Doves bounce back

By Brad Kingsbury
DOVETON will meet Pakenham in next Saturday’s Casey Cardinia League grand final after downing traditional rivals Cranbourne by 26 points in Sunday’s preliminary final at the Edwin Flack Reserve.
The Doves turned around a 98-point loss the week before and proved that the minor premiers would be tough to beat in the big game this weekend, despite the Lions having a home-ground advantage.
Sunday’s game was rife with turnovers and not as free-flowing as many might have expected, while inconsistent and confusing umpiring decisions throughout the afternoon only served to underline the stop-start nature of the game.
Doveton kicked to the Princes Highway end and opened up with intent.
Spearhead Danny Casset shook off Cranbourne full-back Daniel Watson to mark three times in the first six minutes, kicking one goal and setting the scene for a dominant first quarter in which the Doves only allowed the ball in to the Eagles attacking 50-metre arc four times. The margin at the first change was 22 points, but could easily have been bigger such was the impact of Doveton play makers Michael Henry, Callum Pattie, Ryan Hendy and Russell Gabriel.
The late omission of experienced defenders Brad Downe and Ricky Hayes was covered well by the return of Pattie and swing man Nathan Wilson to the Doveton backline, however Cranbourne’s delivery to its forwards, in particular Marc Holt, was indecisive making life easier for the Doves to clear the zone.
A quarter-time push and shove became a bit more serious during the second term with two players (one from each side) reported and sent from the field in separate incidents.
Cranbourne tagger Ricky Harmes and Doveton on-baller Kim Aboujaber will both face the tribunal on charges of head-high contact. The Eagles lifted their work rate, but could not make an impression on the scoreboard and still trailed the Doves by 21 points at the main break.
The sun hit the ground at the start of the third term and a breeze accompanied it, but again neither side was able to create enough momentum to break the game open.
Cranbourne youngster Ryan Jones was a key driving force for his side, shaking the tag of several Doves including Jason McCloy, Ben Hoskin, Ryan Pearson and Michael Laszczyk, but again the Eagles delivery let them down and gave Pattie, Daryl Thomas and on-baller Shannon Henwood the scope to rebound.
When Casset slotted his third goal at the 25-minute mark of the third term, the game was as good as gone and the veteran full-forward made it a certainty with his fourth goal eight minutes into the last quarter.
Cranbourne fought the match out to the end with Jones, Matt Thompson and Ray George named among its best.
Holt was kept goalless and well marked by Peter Greenstreet, but the burly backman had plenty of assistance from his Doveton team-mates including Pattie and Wilson who often double and triple-teamed the Cranbourne star.
Doveton mentor Clint Wilson said the weekend effort was the opposite to the performance seven days before and gave credit to his players for having the mental strength to reverse their form.
“You’re not going to always play your best footy at times in finals and it was scrappy again, but we got the job done,” he said.
“The big thing during the week was to bounce back and it was a big effort because we did get flogged (in the second semi-final).”
Cranbourne coach Doug Koop put his cue in the rack for 2009 content in the knowledge that his young side had exceeded pre-season expectations and were simply beaten on the day.
“They were just better than us, particularly in the first half, when they got in and won the footy,” he said. “Winning a final was a bonus, but I didn’t think we would be stepping into a preliminary final with a genuine chance of winning and making a grand final this year.”