News Hit

After some tipping success last week, columnist Doug Nelson offers his summation as to what may transpire on Saturday evening in the final of the NAB CUP.

While the Saints defeated Fremantle easily on Saturday night, the Bulldogs just scraped home against Port Adelaide thanks largely to a  Barry Hall mark and a straight kick from Brian Lake with 2 minutes remaining on the clock.

The Western Bulldogs won 1.11.17 (92) to 1.12.8 (89) to advance to their fifth pre-season grand final since the format began in 1956. Despite the fact the Dogs went in as clear favourites, Port Adelaide bounced out of the blocks strongly and were well ahead in the opening term before Hall responded with one of his own. After  kicking only a solitary goal in the first quarter, the Bulldogs turned up the heat in the second quarter with Adam Cooney and Jason Akermanis kicking an imperial left foot goal on the run, reminiscent of his golden days with Brisbane. After having an inconsistent  few years, Robert Murphy has been prominent in the NAB cup and was one of the better players on the ground. While he made some errors, he managed to rack up the ball and deliver efficiently to Bulldog forwards.

After looking like they would fade as the game went on, the Power proved resilient as Robbie Gray stepped up, gathering the footy in the midfield and dominating up forward where his three goals kept Port in the game. Other notable players for the visitors were Kane Cornes and Daniel Stewart whose four goals were instrumental in getting them level with the Bulldogs by three quarter time. In the last quarter the game ebbed and flowed before Hall ensured the Dogs would have a shot at goal to get back in front with only minutes remaining. In what he described as a “brain explosion”, he handballed to Brian Lake who was standing motionless next to him. Despite this critical error, Lake was able to stand tall and deliver a goal unblanced, to secure victory for the dogs.  

The Dogs opponents in the NAB cup grand final this week will be St. Kilda who found their match against Fremantle a routine affair, moving up a gear when needed to win comfortably by 70 points. After the match looked like it may not go ahead due to the brutal hail storm that occurred in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon, the Saints started well in the delayed match with Steven Milne looking dangerous and at times mercurial as he finished with four goals. Clint Jones was a ball magnet and although he is usually the tagger for St. Kilda, he did much more than that with a best on ground performance. While Fremantle narrowed the margin to just three goals after half time, the Saints responded sharply with goals from Schneider and Stanley and supergoals from Geary and Jason Gram, who also finished with two goals.

The only sour point for the Saints was a calf strain to Lenny Hayes who will be rested for this week’s grand final. The Saints ($1.94) are favourites over the Dogs ($2.02) with the bookies expecting a tight match. The Dogs have won all four times when they have contested the pre season final.

DOUGIE’S NAB CUP FINAL TIP

Saturday March 13

Western Bulldogs V St. Kilda at Etihad

Incredibly hard to tip, I would have to take the Saints narrowly who were particularly good versus Fremantle last week, but with Hayes injured the Dogs could provide a slight upset.