EDFL review – round 7

By Ken Moore
CORA Lynn has shot to premiership favouritism after it performed a 96-point demolition job on one of its biggest rivals, Warragul Industrials, on Saturday.
The game matched the two top sides and was full of expectation, but turned into the biggest anti-climax of the season. Cora Lynn was superb and such was their dominance, they played the game on their own terms most of the afternoon.
It appeared from midway through the second quarter, that the Dusties played with an air of resignation it was going to lose. From the first bounce, the Cobras held the ascendancy and never gave the Dusties a look in. Cora Lynn’s performance was all the more impressive because star recruit Lincoln Withers was unavailable and another hardnut, on baller Jack Allen, who carried an injury into game, did not appear after half time.
Cora Lynn set the tone for the day early when star Longwarry recruit Beau Runnalls took a clean grab barely 10 seconds into the game. He kicked truly and not long after, livewire wingman James Bradshaw and star Rowville recruit Matt Robinson goaled to give the home side an 18 point break. The Industrials managed to stem the constant stream of Cobra attacks late in the quarter but still went into the first quarter huddle trailing by 21 points. Cora Lynn playmakers Brendan Kimber, Allen and Bradshaw were outstanding in the opening term and set up many forward thrusts with their hard running and drive off the half backline and through the midfield.
The second term continued in the same vein and brought little respite for the visitors. The Cobras continued to dominate, and with goals by tall recruit Balraj Singh, Allen and Matt Robinson,the margin quickly blew out to 41 points. It took until time-on before the Dusties kicked their first goal, after Mick Santo hauled in a very good contested mark to partly make amends for three behinds he kicked in the first quarter. Aside from half forward Nathan Brewster and running defenders Manny Perreso and Sean Lewis, the visitors had far too many passengers in the opening hour. Warragul struggled to work the ball past their centreline for a good deal of the first half.
The start of the third quarter was a carbon copy of the first two, with Cora Lynn goaling early, this time to the elusive Robinson. Mid quarter Warragul produced its most sustained spell of pressure for the game and with goals by Santo and Jake Schiavello trimmed the margin to 38 points before two late majors by the cagey Runnalls and another to Craig Taylor put the Cobras 56 points to the good at three-quarter-time.
With the Industrials on the ropes, the Cobras showed no mercy and rammed on another seven goals to nil in the last quarter against a listless opposition.
Runnalls added three more goals to make it seven and he worked very well with the classy Robinson, who potted four goals and also gave a few more away. Cora Lynn’s victory was largely inspired by Kimber, who played across the half back line in a loose man role and pumped the ball forward at every opportunity.
Others to impress in a superb team effort, included Joe Allen, who read the play well in the back half and set up many forward moves, while the younger brigade, led by Anthony Giuliano, Nick Helsby, Luke Foreman and Chase Saunders, kept the balling rolling forward on a regular basis. Defenders Dan O’Hara, Tim Payne and Jason Hall played the percentages well, Brad Horazcko tried hard in the ruck and Chad Ingram sacrificed his usual free flowing running game to keep tabs on Shane Brewster to stymy the usual prolific output of the Dusties prime mover.
Cora Lynn coach Chris Toner said the motivation behind his team’s victory stemmed from their defeat last year to the Dusties.
“It was a true team effort. We are getting fitter and I thought our smothers and tackling were a feature. We had chaps still diving across opponent’s boots in the last 30 seconds of the game. I was really pleased with the victory, because we put a lot of time into the match-ups and they worked,” a contented Toner said.
The Dusties looked slow and indecisive and the writing was on the wall in the first quarter when they were caught with the ball far too often. Of the better players, centre half back back Russell Ware did well to quell tall Cobras recruit Singh, Sean Lewis and Manny Perresso offered some occasional run out of defence, Brett Wadleton had a crack in and around the midfield and Nathan Brewster showed a few flashes of brilliance across the half forward line. Ben Hobgen dominated the ruck tap outs and sourced many disposals around the field while midfielders Joey Williamson and Jason Kennedy put in strongly in the second half.
Warragul coach Wade McGill could offer no excuses for the poor showing of his team.
“We were sadly beaten all over the field, they smashed us in the clearances and our inside 50s were the lowest this season,” he said.