Thomastown moved back into second spot on the Division 3 ladder with a crushing 84-point win over Parkside on Saturday.
The Bears led by 69 points at half time before easing to an 18.23 (131) to 7.5 (47) victory at Main Street Reserve.
Young half forward Josh Beare (two goals) was superb all afternoon and was clearly best afield, while Anthony Fazzari earned plenty of the football through the midfield and Michael Manley controlled the backline.
Speaking to NFL.org.au after the match, Thomastown coach Steve Krstevski said he was pleased with his side’s fast start – where it booted 7.9 to 1.0 in the first term to have the game sealed by quarter time.
“We spoke before the game that our intensity picked up against Panton Hill two weeks before and it’s very crucial because our starts haven’t been very good this year so over the past couple of weeks we’ve put a big emphasis on our starts,” he said.
“In the second half we went through the motions a little bit and I said to the boys that against the good sides we can’t afford to do that. We have to make sure we give four quarter efforts.”
Thomastown’s 44-point quarter time lead should have been greater but for a number of simple misses. However, the side continued on its ruthless way in the second term.
Jacob Osei-Duro kicked the opening goal of the second term 40 seconds after the quarter time restart. Despite a quick reply from Jordan Venables down the other end, the Bears finished with the final four goals of the half – which included two Sashe Spiroski in the space of one minute.
Spiroski was the highest goal scorer for the afternoon with four, but had plenty of support with Michael Khoury kicking three and another eight players kicking majors throughout the day.
After struggling in attack in the early stages of the season, Krstevski said a recent forward line restructure was starting to pay dividends.
“We go back to the Panton Hill game where we changed our whole structure up forward,” he said.
“We put (Robert) Nedelkovski and Sashe (Spirkoski), who finished with four today, forward.
“We just thought that we had to go with a different mix down there a couple weeks ago and it’s working at the moment.”
It’s not only the forward line which is benefitting from the restructure, with Manley’s move back to defence making the Bears a far stronger defensive unit.
“He’s just strong at the contest and takes a good mark and then allows (Daniel) Chadwick to run off half back so it’s very crucial for us having him there,” Krstevski said.
Despite the lob-sided scoreline, the Parkside faithful did have something to cheer about in the third quarter when the away side outscored Thomastown with five goals to three.
Brad Hockey, Shane McLaren and Darren Gresham were the Devils best on a disappointing afternoon, where the biggest cause of concern was a lack of discipline and accountability which enabled Thomastown far too many easy goals.
With his side having played its best football over its past two matches, Krstevski said the Bears were beginning to hit their straps ahead of another big fortnight where they take on St Mary’s and Watsonia.
“Changing everything from last year to this year and employing our new structures, it probably took the blokes four or five games to get a hold of what we are trying to do,” he said.
“The last couple have weeks have been fantastic as we’re moving forward and understanding what I’m about and what I expect.
“The first time we played St Mary’s we beat them in probably only 15 minutes of football where we kicked nine goals and Watsonia obviously beat us.
“They’re probably the best side we’ve played and they had our measure all day and beat us in all four quarters.”
Final score: Thomastown 18.23 (131) def Parkside 7.5 (47)
