Australian Football

Match Report

Now its onto the second half of the split round, with the single Saturday afternoon match taking place at the My Money House Oval in Elizabeth where the Bulldogs hosted the Redlegs. The return of the Bulldogs to the night football scene was a nightmare, the Redlegs inflicting a 15-goal routing at The Parade back in Round 8. This was when the Redlegs machine was truly kicking in, their fourth win on the trot among the 11 straight victories that ensued culminating in last week's 34-point win against the second-placed Eagles. The Dogs were brought down to earth with a thud against Sturt, their finals chances practically done and dusted. 

Early on the Bulldogs actually gave the Redlegs some grief, down by just one goal at quarter-time after scoring 1.2 to 2.2, suggesting that maybe they could put a spanner in their finals works. That was soon put to bed, the Redlegs taking their lead out to 26 points by the half-time break after scoring 5.4 to 2.2 in the second term. The Bulldogs would continue to give the Redlegs some headaches, but not where it would matter the most... the scoreboard. Despite having a lot of the ball, their decision making was poor upon entering their attacking 50 and the 'Legs would be able to rebound. So even though Norwood wouldn't score a heck of a lot from half-time onwards, the Dogs wouldn't make much of an impact for there to be any bother. The gap crept out to six goals by three quarter-time, Centrals only managing one goal to the Redlegs' 2.4 in the third term. A 12th victory was pretty much assured from here, Norwood finishing off with a 3.3 to 2.1 final term to take a 44-point win. 

Bradley McKenzie was named best for the Redlegs, the Bulldogs named Luke Habel as their best on ground.