By Mark Gullick
BERWICK announced itself as a premiership contender with an emphatic 51-point dismissal of Narre Warren at Edwin Flack Reserve on Saturday.
Wickers captain Jason Kelly won the most important toss of his career and pointed towards the school end, which gave his team the benefit of a raging wind.
Narre Warren employed a loose man in defence – Col McNamara and later Michael Collins – in an attempt to thwart Berwick’s significant advantage.
Magpies defender Michael McGill stood league goalkicking runner-up Nathan Waite, and conceded 11 centimetres, while Lee Boyle covered the alternating ruckmen Vergim Faik and Steve Finlayson. Dean Scanlon covered the dangerous Nathan Page.
The match opened with a struggle as the players accustomed themselves with the conditions.
Berwick star Paul Vanschilt kicked the opening goal after running down Collins.
Further goals to Mitchell Talbert, Jake McLardy, David Van Diemen, who capitalised on a defensive mistake, and Andrew Tuck, from a contentious umpiring decision, firmly gave Berwick the upper hand.
Narre Warren goaled later in the term, through the unchecked Aaron McIver, to reduce the Magpies’ quarter-time deficit to 31 points.
The Magpies’ ability to kick an abundance of goals in a short time ensured the result wasn’t finalised, however, it was Berwick who drew first blood in the second term after Semir Zijai popped through a goal.
Narre Warren secured its second goal from a Collins clearance and a courageous Nick Scanlon mark.
That sparked the Magpies into action, and goals to defender Matt Lee, who drifted forward, and Scanlon (twice) closed the gap on the scoreboard.
Waite completed a strong mark and kicked truly to give his side a 16-point half-time lead.
A long Faik goal ended the third quarter deadlock and kick-started the Berwick game.
The Wickers kicked three further goals to hold a 43-point lead.
By kicking the opening goal of the last term, against the wind, Berwick took the sting out of the contest and ended any hopes of a Narre Warren comeback.
Each team kicked four goals as interest in the match trended on a downward spiral.
Berwick’s use of the wind, and tactics when kicking against it, played a crucial role in the win.
“You come up with two different types of game plans, in regards to going with the wind and against the wind,” Berwick coach Dean Rice said.
“(The wind) helped us in the first quarter. One of the key things in finals is the ability of your team to settle first and having that wind and kicking a couple of goals, we seemed to settle quicker than Narre did. Six goals to one in a final is definitely what you want to start with, and the ability of our guys to hold onto that lead for the rest of the game was good.”
In the second term, Rice altered his structure.
“We went with a loose man in the backline and I thought that was a bit negative on our part,” he said.
“It allowed them a bit of control on our half-back, where they had their loose man. Ten to 15 minutes towards the end of that quarter, we went back to man-on-man and forgot about the loose man, and we gained control of the game again, which I thought in the outcome of the game was really important.
“We knew that if we were five or six goals in front at three quarter-time, the wind wasn’t going to be a factor. With only 25 minutes (remaining), it was all about desperation.”
It was a complete team performance that won the match for Berwick, who had 11 goalkickers and relied on 22 steady contributors to achieve the strong win.
Rugged Brett Robinson was brilliant, working hard around the packs and organising many Berwick forward forays.
“We’ve thrown him around a bit this year, down back, up forward and through the midfield,” Rice said.
“When he plays in the midfield, his ears prick up and he’s ready to go. We put him in there and he goes for it.”
Tim Gunn kicked three goals and was lively in the forward half, veteran Jason Rahilly relished the conditions and youngster Talbett played above his tender years.
Finlayson rucked strongly and positioned himself perfectly to ensure he influenced the contest.
“It would have been a nice toss to win,” Narre Warren coach Chris Toner said. “But we just got outplayed on the day.”
Few patrons at three quarter-time believed the Magpies were out of the match, despite their hefty deficit.
“I did (think we were still in the game),” Toner said.
“The wind seemed to drop (during the last break), so we didn’t get two usages of it, but that’s not an excuse, you’ve just got to take your medicine. We were getting beaten in the middle of the ground. (Ruckman Matt) Olney didn’t play and he was really coming good for us.”
Magpies champion Scanlon was superb, with four goals and several courageous efforts in a polished performance.
Youngster Adam Giobbi impressed in a key defensive role, while the Collins brothers, Michael and Chris, worked hard around the field.
Michael thrived in several roles in the midfield and defence, while Chris was a busy on-baller.
McNamara worked hard in the middle and back lines.
“Nick was terrific,” Toner said. “He never gave in and was always looking at getting us over the line. I thought his young brother (Dean) did a great job on (Nathan) Page too.”
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:HAMPTON PARK v PAKENHAM
ON the back of a third-quarter flurry of goals, Pakenham eliminated a determined Hampton Park from the finals at Toomuc Reserve on Sunday.
During that period, the Lions kicked five goals in 10 minutes to finally shake the determined Redbacks by 34 points.
It was a haphazard opening term, with numerous skill errors and poor decision making.
Twelve minutes into the contest, Hampton Park’s Kerem Baskaya received a handball from captain Matthew Shorey and booted the opening goal.
It took just as long for the next goal to be scored, by the Lions’ big man Frank D’Agostino.
Hampton Park veteran Patrick Clish appeared to strike Pakenham’s Adam Cook with several blows to the head, but the incident was disregarded by the umpires.
Each team added a further goal and the Lions took a one-point lead into the first break.
It was a tough match to watch, and at times, resembled kick-to-kick in the park, as the half-back lines dominated the contest.
The prevalent wind died-off and the second term resumed in calmer conditions.
Luke Walker found Cook for the first goal, before Baskaya stamped himself on the contest.
The burly forward took contested marks and booted three goals as Hampton Park gained the upper hand.
Pakenham’s midfielders finally won a centre clearance and Cook added another goal, sparking a run of goals by the Lions.
Russell Lehman kicked two goals, propelling Pakenham to a six-point half-time lead.
