Geelong Advertiser |
ST MARY’S co-coach Bryce Vincent believes his team is making inroads on the competition after Saturday’s 41-point win over St Albans.
Vincent was pleased with the 17.19 (121) to 13.2 (80) victory over the Supersaints at Kardinia Park, a win that ensures the Saints maintained their place inside the top five.
“We started to play really well at the start of the second quarter, but then the boys got a bit ahead of themselves and thought it we were doing it easily and then St Albans started to make us look silly to be honest,” Vincent said.
“But he most pleasing thing for us was our ability to react when we lost momentum, we were able to do something about it and get the momentum going back our way and didn’t let it slip.
“We were really able to scrap the game out in the wind and the wet, mainly by winning the hardball.
“We have a long way to, but we are starting to make inroads.”
The Saints used the wind strongly in the first quarter, slamming on eight goals to two, but took the foot off the pedal in the second quarter, with one goal to the Supersaints’ five majors.
Vincent was pleased with his teams’ spread of goal kickers, the way they scrapped the game out and how they won a lot of the contested ball.
COLAC spearhead Jake McGuane booted a season-high 10 goals as the Tigers inflicted more pain on South Barwon.
The Swans suffered their third successive defeat — the first time since 2004 — with the 35-point loss at Colac’s Central Reserve.
The 20.6 (126) to 13.13 (91) victory was soured by a report to key Colac playmaker Joe Dare.
Dare was booked for allegedly headbutting South Barwon’s Jason Kerby in the third quarter.
The red-cared meant the Tigers were one man down for the last three minutes of the third term and 17 minutes of the last quarter.
Colac was 26 points in front at three-quarter time, but the Swans had the aid of a strong breeze to the city end.
South Barwon had booted eight goals to the city end in the second quarter to turn a 33-point quarter time deficit into a nine-point lead.
But the Tigers surged ahead in the premiership quarter and put the defending champions to the sword in the final term, kicking five goals to three.
Colac football manager Chris McGuane said he was pleased with the performance.
“Hopefully they can use it as a launching pad for the rest of the season,” McGuane said post match.
“It’s the first time they’ve got a big scalp. They’ve only beaten South Barwon four or five times since they been in the competition.”
McGuane was also full of praise for his younger sibling, who kicked four goals in the first term, one in the second, three in the third and two in the last quarter to dominate the Swans.
IN other GFL matches, Lara had a 15-point win over Bell Park, St Joseph’s thrashed Leopold by 56 points and Grovedale held off Newtown & Chilwell to win by nine points.
IN the GDFL, Anakie produced a four-quarter effort to down a gritty Belmont Lions by 24 points.
The Roos chalked up their first win of the season, downing the Lions on their home turf 18.19 (127) to 14.19 (103).
“It was good today, (to play) four quarters, the boys played pretty well,” Anakie coach Phil Gavin said.
“Hopefully a win like this is a step forward for us.
“I think it was a perseverance of 18 blokes ... we know we have to have 22 contributors each week to get the job done.”
Lions’ coach Dave Mckiernan said his side would learn from the loss.
“It’s not a lack of endeavour, it’s just that smarts and tidying that up and knowing what each other does ... at the end of it, it’s those simple skill errors that let us down,” he said.
Belmont meets reigning premier North Geelong next week.
“(I’ll be looking for) the improvement in decision making, once their mindset is right the skills will come with that,” McKiernan said.
IN other matches, Bell Post Hill thumped Geelong West, winning 16.12 (108) to 1.5 (11) at Myers Reserve.
Bannockburn was competitive against defending champions North Geelong, going down 6.13 (49) to 14.12 (96).
East Geelong fell just two points shy of a triple-figure hiding of Corio. The Eagles won 18.20 (128) to 4.6 (30).
Thomson’s season went from bad to worse, losing to Inverleigh by 132 points at Godfrey St.
The Hawks smashed the Tigers from start to finish, winning 24.25 (169) to 4.13 (37).
Winchelsea came back from a four-goal half-time deficit to beat Werribee Centrals at Eastern Reserve.
In a stirring win, the Blues trailed 26 points at quarter time and 25 points at the main break to win by 32 points.
IN the BFL, Geelong Amateur has continued its unbeaten run, defeating a determined Anglesea is trying conditions.
Ammos claimed a 50-point win, 10.16 (76) to 3.8 (26) to remain on top of the ladder after five rounds.
The Roos were far from disgraced, taking the match right up to the early season flag favourites.
“I thought the margin definitely didn’t reflect how well we played throughout the day,” Anglesea coach Lucas Murphy said.
“At the start of the year, one of our trademark things was that we wanted to be hard to play against consistently each week. We’re still filthy, we’re upset we lost the game and that’s something we’re learning from too, but if we can consistently put up efforts like that we think it can go our way eventually.”
Ammos co-coach Andrew Lovick admitted it was a hard-fought victory.
“The conditions made it a little bit difficult in terms of turnovers and stuff like that, but we fought it out. We knew it was going to be a bit of a grind and we just kept pushing,” he said.
“When we had guys in front that were presenting up to the contest and giving a contest for our forwards to then crumb, we were a lot more effective in that second half.”
IN other games, Ocean Grove came from 16-point down at three-quarter time to beat a gritty Modewarre.
The Grubbers kept their unbeaten run intact, winning 13.20 (98) to 10.6 (66).
Portarlington faded in the second half of its clash against Torquay, going down by 53 points.
The Demons led by eight points at quarter time and one point at the main break but the Tigers won 13.16 (94) to 6.4 (41).
Drysdale thumped Newcomb 39.26 (260) to 1.3.(9), while Barwon Heads came from behind to beat Queenscliff, 10.19 (79) to 10.9 (69).
