Fish Creek headed across to Foster to take on their closest rivals and ended the home side’s winning streak.
The Tigers were carrying the longest winning streak in the competition into the match and they were confident that they had the team to take it right up to the top of the ladder Fish Creek team. The weather was not kind and it was going to be tough day at the office for both sides in what was a classic winter’s day.
The Tiger captain won the toss and kicked with a stiff breeze that favoured the eastern end of the ground. It was not a great spectacle for the supporters who braved the conditions and it was classic winter footy with neither side very clean early but both sides going hard at the footy. Foster’s Beau Elkington had was given the tough task of trying to curb Fish Creek’s silky Ethan Park while Fishy’s premier back man Jack Hayes had the job of minding the Tigers’ dangerous forward Thomas McGowan. Both sides were missing a big man each with James Cook for Foster and Liam Adlington for Fish Creek both out of their respective sides from the previous week. Foster got first blood when Josh Toner kicked truly four minutes into the game. Fish Creek battled hard against the wind but Tigers did most of the attacking with Troy Van Dyke electric on the grandstand side wing. McGowan added the Tigers’ second at the 20 minute mark and at quarter time the Tigers led by 14 points.
After the opening term it was hard to believe that the Tigers would not score another major for the day. The intensity of the Kangaroos picked up and their backline stood strong led by Macri, Walker, Hayes and Gay and with the aid of the strong wind they shifted the ascendancy and added four goals to nil in the quarter. The Tigers had opportunities when they had a number of shots at goal through the middle part of the quarter but they couldn’t convert. The lowlight of the half was what appeared to be a fairly innocuous slip by one of the boundary umpires that saw the young man stretchered from the ground with what appeared to be quite a serious injury. Both clubs wish this young man a full and speedy recovery. At the main break the Kangaroos led by eight points.
At the resumption the Kangaroos looked the better. Their skills in the wet, windy and almost arctic c0nditions were much better than their Tiger opponents. The Kangaroos shut down the Tigers forwards and drove the ball forward where their own forwards found space and marked the ball. Goals to Smith and Hunt extended the Fish Creek lead to 20 points at the final change and with the Kangaroos coming home with the wind it appeared that the game may have slipped for the Tigers.
Tiger coach Brad Rooney asked his players for one last effort but with the rain getting heavier and the wind still roaring it was going to be an extremely difficult task. The last quarter was a fairly lacklustre affair with Fish Creek protecting their lead and playing the percentages every time. Lachie Gay continued to mark and handle the ball like it was a clear day while Hargrave and Macri continued to hit the packs and the ball as hard as they were through the early part of the game. A single goal to Fish Creek‘s Andrew Seccull was all that either team could manage and it was a great relief to all when the final siren sounded.
IN what would be a very rare event in its history, Tarwin failed to score a goal on its home ground on Saturday. Such was the dominance of both Stony Creek’s on-ballers and its defence.
In pelting rain Stony Creek came out physically hard and denied Tarwin possession, the Sharks only picking 'up' one possession in the first six and a half minutes of the match. The physical tactic worked and seemed to set the Maroons up for the day although as the day wore on injuries would plague both sides. Stony’s centre half back Sigeti Matiya was brilliant all day taking many intercept marks. His performance was only bettered by teammate Darcy Atkins who picked up 30 possessions in the middle and a whopping 15 clearances. Stony welcomed back Brad Hutchinson, one of the generals of the backline, and he came through the match well after missing since early in the season. The Maroons also welcomed Rohan Baudinette for his first senior game; the sixth youngster debuted by the club so far this season.
Tarwin was missing key players Emmet Yourney and Troy Toussaint which would weaken the line-up going in. With the Lions going in with intent it was able to kick 2 .4 while keeping Tarwin to just one behind. Jackson Nolan, just turned 18, has already played 45 senior games and he again attacked the ball well for Stony. Paul Hinkley was battling hard for the Sharks as too was Reagan Maddaford. Jack Soroczynski was doing well across half back for Stony to keep Tarwin goalless again in term two as Stony Creek added one at half time. In terrible conditions it was Stony Creek 3.7 to Tarwin 0.2.
There was still time for the Sharks to come back as the scores were low but Stony had other ideas. The Sharks again failed to score at all as Stony edged a little ahead with another goal to lead by 31 points; there was no coming back from here for the Sharks. The Stony bench suffered in term three when Michael Milivojevic went down with a corky. To make matters worse Will Collins rolled an ankle and Kurt Newton hurt his knee. These three players didn’t return and Stony Creek had no bench. Despite this Tarwin could still not break through for that sought after goal. The Sharks were also having trouble with its bench and had a number of players go down; leaving it to battle with no bench and just 16 players. Travis Cameron suffered a head knock just before half time, Tommy Pastura had a suspected broken collarbone while Rob Brack came off with a leg injury.
Stony Creek had its biggest score of the match in term four to boot 4.4 to an injury plagued Tarwin’s no score to run out comfortable winners. Tarwin journeys to MDU this Saturday while Stony Creek is at home to Foster.
Toora managed to steal a one-point victory over MDU in the blizzard like conditions at Toora on Saturday. With only four goals kicked for the entire game it was always going to be a nail biting finish, the conditions clearly influencing the outcome.
The Demons struck first through Jacob Brydon and held the lead for the majority of the first term before Bennett Osborne nailed a late goal for the Magpies. Two points was the margin at quarter time and it didn’t grow much from there as Dean Thorson edged the Demons further in front with a nice goal. As the rain continued to pour and the battle for ascendency became harder, crowd favourite Peter 'Cat’ Grant pulled out a special wet weather trick for a beautiful goal, bringing the margin back to one point at half time.
A back and forth battle ensued for the second half with ball skidding between the respective 50-metre arcs with only behinds being scored. The Demons held a two-point lead at the final change and the boys could sniff an upset. The defenders did their best and spoiled almost every opportunity in the last quarter, but when a ball came off hands and trickled over the line to give Toora back the lead with only seconds on the clock it was going to be difficult. A barrel from full back saw the ball travelling through the air as the siren sounded to signal the Magpies had stolen a win.
Toora will now face the big challenge of Fish Creek at Terrill Park while MDU will host Tarwin in what could be a winnable game.
Match reviews taken from articles published by South Gippsland Sentinel Times and The Great Southern Star (all instances specified). Original articles are viewable online via subscription only. To subscribe to South Gippsland Sentinel Times visit https://subscribe.realviewtechnologies.com/global/subscribe/rvportal/subscribe.aspx?cpid=14264. To subscribe to The Great Southern Star visit https://subscribe.realviewtechnologies.com/global/subscribe/rvportal/subscribe.aspx?cpid=14439
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