Chris Yeend
It was built up as the match of the season. The undefeated Diggers Rest which had conquered all challengers and the reigning premier Romsey who sat hot on its heels in second place. It was a battle of the ages. This round 10 blockbuster was sure to mirror the round 10 blockbuster last year at Romsey where the home side defeated the Sunbury Kangaroos by two points in what would prove to be a match-up between the two grand finalists. Saturday at Romsey Park had all the makings of history repeating but it was the home side that spoiled the big event and ran away with a 55-point victory and penciled itself in as the team to beat in season 2012.
TOP FORM
The Redbacks headed into the game with a big run of wins and having kicked more than 20 goals in at least their last three encounters while the Burra had been in sound form and registered wins over Riddell, Sunbury Kangaroos and Macedon in the first half of the season.
INCLUSIONS
The Redbacks welcomed the inclusions of Chris Petroro for his second game of the season in place of Nathan Davidson who was out of action due to injury. The Burras were without dynamic forwards Steve Ruane and Brent Tuckey who had kicked 47 goals between them and 32 percent of the team's score throughout the year. Mark Hewat came into the team for his first senior game and Chris Payne was welcomed back into the team to fill the void up forward. The ground was dry on the club rooms wing and muddy and slippery on the other. Would this have an impact on the game?
THE ULTIMATE START
The coaches of both sides had barely settled themselves into the box by the time the siren sounded to start the game and the first goal was kicked. Romsey utility Mitch Farmer sharked the ball from the opening ruck contest, ran straight down the corridor and kicked truly from 40 metres out to give the reigning premiers the dream start to the game, it was just that simple. Cam Dawson has been in career-best form over the last month and that proved evident again at the four-minute mark when the ball slipped over the pack in the goal square and he soccered it through brilliantly to put his team up by 13 points. Teammate Jack Mills would join the party just a few minutes later with a mark and goal from the left forward pocket and the home side had the ladder-leader down by 19 points just eight minutes into the game. The pressure from the Redbacks was relentless and they ran hard in numbers from half-back to half-forward while it appeared that the Burras were content in flooding the forward line and stopping the run of gun full-forward Matt Davidson. This proved fruitful on a handful of occasions with Shane Marchewka taking a courageous mark and cutting off a sharp lead from Davidson midway through the term. Joseph Piccolo showed prominent signs early for Diggers Rest in the midfield while Hewat was strong overhead with a few telling marks across centre wing in just his first senior game.
DOMINANCE
Matt Davidson marked and kicked strongly from 25 metres in the right forward pocket at the 12-minute mark to balloon the margin out to 24 points. After Mills kicked his opening minor score of the day at the 21-minute mark, Diggers Rest went coast-to-coast as they carried the ball from one end of the ground to the other which resulted in Col Laurie snapping beautifully unopposed in the forward line to kick their opening goal and cut the margin back to 18 points. It took just one minute for Romsey to reply through Cam Dawson thanks to a free kick just before quarter-time to send the margin out to 24 points at the first change.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Romsey coach Mark Pederson and Diggers Rest coach Jamie Elliott both echoed the same message to their players, to man up, be accountable and stick to their brand of football. This approach favoured Romsey early as they peppered the goal mouth in and had three of the first four scoring shots of the game. These shots were still spread out over the 15-minute period of the quarter as Diggers Rest reduced Romsey's attacking dominance. Heritage knocked up winning plenty of the ball through the middle and was commonly used as the line man to progress forward. Diggers Rest skipper Shaun Sims drifted forward and was completely shut out of the game by Phil Romeril while Dan McCabe was well held early by Erwin and Kairns that would soon free up Redback captain Steve Burlak to do as he pleased across half back. Romsey's Brad Mitchell opened up proceedings on the goal front with a great dribbling goal from the boundary line in the right forward pocket to put his team up by 32 points at the 16-minute mark. Dan McCabe replied from the corresponding re-start of play to kick Diggers Rest's first goal in nearly 20 minutes of football. He goaled again just minutes later and teammate Craig Marshall did the same to cut the margin back to 11 points at half-time. It was game on with the visitors scoring the last three goals of the half.
STRONG BATTLE
Romsey's Mitch Brewer opened up the second half much in the same way as the first half with a goal in the opening minute. Piccolo continued his brilliant performance and replied minutes later as both teams traded early goals. Diggers Rest cut the margin to 15 points when Piccolo kicked his second at the 21-minute mark. A game-changing decision took place when Diggers Rest's Brett Caton walked the ball over for a rushed behind clearly unopposed and the umpire pinned him for a deliberate rush behind. Matt Davidson kicked his second from the goal square from the resulting free kick to put the margin out to 21 points at three-quarter-time.
REDBACKS RAMPAGE
The home side was in the box seat and looked the better side. Farmer and Davidson goaled inside the first five minutes from marks to send the margin out to 33 points. Ash McLelland kicked two and Farmer kicked his third in the last stages of the game as Romsey finished with the last six goals of the game and restricted Diggers Rest to a behind. The reigning premiers were ruthless and did as they pleased. Burlak was a star while youngster Angus Storey showed that he was more than capable at senior level by playing well in the ruck.
BURRA's BATTERED
Did the absence of Tuckey and Ruane affect the Burras? It was hardly the case as Romsey was more superior down back and the Burras lacked the confidence to push that little bit harder when the game needed something special. Romsey won the inside 50s 53 to 33 and was more efficient throughout the day.
FOOTY RADIO
Tune into 100.7 Highlands FM on Friday night from 6.30pm and 12pm on Saturday for the Football Preview Show before the big clash between Macedon and Romsey from the Tony Clarke Reserve at 1.30pm.
Last Modified on 26/06/2012 14:58