The Courier |
ROKEWOOD-CORINDHAP triumphed in the battle of the cellar-dwellers, celebrating its first victory of the Central Highlands Football League season with a 38-point win over Illabarook on Saturday.
ROKEWOOD-CORINDHAP 12.15 (87)
ILLABROOK 7.7 (49)
The Grasshoppers set up the result in the first term and controlled the contest for much of the afternoon to prevail 12.15 (87) to 7.7 (49) at Smythesdale.
Rokewood-Corindhap broke away to a 29-point lead at the first change, and although there were some periods of dominance by the Bulldogs in the second and final terms, the result never appeared in doubt.
Grasshoppers coach Heath Anderson said his team played its best football of the season in patches during the day.
"It was important to get that win. Hopefully it will be good for the confidence of the playing group from now and I hope we can build on it," Anderson, who recorded his first win as coach of the club, said.
The Grasshoppers were led all day by midfielder Ross Arnall and ruckman Jono Willey, while up forward young Caius Barrenger added four goals to his three in the under-17.5s in the morning.
Illabarook, chasing its first win since round two of 2011, tried hard, but was simply not good enough to kick a winning score. The Bulldogs made too many decision and skill errors to trouble their former Lexton Plains rivals, frustrating coach Rod Gladman.
Gladman, who didn't play in the clash despite signalling his intent to start on Thursday night, said it was important for his team to be competitive in upcoming fixtures against 2012 finalists Waubra, Creswick and Buninyong.
"We just want to be competitive. That's all you can ask for," he said.
Gladman was impressed with his backline, led by Chris Morcombe and Michael Avery, while Brandon Greenwood and Stephen Frys were busy around the ground and Ryan Jeffrey and David Tung good up forward with two goals apiece.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
