West Gippsland FNC Round 17 review

MATCH REVIEW – CORA LYNN V PHILLIP ISLAND

with additional content from Gippsland Footy admin

MATCH REVIEW - DALYSTON V BUNYIP

Bunyip scored a consolation victory over Dalyston as the Bulldogs look to next season with some positivity.

Dalyston held its own against Bunyip, but in the end the Bulldogs’ fitness won the day. It was a big day for Dalyston, with Peter Dunlop playing his 150th game.

Kicking four goals early, Dalyston was on a roll in the first quarter. Despite only kicking one in the second quarter, it still managed to keep Bunyip down. In the first half, everything was working in Dalyston’s favour. Its ball movements were on target, the players were finding good positions 0n the ground, and everyone was making strong leads for the ball.

Despite trailing throughout the first half, the Bulldogs responded after half time with 13 goals to five to set up a big win, 16-12 (108) to 10-6 (66).

Six goals to two in the third term saw the Bulldogs take the lead in a sensational turn around, before continuing the momentum with seven goals in the final term.

Brent Heus and Jason Williams each kicked three goals, while Rickie Crockett. Brad Walker, Nathan Allen and Damien Szwaja also helped the Bulldogs charge to victory.

For Dalyston, the goal scoring was shared between seven goal kickers; Darcy Brosnan, Matt Rosendale, Tylah Osbaldeston, Butler, Jackson Brooker, Dunlop and Mark Lafferty.

MATCH REVIEW - INVERLOCH-KONGWAK V KILCUNDA-BASS

Inverloch-Kongwak flexed their muscles heading into the finals with an impressive 87-point dismantling of Kilcunda-Bass on Saturday. Again, it was star forward Toby Mahoney who led the way for the Sea Eagles booting a bag of seven goals, taking his season tally to 54.

The first quarter was a reasonably even battle with the early rain making it hard to score. IK struck first and managed to gain the momentum adding a further three goals. But the Panthers were able to generate some great passages of play ending in goals to Jean Bezzene and Chris McKay. The margin was 12 points at quarter time as the dark clouds loomed over the Inverloch recreation reserve.

The weather never worried the home side as they continued to pile on the goals through Mahoney, McCaughan and Dan Houston. But as the quarter wore on the Panthers gained more and more confidence, switching the ball out of defence and creating some good linking play. Jake Smith was even able to get on the end of a beautiful forward entry from Damien Holmes and add a great goal mid-way through the term. The scoring dried up during the back end of the quarter until Toby Mahoney marked hard on the boundary about 50 metres from goal. After assessing his options, he launched a beautiful kick that sailed straight through the big sticks and gave the momentum back to IK right on the half with a 33-point buffer.

Despite Smith nailing the first goal of the third quarter thanks to an errant kick from IK’s Dylan Clark, the Panthers struggled to muscle their way back into the contest as the Sea Eagles started to power away. Lewie Rankin popped up for a rare goal for the Sea Eagles after a strong mark about 40 metres out from goal, a brilliant reward for some hard-gut running.

The lead was out to 52-points at three quarter time and the Panthers had just about ran out of gas. IK continued on their way in the last, Mahoney slotted his seventh and the game was all but finished.

MATCH REVIEW - KORUMBURRA-BENA V GARFIELD

Garfield kept its season alive with a comfortable victory over Korumburra-Bena, 11-12 (78) to 4-9 (33).

Wet and windy conditions created a more closely contested game with the bigger bodied players forced to do the hard work around the stoppages.

Garfield kicked to the town end in the first quarter with a strong breeze allowing them to control the play in their forward half. The Stars kept the Giants goalless in the first term to race out to a 25-point lead.

A melee involving all 36 players kicked off the second term but the umpires were quick to knock that on the head and get on with the game. It took some effort but the Giants finally registered their first major of the game through big man Michael Cooke. Dylan Muir and Nic Besley followed soon after and at the long break the Giants only trailed by five points.

The rain continued to pour as the players ran out for the second half, the Stars hitting the ground running with an early goal to Tyler McDonald. The third turned into a battle of the defences, with the ball rebounding between the 50 metre arcs until the Stars were able to penetrate and score a late goal through Daniel Johnson. The lead was now 19 points at three quarter time, but with the Giants kicking with the wind anything was possible. But the fitness of the Stars was clear as they asserted their dominance around the stoppages adding another three unanswered goals to blow the game apart. However, it wasn’t all good news for Garfield as ruckman Corrie Intveen needed to be assisted from the ground causing a halt to the game.

Five goals to one in the final term saw the Stars finish strongly and set up an eliminator with Cora Lynn this week.

Tyler McDonald booted three goals, while Jayden Goumas, Michael Wallace, Daniel Johnson, Zac Soutar and Jonathan Sauze also helped the Stars maintain control.

MATCH REVIEW - KOO WEE RUP V NAR NAR GOON