SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE REVIEW – ROUND 4
Narre Warren 18.9 (117) Tooradin 5.6 (36)
NARRE WARREN has warmed up for this week’s heavyweight battle against reigning-premier Beaconsfield with an 81-point stroll in the park against Tooradin at Fox Road.
The Magpies, coming off back-to-back losses, simply did what they had to do, depriving the Seagulls of hope with a dominant defensive effort in the first half, and then converting their chances after half time.
Coach Chris Toner made a statement at the selection table, dropping premiership player Aaron McIver to the twos, while Chris Collins and Hayden Stagg were available for their first games of the season.
This really is a new-look Narre Warren outfit, with eight changes on the weekend from the team that took part in last year’s losing preliminary final.
The list of outs – McIver, Josh Tonna, Justin Marriott, Nick Scanlon, Stewart Scanlon, Trent Papworth, Steve Watson and Liam Myatt – was replaced with Ben Giobbi, George Angelopoulos, Andrew Hunter, Lee Boyle, Matt Soroczynski, Jarrod Anderson, Daniel Jackson and Dale Gawley.
The debate could rage on forever about the relative strengths of those two groups of players but the bottom line is the Magpies are still acclimatising and will get better as the season unfolds.
On Saturday it was left to two stars to play shining roles, with champion full-forward Kerem Baskaya booting seven, and midfielder Matt Lee continuing his stellar start to the season.
Left footers Giobbi and Gawley also had impressive outings, while skipper Michael Collins joined his four-time premiership team-mate, Anderson, on the Magpies’ best players list.
It must be said that the Magpies defeated a side that is struggling to hit the scoreboard at the moment.
The Seagulls are averaging less per game – a tick under 52 points – that any other team this season and just don’t have any avenues to goal.
Julian Suarez kicked five in round one against Doveton, but hasn’t got near it since, and no other player has kicked more than two goals for the season.
There’s no midfield contribution either, with Jake O’Donnell, Michael Hobbs and Ryan White, all talented players, failing to hit the scoreboard so far in 2015.
Are they being asked to play too much of a defensive role?
Coach Lachie Gillespie is a smart man and will work out a solution … and he has had a tough run!
On the plus side, Kyle Van Der Pluym and Adam Splatt continued their good form, skipper Adam Galea was once again resilient against a torrent of ball in defence, while youngsters Brad Lenders, Troy Dolan and Andrew Proctor continue to show their more experienced team-mates the way to go about it.
The desperate and winless Seagulls take on the equally desperate ROC in the VWA Game of the Month at Westernport Oval on Sunday, while the Magpies travel to Beaconsfield for a replay of last year’s heartbreaking second semi-final.
