David Edwards
NormWeekend Wrap - Back In Business!
June 17th 2007 14:32
Sporting Mind is back! Bigger, bolder and from a new location, we are back in trying to decipher the innermosts secrets and theories that emerge from the exciting world of sport, and what better way to begin again then with the classic weekend wrap!
First of all let’s start with AFL , and despite less games this weekend due to the split round, it has been nonetheless an exciting weekend of football. Geelong cemented their first place on the ladder and ensured that their hard defensive stance against Adelaide last week was not a fluke, pilling heavily on Brisbane in a rain soaked match at Skilled, to win by 50 points 12.13 (85) to 5.5 (35). Brisbane had no answers to the Geelong’s style, and were severly limited in their scoring opportunities, scoring their first goal only in the second half. The Kangaroos have slipped slightly going into their mid-season break, going down to Adelaide at Carrara by 46 points 15.10 (100) to 7.12 (54). The Crows were able to start on the right foot in the first quarter, outkicking the Kangaroos five goals to one, and never looked like they were going to lose their lead. The Kangaroos tried to fight valiantly in the second half of the match, and despite the brilliant efforts of Harvey and the hard work of ruckman McIntosh, they were never able to get into the right tempo to fight against the deficit.
Up north, The Western Bulldogs were able to oust the Fremantle Dockers in an action packed game up in Darwin, winning the game by 26 points, 22.9 (141) to 16.19 (115). It was wild and frantic from the first bounce, as both teams played aggressively to try and grasp a solid lead. The Dockers got the upper hand early, going into the first break up by 13 points, but the Bulldogs were able to fight back in the next two quarters, narrowly taking the lead into the final quarter by a single point. Despite Fremantle’s best efforts, the Bulldogs outscored them seven goals to three in the final term to take the victory. Whilst on Sunday night Tredrea was able to celebrate his 200th game in style as Port Adelaide was able to soundly beat Essendon by 31 points, 19.12 (126) to 13.17 (95). Port were able to start very strongly, kicking three goals in the first eight minutes, and controlled the match from there. Essendon had an impossible mission at three quarter time, behind by 69 points, but were able to fight strongly in the final term to an honorable defeat. Tredrea played skillfully in his 200th match, scoring three goals and being a major factor in a number of others.
On Friday, The Hawks sincerely answered their critics to last week’s performance against the Swans by thrashing the Carlton Blues by a record 100 points at the Telstra Dome, smashing them 27.18 (180) to 12.8 (80). The Hawks controlled the entire match through the midfield, and despite the Blues’ efforts, they were unable to come up with a single answer to the Hawks’ aggressive play. The midfield, lead by Hodge in his 100th game and 23rd birthday, was simply a class better than the Blues, and the young looking forward line with Roughhead, Boyle and Croad were able to stamp their skill in the game, scoring 11 goals between them. The Hawks were simply too good for the Blues, who could only score 9 goals from midway in the first quarter compared to the Hawks 25, and for most of the match seemed like they did not have the sense or even the ability to try and beat a stronger side.
In NRL, the Titans season looked as strong as ever after edging out the firing Tigers by two points, winning the match 14-12. The Tigers, who had a four point lead going into half-time, could not combat former teammate Scott Prince and let him slip a grubber through that gave five-eighth Josh Lewis the try and the Titans the lead in the 50th minute. The game then was up for anyone until the 69th minute, when Tiger’s Shannon McDonnell error just five metres before his line gave the Titans posession and the play to score the match winning try. The Storm have stayed competition leaders, and proved the team to beat after completely demolishing the North Queensland Cowboys at Dairy Farmers Stadium 58-12. The Storm were able to show how strong their side was even with Origin players Dallas Johnson and Brett White out, as they were still able to destroy the Cowboys in the first half. Crossing the try line an unbelievable seven times in the first half alone, they went into the break leading 40-4. Six players scored for the Storm, and whilst the Cowboys scored twice the final three tries to avoid a record loss for the second week running, the Storm were always in upmost control of the game from the start to finish.
The Warriors also returned to the winner’s circle this week after six weeks, downing the Cronulla Sharks 12-2. In a match where the weather was the major factor, the Warriors were able to play a completely defensive game to combat the Sharks, and were leading narrowly up to the 75th when a try by winger Manu Vatuvei sealed the win for the visitors. In other matches, Parramatta were able to edge out the defiant Dragons after a lacklustre 50 minutes, taking the game 20-12. The Roosters were able to lift off the bottom of the ladder after scoring in the last 25 seconds of their match to edge out the Panthers 24-20. And on Friday night, the Broncos notched up a win against the Bulldogs 19-12 to cement their 10th place on the ladder, whilst Manly were able to keep their 2nd place on the ladder of beating the Rabbitohs comfortably 14-2.
In Formula One, the big rookie sensation McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has backed his first pole position and round victory in Canada by qualifying fastest for the US Grand Prix. Hamilton, who is leading the driver championship by eight point in his first year of the circuit and has had a podium finish in every single race, was still trying to comprehend his pole position after believing that teammate Fernando Alonso would be in the first place.
Still in the US, Australian golfer Aaron Baddeley in going into the final day of the US Open in the lead and two shots clear of second placed Tiger Woods. Baddeley shot a second consecutive 70 to lead the pack at 2 over par, stormed to the front after notching up four birdies on the second nine holes. Woods, who carded 69, took outright second on the leaderboard with one day left of play, but was unable to take the lead after poor putting let his round down.
That’s it for yet another weekend, but as we are halfway through the AFL and NRL season we will take a mid-season review of both codes to see if the winners and winning, and the losers are...well you know. Plus we will keep up all the news and issues that emerges throughout the week, as Sporting Mind will be here guaranteed five nights a week, Monday to Friday, including the weekend wrap and the review of all the important codes around the nation in ‘07.
