Noble Park defender Lloyd Williams received a three-week suspension for striking Norwood’s David King during the Bulls’ loss on Saturday. 19159 By Paul Pickering
NOBLE Park coach Kris Barlow branded his team “selfish” after Saturday’s 10-point loss to Norwood at Mullum Reserve in the Eastern Football League.
All team staff and supporters were locked out of the visitors’ rooms after the match, and when the Bulls boss finally emerged he questioned the desire of his charges.
Having implored his players to “show me how much it means to you” at three-quarter time, Barlow was disgruntled by their response.
“We probably worried about ourselves too much rather than sacrificing ourselves and doing the team thing,” he said.
“At times, we just didn’t have the courage to help each other out.”
While the Bulls were missing a handful of their A-graders, including Barlow (knee), Dave Velardo (hamstring) and Adrian Little (calf), few pundits would have given the home side much chance of effecting an upset.
But, as Barlow conceded, the ninth-placed Norsemen simply wanted it more.
With the Bulls trailing by four points after a scrappy first quarter, Barlow urged his players to show their opponents more respect.
The message seemed to strike a nerve, as Noble Park knuckled down to dominate the stoppages in the second.
Stewart Kemperman (four goals) sparked his team-mates almost immediately, snapping truly on his prodigious left boot before consecutive goals to Dean Kelly (four) gave the Bulls a 19-point lead.
But the Norsemen wrestled back the momentum as half-time approached, with full-forward Ryan Kueffer (four) defying some close attention from Lloyd Williams to goal twice in the dying minutes.
The cream began to rise in the third term, as former Melbourne tagger Simon Godfrey began to assert his influence on the contest for Norwood.
Godfrey, who went head-to-head with Bulls on-baller Peter O’Brien in an enthralling duel, booted his first goal three minutes into the second half before capitalising on a 50-metre penalty to give Norwood the lead moments later.
After the Norsemen extended the gap to 22 points, O’Brien emerged to slot the steadier for the Bulls on the stroke of three-quarter time.
It was O’Brien who inadvertently sparked an all-in scuffle on the supporters’ wing midway through the final quarter when Norwood’s Brent English took exception to the Noble Park gun’s attempted shepherd.
In the violent encounter that followed, Lloyd Williams charged in to deliver a punch to the throat of Norwood’s David King – an offence that earned him an immediate send-off and three weeks on the sidelines courtesy of the tribunal.
Norwood stole a goal as the players dispersed before half-forward Dave Johnson bobbed up to seal the victory with his fourth major of the day.
Johnson gathered the ball on the wing and strolled around Bulls ruckman Andrew Gilbert as if he was standing still, waltzing into goal to spark the celebrations.
Despite solid performances from Kemperman, Kelly, O’Brien and Craig Anderson, the Bulls missed the game-breaking talents of Barlow and Velardo.
“We relied on too few to do too much,” Barlow said. “We’re waiting for our key players to the set the joint alight, and when they’re not doing it, it just doesn’t seem like there’s anyone else who wants to put their hand up.”
Mercifully, the Bulls are likely to be bolstered by the return Velardo, Little, Robbie Ferraro and Matt Skehan for Saturday night’s clash with Balwyn at the Bullring.
