Panthers pounce on siren

By Mark Gullick
DEVON MEADOWS kept its finals chances alive with a determined comeback victory over ROC at Officer on Saturday.
The Panthers twice recovered from three goal deficits to record a 10-point win.
“It was a pretty tough affair,” Devon Meadows coach Steve O’Brien said. “It was pretty tough conditions. ROC, to their credit, had a go all day and were probably in front of us all day. They got out to a three-goal lead in the last quarter, but we were able to galvanise together and run over the top of them in the end. It was a pretty courageous effort.”
ROC dominated the opening term and posted four goals to lead by 18 points at the first change.
“I thought they’d come out pretty hard,” O’Brien said. “They had a lot to play for. They were moving the ball pretty well and they got on top of us early.”
The Panthers kicked five goals to two in the second term to reduce their deficit to two points at the long break.
Each team scored two goals in the third term, placing the match in a precarious position heading into the final quarter.
ROC capitalised on its four-point lead at the final change, before Devon Meadows stormed home to claim the match.
The win was even more impressive, considering the injuries of key performers Aaron Henneman and Billy Hayes.
Devon Meadows now hold seventh place, but is only one win out of the finals, a position O’Brien aims to obtain.
“It’s still a possibility,” he said. “If we win games, then we’ll get there. We dropped a couple we should never have dropped. We can’t look back, we’ve just got to look forward, freshen up over the bye and win. The reality is if we win enough games to get into the finals, then we probably go into the finals as the form side, so there’s a bit of upside there.
The Panthers have a bye this week, before a big final three weeks of the season.
“We’ve got a few sore boys. We’re lucky we’ve got the bye, we probably would have been three or four (players) down next week so it gives them a chance to come up for the next game. It has been a while since the boys had a week off, so we’ll just freshen up.”
Ruckman Lukas Hoogenboom was immense for Devon Meadows.
He played an influential role in the win with his tap work and marking around the ground.
Midfielders Ash Adams and Stefan Baumgartner were prominent, and the ever-reliable trio of Adam Jago (three goals), Daniel Rigg and Daniel Velardo provided leadership for the Panthers.
It was another missed opportunity for ROC, who has played good football in patches over the past six weeks.
Ben Johnson was ROC’s best contributor.
He was supported by midfielder Phillip Nanfra, the recalled Matthew Payne and the consistent veteran Ash Comer. Youngster Brandon Mather and Stephen Hawkins (three goals) tried hard.

@BT Sub Sport Gaz:
TOORADIN V NARRE WARREN

A SEVEN-goal opening term by Narre Warren proved the difference in its 31-point defeat over the improving Tooradin.
The Magpies opened up a five-goal lead by the first break and maintained the advantage over the next three quarters.
“Considering we haven’t been known for coming out of the bye and playing well, we started really well which was pleasing,” Narre Warren coach Matt Shinners said. “We got the score on the board early and put them under pressure straight away.”
In the next three terms, Narre Warren kicked 14 goals and outscored Tooradin by just one major.
“(Tooradin) were pretty good,” Shinners said. “They put a lot of physical pressure on us and maybe we might have taken the foot off the pedal a little bit. We got up by eight goals at one stage and maybe my players thought they were on easy street for a bit. Tooradin kept fighting all the way to the final siren.”
Without Michael Collins, Glenn Hamilton, Jarrod Anderson and Nick Scanlon, the Magpies were led by their young brigade.
“I was really impressed with Chris Collins and Tim Werner, they played really well – the two young guys,” Shinners said, while paying tribute to his leaders, such as Steven Kidd, Brett Evans and Daniel Field.
“Those experienced guys helped the younger guys get back on track; to get themselves back in the hunt and back into the lead. That was what I was more happy with.”
Narre Warren had 11 goalkickers, although Jackson Parker distinguished himself with five majors.
Ryan Moorhouse continues to grow in stature and he put in another good game. Cole Harvey and Ben Wragg are having consistent seasons and they played well.
Tooradin’s best players again featured familiar names in Ben Disney, captain Beau Miller, Michael Hobbs and defender Adam Splatt.
This foursome has provided staunch opposition and leadership all year.
Dan McConnell and Adam Galea also played well.

@BT Sub Sport Gaz:HAMPTON PARK V KEYSBOROUGH

HAMPTON PARK rocketed into the five on the back of a final quarter burst as they eased past Keysborough by 15 points.
“In the third quarter, they worked themselves back into the game,” Hampton Park coach Josh Taylor said. “They really controlled the third quarter and then they came out and kicked the first goal of the last quarter and gave themselves a 13-point lead. Then we showed a bit of class and put the foot down. I think we’ve got a fair bit of self-belief now and we ran over the top of them.”
It was another missed opportunity for Keysborough – and coach Brad Canavan knew it.
“We’ve forgotten how to win,” he said.
“We were 13 points up 17 minutes into the last; had a shot on goal that missed which probably would have broken their back.
“We just stopped again, made some really poor individual decisions, caused turnovers and they just seemed to manage to kick five goals in 10 minutes. If I called when we lost to Narre ‘Cyclone Narre,’ then this was more like those ‘Willy Willies’ in the school yard. Just a mini-version of that. The ball just didn’t bounce our way. Shorey kicked a soccer goal and then McLean kicked a ridiculous one. It was just another day in the frustrating life of a Keysie coach.”
Keysborough raced to an early advantage with goals to Anthony Brannan and Luke McGuinness in the opening term.
The Redbacks responded after a long goal by Daniel Langley and two goals to Matt Shorey.
The Burras reclaimed the lead after the siren with a goal to Davor Rajic.
The scoring dried up in the second term as each backline dominated the contest and the midfield battle was drawn.
The stalemate was broken with two more goals to Shorey.
Keysborough reduced its half time deficit to five points after a Tyson King goal.
A three goal third term put Keysborough in a leading position, before Hampton Park kicked four final term goals to claim the match.
“It was difficult conditions; the ground was heavy, the ball was slippery and there was drizzle in the first half, so it was a good, hard fought contest,” Taylor said. “There were plenty of balls there to be won and our guys were tough at the contest. I think in the end the thought of the possibility of going into the five at the end of the day, which we spoke about at three quarter-time, worked because we wanted to reward ourselves after the hard work we’ve done over the last seven, eight weeks.
“At any stage of the year I’ve never questioned our fitness and the way we run out games. We had a pretty tough pre-season in which the boys got extremely fit. As long as we can keep our mental side there, I don’t think the physical aspect will be a problem.”
The result promotes Hampton Park above a glut of other teams competing for that last finals position.
“A few results are starting to fall our way, but we’ve got a tough run home, there’s no denying that. We’ve got Cranny, Narre and Pakky. We probably need to pinch one of those to be assured of a spot.”
Hampton Park was well serviced by Mitch Watman, midfielder Linden Fredericks, big man Steven Watson and Taylor, who held the dangerous Greg Walker.
The forward combination of Shorey (five goals) and Kevin McLean (three goals) played a pivotal role in the victory.
Keysborough blew its chances for the consecutive week.
“We just play in fits and spurts,” Canavan said. “When we’re fit, we’re pretty good, then we spurt and we’re terrible. We just need to sort that out. We need to recruit some blokes over summer to iron that out for us and give us more consistency. We need some guys who can kick the footy really well. We need guys who can understand the game.”
Keysborough had many serviceable players; Karl Schoenmaekers and Michael Downie in defence, Ryan Goodes and Darcy McDonald through the midfield and Anthony Brannan and Dean Gentle in the forwardline.
Tyson King kicked three goals.
Mitch Talbett and Thomas Humphries continued their strong recent form.