By Marcus Uhe
Shane Dwyer’s Magpies made the most of their familiarity with the home ground conditions on Saturday in their 74-point win over Upwey Tecoma on Saturday.
With the conditions favouring the Fox Road end of the ground, both teams had to adjust the way they wanted to move the ball from their regular game styles in order to both maximise the advantage and mitigate damage the other way.
The Tigers opened the game with the wind in their favour, but failed to take full toll, only holding a four-point lead at the first break.
In the second term, their ineffectiveness came back to hurt them as the home side kicked 7.8, while Upwey Tecoma were held scoreless.
The reigning premiership coach said he was impressed with the team’s discipline and skill execution, in-spite of the elements.
“They kicked with the wind in the first quarter and they played the pavilion side, but we know that if the wind blows to the gate, we don’t want to be there,” Dwyer said.
“We made a strong emphasis to play on the top side, which worked in our favour.
“It was blowing towards the gate where you drive into our ground.
“Nine times out of 10 when it’s howling, the wind blows down there.
“You could score at the other end, particularly in the 19s and reserves, but by the time we got out there the wind had picked-up a bit more.”
The defeat of the Tigers takes Narre Warren to five consecutive wins, with an average margin of 87 points, with dreams of back-to-back premierships very much still alive.
But it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the black and white, who have been forced to draw deep upon its Reserves and Under 19s sides due to player unavailability.
Against Upwey Tecoma, Lachlan Benson missed through suspension, while Peter Gentile played his second game for the Northern Bullants in the VFL.
On Saturday, Narre Warren fielded four Under 19s players, in Jacob Mutimer, Logan Hiscock, Sam Wellwood and Daniel Toner, the most they’ve had in a team since 2021.
While the lack of continuity can hurt a side, Dwyer is viewing the adversity as an opportunity to build upon the depth within his squad.
“It’s good that we’re winning and we’re getting a look at so many players as well to see where they sit with us,” he said.
“That can be a negative, but because we’ve been winning it’s been a positive that we get to experiment a bit with a lot of blokes.
“There’s a couple who have actually surprised us with how well they’ve been going.
“It’s either negative because you don’t have your best group out there, but then there’s benefits from guys playing footy who can possibly push their way into the best group.”
A trip to Woori Yallock awaits this week, the only ground in which they succumbed in 2022, by five points late in the season.
Woori Yallock arrested a mini slump in form with a 35-point at home against Mt Evelyn in an evenly matched contest.
The second and fourth quarters, in which the Tigers kicked a total of nine goals to the visitors’ three, was enough to separate the two sides.
The loss leaves Mt Evelyn grounded at the bottom of the table, despite a superior percentage to Monbulk in one spot ahead.
A 82-point thrashing at the hands of Olinda Ferny Creek did little to help the Hawks’ percentage, falling victim to a side returning to its 2022 form with the return of Matthew Scharenberg.
