Australian Football

Match Report

Other than last season, Good Friday footy also means its Northern Derby time so its off to the X-Convenience Oval in Elizabeth where the Bulldogs took on the Roosters. Last year, the Roosters took all the points on offer from their two games in the COVID-hit 2020 season. In their last game in Round 12, the Roosters relaxed it a little too much at Prospect, winning by 32 points in the end but should have probably have won by a lot more. At Elizabeth, the Roosters were behind the eight-ball early on before kicking nine goals to three in the second half for their five-goal win in Round 5. Some soul searching was done by the Bulldogs in the aftermath of 2020 and Bulldogs favourite son Paul Thomas would end up being appointed to his first senior coaching gig. North would end up with more outs than ins, on the plus side they did get former Power player Aaron Young. 

Despite the warm conditions, the opening term was a spectacle with the Doggies finishing the quarter with a pair of majors to put themselves ahead going into the first change. They scored 6.1 to the Roosters' four goals without a miss to lead by 13 points at quarter-time. Some missed opportunities on goal in the second term stopped the Roosters from usurping the lead by the break, the Dogs still up by 11 points at half-time after scoring 5.1 to 5.3. Thomas put a quartet of young blood into the league side this day and mixing with the experienced brigade paid dividends. Although the Dogs found the big sticks hard to find in the third quarter, they still won the territory war and most of the term was spent in their attacking half. The home side took their advantage to 15 points by the final change, scoring 2.5 to North's 2.1. The visitors pushed a bit harder in the final term, but Centrals soaked it up. North kicked 3.2, but the Dogs' 2.2 was enough for them to secure a nine-point win and begin their season in fine fashion. 

Justin Hoskin was named best afield with his four goals and 20 disposals, the Roosters would vote in Jarrad Allmond as their best with 31 disposals and six marks.