A DUO of local rivalries highlighted the Northern Football Netball League action for round 11 of the competition.
The Plenty Road Derby between Laurimar and Mernda was played at Laurimar in division three, while South Morang and Whittlesea did battle at Mill Park Lakes in division two.
As far as Laurimar’s win over Mernda was concerned, the battle between second and third was a fizzer, with the Power dominant in every facet to win by 91 points.
Laurimar was determined to make Jesse Donaldson’s 250th game a winning one, while Mernda was desperate to show that last week’s loss against Reservoir was an aberration.
However, the Demons had the first significant blow of the day, losing captain Dayne Kellett to what looked to be a bad hamstring injury just five minutes into the game.
The Power got off to a great start, kicking three of the first four goals of the game, with Matt Keys, Joel Lawson and Jai Langford getting in on the act.
Josh Caputo and Josh Mazzarella kicked goals for Mernda to leave the margin at six points late in the term – but this would be as close as the Demons got throughout the day.
Milestone man Donaldson kicked a late goal to ensure the Power led 27-14 at the first change.
The second quarter was all Laurimar. It would kick four goals, with Liam Waldron, Lawson, Stephen McCallum and Tyler Thomas getting in on the act, while Mernda was held to just three behinds for the term, leaving the Power with a commanding six-goal lead at the main break, 53-17.
Langford was giving plenty of freedom to run throughout the day, just as he had in the two teams’ earlier meeting and delivered the first goal of the second half to essentially end the contest.
Laurimar wasn’t done though, and it was keen to deliver knockout blows on such a momentous day against its arch-rival.
A further five goals for the term, compared with Mernda’s two, meant the margin suddenly stretched beyond 10 goals at the final change, with the Power leading 93-30.
Waldron kicked three goals for the quarter, while a highlight of the day was Ethan Bateman’s towering mark during the third quarter, cementing the status of party time at Laurimar Reserve.
Mernda was determined to finish off the day with a positive, kicking the first goal of the last term through Lincoln Coffey, but this was the only goal the Demons would kick, as the Power continued to run riot.
Lawson kicked two goals to take his tally to four, while Langford kicked another to stamp his best-on-ground performance with three goals, as the Power won 20.11 (131) to 5.10 (40).
Joining Langford as the Power’s best were Bateman, Lawson, Donaldson, Bailey Macleod and Waldron, while for the Demons, Jesse Guelfo did what he could, as did Kyle Yankos, Coffey, Jayden Bell, Caputo and Billy Morrison.
Over at South Morang, a gritty game saw just 10 goals scored as the Lions held on to defeat Whittlesea by seven points, delivering a hammer blow to the Eagles’ chances of playing finals, while closing the gap to Northcote Park to one game at the top.
In tricky conditions, goals were like gold, and the Lions scored two of them in the opening term to Whittlesea’s one goal to hold a four-point lead at the first change, leading 12-8.
Sebastian Latina kicked a brilliant snap goal from the pocket to increase the Lions’ lead, while debutant Kaden Isherwood also kicked truly to make it an 18-point break for South Morang at the main break, 28-10.
Whittlesea fought hard in the third quarter, with Angus Smith, Jack Morley and Bailey Robinson kicking truly as the Eagles looked to get back into the game, helping to nullify the Lions, who kicked one goal through Chris Petroro. It was still South Morang at the last change leading 36-31.
The Eagles peppered the goals in the last term as they fought to keep their season very much alive, as a loss would leave them two games outside the top five. But their efforts resulted in only four behinds, leaving the game delicately poised with the Lions a point up.
Isherwood, on debut, would have the final say, keeping his cool to kick an easy goal from the goal square to leave the Lions’ faithful in raptures, leading to a 6.7 (43) to 4.12 (36) victory.
Christian Mardini provided plenty of spark for the Lions, while Demetrios Constantinou, Carter McCall, Anthony Bradford, James Hewson and Adam De Propertis were also named in the best, while for Whittlesea, Thomas Falls and Robinson continue to be constants in the best, with Clancy Bland, Mitchell Andrews, William Plain and Khaled El-Leissy also named in the Eagles’ best players.
In the Friday night netball competition, Whittlesea 1 continued its good run in Premier division 1, defeating Heat 51-32, while Whittlesea 4 also took a win.
South Morang 1 defeated Whittlesea 2 in Premier division 3, 37-28, while South Morang 3 also took victory over Bundoora, while Laurimar 3 and Laurimar 5 were the two victorious Power teams on the night, with Laurimar 1 losing to Banyule in division 4 31-37.