There were some big wins for United Yeelanna, Elliston Districts and Lock on the weekend, with results going as expected, which has put plenty of intrigue on the makeup of the top 4 heading into the halfway mark.
An inspired and motivated Lock were far too strong for a young Eyre United side at home, winning by 131 points in wet conditions to celebrate Andrew (Gundy) Hetzel’s 350th A grade game. Lock burst out the blocks early, kicking 6.5 to no score in the first quarter with Daly Eichner proving a handful early, kicking 3 in the first quarter after some good bodywork and delivery from Lock’s midfield. It was much of the same in the second quarter with the Roos dominating all over the ground. The Saints younger brigade in Stratford, Pugsley, Turner and Masson were battling well up against the bigger Lock bodies and are definitely players to watch in the future. Though the Saints were getting a lot of the ball, they struggled to get it past Centre Half Back due to some strong defence from Lock’s defenders. The highlight of this quarter was Gundy Hetzel weaving his way through players, kicking a goal from 40 out and near every Lock player on the ground coming from everywhere to celebrate a classy goal. The second half became a bit of a slog as rain affected skills for both sides, but Lock continued to dominate the game across all areas of the ground. Hetzel scored another 2 goals to cap off a great game in his milestone appearance. Other better players for the Roo’s were Cain Reynolds, Blaze Kay, Douglas Pearce, Sam Pearce and Dusty Wheare. For the Saints it was Brody Stratford, Ethan Pugsley, Tom Forrest, Lachy Gale, Cruz Mullan and Clifford Warrior who battled hard all day. Lock would have been happy to gain some percentage that has them sitting inside the top four, and the big win given more relevance considering Travis Beard did not line up.
Ramblers ventured up the highway to Minnipa to take on an in-form Elliston Districts and although competitive, the Roosters had too much class in the end to win comfortably by 65 points in a memorable debut for Noah Fleming who made his debut. Ramblers missed a couple of early opportunities to register a goal, and it was the red-hot Kody Rosalia who opened proceedings with a major along with Steve Paul to put the home side in front. Their midfield had kicked into gear and with a dominant forward line in Paul, Rosalia and the classy Tom Gibson, the Roosters were able to take a comfortable 39-point lead in to the long break. Ramblers produced their best footy of the day in the third to not only stem the flow keeping Elliston Districts to just 1 goal but added 3 themselves to bring the game back in to a contest. Mickan, Starke and Modra were all prominent and Lachie Treloar was giving them something in the ruck. The Roosters responded strongly in the final quarter like all good sides do, to slam on 7 goals to 1 to put the game well and truly beyond doubt with Rosalia, Gibson and Paul putting the icing on the cake with consecutive majors. Lachie McInnis was again outstanding for his side, he’s a tough unit, Rosalia bagged another 7 to give him 14 in the last 2 weeks and Williams and Montgomerie were their usual dominant selves. The Magpies battled hard with Treloar once again solid, he is having an outstanding season to date, Kinglsey Bilney found plenty of it, and Haarsma, Claughton and Modra were all useful players.
Coming off a spirited win last week Cougars would have taken some confidence in to their game against ladder leaders United Yeelanna at Karkoo and they started the contest strongly to be well and truly in the thick of it at quarter time. Wagner was looking dangerous up forward and Falciani was solid through the middle, but the home side were able to settle through the Crettenden brothers to kick consecutive majors. The Eagles lifted in the second quarter to kick 4 majors for the term but couldn’t shake a determined Cougars outfit who were up for the fight as Falciani booted 2 important goals to keep them in touch. The half time break did the visitors no favours as United Yeelanna were able to settle and reassess – this spelt danger for Cougars as the Eagles came out and dominated the third quarter to boot 8 goals straight playing some outstanding football and leaving Cougars shell shocked and with no answers. They had winners all over the ground as Watson and Maxfield took control in the middle, Murnane had lifted, and their forward line were reaping the benefits as they dominated the contest. The margin had blown out to 54 points at three quarter time, and the game lost some of its sting in the final quarter as Yeelanna added a further 3 goals and kept Cougars to just 1 to run out big winners in the end. Conlan was excellent for the winners, the 3 Crettenden boys dominated in Plugga’s 200th game, and Norton was solid across half back. Brodie Laube had another excellent game for Cougars, while Flynn Paech, Falciani, Green and Horgan all had moments in the game.
There is plenty of interest in this week’s games, none more so than the top of the table clash between the league heavy weights United Yeelanna and Elliston on the Roosters home deck, Cougars will look to bounce back against a struggling Eyre United, and Tumby Bay and Ramblers do battle in what looms as a critical contest for both sides and their finals aspirations.
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