ByMark Gullick
REIGNING premiers Narre Warren had raging premiership favourite Cranbourne on the ropes halfway through the third term at Kalora Park on Saturday.
A three-goal burst, including two by Aaron McIver, placed the Magpies five goals ahead of the Eagles.
However, a pivotal turnover proved costly for Narre Warren.
Cranbourne secured the ball and an unchecked Ray George snuck forward, claimed a mark and kicked the goal, which dramatically altered the course of the match.
A quick succession of Eagles’ goals – to Matthew Fletcher, Marc Holt, Michael Theodoridis and Justin Berry (twice) during a glorious spell – incredibly put Cranbourne in front by 13 points at the final change.
As a light drizzle set in at the start of the final quarter, McIver gave his team hope with an early goal.
Holt, who appeared earlier to be limping, stamped his formidable figure on the contest.
The Cranbourne captain kicked three quick goals, from various angles and situations, to hand his team the final ascendency.
The Eagles kicked seven of the last nine goals to run out 57-point winners in an excellent display of premium-quality football.
With spotty rain and a tiresome breeze, the match began in hushed circumstances as a series of skill errors and indifferent goalkicking plagued the contest.
Cranbourne held a two-point quarter-time lead before Narre piled on five goals to three to claim an 11-point half-time lead.
The standard improved dramatically during the second term, as each team executed a series of bright ball movements.
McIver kicked three goals during that period and Nick Scanlon was superb, while Holt kicked two goals.
While Cranbourne wrestled control of the match in the second half, the final score doesn’t reflect the spirited contest in which Narre Warren seriously challenged the ladder leader.
“(Narre Warren) was competitive,” Cranbourne coach Doug Koop said.
“They put themselves in good positions to kick early goals. We wasted the ball in the first quarter. The composure around goals was poor early and we missed a couple of opportunities to get rid of (the ball). We had the ball in the forward line enough, but we didn’t make the most of it. The game was still open and, to Narre’s credit, they took advantage of it.”
Koop modified the composition and focus of his team at half-time, which worked for the Eagles.
“We talked about it at half-time; we just need to run a bit more,” he said.
“We put (Michael) Boland into the ruck, which gave us a bit of spring there, and then Berry and (Curtis) Barker started getting more of the footy and drove it forward. It was important to kick goals and we got a couple, which got us back into the game and that bit of momentum kept us working.”
Cranbourne’s management in the next six weeks will be crucial.
The Eagles have two byes in the next four matches that round out the home-and-away season, and will also have the first week of the finals off.
“We’ve got a plan in place that will hopefully work for us,” Koop said. “We’ve got a few blokes with some niggles, so it won’t hurt to have the bye next week and we’re expecting a tough game against Paky (in round 16) and we finish off with Keysy at Keysy, which is always pretty tough. We’ve got a solid preparation for our finals campaign. We’ve got the bye in round 18 and then the first week of the finals, but we’ve got some plans in place which will hopefully have us ready to rock ‘n’ roll on game day (in the second semi-final).”
Holt’s influence in the second half was telling and the burly forward kicked eight goals.
“I thought in the last quarter Marc Holt played the best quarter of footy he’s played,” Koop said. “It’s all well and good to kick goals when the side is up and running, but when we needed him to stand up and take a mark, not only once or twice, but three times, he did it and that helped the rest of the boys. He just kept working to the very end, which was outstanding.”
Jarrod Murphy’s versatility kept him in the contest and he was an effective player.
Surprise packet Theodoridis (four goals), the reliable Matthew Rus and midfielder Leigh Holt played well, as did Boland in the ruck and, earlier, in defence.
Berry kicked three goals.
Narre Warren coach Chris Toner saw plenty of positives in his team’s effort.
“I don’t know if any team had been that far in front (of Cranbourne) at any stage of the year,” he said. “But against quality sides, you can’t take your foot off the gas and that’s what we did. We just relaxed for a 10-minute period and they were good enough to take it. We learnt and we’ll take a lot of positives out of that game. The last 15 minutes made it worse than what it was. We were five goals up at the 15-minute mark of the third quarter and we had every opportunity to win it. If we get into that position again against a good side, I’m sure we’ll be able to improve and get better at it.”
There were several defining erroneous moments for the young Magpies.
“I thought a few crucial things happened that changed the game, basically from our turnovers,” Toner said. “There was a crucial turnover at centre half-forward for us. We had control of the footy and went outside our structure, and instead of being five goals in front, we ended up three goals in front. There was another one where we had two shots on goal and we turned the footy over.”
Narre Warren’s sluggish return after a bye again affected the team, as it did earlier in the year.
“It’s not an excuse, but it’s a reason,” Toner said. “We were playing better footy before the bye. We had a week off and we were rusty. I thought our first quarter was poor and we were probably lucky to be with them at that stage.
“Our second and first half of the third quarter were really good. They were too good on the day, but I think we got a lot out of the game.”
Matthew Olney was Narre Warren’s shining light with the ruckman taking numerous contested marks and working hard around the ground. Michael McGill was dashing in defence, Daniel Field and Col McNamara were strong in the clinches and McIver kicked five goals.
Clay Peresso impressed in the back half.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:BERWICK v PAKENHAM
BERWICK completed an astonishing 257-point turnaround with a devastating 134-point belting of Pakenham at Edwin Flack Reserve.
There was disbelief across the league as news filtered through that Berwick kicked 10.3 in the opening term and held Pakenham scoreless.
The stunned Lions regained their composure in the second term, but were outscored four goals to one to trail by 80 points at the long break.
Berwick completed its dominance in the second half with 12 goals to four.
“I’ve been involved with footy a long time but have never been involved with something so extreme as those two weeks have been,” Berwick coach Dean Rice said.
“It was good for us to turn that corner and start to get some momentum again leading into the latter half of the year.
“We made it a point that we hadn’t played four quarters all year and at the end of the day they did that.”
Rice believed Pakenham might have been ‘ripe for the picking’.
“They’d won eight in a row against sides below them,” Rice said. “Sometimes you get a bit ahead of yourself. Maybe we just got them on the right day.”
