BEULAH V JEPARIT RAINBOW
Jeparit Rainbow playing good football started well and were right in this game up until half time. Unfortunately for the Lakers, you need to play well for four quarters against the Blues and a very poor third quarter saw Beulah break away and establish a match winning lead by three quarter time.
After a rev up by coach Mark Cocks at three quarter time, Jeparit Rainbow came out and outscored the Blues six goals to two in the final term, but it was all too late and Beulah kept their unbeaten record in tact to win comfortably by over six goals.
Once again the Lakers lost players to injury during the game. This time it was Luke Werner and Tim Price who went off before half time, so in effect Jeparit Rainbow played over half the game with no interchange. This, plus poor kicking around the ground hurt the Lakers who really needed everything going their way to keep up with the Blues.
For Jeparit Rainbow, Ash Clugston and Corey Waldron ran hard all day and won lots of possessions, Peter Weir had a top game at centre half forward, marking strongly, Corey Price and Dean Schumann tried hard and Brett Fisher in his 150th game had a good duel with Adam Carter.
Scott Smith was Beulah best player and Riley Lehmann’s eight goals was an outstanding effort and once again Kim and Gary Hallam played well as Beulah gear up for a tilt at the flag once again.
The loss puts the Lakers under pressure for the finals as they tumbled out of the four and they will now need to win their last three games to get back in.
WALPEUP UNDERBOOL V HOPETOUN
After a close first quarter, Hopetoun soon gained control of the match against Walpeup Underbool and went on to record a very good 68 point victory. The Roos once again started strongly, but several missed opportunities in front of goal in the opening term hurt them badly.
Travis Latta was a focal point up forward and up the other end, Bryce Wellington’s two goals late in the first quarter were telling because up until that point, the Walpeup Underbool full back Ben Fenna had his measure. Another ominous sign for the Roos was the class of Marcus Burdett who brought with him some of the form he showed when playing VCFL the week before. Instead of having a comfortable lead given the amount of play they had, the Roos went to the first break two points down.
Hopetoun’s quality play was obvious in the second quarter with Marcus Burdett and Scott Heath controlling the centre mainly due to good ruck work from Dan Young. Unlike Walpeup Underbool in the first term, Hopetoun capitalised on their forward entries kicking eight goals for the quarter with Bryce Wellington adding another three goals to his tally and proving to be a real thorn in the Walpeup Underbool side.
The Roos backline was made to work hard under heaps of pressure. AJ Wisneske stood tall as did Jim Wakefield who was moved onto Wellington late in the second quarter and managed to hold him to one more goal for the game. Darren Latta was working his wing well.
The third quarter was a much more even contest with Hopetoun adding five goals to Walpeup Underbool’s three. Chris Vorwerk was hard at the ball and was sorely missed when he had to leave the ground with a gash to the head after an accidental clash.
There were a couple of highlights for the Roos in a match that eventually blew out to an eleven goal win to the Devils and it was good to see the younger players from both sides having an influence on the match. Walpeup Underbool second gamer Joab Mead was still running late in the day creating opportunities, Luke Summerhayes defended strongly all day and for Hopetoun Zac Robins scored a good goal and Tom Pridgeon kicked two.
This was a good win for the Devils. They find the going tough at Underbool so this big victory should give them some confidence especially having to front the Tigers and the Demons in their last two games for the home and away season.
WOOMELANG LASCELLES V OUYEN UNITED
Sonny Lindsay has the skill and the ability to throw leather on his boot and find the precise spot so the ball will curve and curl through the goals anywhere from 10 to 50m out. Other players have this skill and can do it ten times a season, Sonny can do it five times a game. And then there is his marking. In front, from behind, from above, one handers, the bullocking, the strength, the hands . . . and he even kicked one goal over his head! His 15 goals against admittedly an undermanned Cats side, was an outstanding effort.
Woomelang Lascelles did their homework for this match against Ouyen United. They knew that they had to run hard, tackle fiercely and keep the ball moving otherwise this Ouyen United outfit was likely to blow them away. Their tactics worked well for the first part of the first quarter, but after that it was all one way traffic.
Early on the Cats had a tag in James Bailey on Marc Hahnel, they chased down the Demons and several times caught them with the ball. The Cats kicked a couple of goals including one from Trent Donnan after a good mark and beautiful kick. Brayden Ottrey was terrific when he got the ball on the wing in front of the stand, ran and bounced twice before kicking well to position and into the hands of Waylon Ritchie who goaled.
The Cat’s enthusiasm was admirable, but Ouyen United had too many big guns all over the ground to be kept at bay for long. Brenton Jardine quickly got into gear and dominated the first quarter, Sonny Lindsay kicked four goals in this term, the fourth of which was that audacious kick over his head. Todd Barker snapped a good goal and took a couple of fine marks, Brett Knowles was getting a lot of the ball and the defence was a disciplined unit with Adam O’Callaghan fast, tight and controlled under the leadership and direction of Kieran O’Shannessy and Jarrod Munro.
The second quarter saw Ouyen United very quickly get completely on top of the hapless Cats. Not long after the bounce, Wayne Grace snapped a goal over his shoulder, Sonny Lindsay took a screamer in the goal square and Rob Miller passed off to Ryan O’Callaghan for another goal.
While all of this was going on, Woomelang Lascelles were only able to get the ball forward a couple of times, although Brayden Ottrey was prominent with his run and dash out the centre.
Demon domination was obvious about half way through the second quarter. After a Sonny Lindsay mark and goal from ten metres out, the ball went back to the centre, bounced, thumped to advantage by Todd Barker to Glenn Joyce who passed to Ben Gregg for another goal. All in the space of about a minute.
Joel Donnan in his best game for the year did a lot of hard work whether in the ruck or defence, the consistent Trent Donnan ran all day, Jason Kreuger played well up forward and was dangerous when the ball was in his area. Daniel Quinn battled hard all day whether in defence or on the ball and Josh Templeton used his pace to advantage. James Bailey was another who worked hard in defence all day and halted many attacks.
Overall, Ouyen United was just too good on the day and with Sonny Lindsay in fine form just before the finals, they are going to be very hard to beat. The Cats were severely under manned, but still fought it out to the end.
Last Modified on 01/08/2010 14:07