The Magpies raced out of the blocks with five goals in the opening 10 minutes of the match, before romping to a 25.17 (167) to 13.10 (88) win at Montmorency Park North Oval.
As they have been all season, the Magpies were simply untouchable throughout the afternoon, with their performance at times appearing effortless against an underwhelming Cougars outfit.
Power forward Patrick Fitzgerald was the standout in the victory, named the Narallen Pools Player of the Day with eight majors – six of which came before half time.
Fellow big man Ryan Willits was imposing in the ruck and provided his midfielders first use of the football at stoppages all day. In turn, Ryan Jackson, Mark McKenzie and Jesse Donaldson rightfully put in dominant displays.
For Northcote Park, Koden Colman kicked four goals from limited opportunities, while Ben McNiece, Bronik Davies and Daniel Ledda toiled hard against Montmorency’s onslaught.
Ultimately, the match was sealed when Montmorency raced to a 32-point lead early in the first term.
The Magpies had three goals on the board by the five-minute mark, before two more to Fitzgerald in quick succession opened up a five-goal buffer.
The scoreboard dominance came on the back of Montmorency’s midfield winning the ball continuously from the centre clearances. Willits played a pivotal role in providing his smalls first use, often guiding the ball down beautifully to the advantage of a waiting teammate.
Colman booted Northcote Park’s first midway through the opening term, but it did nothing to halt the home side’s momentum as it finished with three of the final four goals of the quarter to take a 39-point lead into the first change.
The quarter time break did nothing to stop Montmorency’s dominance, as it continued on its rout into the second quarter.
Fitzgerald took a big grab in the goal square and converted in the opening minutes of the term, before goals to Jackson and the industrious Rowan Nayna in the moments that followed stretched the lead to 50 points.
Northcote Park settled to an extent as Nick Carter began to find the football in the back half, while Ben Abbatangelo also began looking dangerous across half forward.
The youngster kicked a goal midway through the second term, and his side then finished with three of the final four goals of the quarter as they trimmed the deficit to 43 points at half time.
Northcote Park’s major issue was trying to stem Montmorency’s scoring power. The Magpies booted 14 goals in the opening half and looked dangerous every time they entered their forward 50m.
Any hope the Cougars had of making a comeback were dashed quickly after the restart when Jake Whitling roved a pack in the goal square and kicked his first.
Despite a quick reply by Brock McLennan down the other end, the Magpies went on to boot the next four goals to extend to a 69-point lead. Amongst those goals was one to Wayne Pavitt after taking a spectacular leaping mark over his skipper Jackson.
The work of Ben Haynes off half back was a feature in the second half. The Magpies veteran accumulated a heap of the football in the third and four quarters and not once wasted a possession. He capped off his fine afternoon with a goal late in the fourth quarter.
As it did against both Heidelberg and Lower Plenty, Montmorency continued to press hard in the final term despite victory being secured well before the final siren.
They outscored the Cougars by four goals to three in the final term as they again earned both a percentage and morale-boosting victory.
The win means the Magpies have now beaten all of their fellow top five teams at home in the opening half of the year. With matches to follow against Epping and Macleod, it is realistic to expect the Pies will head into the halfway mark of the year with a perfect 9-0 record.
While their run home becomes a lot tougher with away matches to each of Heidelberg, Bundoora and Northcote Park, the Pies’ sensational early season form ensures they are a near certainty to finish in the top three and take a double chance into September.
Final score: Montmorency 25.17 (167) def Northcote Park 13.10 (88)
