Sport
24 August, 2023
Bombers, Panthers remain in race
Noradjuha Quantong had a tough 30 point win over Edenhope Apsley at the Rupanyup Recreation Reserve on Sunday. The Bombers got off to a swift start James Hallett and James Gregg kicking the first two goals of the game. Allan McIntyre responded...
Noradjuha Quantong had a tough 30 point win over Edenhope Apsley at the Rupanyup Recreation Reserve on Sunday.
The Bombers got off to a swift start James Hallett and James Gregg kicking the first two goals of the game. Allan McIntyre responded shortly after for the Saints. When Brayden Culhane kicked his first goal a couple minutes later the lead went back out to 11 points.
At the 14 minute mark, Flynn Loft kicked truly for the Saints to bring the margin back to 6 points. Both teams had chances up forward, but it was the Bombers that took a 5 point lead into quarter time.
Much like the second half of the first quarter, the start of the second was tough and tight with no teams giving an inch and applying a lot of pressure.
At the 16 minute mark the first points for the quarter were scored with James Gregg kicking his second goal to extend the lead to 11 points.
The Saints kept applying the pressure but slowly the Bombers started to break through their defense with goals to Zane Batson and Braydon Culhane giving the Bombers a 23 point lead at the main break.
After half time the Saints kept the pressure up but goals to Brock Orval and Damien Cameron extended the lead to 34 points. The Saints had their chances in front of goal kicking four behinds for the quarter and trailed by 31 points at three quarter time.
Saints captain Tim McIntyre kicked the first goal of the quarter from outside 50 to give the Saints some hope reducing the margin to 24 points.
That is where the Saints challenge came to an end with Zane Batson kicking his second two minutes later to extend the margin back to 30 points. Brock Orval kicked a late goal and the Bombers ran out 10.2.62 to 3.12.30.
Bombers coach Damian Cameron was thrilled with the win.
“It was a great win. I am very happy with the boys. It was very tough early. The Saints were applying a lot of pressure but we managed to hit the scoreboard when we needed to and slowly pulled away,” Cameron said.
“The second half we battled it out and had a lot of inside 50’s but couldn’t make the most of it on the scoreboard but we had a lot of the ball which was encouraging.”
The Bombers defense was strong with Wade Francis providing a lot of run through the defensive half and Michael Phelan at centre half back stopping a lot of the ball.
The Bombers will now face Rupanyup in a Semi Final.
Rupanyup had a tough 10 point win over the Stawell Swifts at the Dock Lake Recreation Reserve on Sunday.
The Panthers got out to a good start kicking the first two goals of the game through Braydon Ison and Blake Turner. Stawell answered through a snap in the goal square by Angus Murray and when Cameron Wickham kicked truly moments later the margin was 6 points. Late in the quarter a goal to Joseph Tormey gave the Panthers a 10 point lead.
Like the first quarter, the Panthers were on top early in the second kicking the first three goals through Cooper Reading, Braydon Ison and Lachlan Weidemann to extend the margin out to a game high 30 points. A couple of late goals to the Swifts brought the margin back to 19 points at half time.
The Swifts came out after half time with the same momentum they had at the end of the second quarter with Scott Carey kicking an early goal to bring the margin to 11 points. When Seth Blake kicked truly the margin was under a goal and not long after Andrew Baker hit the scoreboard to give the Swifts the lead.
With the momentum with the Swifts, Angus Murray kicked his second and when Andrew Baker and Scott Carey hit the scoreboard again, suddenly they were leading by 18 points at three quarter time. The Swifts won the clearances 15 to 2 in that quarter and had all the momentum.
At three quarter time, Ison’s message to his troops was simple. He said they needed to take the game on otherwise it’s all over and that they need to get on top in the clearances.
They responded by getting on top in the midfield and winning the clearances with Blake Turner kicking an early goal. When Ison kicked his third not long after and Scott Niewand kicked his first, the Panthers took a one point lead.
Ison then kicked the next two goals to extend the margin to 10 points and when Blake Turner kicked his third, it was game over with the Panthers running out 13.13.91 to 12.9.81 to keep their premiership defence alive.
Ison was thrilled with how the players responded in the last quarter.
“To be down at three quarter time with them having the run of play, for the players to bounce back and show character, I was very proud of what they were able to bring. Our midfield really got on top in that last quarter,” Ison said.
In the first three quarters Ison said they didn’t make the most of their chances in the first half.
“Unfortunately we didn’t take most of our scoring shots. We had our chances to get a bigger lead. We were on top of the main indicators - clearances, inside 50’s and tackles inside 50,” he said.
“In the third quarter we got complacent and were smashed in clearances. We have talked about playing four quarters. We weren’t able to do that but we got the win. It is something we will address again this week at training ahead of our match against the Bombers,” Ison concluded.