Goon revival from third quarter

By Ken Moore
FUELLED by an outstanding third quarter Nar Nar Goon beat its nemesis from last season, the Warragul Industrials, by 27 points.
The Goon looked anything but a premiership candidate at half-time when it had yet to score a goal and trailed by 26 points, but somehow it managed to conjure up a spirited second-half comeback.
Nar Nar Goon can chiefly thank marquee recruit Brett Dore for its revival. The former VFL Frankston Dolphin – in his first game for the club since he was at Gippsland Power in 2005, their premiership year – could hardly have been more impressive.
And when he was moved into the middle in the third quarter his physical presence, football nous and marking ability altered the shape of the game.
Young Doveton recruit Daniel Zajac did well to placate the league’s leading goalkicker, Mick Santo, and centre half-back Scott Haughton provided plenty of resilient defence and was lent good support by Matt Keane, who is having a good season.
Wingman Kevin Quinn and fellow small Brodie Howe both set up many important plays and Ben Keane, in his 50th senior game, made Dusties star Shane Brewster work hard to earn his kicks.
Ruckman Nick Mulcahy also did well to negate the output of his agile counterpart Ben Hobgen, who did not produce his usual high statistics.
For the Industrials half-backs Rhett O’Hara and Sean Lewis were a driving force all game, Danny Brewster and Damian Dawson defused many attacks, Brett Wadleton offered his usual grunt in and around the middle and pacy wingman Daniel Johnson pumped the ball forward many times.
Cora Lynn had a comfortable 65-point victory over Bunyip. The Bulldogs went toe to toe with their far more experienced opponents early in the game and led by a point at quarter-time before the Cobras stepped up a gear and took a stranglehold on the game with an eight-goal second quarter to open up a 36-point gap at the main break.
The Bulldogs were competitive in the second half without ever being a real threat. Star recruit Matt Robinson tormented the Bunyip defence with seven goals, Brendan Kimber, at centre half-back and through the middle launched many attacks, Jack Allen and Lincoln Withers racked up the hard-ball gets and half-back Tim Payne did a good job when he moved to fullback and curbed Bunyip’s major goal-kicking option, Glen Browney.
Bunyip youngster Chris Chilcott moved well across the half-forward line and showed he had all the rudiments of a top prospect, regular ruckman Marc Rotunno was the mainstay of the Bulldogs’ defence, ruck-rover Chris Savage used the ball constructively and Jack Fitzpatrick held star Cobra recruit Balraj Singh to only one goal, although Singh did not help his cause as he was wayward with his kicking all game.
Longwarry gave its season’s prospects a huge boost after it beat Poowong by 28 points. It was their first win of the season and the biggest upset of the round. The Crows led by only five points at three-quarter-time but polished things off with four last-term majors while keeping the Magpies goalless.
Classy defender Tim Milner read play superbly, ruckman Luke Tymensen teamed well with Rowville recruit Stuart Williams and both distributed the ball well to the Crow small brigade.
Jason Garritty and Jake Serong were busy through the middle, Ben Cuckson lively across the forward line and Scott Hamilton tight in defence in a very good team effort.
For Poowong, Justin Sweeney gave his team a good target, Beau Anthony won plenty of disposals, centreman Ben Drew did not put in a bad effort and Dave Miller and Ben Henshall turned back many attacks.
Neerim Neerim South had a straightforward 54-point victory over Nilma Darnum. The Cats had too much firepower up forward with Chris and Mick Urie, Tyssen Morrow and Chris Redl kicking 15 goals between them.
Warragul recruit Nick Humphrey and Matt Cumming provided plenty of steadfast defence and Cam Hinkley played a disciplined game on Bomber coach David Ivey while Luke Nobelius fed off the packs all game.
Nilma Darnum half-backs Chris Weller and James Hammill both provided plenty of rebound, ruckman Matt Olney was seldom pushed of the ball and wingman Jade Jensen bobbed up with many handy disposals.
Former Maffra 2009 premiership player Jed Costigan offered good run out of defence, assistant coach Michael Mooney tried hard to lift his team when moved into the centre in the second half and youngster Matt Tyson made a few handy contributions for the second consecutive week.
Ellinbank produced a rousing comeback to knock over Buln Buln by eight points. The Bankers looked to be written off at half-time when they trailed by 35 points but finished all over a tiring Lyrebird team.
Tall Warragul recruit David Scott Smith led and marked well and kicked eight goals, Josh Peterson, coach Ross Glover, half-back Steve Tumino and wingman Ash Wallace all prised open the Buln Buln defence far too easily in the second half.
The Lyrebirds were ticking along nicely in the first half and with four goals apiece by Dean Burnell and Balwyn recruit Glen Coghill they appeared to be setting themselves up for a percentage-boosting victory before they hit a brick wall.
Che Jenkins, Mitch and Josh Viney and ruckman Jeremy Jagoe were the only players to put in a sustained four-quarter effort. The most salient sign to emerge for the Lyrebirds was the performance of four of its under-18 players Jake Shultz, Trent Baker, James Davidson and Jake Mullen, who acquitted themselves well.