By Marcus Uhe
The third element in Wandin’s four week plan laid out at the beginning of the finals series fell perfectly into place in Sunday’s Outer East Football Netball Premier Division preliminary final on Sunday afternoon in the form of a comprehensive performance at both ends of the ground against old foe Woori Yallock.
Despite being the underdog in the contest and playing with an extra week of fatigue in their legs than their opponents, the Bulldogs were a class above the Tigers in almost every facet as they booked a place in the final day of the season to defend their premiership crown.
A brilliant first half, in which they held the Tigers goalless in the second term and kicked three themselves to grow the margin from 21 points to 40, shut the gate on any potential premature end to their season, winning 15.8 98 to 8.5 53 at Rob Porter Recreation Reserve in Officer.
In doing so, they set the table for another date with Narre Warren with the premiership flag up for grabs.
Wandin was uncharacteristically wasteful going inside 50 in the opening term with a number of unrewarded entries, allowing the Tigers to make the first strike.
Charlie Wood’s efforts to counter star ruck Zach Monkhorst saw him climb over Monkhorst’s broad shoulders, and the son-of-a-gun made no mistake with the resulting shot.
Harrison van Duuren’s rebound 50 helped Wandin to springboard the length of the ground, and methodically chip its way through the Tigers defence to Daniel Hirst, who goaled after being aided by a 25-metre penalty.
Aaron Mullett gave them a second minutes later, with the dynamic forward saluting in front of a keenly observing nest of Magpies in the forward pocket, after a brilliant decision from Damian Furey to cut inboard.
Forward pressure from Woori Yallock saw Leiwyn Jones’ kick smothered and Pat Bruzzese tackle Ben Monkhorst high deep in the Tigers’ front half, who followed his brother’s lead and made no mistake, before a devastating five minutes from Wandin separated the two sides.
Brodie Atkins kicked two in two minutes, the first after Chayce Black showed his smarts in traffic to create an opportunity and the second after an intercept mark from John Ladner at half back, before Jack Manson made it five for the quarter under immense front-on pressure in the Wandin forward half.
Three goals in red time completely changed the complexion of the contest and put Wandin in complete control.
Bruzzese made it four in a row to open the second term after being advanced for a protected area infringement, before a stalemate ensued as the ball bounced between the arcs, as the contest between Jones and Taylor Gibson took centre stage.
Jones’ long arms and jump allowed him to reach into Gibson’s space and impede his ability to mark the ball in contests, smartly avoiding getting into a wrestling match that would have seen him tossed aside.
Multiple contests on the near wing saw Jones extinguish the Gibson threat with aplomb, even knocking the leading goal kicker off his feet at one stage to the delight of those in red blue and white in the outer.
Clint Johnson broke the scoring deadlock with his first of the afternoon to push the lead to 35 points, and the term finished with Bruzzese’s second for the 40-point lead.
Woori Yallock’s best chance at a major during the second term fell to Joshua Neal, but his set shot miss went back the other way n a flash, with Bruzzese kicking to an unguarded goal square.
Ahead by 40 at the long break, the impact of fatigue and an extra game in the legs in the last fortnight looked set to come to the fore.
Wandin, however was determined for that not to be the case, with much bigger ambitions front of mind.
Neal ended Wandin’s unanswered run of goals at six with the first of the third term, but the quarter was a case of goal-for-goal, with the Bulldogs not allowing inroads into their comfortable margin.
A final charge was requested from the Tigers at the last break, but they could not deliver on what was asked.
Wandin would not be denied, kicking the opening three goals of the term to reach a game-high lead of 58-points midway through the quarter.
Macauley Beckwith put the finishing touches on the performance with a brilliant check-side kick from underneath the scoreboard, in front of the boisterous Wandin fans cheering every kick, mark and handball that their beloved team executed.
Wandin’s coach Nick Adam could barely wipe the smile off his face after the win, having taken his group to the precipice of back-to-back premierships.
Delighted with the performance of his backs, he gave the defensive performance from the whole side an ‘A+’.
“We’ve talked about this throughout the year – the assertiveness that our back six can play with is built off the back of pressure up the ground,” he said.
“When we’ve got that going, that’s impacting the type of ball that’s coming into the forward 50 and giving our defenders more of an opportunity to create contests.
“Their desire to come forward to defend today and come off to defend … I couldn’t be more pleased.
“They created it today probably better than they have all year.”
The ripping apart of the contest and ability to score in red time was reminiscent of last year’s grand final triumph, when the game was won in the last 10 minutes of the first half.
For Adam, that was all part of the plan, as Wandin’s weapons came to the fore.
“We were really conscious that we needed to continue to play the way we felt would most impact their defence for 25 minutes, because we felt we were going to get good outcomes at the back end of each quarter if we were able to do that,” he said.
“The way we play is difficult to defend, but the longer the quarter goes, the harder it is to defend as well.
“We ask a lot of our players but we ask a lot of opposition defences to be able to continue to defend the whole ground.
“We came in with a plan to be able to test them defensively and we felt that some our attributes, in terms of the way we spread the ground and move the ball, was going to test them.”
Atkins and Mullett finished with three goals each, as Jones, Bruzzese, van Duuren and Todd Garner were among the Bulldogs’ best players.
Woori Yallock’s straight sets exit will sting the playing group, particularly after a brilliant home-and-away season where they won their first nine and lost just twice on their way to securing second place and a double chance in the first season under Brendan Donovan.
With Narre Warren’s exit next season and with a handful of key figures already recommitting, however, it’s hard to imagine them falling too far down the pecking order.
