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By Brad Kingsbury
NARRE WARREN overcame the might of undefeated minor premiers PAKENHAM in Sunday’s second semi-final, brushing the Lions aside in a dominant performance to be just one victory away from a record three straight Casey Cardinia league premierships.
The win exposed a list of frailties that was etched into Pakenham’s psyche by the 41-point result.
Pakenham players at first looked surprised at the ferocity of Narre Warren’s desire and then went missing, allowing their more desperate and committed opposition first use of the ball throughout the match.
Among the problems that need to be immediately addressed by the Lions’ coaching staff is the lack of potency in attack, a pace deficiency across the midfield and a general lack of intensity that separates finalists from premiership winners.
The Magpies simply played for each other on Sunday, and Pakenham did not.
Magpie coach Matt Shinners brought young ruckman Joel Broadhurst into his line-up and set his side up for a man-on-man encounter, running only one hard tag with Cole Harvey going to star Lion Luke Walker.
Similarly, O’Loughlin backed his players in and, apart from Trent Fairclough taking on Ricky Clark, it was a case of beat your man and win the game for both sides.
The conditions were windy and slippery but Narre Warren handled them far better, booting away to a 10-point lead at quarter-time and extending that to 23 points at the main break, despite heavy rain for most of the second term.
Lee Clark was well on top of Josh Winter but missed several regulation shots at goal, while busy youngster Chris Collins made the most of his chances, booting three for the quarter.
At the other end the Magpie defenders led by Jarrod Anderson, Lee Boyle and Clay Peresso were well on top, while the midfield battle was also going the way of the ’Pies thanks to the class and pace of Brad Scalzo and Michael Collins.
Pakenham started the third term well with early goals to defender Nathan Brown and John Atwell, but the fightback was short-lived with Narre Warren scoring three majors in reply to lead by 36 points at the final break.
The Lions started the final term with key forwards Daniel Fry and Brett Hobson on the bench and a smaller forward line including the Gramc brothers and Anthony Young, but the result was set and the Magpies did not allow the Lions back in at any stage.
Narre Warren now have a well-earned week’s break before the grand final.
Shinners was ecstatic with his team’s four-quarter performance and said that all the credit should go to the players.
“We talked about our pressure and really concentrated on that aspect of our game,” he said.
“What really showed out was we had a lot more linking players running from behind the footy and our backline wasn’t worried about the conditions. They just kept on doing the things required.
“We used the ball smarter, we locked the ball in the forward line and worked hard to trap and keep the footy in there.
“It was a pretty good effort overall.”
KEYSBOROUGH earned a preliminary final berth against the Lions with a one-sided 111-point belting of HAMPTON PARK in Saturday’s first semi-final.
While it was hard to find a consistent Redback player, Keysborough’s performance was outstanding.
William Gayfer won a crucial toss and kicked with a five-goal wind, forcing the Redbacks into a defensive mindset from the outset.
Keysborough star Shaun Daly opened the game in devastating fashion, booting two of his side’s first four goals in a 10-minute burst of power midfield running that set an example followed by his team-mates for the rest of the afternoon.
Danger signs were plenty for Hampton Park with every turnover costly and even high-class ball users like Chris Hussey, Nathan Dawes, Linden Fredericks and Jack Besley consistently butchering the ball with up-and-under kicks to the detriment of team-mates up the field.
The quarter-time margin was 38 points and that was extended to 46 points early in the second term with the Redbacks kept goal-less until Kevin McLean broke through with three consecutive majors, reducing the Burra lead to 26 points at half-time and giving his side hope of a revival in the second half.
That idea was quickly dispelled by the Burra in a devastating nine-goal to one third term that saw spearhead Luke McGuinness add two goals and eight team-mates contribute one each to push the margin out to 80 points and seal the result.
Despite the continued efforts of Besley, Ryan Simpson and Chris Hussey, Hampton Park capitulated in the final term allowing the Burra to break the 100-point mark as the game petered out to a mundane end.
In the wash-up there were too many great Keysborough performances to list, but acts of courage from young guns Michael Downie and Leigh Williams who both marked running back into packs, together with awesome displays of overlap running from Daly, Clinton King, Kris Fowler, Daniel Morland and Kane Tucker were among the highlights.
Anthony Brannan’s job to shut down dangerous Redback David Biagi was outstanding, as was that of ball-magnet Chris Capsalis around the ground and the twin towers Shaun Witherden and Dean ‘Angry’ Gentle in the ruck.
A great snapshot of Hampton Park’s day occurred late in the final term when Simpson ran through Daly, who was clearly best afield, with a perfect, clean, bone-jarring hip and shoulder only to watch the machine-like midfielder bounce to his feet and run to the next contest like it hadn’t happened.
Shattered coach Jason Caples said the performance was completely unexpected and was at a loss to find reasons for a complete form turn-around in only seven days.
