Bendigo Advertiser | EAGLEHAWK did not concede a single goal to Castlemaine until the five-minute mark of the last quarter, romping home to a massive 92-point home win on Saturday.
Before a smaller than usual Canterbury Park crowd the Hawks’ on-ball contingent led by Jarrod Findlay, Chris Hudson, Brodie Filo and Damien Wust pumped the ball relentlessly into attack all afternoon.
In the back half Joshua and Lachlan Ryan along with Brenton Conforti – who stifled the Magpies’ key forward Mark Ramsey – let very few balls past.
Findlay, Matt Gretgrix and Wust contributed 12 of Eaglehawk’s total goal tally in the 18.11 (119) to 3.9 (27) belting.
As a contest the game was all over early in the second stanza.
After Eaglehawk had used the breeze favouring the town end for six goals in the first quarter, Findlay’s second term major from an acute angle into the breeze at the Simpson’s Road end was one of the day’s standouts.
He eased the shot home and then after Gretgrix had driven home his third goal, Eaglehawk’s ninth, the Magpies had two chances to slash the margin as the second quarter wound down.
Twice premier midfielder Justin Dorward fluffed gettable shots. He chased a rolling ball into the town end goalmouth, but Dorward’s attempted soccer shot off the outside of his boot barely made contact.
Then, after that attempt had slid through for a minor score, Dorward’s set shot moments later from straight in front also faded for just a point.
The Hawks added 5.4 to two behinds in a lop-sided third term.
Wust drove home his third goal for the Hawks from right on the 50m arc. Hayden Collins squared the ball to Findlay in a better scoring position and Findlay also steered home an Eaglehawk major.
Brock Rogers strolled across the half-forward line with not a Magpie defender in sight and slotted home Eaglehawk’s 14th major.
Then with the breeze fading Castleemaine finally found a goal five minutes into the final term. Ramsay marked a pass from big Mark Oxley and finally drilled a Maine major. Adam Robinson and Ramsay with his second nailed the other Maine majors. The Hawks added four goals of their own in the final stanza.
“After being very ordinary against Castlemaine last time (beating them by one behind) we needed to prove a point,” Eaglehawk coach Luke Monaghan said.
“So against a side which is still fighting for a finals spot we wanted to make a big show. I thought it was a good team effort – we didn’t have a passenger,” Monaghan said.
