courtesty of Anthony Brady

In the first weekend of finals in the TRUenergy Victorian Football League

(VFL) for season 2007, the Casey Radio 97.7FM 3SER team saw Williamstown down Sandringham by two points in a classic encounter at Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval Werribee, on Saturday.

The scene was set right from first light on the day, with glorious sunshine and no breeze greeting fans who packed the terraces at Sandringham's home ground.

With the oval backing right onto Port Phillip Bay, it's rare for there not to be a cool breeze wafting over Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval, but this day was made for football, and the huge crowd of approximately 4000 attending the first ever final at Sandringham's home certainly appreciated it.

The crowd was the biggest seen in Zebra territory for years, and made for an electric atmosphere. Many members of the Collingwood cheer squad were in attendance, most of whom dressed in full Williamstown regalia, including cult figure Jeff "Joffa" Corfe, sporting a Williamstown jersey with Sharrod Wellingham's number 41 on his back. Added colour was given to the game when the Williamstown fans made a special banner for the players to run through, a sight only seen at VFL level during Grand Finals.

The toss was won by Sandringham captain Chad Liddell, who elected to kick to the grandstand end of the ground, though any wind advantage to that end was negligible.

The first quarter was a fairly scrappy affair, with 23 stoppages and many tough, contested clinches occurring all over the ground. Williamstown had plenty more possession, in particular Collingwood-listed players in Brodie Holland (13 disposals) and Paul Licuria (13 disposals), but weren't able to convert this to scoreboard pressure. They had four more forward-50 entries, yet went into the first break nine points in arrears.

At the first break, Zebras mentor Mark Williams praised the efficiency and tough in-an-under work of Guy Martyn (eight disposals) and Rod Crowe (eight), while also telling his team to utilise the run-and-carry of Peter Summers (eight disposals), who was in hot form early. Williams told his troops to try and remain accountable at all times, and keep the pressure on.

The second quarter was much the same as the first, Williamstown had more possession, but couldn't transfer it to scoreboard pressure, as this time they were inaccurate in front of goals, rather than not scoring at all. They kicked 2.6 for the term. Ben Davies was providing a lot of run through the centre with 13 possessions, and up forward Patrick Rose was proving a headache for the Zebra defence, collecting nine disposals and four marks for the term, but still the Seagulls went in at the major break 11 points down.

During "Half-Time With Tiger", the special guest with Phil Pearce was injured Zebras centreman David Gallagher, who is beginning to resemble me somewhat, with his unkempt shoulder-length curls and three-day growth. He spoke of his knee injury, and the personal anguish at not being able to help his Zebra teammates onto a possibly-historic fourth consecutive premiership.

He also spoke of how impressed he was with the second quarter performances of teammates Sam Monaghan (eight disposals), Summers (seven) and Valenti (14 first-hald possessions).

The third quarter saw play really open up, with thirteen goals scored. It was Williamstown who did most of the damage, continuing to have more of the ball, but this time doing the damage on the scoreboard. The midfield players including Licuria (seven disposals) and Davies (eight) were instrumental in providing run through the centre, and delivering precision passes to forwards such as Andrew Williams and Cameron Lockwood.

The mainly-Zebra crowd were left stunned, as the home side went into the final break 31-points in arrears, having been 44 points down late in the term. Some late strong midfield work by Valenti (11 dispoals) and Summers

(10) helped kick a couple of late goals, but many felt the game was over.

At the final change, Williamstown mentor Brad Gotch praised the efforts of his charges, telling them to maintain the pressure, try and run-and-carry as much as possible, and kick long into attack, to give Williams and co. a chance one-out with their opponent.

The next 30 minutes of play was some of the most extraordinary, breath-taking, skillful minutes of football ever witnessed at any level of competition. The quarter began fairly quietly, but suddenly when the Sandringham midfielders got their hands on the ball and pumped the ball in long to leading forward Nick Sautner, things began to move for the Zebras.

Sautner's final term was nothing short of dominant, as he took many pack marks, judging the ball beautifully three-deep on one occasion to take a mark and kick the resulting goal. However, it was his three "gimme" misses that had the crowd talking. He had eight kicks and four marks for the term, but one certain goal late in the quarter, given only a behind, sparked much controversy.

The Zebras stormed home to take the lead late in the final quarter. With the crowd cheering as loud as possible, it appeared the Zebras would complete this Hollywood-like fairytale. However, the Seagulls proved that the only place for fairytales is indeed Hollywood, as they won the stoppage, captain Brett Johnson gathered a contested ball and pumped it immediately long into attack, where veteran Licuria marked and goalled with just 90 second remaining on the clock. Then, almost all of Williamstown's players stacked the backline, conceding the ruck contest to Sandringham, but ensuring that the resulting centre break didn't penetrate too far into the Zebra attack, holding on for a famous two-point Seagulls victory.

In the final term, Davies (eight possessions), Holland (nine) and Sam Iles

(six) were the major ball-winners, whilst for the beaten Zebras, who fielded just six Melbourne-listed AFL players compared to the Seagulls 12 from Collingwood, their best in the final term included Summers (nine disposals) and Ezra Poyas (seven).

