DEES OFF THE CANVAS

By Louie Bulzomi

One winning drought had to break. And it was Nangiloc who enjoyed the drenching from the four-point raincloud at Lake Cullulleraine, defeating Meringur by 60 points, 21.17 (143) to 12.11 (83).

In blustery conditions, the Demons were fortunate not to have been punished for their early scoreboard atrociousness. They kicked six consecutive behinds before Lachlan Rohde left-footed a beauty and Kayne Kerr defied the impossibility of a boundary-line snap. Despite goals to Michael Hooker and Courtney Moore, the Kangaroos struggled to escape the clutches of their defensive 50.

Nangiloc snuck away in the second term with Luke Stone and Tony Demaio setting play up nicely from the backline, and Scott Golding and Nathan Duthie dominating in the middle. Meringur fought back to within a kick via goals to Philip Gourlay, Moore and Hooker, and definitive play by Anton Robson and Robert Ball, but that’s as close as they would get.

Kurt Freer and Daniel Cooper owned the second half, establishing quite the lethal combination in booting 12 of Nangiloc’s 14 goals between them to silence the Meringur faithful. Injuries to Sam Lee and Ben Mansell soured the win, however.

A mixture of the bye plus home ground advantage didn’t equal the tonic that Euston were after, losing to Gol Gol by 71 points, 21.9 (135) to 9.10 (64), at Bomberland.

A rollercoaster opening stanza saw the Hawks take off through Dion Collins and Sonny Lindsey (twice) before Matthew Kitt and Luke Benham brought the Bombers back. Toby Quirk-Meeks had the mountainous task of manning Lindsey, and despite the machine kicking three for the term, Quirk-Meeks handled it quite well given the amount of ball directed towards them (with some assistance from regular backs Zane Hammet and Tom Healy, who both rebounded superbly).

The frenetic pace of the game carried on into the second and third quarters, but Gol Gol had the better of it with Matt Birthisel, Mark Hooper Hayden Pyke and David Gray alternating splendidly around the ground. However, after kicking his sixth for the game, Lindsey trudged off the field with a hamstring complaint, creating renewed hope for Euston as Arthur Smith, Cameron Browne, Phil Connell and The Denaro Family all stood up to keep them in touch at the final change.

The Hawks vitally made it a clean sweep of first goals for quarters thanks to Dustin Duggan who, along with Nick Rodi, Hooper and Collins), filled the forward void beautifully to dismantle the Bombers’ resistance.

Bambill ensured that next week’s clash with Gol Gol would draw a full house with a comfortable 60-point disposal of Werrimull, 19.11 (125) to 9.11 (65), at Mildura Senior College.

The undermanned Magpies, further hurt without Danny Thornton, Dylan Kell, Matt McLeod and Simon Guthrie, showed heart in the first term, matching the Saints for possession and inside 50 entries. But their conversion let them down, with only Isaiah Johnson and Adam Thomson finding the middle, unravelling the good work of Mark Thornton, Jamie Keenan and Jamie Russell.

As a result, Bambill made them pay with 8.2 to 1.1 in the second term. David Hall and Adam Luitjes ruled the skies, Ben Casey, Steve Sellens (celebrating his 50^th game), Jake Garraway and Sam Doering gathered the majority of the loose ball, and Craig Herberte kept the dangerous Jay Savage goalless. Luke Hubble’s impersonation of Geelong’s Harry Taylor continued, with the defensive dynamo booting six great goals.

Werrimull fought on valiantly to virtually break even in the second half, but the sting had well and truly gone by mid-second quarter.

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(Photos supplied by Sunraysia Daily)