THOMASTOWN, Reservoir and Watsonia all recorded thumping wins in Round 17 action of Division 3, on a one-sided day of football.
Watsonia broke a three-game losing streak when it defeated Parkside by a massive 105 points at A.K. Lines Reserve. The win was set up early when the home side scored 5.4 to nil. While the Devils looked decidedly flat early after their heroic win the previous week, the Saints were very sharp.
“It was pleasing to see the boys put in a four quarter effort,” Watsonia coach Damian Zanic said. His team is now totally safe in fourth spot, with a four-point and percentage advantage over Heidelberg West, having also played one less game than the Hawks.
Watsonia had six multiple goal kickers in the victory – their best effort this year. One of these was best on ground Hayden Mitchell, whose use of the ball was exemplary.
“The boys started off slowly but I was pleased with the second half,” Parkside’s coach George Lattouf said.
Teenager Luke Logozzo showed blistering pace in his first game for the Devils, while Corey Salvador, a week after a best afield display against St Mary’s, again looked dangerous up forward with three majors.
Thomastown made it six wins on the trot with a runaway 97-point win over St Mary’s at Whatmough Park. The Bears slotted 13 goals to three in the second half. They drew away with a mixture of inside grunt and superior skills.
“It was a workmanlike effort,” Bears’ assistant coach Vince Capeci said. “And we got better as the game went on.”
As usual, the ladder-leader had a plethora of goal scorers, including Daniel Chadwick with four majors – after having managed just one for the season before that. Jason Abela hit form in his second game back from a long lay-off and finished off his work with a final term goal.
St Mary’s made seven changes to its team. This was caused partly by necessity, but also some players were dropped after the poor effort against Parkside, allowing coach Con Borg to have a look at some juniors.
“Thomastown is an exceptional side that works hard for each other for the entire game,” Borg said. “Hopefully our guys can take a lesson from that and see how hard they have to work to be a successful side.”
Nick Delanty returned from several weeks’ break to be amongst the best, while Liam O’Donnell took his goal tally to ten from three games, with a bag of four.
Reservoir bounced back from its bad loss to Thomastown by ruthlessly brushing aside a heavily undermanned Heidelberg West at Crispe Park by 162 points. It was the biggest win in Division 3 for the entire year, eclipsing the 157-point victory by Thomastown over Parkside in Round 13.
“I was pleased with way we responded after last week,” Reservoir coach Ross Terranova said. “We had 22 contributors and played four quarters of good footy.”
With the result already in the bag, the Mustangs piled on 13.4 to a point in the final term, with Ashley Flavel being awarded best with nine goals. He has now moved to second on the goal-kicking ladder, with 50 majors for the season to date.
In the absence of leaders James McLean-Brunton, Dan Bailey and Aidan Young – who were all injured the previous week – and Kyl Ewart, the Hawks were uncompetitive. Their only multiple goal scorer, Brad Moore, was their best on the day. Mobile ruckman Mitchell Reeve was also prominent – following on from good recent efforts.
Round 18 action of Division 3 football sees three teams – Thomastown, St Mary’s and Heidelberg West – all having byes.
Watsonia will get a chance to test itself against quality opposition when it hosts Reservoir at A.K. Lines Reserve. Watsonia is likely to regain Rick Kimberley, Jeremy Bennett and Steve Goodwin for the contest.
Their previous clash at the ground in Round 4 resulted in a 50-point win to the Mustangs. The Saints were favourites that day after Reservoir had suffered a bad loss to Thomastown the previous week.
South Morang comes off its bye and travels to Pitcher Park to play Parkside, in what will be the Devils last game of the season.
The Lions have two games left to tune up for the first semi-final. South Morang won the first encounter between these sides in 2014 by 33 points, then thumped the Devils in Round 11 by 118 points.
