Wickers walk-over

By Mark Gullick
BERWICK announced itself as a premiership contender with an emph-atic 51-point dismissal of Narre Warren at Edwin Flack Reserve on Saturday.
Wickers captain Jason Kelly won the most important toss of his career and pointed towards the school end, which gave his team the benefit of a roaring wind.
The match opened with a struggle as the players accustomed themselves to the conditions.
Berwick star Paul Vanschilt kicked the opening goal after running down Magpie star Michael Collins.
Further goals to Mitchell Talbert, Jake McLardy, David VanDiemen, who capitalised on a defensive mistake, and Andrew Tuck, from a contentious umpiring decision, firmly gave Berwick the upper hand.
Narre Warren goaled later in the term through the unchecked Aaron McIver to reduce the Magpies’ quarter-time deficit to 31 points.
The Magpies ability to kick an abundance of goals in a short time-frame ensured that the result wasn’t finalised, however it was Berwick that drew first blood in the second term after Semir Zijai popped through a goal.
Narre Warren secured its second goal from a Collins clearance and a couragous Nick Scanlon mark and goal.
That sparked the Magpies into action, and goals to defender Matt Lee, who drifted forward, and Scanlon twice close the gap on the scoreboard.
Waite completed a strong mark and kicked truly to give his side a 16-point half-time lead.
A long Faik goal ended the third-quarter deadlock and kick-started the Berwick game.
The Wickers kicked three further goals to hold a 43-point lead.
By kicking the opening goal of the last term – against the wind – Berwick took the sting out of the contest and ended any hopes of a Narre Warren comeback.
Each team kicked four goals as interest in the match trended on a downward spiral.
Berwick’s use of the wind, and tactics when kicking against it, played a crucial role in the win.
“You come up with two different types of gameplans, in regards to going with the wind and against the wind,” Berwick coach Dean Rice said.
“(The wind) helped us in the first quarter. One of the key things in finals is the ability of your team to settle first and having that wind and kicking a couple of goals, we seemed to settle quicker than Narre did.
“Six goals to one in a final is definitely what you want to start with and the ability of our guys to hold on to that lead for the rest of the game was good.”
The rugged Robinson was brilliant, working hard around the packs and organising many Berwick forays.
Tim Gunn kicked three goals and was lively in the forward half, veteran Jason Rahilly relished the conditions and youngster Talbett played above his tender years.
“It would have been a nice toss to win,” Narre Warren coach Chris Toner said. “But we just got outplayed on the day. I did (think we were still in the game at three quarter-time),” he said.
“The wind seemed to drop (during the last break), so we didn’t get two usages of it, but that’s not an excuse, you’ve just got to take your medicine.
“We were getting beaten in the middle of the ground. (Ruckman Matt) Olney didn’t play and he was really coming good for us.”
Magpies champion Nick Scanlon was superb, with four goals and several couragous efforts in a polished performance, while young defender Adam Giobbi and the Collins brothers, Michael and Chris, excelled in the midfield.