By Tricia Mifsud
BROADFORD-YEA struggled against one of Outer East Football Netball League’s best division two sides, suffering a 116-point thumping from Powelltown at the weekend.
The outing was the first home game for the side at Yea Showgrounds since Broadford-Yea formed its partnership.
Broadford-Yea failed to take control of the game from the onset and fell to a 9-35 deficit at quarter time.
The visitors extended their lead to 48 points at half time, kicking four goals to Broadford Yea’s one.
Things only got tougher for the home side, the main break working in Powelltown’s favour – it went on to an exciting eight-goal term.
No signs of fatigue hindered Powelltown, which finished its impressive performance with a 23.17 (155) to 5.9 (39) victory.
The win has Powelltown sitting in second place on the ladder by percentage, while Broadford-Yea remains on the bottom.
Broadford-Yea’s regular standouts in Isaac Smithwick, Liam Lucas, Bryce Fleming, Neil Johnson, Nick Gilbee and James Hibbens were named in the side’s best, which coach Jayden Welch said reflected their leadership at the club.
“They are more the leaders at the club, so they play a lot of footy and consistent footy. We have a lot of players that are good footy players but it’s a lack of confidence that kills them,” he said.
Joel Perry was unstoppable in the forward line for Powelltown, booting 11 majors in a best-on-ground performance. Powelltown had a further eight goal scorers, proving taking advantage of an overmatched Broadford-Yea defence.
“We had Jayme Ruedin on Joel, and Jayme is not a bad full back at all, especially when the ball went into their forward line and it was a one-on-one. But when it came in chest-high, 30-metres away, [with] a player like Joel, you’re just not going to stop that,” Welch said.
In a positive for Broadford-Yea, the side was able to score at least one goal in each quarter, the first time it had occurred since Broadford’s match against Yea in round one.
However, Welch said his side needed to work on the finer details of its performances and moving the ball more cleanly if it wanted to add more scoreboard pressure to its game.
“We didn’t take all our opportunities down in the forward, and we weren’t really straight in front of goal,” he said.
“There definitely is an improvement, but there is still a lot more to improve on. It was all the small errors in our game that cost us.
“We’ve come a long way. Last year, we lost to Powelltown by 170 odd points. On Saturday, we were good here and there, but we were fumbling, handballs were missing the targets, or kicks were going overhead.”
Five originally Yea-listed players featured in the side, a further two more than Broadford-Yea’s round five match: Gilbee, Jordan Harry, William Schwab, Ben Wilsmore and Charlton Jenkins.
Welch said the players had continued to bond as one club, becoming more of a team as they spent more time training and playing games together.
“Their addition to the side has been great. Those boys fit into our team really well and bring in skills that our players didn’t necessarily have … they complement where we were lacking,” he said.
This weekend sees Broadford-Yea host division two league leader Kinglake at Harley Hammond Reserve.
