SANFL 2006 GRAND FINAL: CENTRAL DISTRICT v WOODVILLE-WEST TORRENS

It's enough to make a Bulldogs fan sick

By JAI BEDNALL

CENTRAL District has fallen short in its quest for a fourth straight SANFL premiership, going down to Woodville-West Torrens by 76 points last Sunday.

Predictions that the Bulldogs' domination of the local competition would finally end this season were proven correct, as the side was unable to repeat its winning efforts against the Eagles in four previous Grand Finals this decade.

Renowned for their ability to perform on the competition's biggest stage, the Bulldogs were simply outplayed by a hungrier, more determined opponent.

Only the tireless Matthew Slade clearly won his position on the day, with a number of key Bulldogs drastically down on form.

Coach Roy Laird, who visited the Eagles change rooms after the game to offer his congratulations, admitted his side had been unable to match the Eagles' intensity.

“We played a side which appeared to be more desperate at the contest early on and as a result we were second at the footy and could never really get our hands on it,” he said.

“We were beaten pretty comprehensively.”

The Bulldogs were competitive early on, and through a combination of Slade's hard running and the Eagles inaccuracy, were still in touch at half-time.

But the side was completely outplayed in the third term conceding 7.5 while only kicking a solitary goal in response.

From then on it was party time as the Eagles erased the memories of Grand Final defeats in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005 and recorded their first ever finals win over the Bulldogs.

After losing several premiership players to retirement at the end of last season, Laird said it had been a “solid effort” to reach the Grand Final.

“The players need to carry themselves with dignity, I'm proud of them, they worked really hard,” he said. “But once you're here you want to win it.”

Central District has now played in seven consecutive Grand Finals – the most since Port Adelaide in the 1960s – and Laird predicted the club would be in a position to challenge for the flag again next year.

“Yeah no doubt, we'll walk out of here pretty spirited, we're annoyed, disappointed, all those sorts of things, but we'll bounce back.”

SCORES: Woodville-West Torrens 3.8 5.10 12.15 17.19 (121) defeated Cental District 2.1 3.1 4.1 7.3 (45)

BEST: Eagles – Cicolella, Skipworth, Jarrad, Inkster, McKenzie; Central – Slade, R

Cochrane, Thomas, C Gowans, Wilson.

GOALS: Eagles – Passador, Grocke, Cicolella 3, Cooper 2, Jarrad, Treeby, Symmons, Inkster, Westbrook; Central – Schell 3, McCabe, J Westhoff, Ware, Slade.