The Western Magpies suffered a big defeat at the hands of fierce rivals Palm Beach-Currumbin at Chelmer in Saturday.
The match was effectively over as a contest by quarter time as PBC slammed on 11 goals to the ‘Pies 2 goals to have the game in their keeping early in the piece.
The Pies were beaten out of the centre and the full forward press the Pies were implementing was dismantled by the Lions due to poor field kicking from the Pies resulting in costly turnovers.
PBC full-forward Bryce Perry-Bolt kicked the first 6 goals of the match, 3 uncontested due to turnovers and 2 from disputed free kicks. Hayden Thick started on him and it was Thick who held him to 1 goal in the 2012 Grand Final, which was a vital contribution to the Magpies Premiership win. However, on Saturday, lack of pressure on the Lions ball carriers in the first quarter resulted in accurate disposal into the Lions forward line which gave the Magpie defenders little chance.
The second quarter was much better for the Magpies as they tightened up, started winning the contested football and with Dom Beer in ruck getting on top, the midfield battles started to go the home team’s way.
The margin was reduced to 5 goals late in the quarter before an after the siren goal to PBC saw them go on into half time with a 6 goal buffer.
The Magpies were confident they could run the visitors down in the second half but the hardness at the ball seen in the second quarter was not to be found and PBC booted 3 early third term goals to kill off any thoughts of a comeback.
The Magpies then matched their opponents for the remainder of the game but the fact is the Magpies were beaten in most positions on the ground in their worst performance for many years, especially against a team they were confident of defeating.
Dom Beer and defender Doug Lawrence were the only players who could say they beat their opponents on the day.
Coach Glenn Humphrey was unhappy with the intermittent effort, describing the first and third quarter efforts as insipid and lazy. He lamented the fact that with effort the ‘Pies matched PBC but it was not consistent enough. When the team scrapped hard they were in the contest but as a young side they did not work hard enough for long enough.
Again poor disposal and decision making let the team down and these will be worked on in coming weeks.
Other players to give their all were Redland listed Ben Landry, who in his first senior match for the club tried hard in the middle as did Ben Jaenke-Cain and captain Lachlan Woods in his best game for the year. Jordan Bain booted 4 goals up forward and missed several others which cost him a bigger haul.
The Magpies centreman Cory Hopkins missed the second half due a concussion and will be in doubt for next weeks home match against UQ.
Following the UQ match the Western Magpies have 3 big matches in a row against last year’s NEAFL clubs, starting with Broadbeach at home, Labrador away then Morningside also away.
Last Modified on 12/05/2014 22:15