Geelong Advertiser | THE pieces continue to fall into place for Grovedale, which won its fifth straight game on Saturday, building its hopes of a top three finish.
The Tigers ran over an injury-depleted St Mary’s by 48 points on the back of a seven-goal haul from key forward Jordan Erskine to lift their win-loss record to 6-2.
Significantly for the Tigers, gun midfielder Jarrod Young, arguably the club’s best player, made his long-awaited return from injury in the reserves and got through unscathed.
Young has not played since Round 10 last year, but did well in Grovedale’s 89-point reserves win.
Grovedale senior coach Craig McCaughan was not getting carried away with his team’s form, saying St Mary’s was undermanned following the early departures of Marc O’Donohue (back) and Kane Tenace (hamstring).
“We ran out the game better than them in the end but we’re very mindful that they had limited rotations after half time whether it be in the midfield or on the outside,” McCaughan said.
“They were always going to be super competitive and super hard to play against even though their previous results may not show it.
“Players like (Adam) McPhee and (Matt) Hebbard run real deep so that made it hard to make any specific match-ups throughout the midfield and up forward.”
The Tigers led by 15 points in the dying stages of the second quarter despite holding a scoring shot differential of 17-7. Former SANFL player Erskine, 26, stood up though, taking over up forward to help his team cruise to a big win.
“It is common knowledge that Jordan competes really well but it’s not just about him, it’s his team-first attitude which justifies why he’s in our leadership group,” McCaughan said.
“A true leader of our club, this year he’s just starting to hit some real good form, which is what will help us these coming matches against Newtown and Bell Park.”
The second half resembled a Grovedale highlights reel as the Tigers piled on 11 of the final 17 goals, none more influential than back-to-back majors by Ryan McKenzie.
