WHAT A fitting way to honour a champion! A crowd of close to40,000 – with a distinctly Kangaroos flavour – was on hand to see 300-game legend Glenn Archer rewardedwith a cracking 26-point win over the Bulldogs at the home of football. Anddidn't we love it!

Obviously Drew Petrie's amazing six-goal first-quarter haul was a stand-out, but it was appropriate that the milestone match for thequintessential team man was marked with a win that can be put down to a 'teameffort'.

The moment
Judging by the reaction of the crowd when it did happen,every Kangas supporter was just waiting for Arch to do, well, a typical Archthing. We didn't have to wait long. With Daniel Giansiracusa camped under aball he always looked destined to collect, the great man mad a mad dash to seeif he could reverse the inevitable.

With little thought for his – or Giansiracusa's – safety,Arch desperately flung himself headlong at the footy, caused a spillage,collected the ball off the deck and calmly dished off a beautifully weightedhandball to a running Adam Simpson. As you would expect, the crowd went bezerk.The fact that this act directly resulted in a goal to the Roos meant the frenzylast just that little bit longer.

Goal of the game
Dead heat. Nomination one: Brent Harvey takes possession ofthe ball hard against
the boundary on the outer side of the ground and underfierce pressure from a Bulldogs pursuer, calmly slots through a beautifulrunning drop punt to shut the door on any hopes of a Bulldogs comeback.Nomination two: See above, but substitute the drop punt for a cheeky runningbanana. Amazing stuff.

The move
So where is Drew's best position? For half the season,Petrie has been the Roos' defensive rock, and has rarely had his colourslowered. But whenever he has been played up forward, the Roos' forward line haslooked so much more potent. Such is his effect at either end of the ground,Dean could simply toss a coin to decide which end of the ground the club's bestbig man will start and he'd feel confident Drew would get the job done.Thankfully, this week's flip saw him start the game up front, and by quartertime the big man had slotted through six of the best.

Coaches' award
If Drew's opening quarter burst didn't set the tone(but let's be honest, only a fool would suggest that it didn't) then ScottMcMahon's inspirational run-down tackle on Bulldogs great Scott West in thefirst quarter would have. That the ball fell loose to the lurking Leigh Brown andresulted in a Kangas goal was mere icing on the cake.

King of the Kids
Scotty McMahon has lookedevery bit an AFL footballer in his four Kangaroos appearances and hisperformance at the weekend again suggested he has a long future in the blue andwhite. If that run-down tackle on Scott West wasn't enough to earn him this week's Kids' gong, thenhis top-of-the-square hanger in the second term most definitely will. That hecalmly went back and slotted through his second of the term was another pointerto show that the young fella truly belongs.

Syd Barker watch
It would appear that this is turning into a race in two,with Boomer and Drewy again among the team's best couple. Hamish will have alsocaptured the eye of the match committee, which will keep him in touch with theleaders. Of the rest, skipper Adam Simpson also had another fine game, BradyRawlings was excellent in shadowing Scott West while Leigh Brown was animportant contributor in the forward line.

Ladder
A win over another top-eight contender helped the Roos creepup to seventh, four points clear of Adelaideand the Bulldogs. A poor percentage is all that separates the Kangas fromCollingwood, who sit in fourth spot.

Next week
The Rooboys were terribly disappointing in theirlacklustre loss to the Tigers last year, so they will be hoping to reverse that35-point loss. Richmond have been far from disgraced in their past few outings,and could have easily chalked up a win or two in recent losses to Essendon,Fremantle and St Kilda. While each win is crucial, the Roos can ill-afford tolet this one slip with as many as 12 teams still in contention for a top-eightberth.

The views in this story are those of the author and notnecessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.