A STRONG first half has allowed Whittlesea to give itself the best possible platform to attack the upcoming Northern Football Netball League division two finals, clinching the double chance with a convincing victory over St Mary’s.
The Eagles did it easy against an undermanned Burra outfit, winning every quarter at the Whittlesea Showgrounds to show just how much of a gap there was between the runaway top three and the fourth-placed Burra.
Whittlesea made an absolute flyer, kicking three goals in the opening minutes to show just how much intent the Eagles had. Jaron Murphy, Zane Anderson and Angus Smith gave them the perfect start, while Anderson, Christian Prestopino and Kane Johnson further cemented the Eagles into a strong quarter time lead, 37-13.
The second quarter was a bit of a change of pace, with Whittlesea instead struggling to convert opportunities. Five behinds was the result, before the Burra kicked the first goal of the term to reduce the margin to 22 points.
However, the Eagles weren’t having a potential St Mary’s comeback, with Jack Taylor and Murphy restoring a big lead for Whittlesea with late goals to leave it 35 points to the good, 55-20.
When Smith and Johnson kicked their second of the day, it was virtually game over, with the Eagles leading by 48 points, and despite St Mary’s getting on the end of the next two goals, Taidhg Bland and Smith responded to ensure Whittlesea would lead by 46 points at the final change, 81-35.
Smith would continue adding to his goal tally as the youngster completed his second haul of five goals for the season since moving across from Banyule, while Khaled El-Leissy added another to ensure the Eagles would almost neatly double St Mary’s score with a 15.11 (101) to 7.8 (50) triumph.
Smith was best on ground, joined by Murphy and Bland, while Matthew Atta, Mitchell Andrews and Johnson also provided excellent value.
With an inferior percentage to both first-placed Diamond Creek and second-placed Macleod, the Eagles would need one or both teams to slip up to pinch first or second, but that appears unlikely on the face of the Demons facing second-from-bottom Thomastown and the Kangaroos playing the all-but relegated Watsonia on the run home.
In division three, both Mernda and Laurimar had the bye ahead of the final round of the season next week, with Mernda completing its season with a trip to Heidelberg West, while Laurimar will have an early qualifying final preview when it makes the trip to Ivanhoe.
In division one, South Morang fell one goal short of completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in the NFNL’s history at Ben Frilay Oval against Hurstbridge.
The Lions were jumped by the Bridges in the late stages of the first quarter, conceding five quick goals to trail 44-19 at the first change.
Hurstbridge continued to dominate going into the second quarter, kicking a further six goals to two from the Lions, and the game looked over at half time, with the Bridges leading 84-32.
The Lions, to their credit, fought hard to open the third quarter, and kicked the opening four goals of the term to reduce the margin to 28 points by the midway stages of the quarter. But it appeared Hurstbridge had all the answers, kicking the final three goals to restore its big lead, 104-61.
South Morang was inspired in the last term, and led largely by Joshua Lansfield, the Lions clawed their way back into the contest.
The Lions kicked six goals in 16 minutes to give themselves some significant belief, but Hurstbridge was able to settle and made the game a contest-based affair.
In the end, both teams added one more goal as Hurstbridge prevailed in an epic, 16.15 (111) to 16.10 (106), in a result which could prove to be an enormous blow to the Lions’ hopes of staying in division one, now needing three wins and results to go their way to have a chance of staying in the competition next year.
Meantime, in the Friday night netball competition, Whittlesea showed just how close the top four battle was, playing out the season’s first draw with Diamond Creek in division one, 47 apiece.
Whittlesea 2 and South Morang 1 both scored victories with no results entered in division three.
Across the divisions, Whittlesea and South Morang had more wins than losses, with Whittlesea enjoying two wins and a draw from its four games, while South Morang took four wins from seven outings.
Laurimar had a mixed night, taking two wins from five games.
