St Arnaud v Wedderburn
The opening term of the Saints verses the Redbacks was a quiet affair as far as scoring goes, both side’s backlines were under extreme pressure where only two goals were scored for the quarter. There were plenty of mistakes being made by both sides with some simple training like drills being mucked up on a regular basis. McNamee put the first major on the board for the Saints mid-term before Liam McCarthy responded for the Redbacks at the first break the scores were locked up at 1-3 apiece.
St Arnaud started the second term better than the visitors and it wasn’t long before Tillig kicked a great goal from a tight angle, McNamee racked the second of his five for the day soon after as the Saints looked to be taking charge of the game. Hayes got Wedderburn’s first for the term when he was awarded a free kick. Barnes then got the burners back in the game with two goals and at half time the Saints held an eight point lead. Munkara was dominating for the St Arnaud side and he was given great support from Tillig, Coghlan and Patching, for the Redbacks McHugh was their main contributor with Strange and Polglase gaining many possessions.
In the third quarter the Saints were able to break the game open and posted six goals to the Redbacks three goals and open up a 21-point lead at the final break. Once again it was Munkara who set the Saints alight and this enabled more of his team mates to get into the game, Grigg and Patching were two stood up in this term with McNamee kicking three goals for the quarter. Wedderburn kicked one of their three goals for the term when the central umpire enforced his power and awarded a double 50-meter penalty against a Saints player, players must learn that once the free kick has been awarded it pays to keep your thoughts on the decision to yourself or you will pay the price.
In the last term, goals were scarce and points were plenty and this was not what Wedderburn needed as they had a fair bit of work to do if they were going to overtake the Saints, who had played the better footy all day. Both sides could only manage two goals in this term and the Redbacks could only reduce the three quarter time margin by a solitary point to fall short by 20 points at full time. St Arnaud now has secured second spot; Wedderburn now slips out of the top four being replaced by Boort, this is an indication of how things will be in the coming weeks if you do not keep winning you could fall out of contention pretty quickly.
Final Scores St Arnaud 13-20=98 def Wedderburn 9-24= 78
Best for St Arnaud: J.McNamee, R. Grigg, D. McGrath, D. Munkara, J. Chapman. J. Patching. Goals: J. McNamee 5, R. Tungatalum, N. Coghlan 2, J. Tillig, B. Batters, R. Grigg, J. Patching 1 Each.
Best for Wedderburn: R. McHugh, D. Benaim, J. McKay, M. Reiffel, B. Strange, C. Perry. Goals: S. Barnes, B. Rose, J. Hayes, L. McCarthy 2, B. DeAraugo 1.
Charlton v Donald
Charlton as they usually do got off to a flyer kicking five goals in the opening term. On the other hand the Royal Blues did not trouble the scorers as they were held goalless and by the first break were trailing by 33-points and the early indications of Charlton’s intentions was pretty clear.
In term two Donald performed a bit better and were able to get their scoring going kicking 3-2 for the quarter. Charlton match it with the Royals with McKee continuing his good form in front of goals, McKee would go on to kick another bag of five goals. Finlay, Ben Walklate and Sait were big contributors for the Navy Blues while Bell, Baird and Ades were solid for the Royals. At half time the Navy Blues lead had extended by a point to 34 points at the main break in play.
Donald had another shocker in the third quarter as they went further behind the home side. Charlton were looking the goods and the signs were there that they just might kick out to a large lead by the last break. Donald’s contribution to the score-line was a mere two points and the margin they were in deficit had blown out to 10-goals with one term to play. Donald had no answers to the league leaders and Charlton were on a mission to increase their percentage and winning record intact with only last week’s 4-point loss the only blemish in the 2013 season.
With 30-minutes to play the Royals were asked for a big effort, to redeem their efforts from the first three quarters and to reduce the margin of the Navy Blues back to a creditable margin by full time, but they would face much the same from the Navy Blues as they showed no mercy. Donald finally kicked a goal, something they had not been able to do since early in the second term; Charlton added another four with McKee and McGrath being the focal points for the Navy Blues as they run out comfortable winners by 76 points.
Charlton are travelling along quite well and deserve their current position at the top of the table while the Royal Blues will need to regroup for their match against the Redbacks next week and hope that they can repeat their first round victory when they got home by 36-points.
Final scores; Charlton 16-13=109 def Donald 4-9=33
Best for Charlton: B. Walklate, K. Sait, T. Finlay, J. McKee, M. Winsall, C. Thiesz.
Goals: J. McKee 5, J. McGrath 3, C. Thiesz 2, A. Judd, S. Lawry, B. Walklate, T. Collins, L.Mulquiny, T. Finlay 1 each.
Best for Donald: T. Bell, A. Baird, D. Ades, D. Pearce, W. McAllister, J. Burke.
Goals: A. Baird 2, M. Clifford, D. Ades 1 each.
Wycheproof-Narraport v Birchip-Watchem
In their best start for the year the Bulls controlled the first quarter against the Demons and at the first change they held an unexpected lead of 19-points over Wycheproof-Narraport. Grigg was getting plenty of the Sherrin and was being well supported by Holmes, Noonan and Gilla. The Demons were a bit shell shocked by the Bulls and would look to make amends in the next three terms.
Led by Corey Jones and Ricky Allan up forward the Demons were quick to get the scoreboard ticking over as they slammed on four goals to draw level with the home side. The Demons had lifted all over the ground and this was proving to be a bit hard for the Bulls to contain and they went from a 19-point lead into a 16-point deficit by half time.
In the premiership quarter both sides went stride for stride kicking three goals apiece and at the three quarter time break the Bulls had put themselves into the best position they have been at this stage of the game for the season with the 14-point margin favouring the more fancied Demons.
Wycheproof-Narraport kicked a couple of early goals to put a dampener on the Bulls and slide their winning chance a little bit further out of reach and by full time the visitors had snuck away to win by 25-points. The Bulls probably let their best winning chance slip, next week they have the bye followed by a visit from the St Arnaud Saints. The Demons next task is at Charlton Park against the ladder leaders and they will not be able to give them an early start or they will pay a heavy price if this happens.
Final Scores Wycheproof-Narraport 13-6=84 def Birchip-Watchem 8-11=59
Best for the Demons: C. Jones, B. Bish, G. Allan, S. Driscoll, D. McLennan, S. Allan. Goals: C. Jones 4, R. Allan 3, S. Driscoll 2, M. Dillon, J. White, J. Dixon, T. Keane 1 each.
Best for the Bulls: T. Gilla, Z. Holmes, J. Noonan, A. Grigg, A. Hutchins, A. Mitchell. Goals: A. Grigg 4, D. Ferrier 2, S. Anderson, H. Maher 1 each.
Next week
St Arnaud v Boort
Charlton v Wycheproof-Narraport
Donald v Wedderburn
Birchip-Watchem has the Bye
Last Modified on 17/06/2013 01:06