By Mark Gullick
NARRE Warren consigned Devon Meadows to its third straight loss after the Magpies claimed a three-goal win at Glover Reserve on Saturday.
The teams traded goals in the opening term with a late goal to Daniel Field putting the Magpies eight points in the lead at the first change.
While Narre Warren heavily rotated its players through the interchange, injuries to star Devon Meadows duo Daniel Rigg and Justin Hill severely restricted its match-ups and ability to rest players.
Narre Warren dominated the second term and should have led by more than 26 points at the long break, but it kicked 4.5 to 1.5 in that term.
Until this point, the match was a dour, uneventful affair, but the second half was a complete contrast.
Devon Meadows made Narre Warren rue its missed first-half chances by kicking seven goals to nil in the third quarter.
Narre Warren coach Matt Shinners was disappointed with his players in the third term.
“I just thought our work ethic dropped away,” he said. “We probably became complacent. We worked pretty hard in the first half and we deserved to be in front and then (our players) thought it was just going to be a cakewalk after that.
We were undisciplined; we gave away some 50-metre penalties that resulted in goals. I just felt they needed to get a rocket at three-quarter-time and get us back to the footy that got us the half-time lead.”
His players responded with a seven-goal to one final term to turn a three-goal deficit into a three-goal victory.
Aside from the third term, which nearly cost them the game, Shinners was pleased with the win.
“To be challenged like that and come back from being three goals down at three-quarter-time was really good,” he said. “It was a good moral booster and the boys showed a lot of character.
“To travel down there – they’ve come off two losses, they’re at home and they’re in the five – and to come away with the win is a good effort.”
Daniel Borninkhof was superb for the Magpies. He controlled his wing and used his pace and skill to play a prominent part in the match. Lee Boyle was a rock in defence, Colin McNamara was busy around the ground, as were Michael Collins, ruckman Luke Tehennepe and Ben Wragg. Brett Evans kicked four goals.
Devon Meadows understandably ran out of legs.
“Our rotations were severely limited and to try and replace players of that quality is pretty hard, and that probably hurt us in the end,” Devon Meadows coach Steve O’Brien said. “Narre are a good running side and they have so many blokes running through the midfield and we were pretty restricted.
“We probably went a bit defensive, and maybe focused more on Narre than our own game. In the third quarter we played our own game and had a really good quarter. It was disappointing that we didn’t finish the game off.”
It was another failure for Devon Meadows, which has lost to the top three teams in the past three weeks although it has displayed promising patches of form in all three losses.
“We’ve definitely shown we’re right up there with them,” O’Brien said.
Captain Jesse Dehey was the Panthers’ best and he was important in the midfield all day. Big man Adam Jago was influential all day, as were midfielder Stefan Baumgartner, forward David Verlado, who kicked five goals for the second week in a row, and Russell White.
DOVETON V BERWICK
AN EIGHT-GOAL final term from Berwick finally broke the resolve of a gritty Doveton.
The Wickers won 20.8.(128) to 15.11.(101).
Margins of just one, one and 12 points separated the teams at each break in a fast-paced, high-scoring match.
The Doves produced a five-goal third term to lead by two goals heading into the final term.
Berwick dominated the final term with eight goals to two.
Coach Glenn Dale was pleased with the win.
“It was a great win – well fought out,” he said. “I think if you underestimate Doveton this year then you’ll get found out. They’re a pretty good team, so it was a good win.
“We’re a pretty even team. We went in even younger this week, under 22 in average age. We just thought that if we kept running and kept working and kept close to them, we might be able to run over the top of them in the end. We didn’t have too many big spearheads up forward so we had to make do with the players we’ve got.”
Going into the match with gun forward duo Jason Heath and Grant Noonan, Berwick was less predictable when it went forward and 13 players shared the goalscoring load.
In the final term, the Wickers were able to play their style of football.
“We didn’t butcher the ball as much,” Dale said. “We used it and ran through the lines like we try to do, and our handball receives were up which happens when we play our best footy.
“The boys worked really well and I was really proud of them.”
The win keeps Berwick in sixth place, which is a good result considering the fluctuation of the team’s make-up.
“We want to play finals, but that’s not the be-all and end-all for this bunch of blokes. If you look at how many blokes we’ve played this year, probably about 38 blokes already, which is probably ridiculous, it’s just the way it’s happened.”
Berwick captain Andrew Tuck was superb in the midfield and he kicked three key goals in the final term.
Youngster Jack Sheppard, midfielders Andrew Stent, Tom Andrews and Riley Heddles, and Stephen Morey also played well.
Doveton has been very competitive in the past month of football and it took the game right up to its highly credentialled opponents.
Ryan Hendy was brilliant for Doveton, kicking six goals. Simon Black, Ryan Pearson and Peter Pullen all continued their impressive seasons. Big man Ben Anderson and Shannon Henwood played well.
HAMPTON PARK V TOORADIN
HAMPTON PARK defeated a determined Tooradin by 19 points in a dour affair at Robert Booth Reserve.
The Seagulls surprised the home side in the opening term by kicking 4.2 to 2.1.
Hampton Park took control of the match in the second quarter with four goals to one.
In the third quarter, Tooradin had plenty of chances, but couldn’t convert.
A late goal to Jason Siegel and an early fourth-quarter goal to Matt Davey levelled the scores.
However, a five-minute burst by Hampton Park, when Dean Jamieson and Kevin McLean snapped clever goals, and Matthew Langley kicked truly after a strong mark, put a comfortable distance between the two teams on the scoreboard.
Hampton Park coach Josh Taylor was happy to get another win, the club’s second in a row, but he didn’t think his team played that well.
“They definitely won the contested footy,” he said. “They wanted the footy more. We seemed reserved for some reason. I’m not really sure why, but it was a real contrast to last week against Pakenham.
“Our ability to use the footy a little bit better, probably just a bit more class and experience, got us over the line in the end.”
Although it was another inconsistent performance from the Redbacks, they were still able to win.
“I was disappointed with some of our polish in front of goal. We missed some opportunities. I thought we were staring at the footy for the whole first quarter,” Taylor said.
“We spoke about certain things before the game and we wanted to back up our effort last week in the contested situation around the footy. (Tooradin) were getting their hands on the footy and we were just chasing them.”
Kevin McLean kicked five goals for the victors. Dean Jamieson, Chris Hussey, Sheldon Fredericks and coach Taylor played well.
For Tooradin, the same names were again the bettter players and midfielders Rohan Hyde, Adam Galea, Beau Miller and defender Adam Splatt shone through again.
Matt Davey was Tooradin’s focus point in the forward line and he finished with four goals.
