ROUND 3
Friday 12th of April.

Central 4.4 14.7 17.12 23.15 (153)
GLENELG 3.5 7.6 9.11 12.11 (83)

No stopping Dogs on run

By Doug Robertson.
The mighty Central District machine engineered another merciless performance to crush a game but undermanned Glenelg by 70 points at Adelaide Oval last night.
The Dogs ran Glenelg ragged for three quarters, absorbing niggling close checking and tough tackling with a dazzling display of allround skills to thrash the Tigers in warm, dry conditions.
The hungry Dogs just had too many quality players forthe Tigers outfit. Central's run created so many options they often had time to fumble or drop marks and still escape with the ball.
Central kicked 10 goals in the second term and 7.3 in the last to rub out resistance from a handful of Tigers triers.
Skipper Danny Healy turned it on brighter than the red flare which was set off under the main score board early in the last quarter. Healy produced his own bright lights with nine penertrating kicks and five handballs in the final term to total 29 disposals in an impressive night's work.
Central started without centreman Rick Macgowan (general soreness) but unsung Murray Hamblin (4.2 from 19 disposals), James and Chris Gowans, Matt Slade, Marco Bello, Michael and Danny Stevens, who sat out the last half, and Nathan Steinberner made his absence irrelevant.
Glenelg's Brad Smith had his hand to the ball first for most of the night but caused little damage because of Central's ground-level dominance. Tigers skipper James Byrne, Adam Contessa and wingmen Darren O'Brien and Phil McKenzie, in an uncustomary role, simply could not beat the charging Dogs to the ball often enough to build any real pressure.
Glenelg seemed to have erred by leaving Matthew Golding at full back, apparently to counter Central's tall forwards, until the third term when released into ruck but by then the game was all but lost. Unheralded David Willet (4.0) and Nathan Bell (2.2) made the most of their chances all night and Glenelg had a fair balance of the play in the third quarter. But it did not kick a goal for 22 minutes, first missing three routine shots and adding one rushed point.
Central capitalised on every missed opportunity with ruthless ease. Premiership defender Quinton Graham, Kynan Ford, who started at full back, and Luke Cowans all had a crack at the goal front in Central's spinning-top rotation in the second half.
The unconvetional Dogs rotated so fast through the midfield nobody but coach Alastair Clarkson knew where they were.
Central started without a true centre half-forward but a half dozen mid-sized forwards did the trick in a fashion which is going to be almost impossible for opposition sides to conquer.

BEST PLAYERS: Willet, Bell, Byrne, Greenwood, O'Brien.
SCORERS: Willet 4.0, Bell 2.2, Baldwin 1.2, K.Cornes 1.1, Byrne, Shir, Smith, Logan 1.0, Manfield, Maher, Contessa 0.1, rushed 0.3.
INJURIES: Nil.
CROWD: 3138.