Gingin and Toodyay have a long history of hard, brutal matches and it was no different last Sunday when sheer physical strength was put to the test on the Eagles home turf. The ‘biff’ was back, for lack of a better term, in what was a rough, tough display of good-old fashioned footy.
Fair to say the Gingin Reserves side were quite looking forward to a competitive game against second on the ladder, Toodyay. With low numbers this week, Gingin’s club President and ‘old-timer’ Glenn Rule even pulled on the boots. But it was from the first centre bounce that Gingin out-paced, out-skilled and simply out-classed the Lions and held them to just 1 goal 8 points the entire game. Gingin’s Jordan Tai kicked 9 goals straight and was named best on ground followed by the owner of the leagues’ best mullet, Jack Mackey who kicked 3. Jarrod Evans, Todd Millen and Geoff Chisolm all played well but it was once again an all-round team effort of which is seeing this team on a percentage of 650 after just 5 games played and looking to steam roll through to finals again this year.
A tight League ladder saw both sides desperate for the 4 points this round; Toodyay to cement their spot at the top of the ladder and Gingin to stay within a whisker of big dogs Calingiri and Toodyay. A very close game right from the get-go with Gingin leading by just 1 point at quarter time and 2 points at the half time break. The Eagles dominated the first half of the third with a couple of ‘Ballantyne-like’ goals from Nathan Sims which contributed to the game’s biggest margin of a 40 point lead. This didn’t last long as Toodyay fought back with hard running to bring the margin back to 21 points at 3 quarter time. The Lions came out firing again to start the final term and carry on from the third quarter to total 8 unanswered goals and taking the lead by a couple of points, leaving Gingin looking slow and tired. Both backlines had their work cut out for them under a huge amount of pressure as the ball was delivered inside 50 time after time. After playing a State Country game the day earlier, Gingin’s captain Geoff Rouse made his move just at the right time to kick a killer goal from 45m out on a tough angle to take his tally to 5 for the day, a fair effort. One last opportunity for Gingin to take the lead saw a quick play run from the far boundary and straight into the hands of Nathan Sims right in front of goal. The final seconds had supporters on the edge of their seats as one last entry into Toodyay’s forward line was held up to give Gingin a 2-point victory. For the Eagles, Matthew Bycroft was outstanding across half-back, took some very good pack marks and was awarded best on ground. Chris ‘Bluey’ Samata was gutsy, Nathan Sims very handy crumbing the ball up forward to bag himself 6 goals and Rheece Bartel also appeared in the best again. For Toodyay, Stanley Collard was awarded best on ground for his 4 goals and efforts up forward followed by Jo Wood who stuck to Geoff Rouse like glue all day. Corey Hutchings and duo of Patrick’s Wilkinson and Thompson were all very good.
All in all, a great spectacle that has resulted in Toodyay, Calingiri and Gingin all on 20 points at the top of the ladder. No doubt the boys will have pulled up a bit sore and stiff. A quick turnaround for Toodyay who host Wongan-Ballidu on Saturday and Gingin lucky enough to have a week off to rest.
Last Modified on 19/05/2014 14:47