Tumby Bay did their finals chances no harm on the weekend by demolishing Eyre United to the tune of 155 points strongly boosting their percentage, United Yeelanna continued their unbeaten run in a workmanlike display against Ramblers, while Elliston Districts did enough all day to beat fellow contender Lock by 15 points on the Roosters home deck. There is plenty of intrigue heading in to the final round with the final 2 top four spots up for grabs, but Tumby Bay have a percentage advantage over Lock, Cougars and Ramblers that could potentially be worth a game come season’s end.
Elliston Districts had to work hard after halftime to grab the 2 points against a determined Lock outfit who took the game right up to their opponents. The Roosters dominated the first half through some great team play through the likes of Montgomerie and Williams in the midfield and Hayden Carey showed his class along with Gibson up forward. Lock had no answers to Elliston Districts dominance despite working hard and not giving up they trailed by a game high 36 points at the main break. The Roo’s came out a different side after half time with their pressure and ability to hunt the footy impressive with Kay lifting, Trav Beard getting his hands on it up forward and Reynolds and Hetzel having an impact. They outscored the home side in this quarter in what was a great 30 minutes of football from both sides. They continued this pressure in the last quarter to boot a further 6 goals, but Elliston Districts were able to respond when it mattered through a couple from Gibson and Patterson to keep the Roo’s at bay and hold on to win by just over 2 goals. It was a great game played in perfect conditions and both these sides will have some say in September action. Montgomerie was excellent for the winners, as were Rosalia and Carey, Williams his usual tough self and Gibson looked polished up forward booting 4. Brayden Crosby played an outstanding game for Lock, Blaze Kay and Casey Beard were important players in their second half resurgence and Trav Beard looked threatening all day booting 5 goals.
United Yeelanna continued their unbeaten run against Ramblers at Cummins Oval, although they didn’t get it all their own way with a young Ramblers outfit showing patches of dominance throughout the game. Lachy Treloar set the tone early for the home side in the ruck and Langley was in everything as both sides looked to attack. Matt Cretty started strongly kicking 2 early goals as he proved a handful for the Ramblers defence who were seeing plenty of action. The Magpies intensity could not be questioned in the second quarter which resulted in them creating some scoring opportunities for minor scores. The Eagles stepped it up a notch and after a great snap from Francis and another late goal to Lawrie they held sway at halftime to lead by 25 points. As they so often do, The Eagles put the foot down in the third with Watson lifting in the midfield, Plugga Crettenden impressive across half back and Matt Cretty continued to be a vital target up forward. They held a match winning 42 point lead at 3 quarter time and extended this margin in the last to run out comfortable 67 point winners in the end. Ramblers had a crack all day and at times looked the better side – they will have a major say in the final round and will welcome back some key experienced players to compliment the talented likes of Haarsma, Langley, Treloar and Modra who were all impressive players again, while Buchanan and Hall also made valuable contributions. The Eagles were best served by Aaron Watson, Matt Crettenden, (7 goals), Norton, Proctor, Dyer and Xavier Watson who got better as the game went on.
It was all one-way traffic at Tumby Bay as the Blues dominated from start to finish to do a big number against a hapless Eyre United outfit. The writing was on the wall early with Tumby out of the blocks quickly to pile on 8 first quarter goals with Lawrie playing a different role up forward kicking 3, and Jagga Cross dominating the clearances. Ky Miller was letting nothing past him at half back as the Blues completely dominated proceedings. Eyre United were able to stem the tide slightly in the second but were still unable to score despite kicking with the wind and Tumby Bay adding a further 4 goals to see the game all but over at half time leading by 79 points. The second half proved much of the same as Richardson, Cross and Hanuman dominated the midfield and the Blues had way too many options up forward with Monfries throwing himself in to the mix kicking 5 second half goals. McDonald was giving his onballers first look at it in the ruck and if not for the desperate efforts of Casey Amos, who was clearly the Saints best player all day with a couple of run down tackles a highlight, his side could have been even further behind. It was an important percentage boosting win for Tumby, their third against Eyre United this year, and with 10 individual goalkickers they simply had way too much strength and class for a battling Eyre United. Amos tried his heart out all day, as did Jonno Forrest and Lachy Gale, while youngster Foster continued his impressive season, but it was an all too familiar outcome and another tough day for the Saints players and supporters.
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