Charlton v Wedderburn
The Navy Blues put the acid on the Redbacks right from the first bounce and with their quick running style of play just out played their more fancied opposition.
Wedderburn kicked the first three points of the game before Charlton converted when Josh McKee, marked strongly and kicked truly. It wasn’t long before Joe McGrath kicked another for the Navy Blues, Herdman then answered for the visitors and it was game on. McGrath was proving to be a handful for the Redbacks as he added a further two goals to give the home side a 15-point lead at the first change.
Taylor opened the term with a nice goal to reduce the lead of Charlton back to 9-points, before Finlay answered for Charlton. Herdman and Hargreaves responded for the visitors after allowing McGrath to bring up his fourth goal for the Navy Blues. At half time Wedderburn had only reduced the quarter time lead of Charlton by two points. The scoreboard probably didn’t give credit to Charlton who were clearly the best team on the ground to this point, and had them leading by 13-points at the main break. Charlton had winners all over the ground, while Wedderburn best players were hard to find apart from Postle, Taylor and Herdman.
Wedderburn drew first blood in the third quarter when Herdman kicked one of his two gaols for the quarter. McGrath answered with two more goals and the game was slipping away on the Redbacks. Herdman’s second goal brought the three quarter margin back to the 13-point lead Charlton held at half time.
Wedderburn needed to lift right from the start of the last quarter and it was again left to Herdman who brought the home sides lead back to 7-points. McGrath put the lead back out to 13-points with a long goal from outside the fifty. Hayes and Herdman added to the Redbacks total as they took the lead off Charlton for the first time since early in the first quarter. Wedderburn was able to gain a small break on Charlton and they were looking like they would finish over the Navy Blues when Herdman and Perry goaled late in the final term. Charlton cut the lead back when Williams and Thiesz goaled and the Redbacks lead was back to just 3-points. Wedderburn were desperate to hold on in the dying minutes but, their effort to kick the ball around to run the clock down come unstuck and a turnover to Charlton would turn costly as Judd kicked the ball deep into the home sides forward line where Thiesz marked about forty out deep in the pocket, his kick at goal brought up both flags and the Navy’s had secured the lead back for a 3-point win just prior to the final siren, as they would record a memorable win and guarantee a great night of celebrations.
Best for Charlton: Joe McGrath, Kris Clifford, Tom Finlay, Luke Kyraitidies, Kieran Sait, Josh McLean.
Goals: Joe McGrath 7, N. Williams, D. Thiesz 2, J. McKee, T. Finlay.
Wedderburn Best players, B. Herdman, A. Postle, H. Polglase, B. Rose, S. Terhell and C. Taylor.
Goals: b. Herdman 7, C. Taylor, C. Perry, J. Hargreaves and J. Hayes 1 each.
Boort v Donald
Boort was out to record their first win in 2012 when they bounced out to kick early goals and give their fans a glimmer of hope for their first win. In a polished display the home side shut down the Royals forward moves and converted at the other end and by quarter time had established a 26-point lead.
In the second quarter Boort would again continue to dominate the game, when they held Donald to just 2-goals and added a further four to their tally. Manser was causing all sorts of problems for the Royal Blues as he gathered many possessions, which would finish with positive results for the home side, with Easton joining Manser keeping the scoreboard ticking over and at half time they had extended their lead out to 36-points and a solid foundation for the Magpies to take to the last half of the game.
Term three was fairly even with both sides desperate for the contested ball and Donald looked to be getting their game together, but a couple of gettable shots missing the target didn’t help their cause. Bell was doing his beat for Donald and was being well supported by Funcke. At the final break Donald had pulled back the Magpies lead to 29-points but they still had the job in front of them if they were going to strip the four points away from the home side.
Boort were keen to record their first win for the year and when Easton kicked truly early in the quarter the Magpie fans could feel a victory coming on. Both sides kick four goals in the last term, with Boort answering any challenge that Donald put to them and when the final siren sounded the magpies had finally got a win on the board with a 31-point win over Donald.
Best for Boort: J. Lanyon, C. Hatcher, A. Jackson, P. Manser, D. Sipthorp and R. Easton; Goals P. Manser 6, R. Easton 4, T. Rhook 2, C. Hatcher, M. Rice, A. Jackson, 1 each.
Best for Donald; R. Funcke, T. Grant, T. Bell, H. Maatman, E. Guthrie, J. Newell.
Goals; N. Dunstan 2, J. Givney, J. Hogan, B. Grant, T. Bell, T. Grant, B. Gilmour, R. Martin and K. Harberger 1 each.
St Arnaud v Wycheproof-N.Port
At Lord Nelson Park St Arnaud, Wycheproof-Narraport opened the scoring with Turner kicking the first of his seven goals for the day. Coglan put the Saints on the board before Jones speared through a major for the visitors. At the first break in play it was the Demons who held a lead of two-goals.
St Arnaud responded to some encouraging words from the coach at the first huddle and was straight into attack registering the first of their eight goals for the quarter. Coglan was in good form up forward and providing the saints with a target and he wouldn’t let them down as he started to build to hid goal tally that would reach eight by the end of the game. At the main break the home side had secured the lead by 13-points and were hoping for an upset over the Demons.
St Arnaud's Nick Coghlan takes a screamer, goes back, and kicks one of his 8 goals for the day
In the third quarter the Demons did what good sides do, when they responded to the Saints challenge by kicking 9-goals for the term and held the Saints to four, and at the last change had turned a 13-point deficit into a 20-point lead.
St Arnaud were hoping for a repeat of their second quarter when kicking with the aid of a slight breeze in the last quarter, but the Demons had other plans and lifted their work rate to shut down any chance of a Saints victory when they extended their three quarter time lead from 20-points out to 40 by the final bell. The Saints, who were missing some key players, would not have lost any support for their effort against one of the more fancied sides in the competition.
Best for the Demons: C. Jones, J. Coatsworth, K. McNicol, G. Turner, J. White, T Rumbold. Goals: G. Turner 7, C. Jones 4, K. McNicol 3, J. Martin, K. Prestidge 2, J. Grylls.
Best for the Saints: N. Coglan, D. James, T. Petrie, A. Lantjin, N. Baldwin, M. Goode.
Goals: N. Coglan 8, D. Needs 3, A. McIntyre 2, L. Cunningham, K. Flanagan, J. Priest.
Next Week
Inter-League North Central v Loddon Valley at Boort.
Last Modified on 21/05/2012 16:37