Australian Football

Match Report

Friday of the long weekend took us up north to the My Money House Oval in Elizabeth for the Friday arvo Northern Derby between the Bulldogs and the Roosters. 2015 was a year to forget for the luckless Roosters, a wooden spoon 10th place finish. But for the Bulldogs, while they spent over 90% of last season in the bottom five, they broke into the top half at just the right time. After a victory against the Panthers at Noarlunga in the final round, they found themselves playing finals and made it as far as the Preliminary Final where they fell to the Bloods. Despite that, their victories against the two 2015 Grand Finalists took all SA footy-heads by surprise and perhaps giving Dogs fans something to look forward to.

The Roosters seemed to dominate the opening minutes, holding the ball deep in defence for several minutes but only managed 2.5 while the Bulldogs finished the term truly the dominant outfit with their 5.2. But the Dogs were only just getting started, despite their own shooting letting them down in the second term they would break away to a 43-point lead at the long break after kicking 5.6 to North's lowly 1.2. The punishment just kept coming for the Roosters, the Bulldogs would add a further 6.1 to 2.2 when play resumed for the second half. At three quarter-time, the home side would be out to an 11-goal lead. New coach Josh Carr obviously has some sleepless nights coming after this match, the Dogs sending him and his charges packing back to Prospect less a few feathers as they finished the match by slamming home 8.1 to 1.2, Centrals taking a 107-point win to start their season.

Travis Schiller was named best on ground for the Dogs, Max Thring took best afield votes for North.