Bulldogs Spurt Wins Game
By Robert Laidlaw

Round 13, 1/7/2006

Central District played 12 minutes of exceptional football through the second quarter, where it kicked four goals, to lay the foundation of the Bulldogs hard-fought eight-point victory over a courageous West Adelaide at Elizabeth last Saturday.

In conditions more suitable for nuggetty players, Central looked too top-heavy, which could have led to a shock loss, but the efforts of several individual players ensured the Dogs got over the line.

Matthew Slade came back from a quiet match the previous week to assert his authority in a game tailor-made for his style, and in the end his continuous burrowing in proved the major difference between the sides, with good support from Chris Gowans, Luke McCabe and Chad O’Sullivan at the ball-ups.

Although talls were never going to have an impact on the game with their marking strength, several bigger Dogs stood out in unaccustomed roles, including Jason Mackenzie and Daniel Schell.

Mackenzie went back and played a solid defensive game while Schell roamed far and wide to play a good linking role, and youngster Justin Westhoff also had an impact in the second half in support.

The first term had shades of the 2000 grand final, as neither side could kick a goal and West led 0.5 to 0.2 at the first break. The Bloods actually looked more desperate than their more fancied opponent, but wasted several relatively easy shots on goal.

Continuing on in the early stages of the second quarter, West dominated the first 10 minutes, kicking 2.2 to grab what seemed a match-winning 17 point advantage, but then the Bulldog machine got into gear.

Slade took a mark outside 50m, played on and set sail to score Central’s first major at the 12 minute mark, which acted as a spark for the Dogs, and the tide started to change.

Two goals in less than a minute reversed all the momentum, when after Chad Norsworthy cleverly passed to Schell, who converted from 30m, a series of handballs from Schell and Norsworthy released O’Sullivan for another.

The icing on the cake for this solid period for the Dogs came at the 23 minute mark, when Schell kicked long into open space for Quinton Graham to run onto the ball, and although his opponent beat him to the footy, he over-ran it, allowing Graham to sneak a soccer kick to put Central up at half time by six points.

Straight from the ball-up of the second half, the footy was forced forward, where Slade soccered through a goal 23 seconds in, and it looked like the Bulldogs were preparing to pick up some percentage.

But Westies had come to play, and over the next
25 minutes, the game became an arm-wrestle, with the Bloods scoring the only major up until first-gamer Alex Stengle snapped the goal of the game from the pocket for the Dogs. Then Luke McCabe converted a free kick to see Central lead by 21 points at lemons.

With the game apparently safely tucked away, the Bulldogs appeared to take the foot off the accelerator in the last term, which it was made to pay dearly for, as West kicked two goals in the first 13 minutes to close the gap to only nine points. Three further behinds saw the margin reduced to just one straight kick.

The final 17 minutes of the game was excruciating – almost a 35 minute quarter with only two goals was amazing – as two rushed behinds gave the Dogs some breathing space and they held on to win by eight points.

Richard Cochrane and Brad Currie weren't picked because of injury, and James Gowans withdrew from the selected side. When Quinton Graham took no part in the second half of the game, it left Central slightly undermanned, but to its credit, West Adelaide did play well.

This week the Bulldogs face a huge test against Woodville-West Torrens at Woodville Oval. With the Eagles having the bye last weekend, perhaps Central’s experience on a wet track last Saturday will hold it in good stead. This game could be a preview of the grand final and should be close.

Scores: Central District 7.8 (50) d West Adelaide 5-12 (42)
Best: Slade, Schell, C. Gowans, McCabe, Mackenzie, Wilson, J. Westhoff, S. Cochrane.
Goals: Slade 2, Schell, O'Sullivan, Graham, Stengle, McCabe.