By Nick Creely
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
REVIEW – ROUND 1
All Narre Warren coach Matt Shinners could probably do is breathe a sigh of relief that they were able to walk away with an opening round victory.
In incredible circumstances, Cranbourne kicked nine straight behinds in the opening term before a Ryan Jones dribbler got the home side on the board at Casey Fields.
It proved crucial in the end, with the Eagles kicking a horrid 10.22 to the Magpies’ more accurate 15.8 to gift Shinners a perfect start to his return as coach.
The Magpies made the Eagles pay for their kicking woes, with Cory Machaya and Jake Richardson kicking the visitors’ only two goals of the opening term to draw level at quarter time.
There was a worrying moment in the second term, with Cranbourne’s Nick Darbyshire collapsing on the field, pausing the game for almost 15 minutes as medical assistance rushed on the field.
The delay in play certainly helped Shinners’ young chargers, who were breaking the lines superbly with raw pace and energy, and opened up a 23 point advantage after more horror goal kicking prevented the Eagles from staying in the contest.
It was too little too late for the Eagles in the final term, finally finding their kicking boots after being at one stage 4.18 to kick 6.4 in the final term to peg the margin back to 16 points at full time.
“For the first round of the year, and to play Cranbourne and to play on the main ground, it was really good,” Magpies coach Matt Shinners said.
“It was probably unfortunate that the opposition didn’t kick straight, but we had a lot of the ball.
“We turned over the ball a bit in the first quarter which I wasn’t overly happy with, but it was probably just nerves and being the first game – if we hit the targets we probably could have gone in four or five goals up at quarter time instead of where we were.”
The Magpies fielded a younger looking side, and Shinners was pleased that they took the on the challenge and rallied behind the senior leaders.
“I was happy in our first game that we had plenty of young kids playing, and that’ll hold them in good stead,” he said.
“Going forward, we need to make sure we capitalize, and there was probably a couple we should have kicked.
“But it was a nice test on a hot day, and we got through pretty well.
“It was pretty fast flowing footy – we were on top for a while, and then Cranbourne were and had their fair share of the footy, and we had to readjust and get ourselves back in the game.
“I was happy with some of our senior players – they were a bit slow to start, but came into it in the second half – I was thankful that they started to take control of our game plan.”
In a game where accurate goal kicking was pivotal, Nick Scanlon and Cory MacHaya combined for seven goals in a commanding effort, while gun ruckman Michael Boland continued on from his brilliant Good Friday display with an impressive performance for the Eagles.
Cranbourne 10.22(82)
Narre Warren 15.8(98)
