Sam Reid made the most of a surprise opportunity to press his AFL finals selection claims with a powerful homecoming at the Gabba on Saturday night.
The 19-year-old Sunshine Coaster played his third AFL game for the Western Bulldogs against the Brisbane Lions as a late replacement for Ryan Griffin. And he made it count.
Playing across half forward, with an occasional run through the midfield, Reid had 15 possessions, including nine contested possessions, and kicked his first AFL goal.
He didn’t look out of place at the elite level, and although Dogs coach Rodney Eade has Griffin, Daniel Cross, Shaun Higgins and Daniel Giansiracusa missing from his best side, Reid’s showing would have been the brainstrust renewed confidence in him.
Reid’s robust effort earned him the Queensland AFL Player of the Week award for Round 20, when 26 Queenslanders were on show. This was down one on Round 19 after Shaun Hampson was a late withdrawal from the Carlton side, joining Melbourne’s Rohan Bail on the injury list. Melbourne’s Jake Spencer and Hawthorn’s Brendan Whitecross were omitted as St.Kida’s Nick Riewoldt and Sam Gilbert returned from injury, and Reid was a late inclusion.
And there were plenty of Queenslanders to impress in the run to the finals.
Collingwood’s Dayne Beams had 30 possessions for the first time and kicked a goal to rank among the Magpies best in their 93-point win over Richmond. He also had seven marks, and five contested possessions. Luke McGuane had 12 possessions for the Tigers.
The Bulldogs’ Jarrod Harbrow also posed a career-best 31 possessions in their 18-point Gabba win over the Lions. Teammate Mitch Hahn posted a season-high 21 possessions to go with 12 marks and a goal, while Jason Akermanis had 18 touches and two goals against his former side, Ben Hudson picked up 16 possessions (9 contested possessions) and 19 hit-outs, and Tom Williams 12 possessions.
Josh Drummond kicked a career-best three goals to go with 18 possessions to be among the best in a beaten Lions side. Cheynee Stiller had 19 possessions, Joel Macdonald 17 possessions, Daniel Merrett 13 possessions and Scott Harding 10 possessions.
Jesse White was a strong contributor in Sydney’s five-point loss to Geelong, grabbing eight marks to go with nine possessions and a goal, while Daniel Pratt had 24 possessions and Gavin Urquhart 12 possessions in North Melbourne’s loss to West Coast.
Kurt Tippett had 10 possessions, seven hit-outs and kicked a goal in Adelaide’s win over Hawthorn, for whom Brent Renouf had seven possessions, 16 hit-outs and seven tackles, and Michael Osborne picked up 10 possessions.
St.Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, who missed a 35m angled shot for goal after the siren that could have prevented his side’s first loss of the season to Essendon, finished with 16 possessions, 11 marks and two goals. David Armitage kicked two goals from seven possessions, Sam Gilbert had 13 possessions and Max Hudghton six possessions. Courtenay Dempsey had 11 possessions for Essendon before suffering an untimely hamstring injury.
Last Modified on 25/08/2009 16:20