Australian Football

AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game

 

Central District vs West Adelaide

Scoreboard | Match report

Round: 5   Venue: Elizabeth Oval   Date: Sat, 06-05-2023 2:10 pm   Crowd: 1,283  
Central District 4.3.276.5.418.10.588.12.60  
West Adelaide 1.0.62.4.162.6.187.7.49  
  CENT by 21CENT by 25CENT by 40CENT by 11  

Match Report

Match number three for the Saturday arvo now sends us to the other extreme end of the Adelaide metro, to the X-Convenience Oval in Elizabeth where the Bulldogs faced the Bloods. The Bulldogs took out both games against the Bloods last season, starting with a 20-point win in Round 2 at the Ponderosa and then a 29-point victory at Richmond in Round 14. The early season match was one the Bloods allowed to slip in inexplicable fashion, letting a seven-kick half-time lead slip away little by little as the Dogs kicked 11 goals to two in the second half. At Milner Road, the Dogs overcame an inaccurate opening term to put the game out of Westies' reach, the home side's final term inaccuracy not helping much. The Dogs hung tough with the Blues last week but didn't leave Unley with the points, while the Bloods' first half allowed the Magpies to escape their grasp. They were outdone in the first half, but their second half was far more encouraging. Early on however, it seemed the same habits from their trip to Loxton were still biting as the Bulldogs sprung to a 21-point quarter-time lead after scoring 4.3 to the Bloods' single major. West had a bit more of it in the second term, but inaccuracy on goal was proving a problem. They had every chance to reel it in, but a return of 1.4 to the Bulldogs' 2.2 saw the gap creep out to 25 points going into the long break. One thing that the Bloods were getting a lot of was the umpires' favour, by game's end they would have more than double the amount of free kicks. Their issue was their use of the ball in attack. The home side was about to have a turn with the goal-kicking yips when play resumed, the Bulldogs blowing several big chances to bury the Bloods in that third term. The gap could have been as much as 11 goals, but Centrals' tally of 2.5 to the Bloods' two behinds put it at 40 points going into the final term. Surely the Dogs, who held well against the Blues and down the Crows couldn't blow this, right? Well, no... they didn't. But their final term likely had many a Centrals fan a bit underwhelmed. The visitors went on the assault in a last ditch attempt to nick it, keeping the Dogs to just two behinds. But the score of 5.1 wasn't going to be enough as the Dogs held on for an 11-point win. Billy McCormack was the Dogs' best on ground with 20 disposals, seven marks and five tackles. For the Bloods, their standout was Hamish Ellem, with 24 disposals, nine marks and five tackles.

Source

Match Report by RA Boyle

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.