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No great illusions

By Robbo April 27, 2007
From Ballarat Courier

NORTH Ballarat coach Gerard FitzGerald has no illusions about Sunday's assignment against Geelong in the Victorian Football League at Skilled Stadium in Geelong.
FitzGerald says the Cats are the form team in the VFL.

North Ballarat and Geelong each have two wins in three games.

However, FitzGerald quickly points to the make-up of Geelong. With virtually an injury-free list at Skilled Stadium, the Cats will field a combination almost exclusively featuring AFL players.

The Selkirk Roosters will run square into the likes of ruckman Steve King, key forward Brad Ottens and Steve Johnson, who, bar a pre-season misdemeanor, would be playing in the AFL.

Ottens is still a chance to be promoted, having been named on an extended interchange with Brent Prismall, Joel Selwood, Travis Varcoe, Shannon Byrnes and Kane Tenace for Geelong's AFL line-up to play the Kangaroos on Sunday.

Changes made to lift defence

By Robbo April 27, 2007
From The Mercury
Reported by Brett Stubbs

THE Devils are looking to shore up their defence after conceding at least 30 scoring shots in their past two losing games.

Key defenders Tom Collier and Gregg Sharman have been brought back into the teams, just two of nine new names in the 27-man squad to play Frankston tomorrow night under lights at Aurora Stadium.

Other significant inclusions include former Collingwood player Luke Shackleton, Kangaroos-listed Ben Ross after recovering from a shoulder injury, and Sam Whish-Wilson, who has served his one-match suspension for breaking team rules.

But co-captain Brett Geappen and veteran defender Ben Careless both have to pass fitness tests at training tonight to take their place in the team.

Kingborough's Jason Howard is expected to miss just the one week with bruised ribs, inside midfielder Leigh Adams has been promoted to the Kangaroos AFL team from their rookie list and Brody Johnson and Darren Crawford have been dropped.

Tiger cubs learning fast

By Robbo April 26, 2007
From Herald Sun
Reported by Geoff Poulter

RICHMOND is going through hard times, but the Tigers' VFL affiliate Coburg continues to throw up selection options among its lively youngsters.

Yesterday it was Dean Polo's turn to impress in Coburg's 73-point win, 20.9 (129) to 7.14 (56), against the Box Hill Hawks at Box Hill City Oval in the first of the Round 4 fixtures.
Polo was prominent in defence and won the Gibbs-Lines Medal for best-on-ground.

Danny Meyer (four goals), Jack Riewoldt (three goals) and Matt White all look capable of coping with promotion to AFL level, while Kelvin Moore and Cameron Howat also stood out yesterday.

Polo played for the Tigers on Friday night against the Western Bulldogs and was dropped to try to gain some hard match conditioning.

"I think Deano just wanted a really good four-quarter game," Coburg coach Andrew Collins said.

"He's been on and off the bench and I think (Richmond coach) Terry (Wallace) just wanted to get some miles into his legs and he was very classy today."

Riewoldt, who resembles Mark Harvey and plays with Dermott Brereton-like flair, is gradually picking up the tempo. He doesn't turn 19 until October 31.

VFL Anzac Day Game Teams

By Robbo April 24, 2007
TRUenergy VFL Teams - Round 4 Anzac Day

Box Hill Hawks vs. Coburg Tigers
Wednesday 25th April
Box Hill City Oval at 2.08pm

Box Hill Hawks

B Height Dawson Murphy
HB Hunter Dowler Thurgood
C Allan Ball Eva
HF Gibson N. Smith Muston
F Morton Little Barker
R McEntee Kennedy Moss
Int Hill Cook King
 Markovic Bull O'Sullivan
 Renouf Daniher Hassett
 Buchanan Holmes Shore

Coburg Tigers

B Oakley-Nicholls Robertson Hughes
HB Neville Silvester Casserly
C White Simpson Meyer
HF Mullins Riewoldt Moore
F Jackson Pattison Anderson
R Ronaldson Sewell Howat
Int Horne Foster Rayson
 Morgan F. Caruso Graham
 Carnell Dowd Shelton
 Polo Connors Hill


Rivals Box Hill Hawks and Coburg Tigers square off tomorrow in what shapes as an epic TRUenergy VFL Anzac Day encounter at Box Hill City Oval.

Captains Kristian Height and Travis Ronaldson will lead their charges into battle for the Anzac Day Cup in front of an expected crowd of more than 3,000 people.

