Dragons hold on for best win of season
June 29, 2009
By
Richard Jones
Bendigo action....
SANDHURST recorded its most impressive win of the Bendigo Bank BFNL season, holding on to defeat Kangaroo Flat by 10 points at Fulton Hogan Oval on Saturday.
Ahead at every change the Dragons withstood a late charge by the Roos on their way to an upset 17.15 (117) to 15.17 (107) victory.
Inspired by goalkicking midfielders Jarrod Bateson and Lee Coghlan – who contributed six goals between them for the day – Sandhurst shot out to a 44-point lead by half-time.
Key defender Malcolm Borchard held Flat skipper Tyrone Downie to just a single goal. However, the Dragons’ other tall backman James Cozens was stretched by the BFL’s leading sharpshooter Justin Maddern who booted six of the home side’s 15 majors.
Tyson Findlay was a late inclusion for the Flat side with Justin McEwan and Glen Matheson dropped from the “from” interchange group.
Apart from Shannon Geary’s early goal for the Roos the first quarter belonged to the Dragons. They launched non-stop attacks at the scoreboard end with Mark Fitzgerald (two), Lucas Ruedin, Braidy Dickens, Coghlan and Bateson all converting from the opportunities they had.
While ruckman Matt Thornton helped to feed his running teammates, he didn’t have things all his own way in the big man battles. The Roos’ Joel West was also conspicuous around the ground and in the hitouts and boundary throw-in contests.
With six goals on the board to two at the first change the Dragons then unleashed a seven-goal second quarter. Coghlan and Bateson (two) again nailed crucial goals with Nathan Meade and Michael Hill adding others.
Billy White and Grant Ford were the Roos’ midfield workers but Maddern was their only real target. The athletic full-forward booted all three goals for the Green and Whites in the second term – the first following the opening bounce of the second quarter when White found him on the lead.
The Roos were wasteful from set shots. Either from the centre half-forward region or wider in the Tabaret pocket, deliberate shots on goal missed the target.
Matt Pendlebury handed the Dragons their commanding half-time lead when he landed his side’s 13th goal of the day right on the siren.
Kangaroo Flat outscored Sandhurst five goals to two in the third quarter with winger Ash Benbow, White, Maddern and Downie kicking truly. Shannon Geary nailed his third goal of the day from a set shot at the Station Street end.
Hard-running Coghlan and Matt Stagg were the only Dragon goalscorers as their team’s big half-time lead was whittled back to 27 points by the last change.
Early last quarter goals to Benbow, Sam Ryan and Maddern suddenly cut Kangaroo Flat’s deficit to just two kicks: 13.13 to 15.13.
But the Dragons hadn’t worked tirelessly and run hard all afternoon to surrender the lead easily. Captain Sam McGee found Darcy Booth at the Station Street end for a steadier.
Michael Hill, a valuable small forward all match, seemed to have kicked the sealer for the Dragons following a mark at centre half-forward. It was Hill’s third goal for the day.
Still, the Roos weren’t done with. White passed accurately to the leading Maddern and the Roo spearhead nailed his sixth major. When Grant Ford booted the Flat’s 15th everyone at the ground peered at the scoreboard time clock. Was there time for another Flat rally ?
The answer was no. The Dragons hung on by a couple of kicks to take their win-loss ratio to 6-5 and maintain their challenge for fifth spot on the senior ladder.
Sandhurst coach Keiran Nihill said it had been essential for his club to defeat someone higher up on the ladder. “We needed to do that – we’ve won every game everyone expected us to win, but at some stage to be serious about it we had to beat someone above us.
“I thought our first half was really good. Then I stressed to the boys for the first 10 minutes after half-time we had to control it. Maybe in that third quarter we were worrying more about that, rather than doing the things we’d been doing well in the first half.”
Nihill agreed the win would bolster the players’ self-belief and was vital in the overall context of the 2009 season.
For the second, successive week Roo coach Darryl Wilson was critical of his team’s turnovers. “Each time we turned it over they kicked a goal, I reckon. Well, perhaps not every time, but most of the time – we had 31 turnovers all up.
“They were far too good for us, too quick and they really preyed on our turnovers,” Wilson said.
“Although our effort in the last quarter was pleasing I suppose, our insipid first half cost us.”
SANDHURST 6.2 13.5 15.9 17.15 (117)
KANGAROO FLAT 2.4 5.9 10.12 15.17 (107)
GOALS Sandhurst: Lee Coghlan, Jarrod Bateson, Michael Hill 3, Mark Fitzgerald 2, Matt Stagg, Nathan Meade, Darcy Booth, Braidy Dickens, Lucas Ruedin, Matt Pendlebury. Kangaroo Flat: Justin Maddern 6, Shannon Geary 3, Ash Benbow 2, Billy White, Tyrone Downie, Sam Ryan, Grant Ford.
BEST Sandhurst: Jarrod Bateson, Matt Thornton, Malcolm Borchard, Lee Coghlan, Michael Hill, Kieran Nihill, Lachlan Watts. Kangaroo Flat: Grant Ford, Joel West, Billy White, Shannon Geary, Justin Maddern, Brendan Hehir.
VOTES
5: Jarrod Bateson (Sandhurst)
4: Grant Ford (Kangaroo Flat)
3: Matt Thornton (Sandhurst)
2: Joel West (Kangaroo Flat)
1: Lee Coghlan (Sandhurst)
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