Chris Yeend
The Sunbury Kangaroos are through to their second successive grand final after defeating Romsey by 27 points at the Kyneton Showgrounds in the second semi-final on Saturday. The Roos led at every change and stood strong at every Romsey challenge to win and now face the winner of this week's preliminary final.
THE LEAD UP
The Kangaroos went into the contest on the back of a strong win over Diggers Rest in the qualifying final at Kilmore the previous week. They had to come from behind to get the victory in that game against strong opposition. Small forward Daniel Ellery was a welcome addition to the team, in place of Jared Pretty.
The Redbacks headed into the contest in full-flight after a big victory over Melton Centrals the previous week and Matt Davidson in fine form with 14 goals. Matt Blair was an inclusion in the side for Cam Dawson who missed through injury.
TIGHT OPENING
The conditions on the perfect Kyneton Showgrounds playing surface were greasy due to light drizzle and a whirly breeze. The Redbacks pressed forward very early with Mitch Farmer kicking the opening minor score from a set shot at the three-minute mark and the Redbacks were off and running. There was dream match-ups all over the ground with Warren Kairns and Chris Meacham at one end and Matt Davidson and Dan Gregory at the other. The youngest player on the ground and the oldest player battled it out on the Sunbury Kangaroos half-forward line with Romsey's Jake Lever and Sunbury's Jamie Cuffe having a mighty contest. When Matt Davidson missed from a set shot at the 12-minute mark to give Romsey a two-point lead, the Kangaroos went coast-to-coast from the kick-in with Ryan Hatty drizzling the opening goal on the run to put the Roos four points up. Davidson opened up with his first goal three minutes later with a classy dribbling goal in the left forward pocket that had no intention other than going straight through the middle to level the scores. His opposing full-forward and Kangaroos co-coach Chris Meacham stamped his authority on the game with two goals of his own from strong marks in the space of three minutes to put the Kangaroos ahead by 12 points at the 20-minute mark, a lead that they held at quarter-time. Chris Petroro and Leigh McInerney showed some speed and good ball use for the Redbacks while Jake Powell and Adam Walsh won some the hard ball across half-back.
REDBACKS WASTEFUL
Romsey dominated the opening stages of the second term. While Leigh Fishendon had the better of the ruck contests for the Roos, it was Romsey's onballers that did the damage out of the middle. The Kangaroos extended the margin to 13 points at the seven-minute mark in a tight few minutes before the Redbacks took over. Matt Davidson kicked his second goal of the day with a good left foot kick at the 11-minute mark to bring the margin back to five points. His team continued to dominate all over the field but it was Ryan Hatty who stepped up against the run of play for the Sunbury Kangaroos as he sharked a ball and kicked his second on the run at the 20-minute mark to pump the margin back out to 11 points. Mitch Strieff replied just minutes later thanks to a free kick to send the margin out to 17 points. There was still bite left in the Redbacks attack as Matt Davidson handballed over the top to find his brother Nathan in space 25 metres out and he snapped truly to bring the margin back to 11 points at half-time.
MISSED CHANCES
The Redbacks started the third term like the previous term with plenty of disposals and all-round domination. Mills ran into goal on a slight angle and hit the post halfway up for Romsey, McNaughton missed on the turnover kick from the resulting kick-in before Matt Davidson sharked his third goal on the boundary line at the seven-minute mark after another Sunbury turnover in the right forward pocket to bring the margin back to three points. This would be the last of the Romsey celebrations on the goal front. Leigh Fishendon went off the ground with sore ribs and Jamie Cuffe stepped up in the ruck. He started to find his son, Tierone on many occasions as the Sunbury machine kicked into gear. Phil Kaufmann continued where he left off the previous week and snapped a sensational goal at the 12-minute mark to gain the ascendency for his side. Dan Ellery joined in on the action after taking a mark in the middle of the ground and Dave Henderson infringed on the mark to give away a 50-metre penalty and extend the margin to 17 points heading into the final change.
WONDERING WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Romsey kicked four points in nine minutes to start the final term, three to Ash McNaughton, as they reduced the margin to 12 points at the nine-minute mark. From there, Jason King and Phil Kaufmann kicked goals for the Sunbury Kangaroos from marks to close out the game and send their team through to the grand final.
Last Modified on 12/09/2012 08:27