After the game, Phil Pearce spoke with Williamstown assistant coach and 1991 Liston Medallist Anthony Eames, who spoke of his pride of how the Williamstown players fought out the final term, against the tide, and scored the last-gasp victory. He also spoke of how prior to the game, the Seagulls had picked certain players to be careful of, including Poyas, Summers and Liddell.

The quarter-by-quarter scores and goalkickers from this match are as

follows:

Sandringham 3.5 6.7 9.8 16.15-111

Williamstown 2.2 4.8 14.9 17.11-113

Williamstown goalkickers: P. Licuria 3, A. Williams 3, C. Lockwood 2, P.

Rose 2, D. Stanley, J. Beaumont, S. Iles, B. Davies, C. Dawes, B. Dick, B.

Holland.

Sandringham goalkickers: N. Sautner 7, S. Valenti 2, G. Martyn 2, E. Poyas 2, P. Summers, T. Dean, S. Buckley.

Better players for the victorious Seagulls included Sam Iles, who worked hard in the midfield and forward-of-centre all day, gathering 25 possessions and winning many contested balls; Danny Stanley, the young Collingwood-listed player gathering 17 possessions and working hard in the back half to repel many Zebra attacks, whilst also giving some run-and-carry; Davies, who was sensational with 34 disposals, providing a lot of run through the centre and gaining eight clearances, many of which were lace-out forward-50 entries, the young Davies showing he has a future at AFL level with the Magpies, Liam Picken, who also worked hard to provide some run through the centre, gaining 14 possessions and four clearances; Licuria, who finished with 29 possessions, many of which were contested as he was sat upon by a variety of Sandringham opponents, Licuria shook off the close attention well, pumping the Seagulls into attack on many occasions; and, Holland, sporting a newly-shorn head, showed great attack and verve on the football deep in defence, finishing with 31 disposals, he went into attack late in the game and also providing a spark in the forward line.

Better players for the beaten Zebras included Summers, who provided great run on the wings, pumping the ball into the Zebras attack on many occasions, finishing with 34 possessions and eight marks in a sensational performance; Sautner, who was a goliath deep in attack, booting 7.5 from 19 kicks, and taking eight marks, many of which were contested, his judgement of the ball in flight in the final term was a feature, and it's fair to say if he wasn't present, Sandringham wouldn't have gotten so close; Tom Paterakis, who worked hard in a running utility role, racking up 18 disposals and three clearances in a solid effort from the Zebra; ruckman Shane Neaves, who worked like a trojan arothe gound and at the stoppages all day, winning 34 hit-outs and gathering 16 disposals in a stellar performance from the big man; Valenti, the 2007 Fothergill-Round medallist continued to show his value, as he gathered 29 possessions and worked hard to put the Zebras into attack at every opportunity; and, Andy Biddlecombe, who was resolute deep in defence, finishing with 21 disposals and working hard to provide a contest on the Williamstown forwards at every opportunity.

Being a Qualifying Final, both these teams progress through, Williamstown now get a rest before they play again in a Preliminary Final in two weeks, whilst the Zebras face a sudden-death Semi-Final next weekend.

In other results in the first weekend of finals for the VFL for season 2007, and another extraordinary match was fought out on Saturday at Port Melbourne's TEAC Oval, where the Bendigo Bombers had North Ballarat all but dead and buried, leading by a whopping 62 points early in the third term, before the Roosters stormed home like a steam train to eventually win the match by 37 points. Ed Lower was voted best in this First Elimination Final clash, which saw Bendigo's season ended.

In the second Qualifying Final on Sunday at TEAC Oval, Coburg were always set a difficult task, facing Geelong with 16 AFL-listed players, compared to Coburg's 12, and Tigers coach Andy Collins said as much pre-game. However, it didn't stop his players from putting up a sensational fight, which saw them down at the final change by just four points, before the Cats class told in the final term, Geelong running away 31 point winners. Young Geelong gun Tom Hawkins voted best for this match.

Finally, in a sensational second Elimination Final at Casey Fields in Cranbourne, Port Melbourne caused somewhat of an upset, being a stand-alone side, as they rolled the St. Kilda-aligned Casey Scorpions by 13 points.

Former AFL player David Spriggs was voted best for this match, whilst for the wildly inaccurate Scorpions, it's curtains for season 2007.

In a huge Semi-Final weekend next weekend in the VFL, on Saturday in the first Semi-Final, Sandringham will try and keep the dream of four-in-a-row alive against North Ballarat, to be played at Port Melbourne's TEAC Oval, the winner of this match will face Geelong in a Preliminary Final in two weeks. In the second Semi-Final on Sunday, Port Melbourne will face Coburg, again at TEAC Oval, with the prize for the winner being a Preliminary Final meeting with Williamstown, again in two weeks time.

With another huge finals weekend coming up, the action will be covered on Casey Radio. It all begins next Saturday morning with the VFL hour from 9am with VFL experts Kain Pollard and Chris Weaver. Then, on Sunday, the team will be live from TEAC Oval from 12.30pm to bring you all the action of the big battle between Port Melbourne and Coburg. Join the team of myself, Nick Nikolovski, Chris Weaver, Tristan Foenander, Phil "Tiger" Pearce and Kain Pollard on radio on 97.7FM, or via the web on www.3ser.org.au as we ensure all your VFL action is covered.