Wayward, yet spectacular

Narre Warren''s Nathan Foote lays a crunching tackle on Saturday. 183167 Pictures: ROB CAREW

By Nick Creely

SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE

REVIEW – ROUND 12 (SPLIT ROUND)

Despite being wayward in front of goal, Narre Warren’s blistering forward line had a frightening 42 scoring shots against Pakenham on Saturday in a sign of things to come.

Simply, the Magpies aren’t slowing down, with the ladder leaders completely dominating the improved Lions at Toomuc Reserve.

In the end, the Magpies never really shook the Lions off until the final term, with inaccuracy plaguing them – particularly in the second and third terms, where the visitors kicked 5.17 – and had to settle for a 33-point three quarter time lead, leaving the door ajar for Ash Green’s men.

Class over shone eventually, and the Magpies – through the efforts of a young gun in Tom Miller (four goals) – managed to slam on 6.6 to no score in the final 30 minutes.

But Magpies coach Matt Shinners couldn’t help but be frustrated by his side’s conversion.

“Half of them were probably pretty straight forward, and you don’t miss them – we played some good footy, and that’s the disappointing part,” he said.

While Shinners is confident that it’s not a lingering issue, he said that preparation has been a concern throughout the split rounds.

“We had the bye, and Tuesday night was horrendous conditions so we actually went indoors to train, so I think looking at those things it can add to it (the inaccuracy),” he said.

“We haven’t been that good on the bye – they made some fundamentals errors as well, and when you’re playing regular footy you probably don’t make them.”

Despite kicking 28 behinds, Shinners said that the side is playing some strong football, but urged them to capitalize on the scoreboard.

“My advice to the guys after the game was that it was pleasing we had the majority of the play and we had the ball more than the opposition did, but it’s like anything, if opposition looks at the scoreboard and you’re only kicking points, then they’ll think they’re in the game,” he said.

“But we move on, I was happy with our passage of football, just not our conversion rate.”

In a strong defensive and midfield performance, champion Michael Collins was best afield and is compiling another phenomenal year, while Brad Scalzo picked up a dose of leather poisoning and youngster Ryan Quirk once again proved he has a huge future ahead of him with another assured display.

For the Lions, Joe Baker-Thomas played a strong game, while the likes of Jake Barclay and Zac Stewart were solid.

Ahead of what looms as a crucial block as the Magpies fine tune their game ahead of finals, Shinners hopes to get some continuity with his forward group, who have been in and out.

“At the start of the year I didn’t think I’d have my VFL players available, and we have for the most part,” he said.

“Aaron Wilson and Mitch Cox are playing with Frankston, and Cory MacHaya with Casey which is terrific, but we’ve had some young boys come in a try and learn.

“All these things probably counted towards the inaccuracy (on the weekend) – our forward set-up has changed a bit, but our onballers and defensive area has been solid.”

Narre Warren takes on Beaconsfield on Saturday, while Pakenham plays Berwick.

Pakenham 5.7 (37)

Narre Warren 14.28 (112)