The North Ballarat Rebels gave the large crowd of football followers of the South West of Victoria a great display of quick and skilful football on Sunday when they totally outplayed the Sandringham Dragons for an 89pt win at Portland.
From the opening bounce the Rebels put enormous pressure on the opposition and moved the ball well with precision disposal which resulted in the Rebels having their best opening quarter for the season. The Rebels had plenty of live wires down forward who were providing strong targets. Both Tim Ruffles and Will Young found multiple goals between them and the clever Ryan McKenzie was giving the Sandringham coaching panel a nightmare with many classy touches.
During the 2nd term the Rebels didn’t take their foot off the accelerator and continued to use the ball well by hand and foot. Backline players like Harrison Vilder, Alex Gubbins and hard nut Josh Free continued to shut down their opponents and start many attacking moves which resulted with many opportunities for the Rebels forward line.
Midfielder Andrew Hooper was again in fine touch and his fellow pocket rocket, Tyler George were in everything as the Rebels continued to keep the goal umpires busy. At half time it was the Rebels by 54 pts.
Coach Chris Maple made the Rebels aware at halftime that the Dragons would come out breathing fire. They certainly did with 2 quick goals within 5 minute’s and the Rebels soon learnt that it was no time to relax. The Dragons were gaining confidence but it soon came crashing down as the Rebels moved into overdrive with all players lifting a gear. The Rebels midfield and backline gave the forwards plenty of scoring opportunities which resulted in the Rebels piling on 5 unanswered goals to lead by 74pts at ¾ time.
The final quarter was not going to be a walk in the park. The Rebels were hungry could sense that the Dragons were nearly out on their feet. Running players like Jason Linke and Ben Peters found space as their opponents began to feel the heat and it was again the Rebels superior ball skills and fitness that resulted in them kicking another 6 goals for the quarter compared to the Dragons three goals. The Dragons never gave up hope and worked extremely hard but the Rebels had too many winners all over the ground which resulted in a fantastic win.
North Ballarat Rebels 22.12 (144) defeated Sandringham Dragons 7.13 (55)
Goal Kickers: Will Young 6, Tim Ruffles 5, Ryan McKenzie 2, Ben Peters 2, Clayton Zanella 2, Matt Cranage 2, Adam McKenzie, Jordan Roughead, Tyler George
Best Players: Ryan McKenzie, Andrew Hooper, Tim Ruffles, Tyler George, Will Young, Bryn Weadon
Last Modified on 08/02/2009 14:56