By Nick Creely
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
REVIEW – ROUND 14
Emerging unscathed and with bigger fish to fry, Berwick coach Stewart Kemperman was just happy to walk away with the points in a torrid affair against Tooradin-Dalmore.
In the eventual 21-point win down at Tooradin Recreation Reserve, Kemperman admitted it was an extremely tough venue to play at.
“Tooradin can be a very hard place to play; you never take four points for granted down there,” he said.
“It was tough, the wind was significant and blowing right across the ground, and the surface looks amazing, but when you actually walk out in it it’s quite spongy and heavy under foot.
“I think they’ve had some issues with drainage and not being able to train on it all year, so despite the efforts of getting it up, it’s not the standard that it needs to be for a game of footy – it made the game what it was, a wet weather day with a howling breeze.”
The Wickers surged out to a 31-point lead at half time after a five goal second term, and managed to keep the Seagulls at bay in a lacklustre final half.
Kemperman said it was a good opportunity to inject some more youth into the side as he waits for some key personnel to come back, and was relieved his side came out with a clean bill of health.
“We’ve had a bit of bad luck in recent times at our games, and being able to get away without losing a few players, and to get the four points, was great,” he said.
“We had two first gamers on the weekend (Trent Van Hout and James McLean) and a long list of players to come back in the side, so we’re under no illusions that every performance matters, there’s genuine competition for spots.
While the usual suspects in Madi Andrews, Travis Tuck and Bryce Rutherford run amok in the midfield, giving plenty of quality supply to forwards in Andrew Morozoff (two goals), Harry Money (one goal) and Trent Thomas (two goals), Kemperman was pleased with how the midfielders took command of the match.
“I was impressed with some of our stoppage work, and I was happy with the clean footy going inside,” he said.
“We had a different mix in the forward and backline compared to previous weeks, and for those guys to play a role and our structures to hold up, that was pleasing too.”
With competition for spots heating up at the Wickers with some key players expected to return for finals, Kemperman said the group was hungry on Saturday, knowing there was plenty on the line.
“I didn’t have a problem getting them up for the game, they know there’s competition for specific spots, and that’s a good thing,” he said.
“We’re probably looking to get some players back from injury.
“We’ll see how we go with those guys, but it’ll be nice to get some continuity heading into finals, but in saying that, we’ve had guys come in and play a great role, and to see two first gamers come in and perform well, it might give us some headaches in the selection room.”
Tooradin-Dalmore 7.6 (48)
Berwick 9.15 (69)
