The Cougars are closing the gap but the Doggiees scrape by in a thriller to clinch the 2018 Terry Anderson Shield at the HCC.
With a slight easterly breeze giving a three-goal advantage the Bulldogs were the first to make use of it with last game veteran Cougar and former Bulldog David Hume losing the toss but Dogs skipper Dean Cameron electing to kick with the breeze.
The action for the first five minutes was end to end with no team getting an advantage. The defences held strong and switched wings many times to find a new area to attack. Eventually, the Dogs made use of the breeze and slotted a few goals through. But the Cougars were up to the task and with good use of the ball through the middle from Rhodesy off half-back and Cargill and Swift they hit Mavor and Leckie up front and scored a couple of handy goals going into the qtr time break.
Cougars have the WIND.
Second quarter start went BOOM with a good Cougars tap to a running Edy who launched from 55m out and the wind did the rest sailing the ball clean through the big sticks. The Dogs sorted their middle out with Wazza, Grand-pa and Stoat making good use of their dominant ruck man smashing the ball forward. And kicking forward into attack. But as it was Humey’s last game he was having a blinder and seemed to cut off all the attacks to send Cougars back downtown. As the scores were levelling up the tension was getting feisty and the close tagging by Dan on Dan saw it boil over and Bulldog Dan got caught retaliating with a high elbow which resulted in a down field kick which set the Cougars up to level the scores at the big break.
The Nat Nat Show
The Nathan and Nathan show carried on from last time these two teams met and the talented Aussies were never far from each other but when they did get away their aerial marking and accurate kicking deep in the attack was a joy to watch. Nathan Cougar pushed Nathan Dog at one point into the umpire quite hard and a free kick was awarded to the Cougars for unnecessary contact. It was only apparent later what had happened but the Cougars were running away laughing. Keep an eye on these two champs for the next round as they continue there duel.
He’s no sure bet 30m straight in front but Young Tommy Turner but can slot them from the boundary-bending them back into the wind which kept the Cougars alive into the wind for the third quarter. And solid forward Andrew Leckie was a good target and straight finisher most of the time. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs combination of Sully and Stevie were potent with the wind Sully was taking some strong marks and slotting truly as well and Stevie’s long efforts from 50 worked out even.
RICHIE goes BANG !
The coaches are wising up to this breeze blowing straight down the guts and often stack their defensive line. This didn’t worry Richard Wiliams in the last quarter when he took a free kick from an out of bounds on the full on the 50 line and the kick just went and went and just skimmed over the top of outstretched hands, bounced once through for a goal to even up the scores in the dying minutes – but for the pleads of the opposition the goal umpire and field umpire discussed the decision but the goal ump was adamant no one had touched it. Controversy - the scores were even - though the scoreboard read 1 point to the Bulldogs at the time. A minute later when Bulldog Wazza was awarded a free kick for high contact in front of goal he didn’t know the scores were even and his tired legs couldn’t muster the energy to keep it straight and it sprayed through luckily for 1 point.
Other highlights from the game was a magnificent rushed defensive spiral that ended up going 70 m with the wind from one of the Bulldogs and a Spectacular mark on the wing, getting a good ride on the shoulders by Stoat. There is one more round-robin game between these two brilliant teams – which Coach Mintern will be hoping to pull the monkey off their back after 6 years.
by Steve Langridge
Last Modified on 08/12/2020 20:17