THE NORTHERN Bullants overcame windy conditions to defeat Geelong by seven points in their round 18 clash at NAB Oval on Saturday.
The win sees the Bullants knocking on the door of the top four, with the third and fourth-placed Port Melbourne and Box Hill Hawks just one game above them. The Bullants are also one game clear from the sixth and seventh-placed Casey Scorpions and Geelong.
Bullants coach David Teague discusses the match and how some of the Carlton-listed players performed throughout the afternoon.
We had a win in very trying conditions against Geelong. There was a breeze blowing straight down the ground, and there were three or four points scored to one end of the field and the rest scored at the other end.
We didn't make the most of our opportunities, which is why we kicked 9.23, but they were very tough conditions to kick goals in.
A lot of those points were from set shots, where you would back the players in more often than not, but in those conditions we just couldn't capitalise.
Our defenders did a great job all day, probably more so in the first and third quarters. Even though Geelong scored, they were great in limiting their score.
Robbie Warnock took another step forward. It wasn't a world-beating game, but it was an improvement, which is what we're after. He's slowly getting better with each game, and I thought him and Sam Jacobs more than competed in the ruck.
Robbie is playing a tad over a half now. He and Sam rotated off the bench, and they make their own rotations. He's not playing full games yet, and with the amount of time off he's had, he probably won't.
We'll start using him a little bit forward as well as in the ruck to increase his game time, but I daresay it won't be over 60 per cent next week.
With Shaun Hampson going down, Cam Cloke went into the seniors last week and played quite well. Robbie's selection will depend on what Carlton want in the ruck and as a forward option, and how they match up against Melbourne.
I'll be pretty happy with either Cameron or Robbie or Sammy. They've all been playing well for us as our big men.
Joe Anderson was our best. He came back into the seniors after a couple of weeks out with a hamstring. He had 19 handballs, which was a lot, but in those conditions against the breeze he ran the ball really well and defended first and took the game on.
Steven Browne and Chris Johnson were two of the other small defenders that combined with Joe to link up and use the ball efficiently.
Mark Austin was another defender who played well. He had the job on James Podsiadly, who is probably the best forward in the competition. He tackled Podsiadly and he hurt his knee, so Austin had to rotate on to a few other players and did a really good job.
Adam Hartlett was good too. He and Mark both defended the high ball well and the opposition only had three marks inside the forward 50, which is a credit to all our defenders. He also kicked two great goals in the last quarter when we moved him to a wing, as he could kick the ball over their numbers, which was really pleasing.
Chris Yarran had to go over to Adelaide at the last minute so he only played half the game. In that half, he had four shots at goal, kicked two, and had four tackles. It was his best performance for the team all year.
Brad Fisher was solid. It was a tough day for tall forwards in those windy conditions, but he still had five shots on goal. He only finished with one but he worked hard and went behind the ball at times to give us some cover down there as well.
Shaun Grigg played in the midfield and started the game really well before we moved him onto Ryan Gamble, who was getting a bit of the ball. We asked Shaun to play an accountable role on Gamble, and he did that well.
Next week we've got Coburg, which is like a local derby. It's their last game for the year and they've got some quality players in Troy Simmonds, Jay Schulz, Adam Pattison and Cleve Hughes.
They've got some senior experience down there so it's going to be a tough game.
Northern Bullants 0.1 5.14 5.16 9.23 (77)
Geelong 4.8 4.9 9.16 9.16 (70)
NORTHERN BULLANTS
Goalkickers: A. Hartlett 2, C. Yarran 2, S. Jacobs, B. Fisher, J. Saddington, R. Warnock, D. Pfeiffer
Best: J. Anderson, S. Browne, R. Warnock, C. Johnson, M. Austin, C. Yarran
GEELONG
Goalkickers: B. Moles 3, T. West 2, B. Raidme, J. Laidler, T. Hunt, F. Priest
Best: T. West, B. Moles, M. Firman, J. Hollmer, C. Tutungi, J. Sheringham
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