Until next time, sports minds.
First of all let’s start with AFL , and despite less games this weekend due to the split round, it has been nonetheless an exciting weekend of football. Geelong cemented their first place on the ladder and ensured that their hard defensive stance against Adelaide last week was not a fluke, pilling heavily on Brisbane in a rain soaked match at Skilled, to win by 50 points 12.13 (85) to 5.5 (35). Brisbane had no answers to the Geelong’s style, and were severly limited in their scoring opportunities, scoring their first goal only in the second half. The Kangaroos have slipped slightly going into their mid-season break, going down to Adelaide at Carrara by 46 points 15.10 (100) to 7.12 (54). The Crows were able to start on the right foot in the first quarter, outkicking the Kangaroos five goals to one, and never looked like they were going to lose their lead. The Kangaroos tried to fight valiantly in the second half of the match, and despite the brilliant efforts of Harvey and the hard work of ruckman McIntosh, they were never able to get into the right tempo to fight against the deficit.
Up north, The Western Bulldogs were able to oust the Fremantle Dockers in an action packed game up in Darwin, winning the game by 26 points, 22.9 (141) to 16.19 (115). It was wild and frantic from the first bounce, as both teams played aggressively to try and grasp a solid lead. The Dockers got the upper hand early, going into the first break up by 13 points, but the Bulldogs were able to fight back in the next two quarters, narrowly taking the lead into the final quarter by a single point. Despite Fremantle’s best efforts, the Bulldogs outscored them seven goals to three in the final term to take the victory. Whilst on Sunday night Tredrea was able to celebrate his 200th game in style as Port Adelaide was able to soundly beat Essendon by 31 points, 19.12 (126) to 13.17 (95). Port were able to start very strongly, kicking three goals in the first eight minutes, and controlled the match from there. Essendon had an impossible mission at three quarter time, behind by 69 points, but were able to fight strongly in the final term to an honorable defeat. Tredrea played skillfully in his 200th match, scoring three goals and being a major factor in a number of others.
On Friday, The Hawks sincerely answered their critics to last week’s performance against the Swans by thrashing the Carlton Blues by a record 100 points at the Telstra Dome, smashing them 27.18 (180) to 12.8 (80). The Hawks controlled the entire match through the midfield, and despite the Blues’ efforts, they were unable to come up with a single answer to the Hawks’ aggressive play. The midfield, lead by Hodge in his 100th game and 23rd birthday, was simply a class better than the Blues, and the young looking forward line with Roughhead, Boyle and Croad were able to stamp their skill in the game, scoring 11 goals between them. The Hawks were simply too good for the Blues, who could only score 9 goals from midway in the first quarter compared to the Hawks 25, and for most of the match seemed like they did not have the sense or even the ability to try and beat a stronger side.
In NRL, the Titans season looked as strong as ever after edging out the firing Tigers by two points, winning the match 14-12. The Tigers, who had a four point lead going into half-time, could not combat former teammate Scott Prince and let him slip a grubber through that gave five-eighth Josh Lewis the try and the Titans the lead in the 50th minute. The game then was up for anyone until the 69th minute, when Tiger’s Shannon McDonnell error just five metres before his line gave the Titans posession and the play to score the match winning try. The Storm have stayed competition leaders, and proved the team to beat after completely demolishing the North Queensland Cowboys at Dairy Farmers Stadium 58-12. The Storm were able to show how strong their side was even with Origin players Dallas Johnson and Brett White out, as they were still able to destroy the Cowboys in the first half. Crossing the try line an unbelievable seven times in the first half alone, they went into the break leading 40-4. Six players scored for the Storm, and whilst the Cowboys scored twice the final three tries to avoid a record loss for the second week running, the Storm were always in upmost control of the game from the start to finish.
The Warriors also returned to the winner’s circle this week after six weeks, downing the Cronulla Sharks 12-2. In a match where the weather was the major factor, the Warriors were able to play a completely defensive game to combat the Sharks, and were leading narrowly up to the 75th when a try by winger Manu Vatuvei sealed the win for the visitors. In other matches, Parramatta were able to edge out the defiant Dragons after a lacklustre 50 minutes, taking the game 20-12. The Roosters were able to lift off the bottom of the ladder after scoring in the last 25 seconds of their match to edge out the Panthers 24-20. And on Friday night, the Broncos notched up a win against the Bulldogs 19-12 to cement their 10th place on the ladder, whilst Manly were able to keep their 2nd place on the ladder of beating the Rabbitohs comfortably 14-2.
In Formula One, the big rookie sensation McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has backed his first pole position and round victory in Canada by qualifying fastest for the US Grand Prix. Hamilton, who is leading the driver championship by eight point in his first year of the circuit and has had a podium finish in every single race, was still trying to comprehend his pole position after believing that teammate Fernando Alonso would be in the first place.
Still in the US, Australian golfer Aaron Baddeley in going into the final day of the US Open in the lead and two shots clear of second placed Tiger Woods. Baddeley shot a second consecutive 70 to lead the pack at 2 over par, stormed to the front after notching up four birdies on the second nine holes. Woods, who carded 69, took outright second on the leaderboard with one day left of play, but was unable to take the lead after poor putting let his round down.
That’s it for yet another weekend, but as we are halfway through the AFL and NRL season we will take a mid-season review of both codes to see if the winners and winning, and the losers are...well you know. Plus we will keep up all the news and issues that emerges throughout the week, as Sporting Mind will be here guaranteed five nights a week, Monday to Friday, including the weekend wrap and the review of all the important codes around the nation in ‘07.
Until next time, sports minds.
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