by Jim Gordon
Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers v Hopetoun
A game that initially looked like a regulation win to the Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers turned out to be anything but a walk in the park for home side. In perfect, but warm conditions for football, the Hopetoun Devils made a real contest of this match up to breath life into a season that appeared as if it had run off the rails.
It was a spirited fight back by the Devils and a massive improvement on their disastrous start to the season that saw them humbled by thirty goals against the Roos last week and soundly defeated by the Cats, last year‘s wooden spoon winners, in the opening round.
Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers took an early lead in the first term and should have been further ahead but for some inaccuracy in front of goals. This opened up the way for Hopetoun who were able to peg the margin back before the first break and before the Tigers rallied to run away to a comfortable lead by the main break. At this stage Hopetoun supporters could have been forgiven for thinking that it was going to be another long day.
Some strategic changes helped the Devils back into the game. Luke Carr went to full forward and provided a great focus booting some handy goals and ending up with eight for the day and Matt Bellinger chipped in with a couple of good goals in Hopetoun’s eight goal to three third term.
Clint Burdett is getting better with each game. His quick actions, ability to get in and under and good decision making has been missed by Hopetoun the past couple of seasons. Burdett was one reason why the Devils got back into this game after seemingly well off the pace at half time. Cade Wellington is another who is doing well for Hopetoun. He worked hard all over the ground all day and his pinpoint passing is a joy to watch.
Sea Lake Nandaly relies on a their very strong midfield for drive. Against the Devils it was up and down throughout the day with Bill Barry and Lance Brown playing well early and Matt Elliott and Darcy Ryan excellent in the second half. Col Durie spent some time deep forward and along with Joel Lloyd kicked three goals for the day. Jason Collins was unstoppable across half forward with his physicality opening up play and creating opportunities for others.
Wes Harrison continued his good early season form with four goals to be best for the Tigers. Under a good deal of pressure in the second half of the game, Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers’ defenders stood firm with Ben Notting and Joe Summerhayes doing a very good negating job on key Devil forwards.
After being behind by nearly six goals at half time, Hopetoun fought back and nearly pinched the game. The last quarter was nerve wracking for the fans with the two teams going goal for goal. In the end the Tigers prevailed and it was one poor quarter of football that had cost Hopetoun the game.
This was a game of two halves with the Tigers dominating the first and the Devils taking the honours in the second. In their opening win against Ouyen United, the Tiger's were inaccurate and once again inaccuracy early kept the opposition in the contest. The Tigers’ lead at half time should have been far more than 35 points and with winners all over the ground, it seemed like they were cruising to comfortable victory. Their eventual 11 point victory will put some doubt in their minds as they come up against much sterner opposition than the Devils in the coming weeks.
Walpeup Underbool v Beulah
In a brilliant display of team football, the Beulah Blues burst out of the blocks to race to an eight goal lead before last year’s premiers had time to draw breath. Beulah held their form all day and went on to record an impressive win away from home against a strangely lacklustre Walpeup Underbool. The slow start to the game proved costly for the Roos who learnt the hard way that it’s a long way back if you give up 11 goals in the first quarter.
This contest was always going to be a battle of fast breaks and in the first term it was the Blues who enjoyed the advantage. Sparked by the pace of Micah Buchanan, Tyler Lehmann and Callum Buchanan, Beulah pressed and squeezed their highly rated opponents to win possession and use their run to score on the rebound.
The Blues' runners found space too easily. When David King scored the fifth of his five first quarter goals, Beulah had opened an eight-goal buffer in the opening 30 minutes, an advantage they would not relinquish.
Tim McIntosh was getting plenty of the ball on the wing for the Blues as Beulah continued to run in the second quarter and made the most of the momentum of the game that was all one way.
The Blues were running harder, winning more of the ball, and certainly using it better.
This emphatic 35-point win was very much about quality as well as quantity. The difference between the two sides was how hard Beulah were prepared to work and how intelligently they used the chances created. This was all apparent from early in the piece when the Blues were scoring virtually at will.
After that huge first quarter from the Blues, Walpeup Underbool were able to trade blows with them for the rest of the game. They worked hard in an effort to try and stop the Beulah onslaught. In one success story for the day, Jeremy Brown was moved on to the dangerous David King and managed to keep him goalless for the remainder of the game after his brilliant opening quarter. But the damage had been done and anyway, even with King held, Beulah had more firepower as Dennis Redden started to take some strong marks in their forward half and he ended up with four goals. Another to do damage for the Blues was Shaun Monohan who added another three goals in a strong performance, particularly in the first half of the game.
Kane Munro in his 100th game for the Roos was one of their best on the day and David Piasente began to win the contested ball across the centre in the second half. Matt Palmer in the ruck started to show some of the desperation that was lacking early in the game.
Beulah erased any hope of a Roo comeback with two early last quarter goals, one a classy snap from the pocket from Micah Buchanan.
Beulah were just too good when it counted. They have recruited some top players and will be one of the teams to beat in the battle for the 2013 flag.
Last Modified on 21/04/2013 17:23
