THE Seairland Bayside Bombers rose to the top of the rollercoaster on Saturday night with a 43-point win over Morningside Panthers in their Masters AFL clash at Alex Hills.
In what has been a frustrating year for the Bombers, who at present hold a five win, five loss record, Saturday night's game was seen as a turning point for the Baysiders with a run home of games against Wilston Grange, Gold Coast and Moorooka which could see a respectable 8 win, 5 loss season.
The Bombers were bolstered with the return of Wilson, Apted and Kearney for Saturday night's game and after captain Mick Kath won the toss and elected to kick against the wind, which had some pundits left wondering,Morningside won a tight first quarter to hold a 2-point lead.
The second stanza saw the new Bombers come forward. With Neil McIntosh shifted to centre half back and Kearney back in the goal square, the Bombers piled on six unanswered goals due to clever ground play from Teale Weller, Dave Megraw and Geoff Nash.
The Bombers went into the long break with a 39-point lead.
The game restarted with key players Tait, Fernie, Magher and Megraw rested, and the Panthers seemed to relish their absence with three quick goals before these players returned to the field to stem the Panthers' run.
The ruck combination of Bagnall and McDonald again controlled the centre bounces, but is was the small Morningside onballers that made the most of their dominance as the visitors outscored the home team for the quarter to lessen the lead to 30 points.
The last quarter saw the Bombers control the play and stop their opposition running with it as they did in the previous term.
With Mick Kath and Bill Maslin controlling the backline and Andy Apted and Mick Tait crumbing up forward, the Bombers cruised home outscoring the Panthers to record a comfortable 43-point victory.
Score: Bayside 16.14.110 def Morningside 10.7.67. Goals: Tait 4, Kearney 3, Wilson 2, Best: McIntosh (Grand View Hotel BOG) Nash, Megraw, Taylor, Bagnall. Injuries: Hillary, lacerated head and suspected broken nose. Tait, Shaw, burnt pockets.
Next game vs Wilston Grange August 19-20 at Wilston Grange.