Magpie Brett Evans takes a one-handed mark in front of Devon Meadows’ Ryan Murphy during Narre Warren’s 18-point win at Glover Reserve. By Mark Gullick
NARRE WARREN consigned Devon Meadows to its third straight loss after the Magpies claimed a three-goal win at Glover Reserve on Saturday.
Whilst Narre Warren heavily rotated its players through the interchange, injuries to star Devon Meadows duo Daniel Rigg and Justin Hill severely restricted their match-ups and ability to rest players.
Narre Warren dominated the second term and should have led by more than 26 points at the long break, but kicked 4.5 to 1.5 in that term.
Until this point, the match was a dour, uneventful affair.
The second half was a complete contrast.
Devon Meadows made Narre Warren rue its missed chances in the first half by kicking seven goals to nil in the third quarter.
Narre Warren coach Matt Shinners was disappointed with his players in the third term, but they responded with a seven-goal-to-one final term to turn a three-goal deficit into a three-goal victory.
“To travel down there – they’ve come off two losses, they’re at home and they’re in the five, – and to come away with the win is a good effort,” he said.
Daniel Borninkhof was superb for the Magpies. He controlled his wing and used his pace and skill to play a prominent part in the match.
Lee Boyle was a rock in defence, Colin McNamara was busy around the ground, as was Michael Collins, ruckman Luke Tehennepe and Ben Wragg. Brett Evans kicked four goals.
Devon Meadows understandably ran out of legs.
“Our rotations were severely limited and to try and replace players of that quality is pretty hard, and that probably hurt us in the end,” Devon Meadows coach Steve O’Brien said.
“We probably went a bit defensive and maybe focused more on Narre than our own game. In the third quarter we played our own game and had a really good quarter. It was disappointing that we didn’t finish the game off.”
Captain Jesse Dehey was the Panthers best player and he was important in the midfield all day. Big man Adam Jago was influential all day, as was midfielder Stefan Baumgartner, forward David Verlado, who kicked five goals for the second week in a row, and Russell White.
AN EIGHT-GOAL final term from Berwick finally broke the resolve of a gritty Doveton.
The Wickers won 20.8.128 to 15.11.101.
Margins of just one, one and 12 points separated the teams at each break in a fast-paced, high scoring match.
The Doves produced a five-goal third term to lead by two goals heading into the final term.
Berwick dominated the final term with eight goals to two.
Coach Glenn Dale was pleased with the win.
“It was a great win – well fought out,” he said. “I think if you under-estimate Doveton this year then you’ll get found out. They’re a pretty good team, so it was a good win.
“We’re a pretty even team. We went in even younger this week, under 22 in average age. We just thought that if we kept running and kept working and kept close to them, we might be able to run over the top of them in the end. We didn’t have too many big spearheads up forward so we had to make do with the players we’ve got.”
In the final term, the Wickers were able to play their style of football.
Berwick captain Andrew Tuck was superb in the midfield and he kicked three key goals in the final term.
Youngster Jack Sheppard, midfielders Andrew Stent, Tom Andrews, Riley Heddles and Stephen Morey also played well.
Doveton has been very competitive in the past month of football and it took the game right up to its highly credentialed opponents.
Ryan Hendy was brilliant for Doveton, kicking six goals. Simon Black, Ryan Pearson and Peter Pullen all continued their impressive seasons. Big man Ben Anderson and Shannon Henwood played well.
HAMPTON PARK defeated a determined Tooradin by 19 points in a dour affair at Robert Booth Reserve.
The Seagulls surprised the home side in the opening term by kicking 4.2 to 2.1.
Hampton Park took control of the match in the second quarter with four goals to one.
In the third quarter, Tooradin had plenty of chances, but couldn’t convert.
A late goal to Jason Siegel and an early fourth quarter goal to Matt Davey levelled the scores.
However, a five-minute burst by Hampton Park, where Dean Jamieson and Kevin McLean snapped clever goals, and Matthew Langley kicked truly after a strong mark, put a comfortable distance between the two teams on the scoreboard.
Hampton Park coach Josh Taylor was happy to get another win, the club’s second in a row, but didn’t think his team played that well.
“They definitely won the contested footy,” he said.
“They wanted the footy more. We seemed reserved for some reason. I’m not really sure why, but it was a real contrast to last week against Pakenham. Our ability to use the footy a little bit better, probably just a bit more class and experience got us over the line in the end.”
Kevin McLean kicked five goals for the victors. Dean Jamieson, Chris Hussey, Sheldon Fredericks and coach Josh Taylor played well.
For Tooradin, it was the same names that were again the better players.
Midfielders Rohan Hyde, Adam Galea, Beau Miller and defender Adam Splatt shone through again.
Matt Davey was Tooradin’s focus point in the forward line and he finished with four goals.
IN the other two matches, Keysborough defeated Beaconsfield 10.10.70 to 10.9.69 and Pakenham defeated ROC 16.17.113 to 16.11.107.
