Jim Gordon's review of the round 11 action from the Malllee Football League.

Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers v Jeparit Rainbow

Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers dominated their home game against an injury depleted Jeparit Rainbow to run out easy winners by a whopping 149 points. With Cliff Ryan providing a high marking target and with the on ball supremacy of Darcy Ryan and Col Durie, the Lakers were never in the hunt. The match was effectively over when the Tigers notched up seven goals in the opening term while Jeparit Rainbow failed to register a score.

In a season of highs and lows, it does not get much lower than this effort from the Lakers. After last week's soul stirring win over the Cats, this was a very disappointing contest. It was Jeparit Rainbow's lowest score since the amalgamation. The fact that they only managed to kick one behind in the whole of the first half gives an indication of the one sided nature of the game. It was not until half way through the third quarter that Greg McLeish kicked the Laker's first goal.

For the second week in a row Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers full forward Cliff Ryan kicked nine goals. The Tiger sharp shooter set the scene early with five goals in the first quarter.

Skipper Col Durie played a great game and kicked three goals, Simon Weekley found form in his second game for the year snagging three and Darcy Ryan ran hard all day and booted two. Veteran Joel Lloyd was prominent with another two. Tom Summerhayes continued his wonderful year and Jason Collins worked tirelessly across half forward.

Jeparit Rainbow's terrible run with injury continued. They went into the game missing several key players, including Josh McCleary and Joel Schulze. This meant that Greg McLeish was required to do the bulk of the ruck work. With Ben Zanker still injured and Andrew Watson not available, the Lakers had no tall forwards playing.

Their midfield won its share of the ball, but the Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers defence just dominated. Time after time they were able to run the ball out of defence to set up their own scoring opportunities. Chris Farrell who usually plays on a half back flank had to fill in as second ruckman. Farrell did an admirable job under difficult circumstances.

To add to their woes, Jeparit Rainbow lost fullback Adam Schultz with an injured hip in the second quarter. Simon Clugston who had been the Laker's best defender in the first half suffered an ankle injury early in the third quarter. Midfielder Ben Marra was forced to play on Ryan for most of the game giving away height and reach.

Brett Fisher was Jeparit Rainbow's only tall defender and he stood up in the second half as a lone hand against a rampaging Tiger attack. Captain Lucas Edelsten tried hard to lift the team, while youngsters Nathan Cocks and Tom Clugston tried hard all day.

With the late withdrawal of Watson, veteran Dean Schumann who had played three quarters in the reserves came onto the bench. Due to the high number of Laker injuries, Schumann then played over half a game in the seniors.

Josh Murphy back from injury started slowly, but provided the only highlights on what was a dismal day for Jeparit Rainbow with two sensational last quarter marks.

The next two weeks will shape the season for the Tigers with Beulah next week and Walpeup Underbool in a fortnight.

Ouyen United v Hopetoun

Ouyen United bounced back into the top four with a 41 point victory over Hopetoun at Blackburn Park. The Demons jumped Hopetoun in the first quarter kicking nine goals to three before the rain came and play became a hard slog for the rest of the game. By the time the Devils had regrouped and fought their way back into the contest, it was too late, the damage had been done. Once again Hopetoun paid the price for one poor quarter of football.

With a dominating ruck combination of Laurence Angwin and Leigh Gniel, a goal kicking spearhead in Damien Cupido and the run and carry of Alexander Morrish, Henry Armour and Dean Jardine, the Demons scored a good win and with a full side, it looks as if their season has opened up.

The first quarter belonged to the Dees. They were given far too much latitude by Hopetoun and were able to continually drive the ball into their forward line where Cupido lay in wait. Jardine and Morrish were prominent in this term providing quick movement of the ball into their scoring zone. They relished the wide open spaces left by their Hopetoun opponents. This was Ouyen United's best quarter of football for several weeks.

With Cupido kicking three goals in five minutes, the Demons were looking impressive after play had been even for the first ten minutes of the game. Two of Cupido's goals were from trade mark long left foot curling projections from deep in the half forward line. When Henry Armour scored a delightful snap from near the boundary line and Cupdio scored another, the Dees had broken away to a five goal lead. Angwin's mark from the full back's kick out was followed by a kick that went straight back over the full back's head. The six goal quarter time lead was an indication of the state of play up to that point.

Play tightened up considerably in the second term. Hopetoun looked a lot more desperate and when a fight broke out on the clubrooms wing, the Devils had fought their way back to go in at half time a little over five goals down and with just a chance of getting right back in the game.

Hopetoun's Patrick Purcell was in a lot of the play in the second term and was lively around the goals. He scored one goal and missed two that really should have been goals. Bryce Wellington was proving difficult for the smaller Josh Langdon to manage and Cupidio was forced to travel right up to the centre to try and get into the play. Wellington looked like he was ready to take the game apart in the second half as United were lacking height in the backline, but the big man did not add a lot to his second quarter contribution.

This was a good win by Ouyen United after relinquishing fourth spot to the Cats the week before. Dom Leach has settled in well across half back and does a lot of work organising and encouraging his younger team mates. Simon Jardine is playing well and Josh Langdon was admirable against a bigger and very experienced opponent in Bryce Wellington.

Unfortunately for the Demons, they had a couple of nasty injuries to key players. Coach Peter Caldow looks doubtful for next week, Laurence Angwin is once again troubled by hamstrings and Jerry Wilson has knee problems and will miss a week or two. Nevertheless Ouyen United should approach their trip to Rainbow next week with some confidence as the Lakers have been absolutely decimated by injury lately.

For the Devils, the season goes from bad to worse. They will be looking forward to the bye ... and the end of the season.

Woomelang Lascelles v Beulah

Beulah maintained their winning form with a solid victory over Woomelang Lascelles. The Cats kept with the Blues for most of the game, but a five goal to one final term snuffed out any ambitions Woomelang Lascelles had of trying to match it with the top two or three sides in the MFL. With this loss and Ouyen United's win, the Cats drop out of the top four after a brief stay.

Woomelang Lascelles played well in patches, but you need to maintain pressure on Beulah for the whole game, not for just three quarters. A very good opening term was not reflected in the scores as the Cats could have been a lot further ahead. Their 5.7 for the quarter could have been more and when the Blues kicked three quick goals in the final five minutes of the second term, whatever ascending Woomelang Lascelles held was gone in the blink of an eye.

The Buchanan brothers Micah and Callum are unstoppable at the moment. They provide Beulah with class and run through the midfield and up forward giving Peter Lehmann, five goals, and Denis Redden four, regular opportunities to assert their authority.

Dale Shannon has been a welcome return for the Blues over the past couple of weeks. His attack on the ball and reliability give Beulah even spread of class at ground level.

Josh Templeton played well for Woomelang Lascelles. Corey Kelly bobbed up with five goals and brother Nyaburu kicked two. Rohan Coburn was their best on the day and Aaron Lonergan scored two goals.

Next week Beulah take on ladder leader Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers at home in what should be a fantastic match up between the top two sides. Meanwhile the Cats travel to Underbool to take on the Roos in an effort to try and force their way back into the four.

By Jim Gordon