Bendigo Pounded By Port

Bendigo were handed a football lesson as they went down to Port Melbourne by 85 points in their televised VFL Round 13 clash at TEAC Oval on Saturday afternoon.

After a close first half, Port ran away with the game in the second half kicking 15 goals to 1.

Compounding the loss on the scoreboard, the Bombers also lost Courtney Johns to a serious knee injury, which will put his AFL career in serious doubt.

Match Report by yaco55
I attended the game today ( first game in 6 years ) after arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday night.

Port is obviously a slick team with good skills but they do tend travel too wide at times.

Bendigo was a long way deficient in skills but had an excellent first half with tacking pressure and winning the contested ball.

Port’s ability to run through the lines and hit targets became more apparent in the second half.

I spent the time behind the interchange bench and got a good idea about the pre planning of player rotations, as well as having chats with the boundary Rider Phil Cleary.

Essendon Listed Players

Pears; An average game. He started on the bench and played most of the game down back. He got cut up by Bonadio in the last quarter when Michael went off injured. His decision making and skills weren’t up to his usual standard.
Johns; Struggled to have an influence in the fast half and injured his knee before half time. It is probably an ACL.
Williams; Improved as the game progressed but seems to lack awareness of the game and his skills need to improve
Hooker; Struggled to have any impact on the game and cant kick on his non preferred side.
Hislop; Solid performer all day. He is excellent at winning the contested ball and extracting the ball from packs.
Atkinson; Was probably the best Essendon listed player. Has good speed, reads the play well and solid skills but terrible decision making skills.
Chartres; A solid game but isn’t AFL standard.
Bellchambers; Ruck work is quite good but struggles to have an impact around the ground. I can see a pronising future when he buids up his body.
Dyson; Played an outstanding second quarter but otherwise struggled. He struggles to win his own ball and can be lazy at times.
Michael; Had a good battle with Bonadio but seemed disinterested at times. Went off at 3/4 time with a chest compliant.
Magin; Very finely built and needs to pack on the kilograms. His reading of the play is good as his skills but he is easily knocked off the ball. I would like him to use his pace more and kick more often.

The talk around was that Port player no 25 Bonadio is a chance to be drafted. IMO no 26 Nahas is a chance to be drafted. He is a bit small but can win his own footy and has above average skills and vision.

Match Report by The Ant
Taj was there too and agree with most of that but.

Hislop was fantastic in the 2nd. The sole reason we got back in it. Played on players bigger than him and never shirked it even taking strong contested marks over them.

Hocking looks good and determinded. Kicked a nice goal in the 3rd and will provide grunt. Is carrying a little and will need amonth but hopefully will get a few games into him.

Skipworth great game seeing this is where he did his knee last year. Sadly too old to draft.

Pears is bigger than I thought and really set for CHB. Can’t wait.

Dyson….jeez Dyson where do I start. He thinks he is better than he is. Every time he got the fall he would stall the hand ball trying to do something clever instead of handballing and sheperding. Just do the simple things well.

Hooker…dunno. Misjudged a couple of marks. I personally didn’t see much in him.

Mal gawn, Johns gawn.

Number 12 not sure who he was but he looked good if he could kick for goal.

Good to see Jobe, Gus, McPhee, Gumby, Hille, Lloydy and Welshy down there watching.

VFL ROUND 13

Port Melbourne 5.4 8.7 15.10 23.12 (150)
Bendigo Bombers 2.2 7.7 8.13 8.17 (65)

GOALS:
Port Melbourne: Bonaddio 6 Nahas 4 McGrath 2 Pinwill 2 Cotchett 2 Cain 2 Dwyer Nixon Dillon McMahon Livingston
Bendigo Bombers: Hartigan 2 Hocking Anderson Johns Bristow Dyson Weeks

BEST:
Port Melbourne: Bonaddio Baird Pinwill Livingston Nahas Dwyer
Bendigo Bombers: Flaherty Skipworth Hislop Hocking Atkinson Williams

Posted 5 July 08 in News Bendigo