By Ray Martin
On Saturday afternoon, at their home at Redland Bay, Victoria Point, the Bayside Bombers Over-38's Masters, sponsored by Wilpak, hosted Wilson Grange Gorillas in their second game for the season, in an AFL game that was sure to be another grudge match, given the spirited competitiveness of previous encounters.
The opening of the match did not disappoint, as both teams opened up the game well, with a torrid tussle in the first quarter. Both teams were competing fiercely, man on man, all over the ground, to establish ascendancy. Russel Bagnall again led to charge for the Bayside, with a strong performance in the ruck, winning most of the taps in the first quarter and for the rest of the day when he played in the centre. Darren Smith, playing at full forward for the Bombers, led well out of the goal square and marked strongly in the packs, securing the first goal for the Bayside.
Adrian Roberts followed, with a dashing run out of the centre and through the half forward fifty metre line, to score a long running goals going into quarter time. The Gorillas had come to play, and also fought well, also securing three goals in the first quarter, along with the Bombers, to go into the second quarter trailing by only 2 points.
Into the second quarter, the Bombers half back line and midfield lifted, and began working with renewed vigour. Adrian Roberts, Michael Rennie, Clinton Dunning and Mick Kath all featured in this term, with numerous hard ball possessions and clearances, to wrestle back the initiative of off the Gorillas. Darren Smith continued his first quarter form kicking the opening goal of the term, and was ably assisted by Micheal Rennie who flashed across the centre of the ground, through the half forward line for a full-flight running goal, along with Adrian Roberts who again broke the lines for a hard fought major.
Darren Smith took a big pack mark, from a long centre clearing kick, and converted the goal for his third of the day. Carlo Archille, Kim Dry and Rowie Neilsen started to open up avenues to goal on the wings, with Archille continuing his fine vein of form, finding a gap in the forward line, to mark and goal, giving the Bayside Bombers a 21 point lead at half time.
At half time coach Doug Knight and sidelined captain Russell Crowe recognised that the Bombers were not setting up play correctly, were not matching up their opponents through the centre of the ground and were not moving the ball quickly to the Bombers forwards in space, and were instead, hanging onto the ball too long for the Bombers forwards to properly time their leads.
Following some reflection on game play at half time, the Bombers came out after half time determined to move the ball more fluidly from defence into attack, in line with their recent winning form. Stephen Hazel, John Fuller and Paul Magher, returning to the field after many months on the sidelines, formed a wall of resistance on the half back line, to set up many fast moving forward thrusts for the Bayside. Michael Rennie again proved elusive to his Wilson Grange competitors, working between the centre square and deep into the forward line to score the Bombers opening goal of the third quarter.
Gavin Kearney, Mark Stewart and John Gibson were beginning to find free space in the Bombers forward line, with Gibson leading hard to take a contested mark and handballing off to the running Stewart, who in turn handballed to Kearney, who ran hard into to forward line to score a goal. Stephen Cuerel, Simon Riley and Chris Dodd all combined well in defence to repel any hopes the Gorillas has of a come back, opening up another scoring opportunity for Darren Smith, who worked hard to gather the contested ball and convert the snapshot to a goal, for a both a match and season high return of 4 goals 6 points in a match winning display of forward line supremacy. Michael Conroy played a strong game at full back, supported by Sam French, assisting the Bombers back line to keep the Gorillas goalless for the quarter. The Bombers led by 43 points at three quarter time, and the signs looked ominous for Wilson Grange.
Going into the last quarter, the Bayside Bombers were looking to finish off the game in flying form. Russell Bagnall, Roberts, Dunning, Dry, Kearney and Kath all ran out of the centre with purpose. Highlights include Michael Rennie's goal of the day, running through the right half forward flank to provide a lead to Adrian Roberts, who kicked the ball off of the wing, which though missing Rennie was gathered by Mick Kath with a quick handball over the top to Michael Rennie, who had continued to run forward to receive the Kath handball. Having received the handball, Michael Rennie then ran hard towards the right forward boundary line and kicked the ball with total poise at full pace, to split the centre of the goals from the tighest of angles from 35 metres out, bringing the crowd to their feet, his final goal in a 3.2 match winning performance.
Mick Kath also received a John Gibson handball running past a contested pack, who then straightened up for a goal. Carlo Archille then gathered a ball on the half forward line following a strong tackle, who handballed to Mick Kath, who in turn cleared the ball to Adrian Roberts, who scored his third goal of the day. Steve Cantrill and Kim Dry also played well, with both men chiming in for majors, as two of nine different goal scorers for the Bayside Bombers.
At the close of the game, the Bayside Bombers, sponsored by Grandview Hotel, had gutted the Wilson Grange Gorillas by 63 points, to take their unbeaten run of victories to eight wins in a row, by playing a possession led, continuous play, style of football, to take control of the game throughout the second half.
Goals: Smith 4, Rennie 3, Roberts 3, Kearney 1, Dunning 1, Kath 1, Archille 1, Cantril 1, Dry 1
Best: Smith, Rennie, Roberts, Bagnall, Dunning, Archille, Kath, Dry, Hazel
Quarter By Quarter Scores
First Quarter Bayside Bombers 3.4.22 Wilson Grange Gorillas 3.2.20
Second Quarter Bayside Bombers 7.5.49 Wilson Grange Gorillas 4.4.28
Third Quarter Bayside Bombers 11.7.73 Wilson Grange Gorillas 4.6.30
Fourth Quarter Bayside Bombers 16.16.112 Wilson Grange Gorillas 7.7.49
Last Modified on 14/08/2012 21:56