By Marcus Uhe
A brilliant third quarter from Berwick has kept any slim hopes of finals qualification alive in the Eastern Football Netball League, providing the catalyst for a 38-point win over Norwood on Saturday.
Five goals in 10 minutes saw a three-point deficit at half time quickly become a 26-point lead for the Wickers, and 36 at the final break, before closing the game with a 9.13 67 to 3.11 29 advantage.
Harry Money set the ball rolling in the third, pouncing on an errant kick in the Norwood defensive 50 to mark and goal, giving his side the lead in enemy territory.
Forward pressure also allowed Kyle O’Sullivan to hit the scoreboard, making something from nothing after Norwood turned the ball over again in their back 50, before Anthony Vella’s karate skills came to fore, kicking the ball out of mid-air following a marking contest for a third in five minutes, as the Wickers grasped the momentum.
Sensing the game was theirs to be won and looking to maximise its new-found energy, the Berwick defenders, led by Will Athurson, begun to move the ball with aggression out of back half, an approach the forward group seemed to delight in.
Charlie Muley was one such beneficiary, goaling for the first time since early June after his teammates moved the ball the length of the field from a full-back kick-out.
It was then the creative Vella, whose decision to take a defender on at half-forward reaped major rewards, changing angles and kicking inboard to a contest where Caleb Van Oostveen had stolen a march on his defender, running into an open goal after some unselfish hands from his fellow forwards.
The 10-minute burst left Norwood bereft of answers, suddenly with its back against a wall and facing an onslaught in white charging full-steam ahead.
What rare opportunities the home side did have in the third term, they were squandered by kicking five behinds, where Berwick, sitting on 2.8 at the half, were suddenly clinical in front of the big sticks, kicking 7.2 for the quarter.
Harrison Canning kicked two before the term was out, once following a mauling tackle from imposing ruck Jesse Cirulis that turned the ball over at half-forward, and later from a double 25-metre penalty conceded by the home side.
One advancement was for the slow return of the ball to Canning from the opponent who infringed at a marking contest, and the other given while the umpire was in motion, and appeared to be for abusive language.
Neither managed a major in the final term, but that was of little significance for Clint Evans’ side, who registered just its third win of the campaign.
In spite of repeat deep forward entries in the final minutes of the game, Norwood was held to just one behind in the fourth quarter, making for a goalless second half and its lowest score of the 2023 season.
By contrast, it was Berwick’s second highest score for 2023, only falling short to its round one win over Vermont.
Warning signs were evident early for the visitors, who missed their first four opportunities on goal and conceded two to their hosts, before Canning finally converted late in the first term.
The game was played at a rapid pace, one in which Berwick appeared a step-behind as skill errors haunted them through the middle of the ground.
In a contest between two sides on the outer of the top six looking in, the game shaped as critical for two sides desperately trying to stay in the hunt with the break-away pack in the top half of the ladder.
New to the club in 2023, the trip of O’Sullivan, Brad Homfray and Jordan Roberts were all critical to the result, as were veterans Arthurson and Ashton Williamson.
