A sometimes wasteful but ultimately effective Tongala achieved the result it was looking for when it defeated Tocumwal by 87 points at home on Saturday in the Murray Football League.
The visitors’ pressure was impressive considering injuries affected the abilities of five players throughout the day, but the Blues proved too strong to eventually win 22.17(149) to 10.2(62).
Luke McGill starred in the forward line to finish with seven goals, including three in the opening term, while Tom Donnell booted four.
Leading forward Matt Andrews matched Donnell, but his performance in front of goals was somewhat reflective of the team after kicking four straight behinds in the first half and four straight goals in the second half.
Aside from the forwards, midfielder Jarrad Martin was busy throughout the day and capped off a good game with a running goal, while Matt Ohlsen was terrific after the first quarter with many strong marks.
The visitors were far from disgraced despite what the scoreline read, with Aaron Findlay proving a handful up forward with four majors, including three in the first term, while Dalton Sanderson and Trent Boglis produced classy performances, constantly pushing the team forward.
In warm conditions, it was the visitors who started better with Jacob Hore and Boglis busy, before Findlay kicked the first major of the day.
The Blues snagged the next centre clearance and McGill levelled the scores, until a Donnell set shot and a McGill conversion after some sharp play from Martin gave the Blues the lead.
Tongala then squandered several shots at goal, kicking five points in a row, while Findlay won his physical battle against Matt Ohlsen to boot two more goals and reduce the margin to four points.
The teams traded goals as the Blues took an 11-point lead into quarter-time.
Coach David Newman urged his players to increase their work rate and intensity and to improve their set shots during the break and the message seemed to have been taken heed early as Nick Mellington converted a long set shot after a bullet pass from Darin Ohlsen, with Donnell adding another major soon after.
However, Tongala then sprayed a few more shots at goal as the Bloods maintained their pressure.
Sparked by Steven Poynton, who embarked on a mazy four-bounce run from defence to the wing, Tocumwal kicked three of the last four goals of the quarter to reduce the margin to 16 points by the long break, despite having 11 less scoring shots.
With the Bloods down to just one player on the bench by the third term, the home team hoped to run the opposition off its legs and the team started well, with McGill and Andrews kicking the first two goals.
Donnell then channelled Western Bulldogs player Bob Murphy to kick a remarkable left-foot checkside goal from the boundary to extended the lead to 34 points.
Poynton immediately replied for the visitors, but it was all the Blues after that as the team added another four majors for the quarter to lead by 55 points with 20 more scoring shots going into the last term.
Newman stepped up his contribution in the middle of the ground as Tongala extended its advantage in the fourth quarter, with the coach kicking his first goals in the team’s colours.
The Blues added another seven goals in the final quarter, with Martin finishing the game off with a classy goal on the run from 40m to complete the comprehensive victory.
■Tongala’s reserves team eased to a comprehensive 139-point win against Tocumwal on the back of solid games from Corey Nexhip and Zane Johnstone, while Andrew Reid bagged eight goals.
The Blues kicked 10 goals to one in the opening quarter, but grew more inaccurate as the game went on to kick 13 goals to two in the final three quarters, eventually winning 23.21(159) to 3.2(20).
Mark Reid and Ash Hughes also kicked four goals each, while the other better players were Ayden McGill, Daniel Cox and Brad Canny.
