The Northern Knights have gone down to cross town rivals the Calder Cannons on a wet and miserable day. The Cannons led at every change to take out a 23 point win and heat up the ‘race’ for the wooden spoon.
The Knights were up and about for the first few minutes of the game and shot out to an eight point lead, however they didn’t trouble to scoreboard for the rest of the quarter as the Cannons went into quarter time with a 15 point lead. For a wet day with plenty of contested football to be had the Knights were exerting very little tackling pressure and allowing the Cannons too much time in disputed ball situations.
The Knights shifted All Australian Michael Hurley from the back line to the forward line with immediate success as he goaled from 50m out. The Cannons still had the better of the term and slightly extended their lead.
Steven Kelly was playing like a man possessed, laying seven tackles in the first half. Disappointingly the rest of the team had only combined for 19 more tackles, which illustrates the physical pressure that the Knights were lacking.
When Lucas Hobbs and Hurley kicked successive goals to open the third term the Knights were on the charge and back within 10 points. Hurley and Michael Still were providing a contest but the Knights were not getting small players to the front of marking contests to pick up the crumbs, allowing Calder to rebound easily.
The final quarter saw the Cannons pick up their pace, however the big story of the term was a couple of untimely injuries to key Knights players Hurley and Tom Hill.
Hurley received a knock on the top of the head in a contest and was stretchered off after complaining of neck pains. He was taken to hospital for scans, which thankfully cleared him of damage to the neck and brain. Hill also received a knock to the head and was concussed as a result and unable to take further part in the game.
Calder opened up a 35 point lead before Hobbs and Matt Dornauf each added their second goal of the game to bring the final margin back to 23 points.
Knights Coach Paul Satterley was supremely disappointed with the effort from his side, particularly in relation to tackling pressure. “We laid 10 tackles in the first quarter. The week before against Geelong we laid 24 on a bigger ground in similar conditions. We were very poor in that area of our game, which we’ve been great at for most of the year.
“We said this was going to be a true test of our improvement to see how far we’ve come. We’ve looked quite good against Dandenong and Geelong, where we could’ve won the game against top sides. Clearly the bottom side on the ladder you give yourself every chance. They just wanted it more and worked harder than us.”
Calder Cannons 10.10.70 def. Northern Knights 7.5.47
Goals: Dornauf 2, Hurley 2, Hobbs
2, Walsh
Best: Kelly, Hurley, Dornauf, Still, Hobbs, Boyden
Last Modified on 28/07/2008 11:38
