Lions lick wounds

By Mark Gullick
A BLISTERING seven-goal third term
by Narre Warren provided the spark for
an impressive 28-point victory over reign
ing premiers Pakenham.
Before the match Pakenham unveiled
its 2009 premiership flag, but it was
Narre Warren who began their 2010 sea
son better.
Narre Warren kicked with the wind
and led by 14 points at the first break.
It was evident early in the match that
it would be a battle of attrition as the
game was played at a quick pace.
Both teams heavily rotated their play
ers through the bench in an effort to
combat the stifling heat.
Pakenham kicked five straight goals
to open the second term before Narre
Warren secured their first major through
Nick Scanlon.
Pakenham led by 16 points at half-
time.
“We’d had a good first quarter, but
Pakenham had gotten on top of us in the
second,” said Narre Warren coach Matt
Shinners. “We butchered the footy a bit
coming out of the back line and turned
the footy over a bit. They scored some
pretty easy goals in the second quarter.”
Narre Warren dominated the third
term, scoring 7.6 to 0.2.
“We certainly started to get on top of
our game and get our structures right in
the third quarter,” said Shinners.
“There was a fairly strong wind down
that end and we just needed to lock
down,” said Pakenham coach Ryan Cas
sidy. “We didn’t adhere to some of our
structures in that quarter. It was a con
centration thing that we need to hone into
the group.”
Narre Warren was able to contain
Pakenham in the final term and win com
fortably.
“We haven’t recruited any big
names,” said Shinners. “We’ve had some
experienced players come back and it’s
whether or not the side can gel with these
new players in the side. We were hoping
we’d be competitive.
“It was a pretty hot day and it was
always going to be last man standing. We
had a few boys go down with cramp, but
we were able to get them back on the
field and produce.”
Daniel Field, Steve Kidd, Daniel
Borninkhof, Nick Scanlon and Luke
Tehennepe were the best players for the
victors.
Ryan Cassidy was disappointed with
the loss, but says he won’t panic.
“It’s going to take a bit of time and
there are a fair few new blokes in the mix
that we need to keep working on. I’m real
istic about where we are at and it’s all
about the big picture, not round one, two
and three.
Pakenham’s best players were Nathan
Brown, Dom Paynter, Chris Smith and
Jake Delphine.