Bendigo Advertiser | One week after going within one point of toppling Eaglehawk, the Magpies had no answers to the free-running Dragons.
The 16.17 (113) to 3.7 (25) result could have read worse for the Magpies and coach Shane Robertson was in no mood to sugar coat the performance.
The premiership coach kept his players behind closed doors for 30 minutes after the game.
“All the hard work we’d done was thrown out the door today as far as our belief and confidence is concerned,’’ Robertson said.
“Full credit to Sandhurst, they opened us up.
“Our approach to the game was ordinary, our preparation was very ordinary, our attitude was very ordinary.
“We couldn’t replicate what we brought to the table last week and, if we’re going to learn, we can’t have those inconsistencies.
“We can accept better teams beating us like Sandhurst did today, but we actually encouraged it today by having a poor attitude. That’s unacceptable.”
Sandhurst all but sealed the four points with a dominant opening quarter.
The Dragons’ midfield and half-back line ran riot and when the Magpies did get their hands on the ball they struggled to clear the centre.
Sandhurst’s defensive press was too much for the young Magpies to handle and by quarter time the margin was 34 points.
Even though Castlemaine was more competitive in general play in the second quarter, the Magpies didn’t kick their first goal of the match until the 20 minute mark of the term when Nathan Brown took a fine mark and goal.
Sandhurst led by 46 points at the main break and in the third quarter key forward Matt Thornton took over.
After kicking two goals in the first half, Thornton kicked three of the Dragons’ four goals for the term.
Not for the first time in the past 18 months, the Dragons battled in front of goal, kicking 4.7 for the term and their 76-point three-quarter time lead should have been 90-points plus.
Castlemaine’s second goal of the game was kicked by Klai Jermyn at the 13-minute mark of the final quarter.
Brown added his second for the Magpies four-minutes later, but the final quarter belonged to Ryan Haythorpe, with the veteran Dragon kicking three goals to take his match tally to four.
Sandhurst coach Brett Fitzpatrick was pleased with the way the Dragons moved the ball, particularly in the first half.
“Given we’ve had such a changeover, especially through the midfield, we’ve been trying to work to their best position and get them to know each other,’’ Fitzpatrick said.
“Now we’re starting to work on that spread and movement and I thought today was a lot better.”
Harry O’Meara was the catalyst for many of Sandhurst’s attacking forays. The speedster enjoyed the freedom of attacking from across half-back.
He linked up well with fellow defender Codie Price and midfield stars Lee Coghlan, Blair Holmes, Alex Pollock and Adam Parry.
The Dragons travel to Gisborne next Saturday, while the Magpies have a huge home game against Kyneton.
