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Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Rankine denied match-winning moment as Suns prevail
Gold Coast have equalled their best start to an AFL season, clinging on for a one-point win in a dramatic finish to spoil Adelaide's unbeaten run. The Suns prevailed 13.13 (91) to 14.6 (90) at home on Saturday, with former Sun Izak Rankine controversially denied a mark in the pocket with 90 seconds to play. Two free kicks to the Suns followed before they again repelled the surging Crows, with Mac Andrew and five-goal Crows star Riley Thilthorpe in a heated exchange after the final siren. Taylor Walker also booted four goals for the Crows, who hadn't lost a quarter in their three wins prior to Saturday. The Suns started hot in a see-sawing contest, twice edging 18 points clear before the Crows surged in the second half. Rankine (21 disposals, 10 clearances) was everywhere for the visitors while recruit Daniel Rioli played his best game for the Suns. Jordan Dawson had 31 disposals for the Crows while James Peatling (24) did well to restrict the influence of in-form Suns star Matt Rowell (17 touches). Jed Walter kicked three goals for the Suns while fellow talls Ben King, Ben Long and Will Graham had two each. It's just the second time the Suns have won their first three games of the season, this win coming under pressure in contrast to two lop-sided victories. They started the sweaty midday fixture hot, Rowell busting out of traffic and hitting the post before King and Ethan Reed both marked and goaled from close-range. Darcy Fogarty did the same at the other end while Thilthorpe kept chipping away and was finally rewarded with a goal after the siren. Mac Andrew came within a coat of paint of an audacious long-range effort, from outside 60m off two steps, that hit high up on the goal post. Matt Rowell with a crafty tap to help extend the lead!#AFLSunsCrows — AFL (@AFL) April 5, 2025 Walter snapped from the pocket to steady the Suns but Thilthorpe had the instant reply. Rowell was well held but still found a way to impact, wobbling a left-footed kick to Bailey Humphrey, who kicked straight and help get the Suns within one point at halftime. The hosts again burst out of the blocks, Graham and Long's goals coming from stoic defence from Andrew and Bodhi Uland. They were 18 points clear when Touk Miller scored but again the Crows rallied, finding joy on the counter attack and space in the forward line. Gold Coast looked to have killed off the Crows when they kicked three goals clear again until John Noble's unforced error in the centre of the ground led to Walker kicking his 650th AFL goal from the turnover. Thilthorpe then out-wrestled Sam Collins and kicked his fourth goal to make it a six-point margin. A chaotic sequence finished with Will Graham running into an open goal but Walker slotted his fourth to ensure the contest went down to the wire. The Crows willed the ball forward, Jake Soligo with exquisite skill to find his man and Thilthorpe's fifth coming when the ball's bounce left Collins grasping. Rankine thought he'd created a chance to be the hero. But his pleas went unanswered and the Suns ran the clock down.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Demons respond to Christian Petracca vision as 'dangerous act' sparks AFL uproar
Debate has kicked off around the AFL world over a 'dangerous act' from Melbourne's Bayley Fritsch in Friday night's loss to Geelong that's landed the Demons star in hot water. And Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says he understands the alarming post-game reaction of Christian Petracca after the 12.13 (85) to 6.10 (46) defeat to the Cats, with footage showing the Demons superstar cutting a frustrated and angry figure. Fritsch's mid-air hit on Geelong's Tom Stewart proved a major talking point post-game, with the out-of-sorts Melbourne star seen tunnelling into the back of his opponent when he jumped to take a mark. Stewart came down hard on the turf as the contact from Fritsch took out his legs and resulted in an instant free kick for the Cats. Veteran commentator Gerard Whateley labelled it a 'dangerous' act from Fritsch but suggested it was only worthy of a fine. However, he was concerned that it was a growing trend that had crept into the game, following a similar tunnelling incident involving Essendon's Mason Redman that saw him slapped with a $1000 fine, two weeks ago. 'He'll be writing a cheque for that, but we are edging towards a dangerous moment with tunnelling the way it has been in the early stages of this season," Whateley said on Friday night. "The players (and) the league ought to have a real think about this, and think about when this goes horribly wrong, what it's going to end up looking like before it happens.' Speaking about the incident on Saturday afternoon's coverage, Fox Footy's Jay Clark and Jack Riewoldt also took aim at Fritsch, with the former describing it as the type of act that could leave an opponent 'in a wheelchair'. 'It is the most vulnerable position to be in, when you have your legs taken from under you. And you could tell from the reaction of the player, Tom Stewart was filthy, he was filthy about this,' Riewoldt said on Saturday. 'For me, two to three weeks for that - that is so dangerous, and this is the chance for the AFL to get onto something early, before it festers into someone knocking themselves out from coming down on their neck." While Clark added: 'You can end up in a wheelchair, let's be honest. There's a serious neck injury potential there.' "You can end up in a wheelchair!" The Super Saturday panel discuss Bayley Fritsch's tunneling action from Friday night.📺 Watch #AFLSunsCrows on ch.504 or on @kayosports BLOG MATCH CENTRE — Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) April 5, 2025 Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley took a different view though, suggesting the free kick was suffice and that Fritsch's act was an unintentional moment that can happen in a split second in a footy contest. 'This is a tremendously difficult game to play. It is in the margins, there's increments ... I don't know if that (act) is deliberate,' he said. '(Fritsch) may have seen him late, so to penalise a player in a circumstance like that could be really difficult to hold up, given that there's so many decisions that are being made. We're making it pretty hard for the players.' One of the other major talking points from Melbourne's fourth-straight defeat to start the season was Petracca's extraordinary post-game reaction, with the Demons star almost literally tearing his hair out after the final siren. Petracca's frustrations came after the Demons had more inside-50s than the Cats but used the ball horrendously and finished with just six goals for the match. 🗣️ "You can see the despair from Christian Petracca. "That image right there says a lot about where Melbourne is right now, and where it wants to be."#AFLCatsDees — 7AFL (@7AFL) April 4, 2025 Petracca's disenchantment with the Demons was well documented last season, making Friday night's scenes all the more interesting. But Melbourne's coach said it just highlighted how competitive the premiership star was and how desperate he is for the Demons to turn their season around. "He's a winner. He's determined. He's proud," Goodwin said when asked about Petracca, who kicked two goals in an encouraging individual performance. "He's like everyone, he wants to really start to get some positive results and he's a proud leader of our footy club. All our leaders are like that, so of course he's going to be disappointed." Melbourne's performance was an improvement on their previous dismal defeats to North Melbourne and Gold Coast, but it's still their worst start since they lost the first nine matches of the 2012 season. "I thought we saw a spirit tonight. A real determination," Goodwin added. "The message is: stay calm, but get urgent. We've got to work to do, get urgent with that work but stay calm and know things can turn pretty quickly." with AAP
