By Nick Creely
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
REVIEW – ROUND 14
Saturday was a glimpse.
A glimpse into Narre Warren’s ability to weather the storm and play a brand of football that holds up in the heat of battle. It was also a glimpse into what will one of the most fascinating finals series in recent memory.
The Magpies are now all but sealed as the minor premiers, and the pressure will certainly come in the coming month as they look to turn the tables on last year’s grand final loss, but it’s a challenge they seem primed for.
The anticipated clash between the Magpies and the in-form Cranbourne at Kalora Park was finals like, and in this case, Matt Shinners’ side – as they have all year – stood up in the critical moments to find an extra gear when challenged.
It wasn’t a moment that yielded a goal, but young star Ryan Quirk set the tone after his side got off to a slow start after Eagles sharpshooter Marc Holt snared the opening goal of the match.
Holt looked dangerous early, and loomed as the match winner, something Shinners had to address.
The Eagles were getting their hands on the footy, with Shaun Marusic, Luke Bee-Hugo and Anthony Vella getting plenty of run going, when Quirk bravely went back with the flight of the ball to take a telling mark as the visitors surged forward.
It was one of those little moments that seemed to shift the momentum, one of many in a four quarter effort.
All of a sudden, the Magpies found a spark, and despite missing some gettable set-shots, eventually broke free to set up a 17-point quarter time lead, looking ominous in attack with their daring ball movement.
As has been the case all season, the Magpies didn’t waste time; they quickly played on after taking a mark and flicked the ball around with an energy so telling.
It was much of the same over the rest of the game, with leaders in Dylan Quirk and Michael Collins beginning to assert themselves, with Quirk in particular producing a brilliant moment by hand in the slippery conditions that resulted in a Nick Scanlon goal in the second term.
Joel Zietsman was doing a fine job in curtailing the influence of Holt – who after two early goals – was well held.
Despite the best efforts of the likes of Glenn Osborne, Dillan Bass and Brandon Osborne to cope with the amount of ball spilling into their defensive arc, the Eagles were under the pump and couldn’t penetrate off half back with Jesse Davies, Zietsman, Ryan Quirk and Col McNamara intercepting everything in their path and bringing the ball back with searing run.
The Magpies took a 35-point lead into half time, and booted another three third term goals to snuff out any chance of a comeback, before taking the foot off the pedal slightly but controlling the final term.
Running out 36-point winners, Magpies coach Matt Shinners pointed to the learnings taken after losing to the Eagles back in Round 9 at home, in a game he described at the time as one of the best local matches he’s seen.
“When we lost to them last time at home, the conditions were a little different weather wise,” he said.
“We had enough of the ball that day to suggest we could have come away and won, so we discussed where we went wrong, and we made sure we didn’t get caught in the same trap.
“They’ve got some good outside runners, so we had to look at things differently compared to last time, and it came off which was great.”
Despite a slow start to the game, Shinners was impressed with his side’s ability to control the match against a side that is well and truly in the premiership frame.
“We didn’t start as good as I wanted, but it’s one of those things where the opposition is ready – we tinkered with a couple of things, and it paid dividends for us,” he said.
“We managed to control the majority of the game a lot more than I would have thought, to be honest – Cranbourne are a quality side, so I thought we played quite well.”
Defensively, Shinners said, the Magpies were rock solid, and praised the team for its ability to handle the heat.
“That all comes down to the midfielders, winning the ball out of the middle and giving us first use, but I thought our defenders had their best combined effort all year,” he said.
Nick Scanlon hit the scoreboard again to boot two majors to be a major factor, while Trent Shinners turned the tables after a slow start to win the ruck battle against a quality opponent in Michael Wenn and Brad Scalzo once again brought his own footy.
But, Shinners drew special praise for the Quirk’s, who were brave, eye-catching and lifted their teammates.
“Ryan was best on ground, he played terrific footy again, and Dylan’s playing his best footy at the right time of the year, and it was his best game of the year,” he said.
“He’s been very consistent, but his game was at another level this weekend, he was very good.”
There was plenty of positives to take out of a disappointing result from an Eagle perspective, with Troy Tharle covering the ground well, while the likes of Marusic, Vella, Jordan Bertrand and Kirk Dickson all did their part.
Narre Warren will host Officer in the second last game of the home and away season on Saturday, while Cranbourne will look to bounce back when they travel to take on Pakenham.
NARRE WARREN 4.6 7.7 10.8 12.11 (83)
CRANBOURNE 2.1 2.2 4.2 7.5 (47)
Narre Warren Goal Kickers: N. Scanlon 2, T. Miller 2, B. Urwin 2, J. Tonna 2, M. Cox, H. Stagg, S. Scanlon, T. Papworth.
Best Players: R. Quirk, D. Quirk, T. Cody, T. Shinners, B. Scalzo, J. Richardson.
Cranbourne Goal Kickers: M. Holt 3, N. Gardiner, T. Tharle , K. Dickson, Z. Roscoe.
Best Players: G. Osborne, B. Osborne, T. Tharle , K. Dickson, M. Holt, J. Bertrand.
