By Russell Bennett
WEST GIPPSLAND FOOTBALL NETBALL COMPETITION
REVIEW – ROUND 1 (SPLIT ROUND)
Resilience, calmness, and ruthlessness – these are three of the characteristics that could yet see Kooweerup emerge as one of the biggest challengers to the Inverloch Kongwak throne in 2018.
It’s still so early. The opening round isn’t even half over, but Ben Collins’ men showed genuine signs on Saturday at Cowes that they may just be ready to arrive on the biggest of stages.
Since his very first game as Demons head coach, the success of Collins’ sides has depended largely – more than anything else – on their defensive intensity.
While that was no different on Saturday against Phillip Island, it was three other characteristics not always associated with the Demons that stood out most to the neutral observer – resilience, calmness, and ultimately ruthlessness.
That’s what turned their seemingly ugly first half into a winning brand, and what allowed them to storm back from a near five-goal three-quarter-time deficit to ultimately win by seven points, 13.8 (86) to 11.13 (79).
It was a finals-like atmosphere on Easter Saturday – a quality opposition, a bumper crowd, and warm weather to boot.
And the opening stanza had the pressure to match. New Demons recruit Dom Paynter made his presence felt almost immediately, getting involved in the first passage of play, and slotting the first goal. But by quarter time he was on the bench with a hamstring injury.
While the Demons hit the scoreboard first, it was the Bulldogs who were the first to steady. It was their defensive pressure that was the most obvious of the two, and while neither side was able to build fluently from defence to attack, it was Beau Vernon’s side who seemed to control the back half more assuredly.
Jaymie Youle, Zak Vernon, and Leigh Warne were all particularly influential early while it was the likes of Dave Collins, Troy Dolan, and skipper Tim Miller who loomed large for the Demons.
At quarter-time Collins urged his men to up their defensive pressure, as that also served as a barometer for the rest of their game.
A pair of eye-catching chase down tackles and subsequent goals from Jason Wells and Mitch Collins – who shed more than 15 kilograms over the pre-season – showed that the forward pressure was there, but the boys from the Island seemed to be finding better targets by foot with James Taylor and Mark Griffin two of the main protagonists.
Griffin, whether deep forward or further up the ground, provided somewhat of a matchup nightmare all day – ultimately slotting five majors.
The Bulldogs put plenty of physical pressure on Kooweerup’s prime movers, and seemingly had the ball locked in their forward half for large periods of the second term, but they still led by only four points at the main break. It was only their inability to hit the scoreboard that prevented them from running away with the contest. Or so it seemed.
“We pride ourselves on having that physical edge, but right now I feel like we don’t have it,” Collins said at half-time.
“We have to work out a way to get it back.”
Collins urged his men to again lift their defensive intensity and limit the amount of uncontested marks that the Dogs were seemingly racking up at will.
Paynter returned in the second half and headed deep forward, while a series of moves the Demons had made slowly started to pay off.
But the physicality of the likes of Griffin, Youle, Kimber, and Taylor kept their side on top, and at the 20 minute mark of the third term the home side was up by what seemed like a telling five goals.
A late goal from hard up against the boundary from Voss trimmed the deficit back, but still it seemed the Bulldogs would have the answers when questioned.
But in the final term, it was the Demons who looked the fitter of the two sides and it was the Demons who showed a relentless endeavour in favourite son Ben Miller’s 250th.
The Island were missing some of their A Graders, including the likes of ruckman Nick Higginson, Jarrod Witnish, and new recruit Hayden Bruce who won the VAFA’s Under 19 Premier best and fairest last year while with Beaumaris, which drew the eye of the Richmond VFL side.
But that didn’t take away from the Demons’ barnstorming finish with the likes of Mitch Collins in the ruck, Dave Collins and Tim Miller switching from half-back through the midfield, Anthony Giuliano playing deep in defence, the hard-nosed Troy Dolan rolling up his sleeves through the middle of the ground, and vice-captains Nathan Voss and Luke Walker leading by example.
From that five-goal deficit late in the third, the Demons had turned that around completely to win by seven points.
“We put Calts (Daniel Calteri) down deep, which gave us a tall, marking target,” Collins said after the game of the turnaround.
“Someone like Kezza (Ben Kerrigan), who had a massive influence on the game in the last quarter, loves to get it and go long but you can’t do that with two smalls.
“We put Calts down there because I thought Mitch (Collins) turned the game when he went into the ruck.”
Collins raved about the impact Tim Miller and Giuliano both had in defence, and said his younger brother Mitch’s performance in the ruck and Nathan Voss on a wing “changed the whole dynamic of the game”.
“He’s been the larrikin of the club, and some people would think it’s a big call,” Collins said of making the teenage Voss one of the Demons’ vice captains.
“But I think he’s our barometer,” he added.
“I put the lure out to him and said I wanted him as part of the leadership group and he’s worked his arse off this pre-season.
“He’s had a massive pre-season and done everything right.”
But, again, the Demons’ win on Saturday could be traced back to three significant factors – resilience, calmness, and ruthlessness when it was needed most as they roared back from the brink.
“The good thing was that in the past we’ve probably thought ‘it’s not our day’ and we’d go on and lose, whereas today we thought ‘it’s not our day, but we’re going to make it our day’,” Collins said, with a smile from ear to ear. The challenge now for the Demons is to repeat that effort, and start their next clash with the same intensity as they finished this one, and it hardly gets any easier – the reigning premiers Inverloch on 14 April.
Click below to watch the Demons belt out their famous song after their Round 1 win, with favourite son Ben Miller and newcomers to the senior side standing front and centre…
