For the second week in a row the Northern Knights squandered a great start to be overrun in the second half, this time falling to the bottom of the ladder Murray Bushrangers by nine points. In a wet and hard slog, conditions their regional opponents would no doubt appreciate, the Knights were having a difficult time getting clean use of the ball. For this reason they were rarely able to build any momentum after quarter time because they could not string together enough clean possession to mount a serious attack.
It was ruckman, Matt Kreuzer who got the Knights off to a dream start. Despite the wet conditions, the big man gathered below his knees on two occasions and both times he snapped a goal on his opposite foot. Tim Bongetti also got in on the act by kicking the Knights' next two goals amongst the Bushrangers only two goals of the quarter, while Luke Simpson scored just before the siren to give the Knights a three goal buffer.
By this stage, the Knights were winning majority of the 50/50 contests and were there in support for one another, with particularly good efforts in this regard from Adrian Totino and Michael Brunelli. When James Tantsis-Hall scored early in the second quarter the Knights were well poised to run away with the game but the sides traded goals for the next couple of minutes until the Bushrangers managed three in a row to put pressure back onto the Knights.
As the Bushrangers were piling the goals on, the Knights ground work got a lot sloppier and the support around the ball was not as strong. The Bushrangers, by contrast were dealing quite well with the increasingly difficult conditions but were wasteful in front of goals, scoring seven behinds in the second quarter.
The Knights needed to send a message to start the second half and Lee Santoro imposed himself physically on two occasions and was very lively. Bongetti marked and goaled off a nice pass from David Zaharkis for the ideal start, but from then on the game was very much in the Bushrangers favour. They continued to waste chances and kicked six behinds for the quarter, but the goals they kicked saw them hit the lead for the first time in the game. Bongetti took a great grab while outnumbered not long before the siren and kicked truly for his fifth of the game to give the Knights a one point lead at the final break.
Marks were very scarce and clean possession almost as hard to come by. Totino continued to deal remarkably well in the wet and on some occasions he seized the ball with such effortlessness that you would swear the ball was bone dry, while Brett Meredith had a couple of encouraging runs.
The last quarter was never going to be high scoring, so goals were to be all the more valuable and it was Totino and Bongetti who led the way. Totino looked remarkably calm in a rather frantic slog and the desperation and endeavour Bongetti displayed created a turnover for his third goal of the half and sixth of the game. The Bushrangers continued the trend of wasting opportunities in their forward line, but they got the two goals that mattered in the final quarter off a speculative snap from Jamason Daniels and the sealer from McIntyre, his third for the game.
Once again, the Knights were left to rue their inability to run the game out after a blistering start that gradually tapered off.
Northern Knights 10.10.70 def. by Murray Bushrangers 10.19.79
Last Modified on 30/03/2008 18:21