Bendigo Advertiser | WHEN Golden Square was in the midst of its five-year premiership dynasty, one of the major strengths of its team was its bottom eight players were far superior to the bottom eight players of its rivals.
As Sunday’s clash between reigning premier Strathfieldsaye and Golden Square unfolded, the Storm dished up the Bulldogs some of their own medicine.
The glaring difference between the two teams was that the Storm’s second string players played their role and contributed. In contrast, the Bulldogs didn’t have enough players put their hand up.
Leading the charge for the Storm was young defender Fergus Payne.
The teenager probably wasn’t in the Storm’s top 15 players at the start of the season. Injuries opened up an opportunity for him to play down back and he’s flourished.
On Sunday the former Bendigo Pioneer claimed his biggest scalp – Travis Baird.
Payne gave up height and weight to the former AFL forward, but it mattered little as he took the points, restricting Baird to one goal which came late in the game.
Halfway through the third quarter, with the game still in the balance, Payne won a crucial one-on-one contest with Jon Coe on the wing and set up Matthew Ferguson for a goal.
It set the tone for the second half.
“We backed Fergus in on Baird and I thought he did a fantastic job,’’ Storm coach Darryl Wilson said.
“He’s been great for us all season. When he tightens up his kicking efficiency he’ll be a super player.”
Payne was superb, but he had plenty of mates. All 22 Storm players made a contribution at some stage.
Young forward Josh Martyn is no guarantee to retain his place in the senior side when the Storm’s long injury list reduces.
He didn’t see a lot of the footy on Sunday, but his selfless act midway through the final quarter to put his body on the line against a bigger and stronger Square opponent and set up a shot at goal for his side earned high praise from his team-mates.
Acts like those only came from one team in the second half.
The Storm only led by one goal at the main break, but added 10.10 to 5.4 in the second half to win 15.17 (107) to 9.11 (65).
“The second half really came down to effort and will – we didn’t get there,’’ Golden Square coach Nick Carter said.
“We wanted to play one-on-one accountable football, but we couldn’t win one-on-one contests.
“We had a good half-dozen, then another six that contributed. Our backline was pretty good in trying circumstances.
“Our bottom six or eight we need to look at who fills those spots. If you can’t get a contribution from your bottom six then you can’t compete with the top sides.”
Full-back Dale Young was clearly Square’s best player after he kept Storm star Sam Mildren goalless.
Tom Toma and Simon Rosa had their moments, while Brayden Dorrington had an entertaining duel with Stephen Milne.
The former St Kilda forward kicked 3.6, while Dorrington still gave his side plenty of drive.
The Bulldogs did well to restrict Milne, Mildren and Lachlan Sharp to four goals between them.
Such is the strength of the Storm forward line if Milne, Mildren and/or Sharp don’t get you, then Matthew Ferguson will.
Ferguson played at centre half-forward and produced arguably his best game for the Storm, kicking five goals.
Midfielders Jake Hall and Shaun Everington won plenty of the ball, while the Geary brothers, Shannon and Kallen, did plenty of damage.
“Our midfield got smashed in the first quarter, but we fixed it up after that,’’ Wilson said.
“Overall, it was a great team effort. It was a very pleasing performance.”
