09 Jun GDFL Round 9 Review: Freeman the hero, Panthers hold off Tigers
Daniel Freeman has been crowned the new mayor of Thomson after the first year Tiger landed the match winning goal in his side’s two point win over Werribee.
The Centurions found three late goals against the Tigers before the former Ocean Grove ball winner snapped the sealer from a congested pocket in the dying stages.
“It was a really gutsy win but it was a credit to the entire side,” co-coach Reece Holwell said this evening.
Thomson will now host Geelong West in next weekend’s fifth vs. sixth clash however will be without James Menzies (broken collarbone) and Ryan Wheelahan (hamstring).
A six goal haul from Bell Post Hill livewire Jayden Ettridge has inspired his side to 24-point win over modern day rival Bannockburn.
His tally sees him take out the lead with 34 ahead of Winchelsea’s Will Ford (33), Inverleigh’s Jak Kennedy Hunt (31) and teammate Nick Costello (30).
A 60m goal after the siren for Matt James would make for the icing on the cake as the Panthers returned to the top three tonight with a 7-2 record.
Nevertheless it was the opening half of the reigning grand final medallist which saw him land five goals (including a sequence of three in the opening term).
“Today was fantastic, obviously with the numbers we do have we were very limited from the reserves and it was tough for them to have their first loss of the year,” Bell Post Hill coach Brad Martin explained.
“But at the end of the day we’ve only had three losses as a club (two at senior level) so today’s win was good as we’ve had in the seniors.”
“Jack Dosen was another late omission so we brought Aaron Vacirca in last minute.”
Ettridge was rewarded with the Yardz Hotel player of the round voucher with nine votes ahead of Adrian Fantella (five), Jake Barlow and Attila Sulics (one).
“Jayden is still working into it, he doesn’t get a chance to do a massive pre-season with his cricket so his best footy usually comes in the second half of the season,” he added.
“This was also Adrian Fantella’s best game for the year while Attila Sulics may even be leading our best and fairest after today.”
Kieran Fulton also polled two votes after he landed four goals against key defender Beau McNamara.
Bannockburn was missing Brad Watts (hamstring), Joshua Cole (travel), Tim Arklay, Tom Parsons (soreness) pre-game and Luke Bowdern (knock) in the second half.
However there were still no excuses acceptable for co-coach Darren Milburn.
“We thought our effort was there for three and a bit quarters but it just dropped away in the end and our disposal also let us down in the end,” he explained.
“There were plenty of times where we didn’t get that kick forward or quick handball when you look back at the game.”
He added, “Overall, we are a work in progress at the moment but so are Bell Post Hill and just about most sides that are still a chance in the second half of the year.”
In other games Inverleigh annihilated Anakie by 97-points with a spread of 12 individual goal-kickers including Dalton Grundell and Nathan Mayes (four each).
North Geelong escaped the Lion den with a 23-point win over Ash Witney’s men.
Matt Runnalls landed five goals however the first year Magpie did not make his side’s best players.
After a winless 2016 Geelong West has kept its finals hopes alive with a convincing 29.27 (201) to 6.6 (42) win over Corio.
Benjamin Toner added seven goals with Michael Leamer named best.
East Geelong’s 4.6 (30) was the lowest score of the weekend as Jacob Hernan inspired the Blues to an 81-point victory.
Next week Inverleigh will travel to Winchelsea for the game the round on 94.7fm the Pulse however the Blues will be without second year utility Zach Bond (collarbone).
By Alex Tigani
GDFL Media (09/09/2018)
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