Cranbourne’s Matt Thompson and Narre Warren’s Daniel Borninkhof battle it out for possession during the Magpies’ 66-point thrashing of the Eagles at Fox Road on Saturday.By Brad Kingsbury
NARRE WARREN cruised to an effortless 66-point victory over CRANBOURNE at a soggy, but firm, Fox Road ground on Saturday.
The Magpies looked as classy as they ever have, but Cranbourne was directionless without star full-forward and captain Marc Holt, who missed due to suspension.
After a six-goal-to-one first term that effectively put the contest out of reach for the Eagles, stand-in coach Bill King and the Cranbourne brains trust tinkered with the line-up in an effort to plug gaps in both defence and attack.
However, they simply had no answers for the class advantage the Magpies continued to retain across the ground.
There was little the visitors could do about the frequency and quality of supply that was offered to the Magpie forwards from the likes of Brad Scalzo, Shane Brewster, Jesse Edmond, Ricky Clark and Clay Peresso.
The opposite was the case for Cranbourne, with its midfield under extreme pressure and, when it did go forward, there was little direction without missing targets in Holt, Andre Young and Ray George.
Had the Magpies been on target in the second term, the damage would have been even greater.
Cranbourne opened the second half a lot more positively and slotted the first two goals of the third term, indicating that there was still some fight left in their make-up, however Narre Warren settled again and pushed forward to increase the lead again.
Robert Beadel and Callum Lester lifted their work rate across half-back for Cranbourne and were creative throughout the second half of the game.
However the reality was that the visitors lacked the overall class to match their seasoned and well-drilled opponents across the ground and the match lurched to a predictable end with Narre Warren retaining its unbeaten status and moving into second position on percentage.
A spate of injuries to key players marred KEYSBOROUGH’s 34-point defeat of HAMPTON PARK at the Rowley Allen Reserve.
In the worst cases Burra ruckman Sean Witherden will miss seven to eight weeks with a broken foot, while centre half-forward Tyson King will have a serious knee injury assessed this week.
Other players certain to be sidelined include Karl Shoenmaekers and Joe Scata.
Despite the carnage, the result went to the script thanks to Keysborough’s superiority in attack.
The Redbacks were without suspended hard nut Jack Besley, but matched the Burra in the physical clinches, creating a real scrap in the opening half.
Captain Josh Taylor was dangerous in attack, while ball-carriers including Dean Jamieson, Matthew Dixon, Nathan Dawes and Chris Hussey took the game right up to their more fancied rivals.
A solid second term by the home side led by goals to Luke McGuinness and Tyson King, helped create a five-goal buffer at half-time and that proved telling, given Keysborough was forced into defending that lead after the injury-onset in the third term.
The Redbacks tried hard to bridge the gap, but the poise of classy Burra stars led by William Gayfer, Clinton King and Shaun Daly saw their side to victory.
DEVON MEADOWS blew a slender half-time lead and watched as PAKENHAM ran away to a 37-point victory at Glover Reserve.
The result was a major blow to Panthers coach Steve O’Brien who believed his side was a good chance of winning the big clash.
His players slipped back into their bad habits of the past few seasons and capitulated after the main break.
“I’m very disappointed and pretty frustrated by that loss,” he said.
“We spent two weeks setting up a game plan that was working and it was just a straight lack of discipline that cost us. It’s a mindset and it has to change or we’re going nowhere.”
The home side maintained momentum over their highly rated opponents to lead by five points after a low-scoring first half, but that edge was lost early in the third term when Henneman injured a calf and limped from the field.
The Panthers were reduced to 17 men after Ash Adams was reported and sent from the field under a red card for an off-the-ball striking offence that saw Lion captain Joel Padley knocked out and Pakenham then booted six unanswered goals to put the game out of reach.
DOVETON coach Tom Hallinan stripped his side back to basics and scored a comfortable 79-point victory over ROC at Starling Road.
The Doves concentrated on playing basic, one-on-one football after half-time with Kim Aboujaber, Sean Semmens, Keith Dobson, Aaron Henwood and Simon Black rewarded for their sound form in the reserves with senior promotion.
Although the Doves had moved out to a 28-point lead by the long break, Hallinan was unhappy with his players’ lack of accountability, particularly in the second term and decided that enough was enough and went back to basics.
The Doves clicked into gear and, despite the greasy conditions, piled on eight second-half goals to one in the face of stout resistance from ROC playmakers.
Justin Hill was the dominant forward, but kicked badly, recording four goals, eight behinds for the afternoon.
BEACONSFIELD bounced back to the winners’ circle with ease against TOORADIN, belting the league cellar-dwellers by 82 points.
The gulf between the two sides in ability and scoring potential was evident from the first bounce, with Beaconsfield shooting to a 42-point lead by half-time and continuing their dominance after the long break to run away with the game.
Daniel Mislicki, Michael Coates and youngster Kallan Burns were good for the victors, while Jack Cole, Jason Boocock and Rohan Hyde battled hard for Tooradin.
In Nepean League, results were largely predictable over a wet weekend with PEARCEDALE’s 35-point win over Rye being one of the highlights.
Burly spearhead Kerem Baskaya booted six goals in the difficult conditions and was a key force in the Panthers’ solid, four-quarter effort that saw them move to third position on the ladder.
