West Preston continued its love affair with Preston City Oval with an emphatic 62-point win over Montmorency on Sunday.
The Roosters extended their lead at every change as they ended the Magpies’ season with a 19.14.128 to 10.6.66 victory.
Full forward Anthony Rocca was too big and strong for Montmorency’s defence and finished the day with four goals, while Shaun Gannon, Pece Micevski and Jake Williams were all pivotal in the win.
Montmorency came into the clash in red-hot form, having won eight of its past nine matches including a six-point win over the Roosters a week earlier, however it was the reigning premier who jumped out of the blocks early.
Rocca speared a lovely pass to Michael Dufficy for the first goal of the match before the former Collingwood star took a big mark over Shane Tennant to kick his first moments later.
Billy Micevski then slotted a goal from the goal square after spilling a chest mark to make it a 21-point buffer in West Preston’s favour.
Nick Stevens settled Montmorency with a lovely 45m goal hemmed up on the boundary, before Dean Limbach was infringed upon and kicked a goal with the resulting free to cut the margin to just nine points at the first break despite West Preston’s complete domination which saw it have triple the inside 50s of its opponent.
Neither side was able to score in the opening ten minutes of the second term and the frustration spilled over as Rocca was yellow carded for an incident on Tennant 100m behind the play.
Limbach kicked his second goal as Rocca left the field, making for a three-point ball game as the intensity lifted a cog.
Unexpectedly, Rocca’s proved a blessing in disguise for the Roosters who became less predictable with each foray forward and went on to pile on four goals in the next 15 minutes.
Luke Griffin kicked the first of those, before youngster Adrian Natoli was dumped as he shot at goal. Showing no ill-effects from the bump, Natoli coolly slotted a goal from the resulting free kick.
Goals to Jacob Raemaekers and Damien Smith followed, before Rocca returned to the field and made his presence felt immediately with a towering pack mark.
The big man missed from 50m but it was not of too much concern as West Preston headed into half time with a convincing 29-point lead.
Stevens kicked the first goal of the third term to give Montmorency hope before Joseph Vaccaro perfectly crumbed at the feet of Rocca to extend West Preston’s lead back to 27 points.
Williams then led from the front with two perfectly executed assists, one a slick handball reminiscent of his father Greg, and another a well weighted 50m kick, to set up goals for Pece Micevski and Natoli.
With the lead out to 39 points it was Stevens who again kept Montmorency in the contest as he danced around two would-be tacklers from a boundary throw-in and skilful snapped through a goal on his left boot.
The Magpies threw everything at the Roosters for the next 10 minutes but could only manage two behinds as they failed to drive the ball inside their forward 50 with any meaningful purpose.
Rocca sealed the contest with his second goal at the 29-minute mark of the term before Luke Griffin goaled on the three-quarter time siren to give the Roosters a 43-point buffer at the last change.
A lovely centre clearance by Williams set up Rocca for another goal in the opening 30 seconds of the final term and another to ‘Pebbles’ moments later stretched the gap to 57 points as the day threatened to get ugly for Montmorency who already had one eye on 2012.
Glenn Robertson then kicked two in the space of one minute, before Craig Flint became the Magpies’ third goalkicker for the day with a 30m goal.
The Roosters refused to show any mercy to their beaten opponent and drove through the next three goals, but with the margin closing in on three digits it was competition leading goalkicker Limbach who added respectability to Montmorency’s score with four majors in the final ten minutes of the match to cut the final margin to 62 points.
West Preston returns to Preston City Oval on Sunday to meet Greensborough in the first semi final after the Boro was beaten by Heidelberg in Saturday’s qualifying final.
For Montmorency it is curtains on a 2011 season which saw the club fight back from eighth spot after eight rounds to earn an unlikely finals campaign.
Final score: West Preston Lakeside 19.14.128 def Montmorency 10.6.66
Last Modified on 06/08/2012 01:12