by Jim Gordon
BEULAH V HOPETOUN
Hopetoun came away with a 29 point victory over Beulah in their final home and away game for the season. In a great showcase of MFL football, the win gives the Devils the second chance and they now take on Walpeup Underbool in the second semi at Sea Lake whilst the Blues have to front up to the Tigers in the cut throat first semi at Woomelang.
There was a lot at stake in this game and as expected it was played with a high level of skill and intensity. It was obvious that both sides knew what was up for grabs, that vital second chance.
Luke Milroy starred for Hopetoun playing the role of a small, crumbing forward, feeding off the Devils’ big man strength in their forward line. The fact that Milroy turned out to be the main goal kicker for the Devils with six, was an unexpected bonus. Beulah back men had a lot to contend with, not just Kane Robins and Bryce Wellington. Milroy had slipped under the radar.
Zac Robins was inspirational on his wing. For a youngster of his size, the courageous Robins certainly punches above his weight and is prepared to put his body on the line.
David King is playing very well at the moment for the Blues and his five goals were the result of some fine marking and strong forward play. However, the fact that Hopetoun’s Ben Reid played an outstanding game on Riley Lehman limited Beulah’s forward options and Reid’s number of possessions had a major influence on the result of the game.
As expected, big Steph Saunders was dominant in the ruck. Nevertheless, Hopetoun had a couple of hard workers in Quentin Willmott and Brodie Glen who battled all day and were able to somewhat limit Saunders’ influence around the centre bounces and boundary throw ins.
Liam Price and Deek Roberts played well as rovers for Hopetoun and had plenty of clearances from the midfield. Dale Shannon was one of Beulah’s best, but around the packs, Hopetoun had the edge.
Hopetoun’s back pockets in Scott Heath and Dave Baulch are in great form and these two provided lots of drive from the back line.
This was another great team performance from the Devils who several times this season have shown that they can play an outstanding brand of football. They won this game without the goal kicking dominance of Robins or Wellington. With a full list to pick from and with some good form in recent weeks, it should make for a great game against the Roos next week.
Beulah must now regroup and prepare for the Tigers who had a fighting win over the Cats. The Blues will be disappointed with their effort against the Devils, but they have the players to bounce back at Woomelang next week.
WALPEUP UNDERBOOL V OUYEN UNITED
Walpeup Underbool inflicted a heavy defeat on old rivals Ouyen United by 98 points at Underbool on Saturday. The Roos completely overwhelmed the Demons early in the game to set up a match winning 46 point margin by half time. After that it was a procession as the Roos prepared for a finals campaign that will see them go in as firm flag favourites.
The Demons had no answer to the intensity or the strength of Walpeup Underbool. In the first term the Roos dominated play and kicked six goals to one with the advantage of the breeze. When they followed up with the first five goals of the second term, it started to look ugly for the Dees.
To United’s credit, they got back into the game half way through the second term and kicked the final three goals for the quarter to add some respectability to their score. The Demons started to look a lot better just when the Roos seemed to ease up. Few a brief 15 minutes they took the pressure off the Demons and no longer hunted in packs. When they lessened their intensity, the younger, lighter bodied Demons came into the game.
Luke Nathan was prominent early for Walpeup Underbool. He was in plenty of the action and was one of several Roos able to mark and clear the ball from the congestion caused by Walpeup Underbool dropping a player back into their defence. Nathan was the player the Roos often seemed to look for to as the link into their forward line.
David Piasente and Ryan Anderson were outstanding all day. Piasente gathered plenty of possessions in the Roo midfield with hard running and did a lot of damage finishing the game with four goals.
Along with Sam McDonald, the Walpeup Underbool midfield has class to burn. They run hard, they have outstanding skills by foot or by hand and they can kick long and accurately.
At the height of their power when the score was ten goals to one, Nathan gathered the ball from the centre and kicked it long to half forward. Just when you thought the United defence had control of the ball, along came McDonald, he grabbed the ball literally out of the grasp of a Demon defender, he turned and passed it off to Daniel Harris who goaled.
Kane Munro was another to dominate for the home side early in the game. Not only did Munro score three goals for the day, he was prepared to run wide, he marked well and kicked long and accurately deep into Roo territory. Munro is having a very good year working with the class of player Walpeup Underbool have at their disposal.
Jeremy Brown was a dominant player in the Walpeup Underbool backline. Brown reads the ball well, he can intercept and managed to spoil numerous United scoring chances. Wade Champion had a useful second half when he marked strongly and booted five goals.
If the Roos benefited by dropping a player back in the first term, the tactic worked for United as well. Dom Leach gained a lot of the ball in that only good patch for Ouyen United all day. He marked well and fed the ball off to his running midfielders and was responsible for the Demons gaining some respectability before half time.
Troy Moncur had a strong performance in the ruck and finished with three goals when playing at full forward where he kept the Walpeup Underbool defence honest. Peter Caldow tried hard all day and Glenn Joyce got a lot of the ball.
Matthew Palmer went off in the second term and had to have a number of stitches to a nasty gash on his face and had his nose badly broken. All as a result of friendly fire from his brother-in-law’s knee! Palmer was playing well up until that stage, but even so, Chris Lynch proved to be a very good replacement.
A disappointing year is finally over for the Demons. They had some good wins, but fell short when it counted. For Walpeup Underbool, it may be a case of who is going to miss out on a game next week when they take on Hopetoun for a passage straight into the Grand Final.
WOOMELANG LASCELLES V SEA LAKE NANDALY TIGERS
Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers did just enough to get the points over the Cats at Woomelang on Saturday and now front up to Beulah in the first semi final. It was a tight battle all day with only one kick in it at three quarter time. When it counted, the Tigers were able to steady and score five last term goals whilst holding the Cats to three goals to run out 15 point winners.
With scores very close all day, Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers had a slight advantage in the midfield where Lance brown and Matt Elliott were prominent and got a lot of possessions. Steve Lyons was standout in defense and John Foskett had a good game for the Tigers.
For Woomelang Lascelles, Aaron Lonergan was their best player, Jayden Lonergan kicked three goals and Joel Donnan capped off a great season with another very good game. The Cats have played some exciting football in the latter part of the year giving them some hope for next season and something positive with which to work.
For the Tigers, they are going to have a battle on their hands next week against Beulah. This game against the Cats had little to offer Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers, they could not go out of the four nor could they get up to second place on the ladder. They’ve beaten the Blues this season and if they can get a couple back including Col Durie, they just might have a win.
Last Modified on 26/08/2012 20:11
