by Jim Gordon
WOOMELANG LASCELLES V JEPARIT RAINBOW
Jeparit Rainbow had a big win at Woomelang to cement a finals spot with one round to go. Woomelang Lascelles fought hard, they looked good early, but in the end were out gunned by a stronger, faster and more talented side.
It may have been a reasonable competition in the first half, but the Lakers got right on top in the second half kicking 15 goals to two after half time. They applied pressure all over the ground, they ran the ball well and had an outstanding player in Heath Clugston whose hardness at the ball not only gained him lots of possessions, it also opened up play for his team mates.
Heath did not do it all on his own and was well backed up by Ash Clugston who kicked four goals. Corey Waldron and Lucas Edelsten also won lots of the ball.
Justin Chilver played another great game for Jeparit Rainbow in the ruck contests and he was strong all around the ground. In defence Dean Schumann gave lots of run and up forward Ben Zanker kicked eight goals for the second week in a row and Adam Roll kicked four. As a unit, the Laker forwards were cohesive, they looked for each other and they played in front.
The wet and windy conditions did not help the lighter framed Cats, but they had several good players and contributors on the day. Tony Mudge was back from injury and he halted many attacks with his close checking play. Josh Templeton using his pace on the wing created many chances for the forward line and Luke Symes tried hard in his battle in the ruck with Justin Chilver.
Trent Donnan was another who did well as he fought for the ball and seemed to be under every pack. Trent must be a clear favourite for the Club Best & Fairest award.
Jackson Rampling ran hard all day on his wing and never gave up and it was good to see Clayton Lee return to the field after a scare which looked like a serious leg injury. Clayton was still battling hard at the end of the day.
Jason Kreuger was dangerous early, but received a nasty back injury and will miss the final match of the year for Woomelang Lascelles when they front Beulah next week.
This was a good team effort from Jeparit Rainbow leading into the finals. They have Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers next week and then will front the Devils in the first semi.
SEA LAKE NANDALY TIGERS V HOPETOUN
The wet and windy weather made the game between Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers and Hopetoun a poor spectacle. It was not helped by being a one sided affair that was pretty much decided in the first quarter when the Devils jumped the Tigers and scored four goals to a couple of behinds.
Even then Hopetoun should have been further ahead as they had the majority of the play, but easy turnovers and unforced errors cost them on the scoreboard. This was a lacklustre Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers’ performance. When the Devils come up against Jeparit Rainbow in the first semi final they won’t be able to get away with quality football interspersed with passages of ordinary play. Next week’s match up against Ouyen United will really test where Hopetoun are at in terms of finals football.
In this match it was once again Hopetoun’s onballers who were instrumental in setting up play across the centre and in defence and with Bryce Wellington and Leigh Hutchinson as major focal points up forward, they always had someone who was capable of kicking goals as this pair nabbed three each.
Hopetoun’s defence was once again very solid and it was an even performance down back with no one player standing out.
For the Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers, Taylor Hannig was their best player and Ryan Dowdy chipped in with three goals. Hamish Dowdy, Liam Barry, Nathan Wight and Luke Martin were others who contributed in overall what was a disappointed result for the Tigers.
The win ensured Hopetoun of a finals berth. Making the finals is a very good achievement that could turn out to be great if they can get past the Lakers in the first week. For the Tigers it has been a long and fruitless season that saw them hampered by long term injury.
WALPEUP UNDERBOOL V BEULAH
The first quarter saw Walpeup Underbool quickly out of the blocks and lead by a couple of goals early in the match. The wet conditions did not seem to be an issue as both sides handled the ball very well and the Underbool ground can hold a bit of water. It was great to see 250 gamer Darren Latta in everything, as was Tim Vallance running out of the centre.
Beulah’s Scott Smith was asserting his influence around the middle, Tom Hallam was attracting plenty of the ball and Jason Turnbull was good up forward for the Blues and finished the day with three goals.
Things changed in the second quarter when Beulah started to dominate all facets of the game to kick eight goals for the term whilst holding the Roos to one. Riley Lehman was presenting well at full forward and was proving a handful for hard man Jim Wakefield kicking two gaols for the quarter, as did Sam Martin andDale Shannon for Beulah. Jarrod Combe and Christopher McKenzie were very solid across half back repelling plenty of Walpeup Underbool forward thrusts. First gamer Justin Llewellyn for Walpeup Underbool was getting plenty of the ball and tackling hard, Kane Munro was trying his hardest to lift the team with many centre clearances and Darren Latta continued to rack up possessions. Travis Latta was standing tall across half back and took several very good marks.
Beulah continued to control the match after half time. Despite Walpeup Underbool players battling hard, the majority of this quarter was played in Beulah’s forward line, with Walpeup Underbool finding it very hard to clear the ball beyond the centre. The strong marking Adam Carter and Riley Lehmann were focal points up forward for the Blues. Walpeup Underbool younger players Luke Summerhayes, John Smith and Callum Winslow all tried extremely hard despite giving away height and weight advantages to the well seasoned Beulah players.
As the heavens opened up in the final stanza and the game was played in torrential rain, Beulah finished the game well on top. For the Walpeup Underbool Roos, at least they battled this game out and there is always next year.
Last Modified on 15/08/2010 16:11