Among the young guns expected to line-up for the Tigers are Jack Riewoldt, who has kicked seven goals from three rounds, Adam Pattison, Cam Howatt and Danny Meyer. Full back Zac Dawson, forward Beau Muston and Beau Dowler could turn out for the Hawks.

Radio 3XX 1611AM VFL Coverage

By Robbo April 24, 2007
                                 

A NEW RADIO STATION HAS BEGAN COVERAGE OF THE TRUENERGY VFL FOR 2007.

Radio 3XX which is at 1611 on the AM band began its VFL coverage last Saturday with coverage of the Geelong vs Frankston game at Skilled Stadium,Geelong.

Round 4 Coverage
Saturday April 28   Northern Bullants vs Werribee at NAB Oval,Preston
Coverage from 1pm
Sunday April 29 Geelong vs North Ballarat at Skilled Stadium,Geelong (AFL Curtain Raiser)
Coverage from 10:30am (to be confirmed)

For more info or a live internet feed of the coverage go to www.doublex.com.au

Bombers beaten in Rama's return

By Robbo April 23, 2007
From Bendigo Advertiser

ADAM Ramanauskas yesterday made an emotional return to football after more than two years out of the game, but the Metricon Bendigo Bombers could not welcome him back with a win.

The Bombers were beaten 15.12 (102) to 14.11 (95) by reigning VFL premier Sandringham in the round three encounter at Windy Hill.

But it was the long-awaited return of Ramanauskas that will be the talking point out of the game.

It was Ramanauskas' first game since April 10, 2005, with the 26-year-old enduring a recurrence of cancer in his neck and a serious knee injury in the past two years.

A crowd of 2500 people gave Ramanauskas – now on Essendon's rookie list – a stirring ovation as he ran on to the ground.

He started on the bench, but was into the action 14 minutes into the first quarter.

Ramanauskas went on to collect 12 possessions and laid four tackles, and showed all his traits of calmness under pressure in an encouraging return by the 2000 Essendon premiership player.

"It was a huge story of everything he has gone through to come back and play," Bombers general manager Matthew Allan said.

"We will take a lot from it and we're pretty proud of the way Rama went about it.

"A lot of our guys in their first year were pretty lucky to play with Rama today, it's just disappointing we couldn't get a win for him."

After an even first quarter in which scores were level at 3.3 (21) apiece, the Zebras began to take control in the second term to open up an 18-point lead at half-time.

Cartledge stands tall for Roosters

By Robbo April 23, 2007
From Ballarat Courier

TRISTAN Cartledge demonstrated why he was North Ballarat's number one recruiting priority this season by shaping a 29-point win over Tasmania in the Victorian Football League in Ballarat yesterday.

Cartledge stood tall as a ruckman and key forward as the Selkirk Roosters overpowered the fellow Kangaroos-aligned Devils.

Cartledge capped off his day's work with four goals and it could easily have been more but for some wayward shots from close range late.

His presence alone near goal was enough to unsettle Tasmania in the 18.12 (120) to 12.13 (91) victory, with the Devils unable to match his height and physical strength.

When he was not kicking goals, he was creating opportunities for the likes of first-year player Robert Gregg (three goals) and Stevie Dinnell (four) by drawing the attention of the Tasmania defence.

Dinnell was at his opportunist best, while the strongly built Gregg provided an example of how dangerous he is inside the 50-metre forward arc.

Cartledge began the day in the ruck, with the former Essendon big man helping provide the early impetus with Eddie Sansbury, Djaran Whyman, the explosive Jacob Spolding and Michael Searl before Tasmania hauled the Roosters back in.

Devils cave in again

By Robbo April 23, 2007
From The Mercury
Reported by Paul Malarski

THE Tasmanian Devils again fell victim to the dreaded fourth-quarter fadeout as they slumped to an 18.12 (120) to 13.13 (91) loss to North Ballarat in the VFL at Ballarat yesterday.

Leading by a point at three-quarter time the Devils could only manage two goals in the final quarter, while North Ballarat rattled on seven.

It came a week after the Devils were buried by an 11-goal final quarter Geelong avalanche at Bellerive.

And it was the first time North Ballarat had scored more than 100 points in their 12 meetings with Tasmania.

Devils coach Daryn Cresswell was at a loss for a reason for his side's inability to snatch victory when it was there for the taking.

"It's the third time it's happened this season," Cresswell said.

"It's a real concern and something we have to look at.

"I'm not sure if it is a fitness or a mental thing. We just didn't give a yell when we needed to," he said.

Cresswell admitted his defence was another problem area.

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