A
MID-afternoon siesta by former ladder leaders Sandgate aided
Maroochy-Northshore’s surge to outright second with a 27-point win at
Lemke Road on Saturday.
Right in things after a highly competitive first half, the Hawks
hit the off button to start the third term and allowed the Roos to kick
clear with four unanswered goals.
This burst proved the difference in the end with Maroochy claiming
victory by 15.7 (97) to 10.10 (70) – their second win over the Hawks
this season.
Sandgate captain-coach Ben Long, who had a whale of a game for his
side on-ball and on a half-forward flank, insisted that post half-time
nap was the main reason behind his side’s loss.
“I thought we battled hard most of the day, but maybe in the first
10 minutes iof the hird quarter we probably played our worst footy of
the season,” said Long.
“We turned the ball over and they capitalised and kicked four
goals.
“It almost felt like we were dominating the game because of the
possession we had. We had plenty of it and had plenty of scoring
opportunities.
“And I felt like something was going to happen if we took control
early in that third quarter – but it went the other way and we brought
them back into the game with our turnovers.”
His rival Peter Somerville sort of agreed, saying Long was
probably on the money with his view of events after Maroochy trailed by
seven points at quarter-time, then led by three points at the big break.
“But I thought we lifted our workrate and started playing our
style of game and that resulted in those four goals,” he said.
“It was pretty good contest to half-time and it was tough in
close. They bottled us a bit and couldn’t get our game going.
“Then we broke it open for about 15 minutes in the third quarter.”
Maroochy pout on 5.2 to 2.1 in that period, then finished the
match off with a fourth quarter of 5.2 to 4.3.
Thomas Booth had a big game for the Roos off a half-back flank,
centre half-back Tye Morrison stood out in defence, half-forward Ben
Stanley slipped under the radar of the Hawks with a haul of 6.4 and
ruckman Shaun Fletcher also stood out.
Clearly Sandgate are hurting, a massive injury run being of major
concern to the brains trust at Lemke Road.
After going eight rounds unbeaten, the Hawks have now lost four of
their past six, including three against top-five sides.
Again asked if things are getting out of hand, Long remained
upbeat.
“Probably on the weekend we were most disappointing in patches,”
he said.
“Bu the feeling at the club if we get a couple of our best players
back – and knowing we’re in the finals – we can turn things around.
“We’re just going through a bad patch.”
As we said earlier, Long was superb for the Hawks, who also had
Aaron Fabian and half-back Rowan Moody as strong contributors. Fabian
displayed his extreme versatility with roles at centre half-back, in the
ruck, on-ball, centre half-forward and on a wing.
Last Modified on 12/07/2010 13:43