TWO games completed Round 15 of Peter Jackson VFL action today with Northern Blues and Geelong recording convincing wins in blustery conditions.
Both matches would have a major say in the ladder positions at the end of the round, with Northern Blues sitting in the eight, Geelong extending their lead at the top of the ladder, and Sandringham suffering a setback in their finals hopes.
Blues midfield dominates Coburg
The Northern Blues returned to the top eight after being dislodged last night by North Ballarat, as they defeated Coburg by 58 points. The Blues engine room proved the difference in the game, as Robbie Warnock delivered to the likes of Tom Bell (33 disposals), Nick Graham (32), Kane Lambert (32) and the returning Adam Marcon (21).
Coburg led early in the first term after kicking two of the first three goals, but a six goal unanswered run by the Blues opened up the game and gave them a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the match.
By half time Northern Blues led by 40 points, with Levi Casboult asserting his dominance up forward kicking three first half majors, teaming well with Nick Duigan as the main focal points.
In the second half Coburg were able to reduce the margin under six goals, but with Matt Dea, Ben Griffin, Aaron Edwards and Brett O'Hanlon all watching on from the bench at stages of the second half, the visitors were restricted in their rotations and the Blues raced home with six goals to two in the final term to record back to back wins.
Lambert and Graham are proving a dynamic duo in the middle for the Blues, and were among the best, with Brent Bransgrove, Duigan, Marcus Davies and Warnock. Casboult and Tyson Thomas were the leading goal kickers with three each, with Bell and Lambert kicking two each among 11 individual goal scorers. For Coburg, Matt McDonough was best, along with Robin Nahas, Ozgur Uysal and David Astbury, while the visitors had nine individual goal kickers
Who can stop the Cats?
Geelong provided an ominous warning to the rest of the VFL competition – if they had not already – that they will be the team to beat in 2013, recording their biggest score of the season, defeating finals aspirant Sandringham by 117 points. The Cats score was the third largest in the competition this year, the two higher scores being 30 goal scorelines by Northern Blues and Williamstown against Bendigo.
In the first half both sides kicked five goals with the breeze, but it was the Cats ability to score against the wind in the first term – five goals – that provided them with a 17 point lead at half time. Geelong made the most of the breeze in the second term kicking five goals to three as the Cats key forwards proved the difference in the first half, with Shane Kersten and Josh Walker both kicking three apiece.
The second half was all Geelong and they finished with 17 goals to two, which included a commanding 10.6 to no score final term. Trent West put his hand up a for the vacant ruck role at the AFL Cats, influencing the match in the middle, as the likes of Josh Cowan (24 disposals), Troy Selwood (30), Jaxson Barham (26) and Dom Gleeson (17) set up the play around the ground and were the Cats best.
Walker (21 disposals) and Kersten provided the one-two punch up forward with six goals each, as Barham, Jordan Schroder, Brad Hartman and Tom Maas all kicked two.
For Sandringham Chris Michaliades was their only shining light up forward with four goals, with Cam Shenton (28 disposals), Michaliades, Adam Schneider (30) and Tom Ledger (30) their better players. The defeat leaves the Zebras a game and a half outside of the top eight, with a must win match against Essendon on ABC TV next Saturday.
CLICK HERE for the best players and goal kickers
CLICK HERE for the latest ladder
CLICK HERE for the Round 16 matches
Last Modified on 29/07/2013 08:44