By Mark Gullick
DESPITE losing to Keysborough by 15
points, a spirited Doveton showed the
league they would be competitive in 2010.
Barring the second term, when Keys
borough kicked seven goals to two, the
match was even in general play and on the
scoreboard.
“I honestly thought it would be a tough
game,” said Keysborough coach Brad
Canavan.
“I watched Doveton in a practice match
and they were very young and very quick
and they play their ground very well. I
think they’ll be very hard to beat at home
if anyone takes them lightly.
“My message to my players all week
was to respect them, they are a very proud
club and it won’t be an easy game.”
With 31 points separating the teams at
the main break, a heavy defeat was on the
cards.
“I actually thought at the time we’d
broken their back,” Canavan said. “To
their credit, they came out in the third
quarter and it was pretty much a nil-all
draw.”
Doveton scored five goals in the final
term to reduce their losing deficit.
“We haven’t beaten Doveton at Dove
ton in over a decade,” Canavan said. “I had
guys like ‘Spook’ McGuinness and Corey
Wilkinson who have been around for
awhile and they were just rapt.”
Ben Hoskin, Greg Walker and Dean
Gentle played well for Keysborough.
Doveton coach Mark Ladgrove was
disappointed to lose, but happy with his
team’s performance.
“There were lots of reports recently on
how we were supposed to go…and
reports we were not going to win a game,’’
Ladgrove said.
“We’ve got a young crew who have
come through the club that have got an
opportunity and they want to take it. We
got beaten, we’re not rapt in being beaten
but it was an encouraging performance.
“We lack talls in certain areas so we’ll
just have to work around that. The boys
did well, they showed a lot of character.
“Falk was very impressive, Brad
Downe was very reliable down back, Kelf,
Pearson through the middle and Michael
Henry was good too.”
HAMPTON PARK V DEVON
MEADOWS
Devon Meadows motored away from
Hampton Park in the second half to record
a 52-point win.
“We had a lot of opportunities in the
first quarter to get off to a good start, but
we probably didn’t take advantage of
them,” said Steve O’Brien.
“In the second quarter, Hampton Park
were a bit the same.” Both teams had their
chances in the opening half and the score
line of Devon Meadows 6.6 to Hampton
Park’s 4.7 was reflective of such.
Devon Meadows kicked seven goals to
nil in the third term before easing to a
solid win.
“We knew it was going to be a tough
game,” O’Brien said. “But if we’re going to
be the side we’re expected to be, we have
to win these games.”
Best for Devon Meadows were Callum
Ransom, Steven McInnes, Lukas Hoogen
boom and Justin Hill. “We were pretty
rusty,” said Hampton Park coach Josh
Taylor. “Lots of turnovers and blatant skill
errors basically cost us the game, but in
saying that, Devon Meadows were clearly
the better side and deserved to win.
“We made a lot of errors in judgement
and by foot and hand.
“Chris Hussey played well on Velardo,
Scott Eastwood did pretty well and Nathan
Dawes tried hard.”
