MARCUS: Boys, I’m 18 months into my role on the Gazette’s sports desk and I’m confident in saying that Saturday’s contest between Narre Warren and Woori Yallock was comfortably the best game of local footy I’ve seen. We’ll dive into that a bit later, but we’ll start off with our trademark opening segment, best action.
DAVE: Hang on… Jonty, why are you already laughing?
JONTY: Because when Marcus started with ‘I’m 18 months into my role,’ I thought he was going to reflect on the fact that best action was his idea, but he didn’t go down that path.
MARCUS: I hope I’m not that self-indulgent…?
JONTY: Well I didn’t think you were, so it threw me, hence the laughing. Anyway, best action for me goes to a Matt Clarke goal. Doveton has been playing him on the wing and in the midfield this year but he played up forward and got on top of his opponent on Saturday. I think he finished with about 2.5 but his first was a shimmy around his opponent, where the ball bounced sideways towards the boundary line and he finished over his shoulder with an important second-quarter goal. It showed all the elements of his skillset.
DAVE: Boys, let’s wind the clock back about 10 years. A young bloke called Lachie Modica burst onto the scene for Beaconsfield with the world at his feet as a classy left-footed winger. He’s been smashed with injuries over the last few years. He’s finally getting a crack at it this season and 22 minutes into the game on Saturday, he won the ball in the centre, took a bounce and launched a shot from 55. It would have been goal of the year, but it hit the post. From the kick out, North Ringwood turn it over, and Modica grabs the ball in the same spot. He runs his distance and launches another one from just inside the centre square that went through as clean as a whistle. Nearly two goal of the year contenders within 40 seconds; it was community footy at its best. Lachie Modica gets my best action this week.
MARCUS: Here’s one: Do you think the resilience involved with coming back from those injuries played a role in his willingness to have the same shot after just missing?
(DAVE AND JONTY BOTH LAUGH)
DAVE: No.
MARCUS: I thought that was a legitimate question!
(JONTY STILL LAUGHING)
DAVE: He’s always had the ability, and if he stays fit, he could be a big reason behind Beaconsfield going deep into the finals. Sorry, that doesn’t answer your question, but it’s hard to concentrate with Jonty laughing all the bloody time.
MARCUS: My best action goes to a man who’s going to be featured quite often in this segment in the years to come; Sam Toner from Narre Warren. Narre Warren was down by eight points with around eight minutes to go against Woori Yallock on Saturday. Riley Siwes showed composure and hit him with a dart in the forward pocket at Kalora Park in front of the netball courts. Toner ran around on his right foot from the set shot with a high, swinging ball that looked like it was going over the post, and there was the moment where the crowd went silent because it didn’t know if it was a goal or not. The goal umpire milked the moment for all it was worth, walked back to the centre and signalled with two fingers, and the crowd erupted. For Toner to do that in such a high pressure moment speaks volumes about his temperament. His journey at Narre Warren is going to be extraordinary.
MEETING EXPECTATIONS
MARCUS: As I mentioned off the top, I was enamoured with the Narre Warren v Woori Yallock game. It was one that I, Narre Warren supporters, and no doubt Woori Yallock supporters, had been anticipating for weeks, and lived up to the hype over a thrilling four quarters that felt like a final. What are some contests that fit that bill, in terms of meeting the hype after a significant build up?
DAVE: I’ve got another home-and-away season game that fits this bill. In 2010, Cranbourne was the best team in the Casey Cardinia Football Netball League, but was eliminated in the finals in straight sets. In 2011, they take the title off Narre Warren in a cracking grand final, and in 2012 they meet at Narre Warren in round two. Boys, I’ve brought a prop with me to articulate my point…
(DAVE UNFOLDS A PAGE WITH HIS MATCH REPORT FROM THE GAME)
DAVE: It was always going to be a cracker. The two coaches, Doug Koop and Chris Toner were getting into one-another before the game and there was genuine dislike between one-another. Cranbourne kicked the first three goals, and then Narre Warren got 47 points up early in the third quarter, before Cranbourne storms home to win by a point. That game of footy and the way it played out was incredible. At half time you thought ‘what a fizzer, Narre Warren are just going to roll over Cranbourne’, but 45 minutes later, Cranbourne wins an incredible game of footy. That stands out for me; an incredible game and happened to be at the same venue you were at on Saturday, Marcus!
MARCUS: Brilliantly done.
DAVE: Thoughts on the prop? Did it deliver?
JONTY AND MARCUS: Definitely.
MARCUS: We can’t let bringing props into LTS go unpunished though, that’s a fine of some description.
JONTY: Doveton and Hampton Park almost always lives up to the hype but it didn’t on Saturday. Since I’ve been on the sports desk, prior to Saturday’s game, the last three margins have been one, six and two points. It’s definitely one of those ‘it doesn’t matter where they are on the ladder’ games. On Saturday the margin was 23 points but it felt closer than the score suggested. It’s a game that the supporter bases still get around, and I know the old boys that were at Doveton for the premiership reunion were excited that it was a Hampton Park game, because Doveton don’t play in too many games these days that are against an old rival. Cranbourne and Cheltenham played back-to-back really good grand finals in 2022 and 2023, and in the home-and-away games they’ve developed a really strong rivalry. Despite Cheltenham winning back in round one, I don’t think a side has challenged them as much as Cranbourne did when they played, and they’ve got each other again this weekend. Cheltenham should do it comfortably, but Cranbourne always get themselves up for this one. Finally, one specific game that delivered right when you needed it to, and lifted the AFL world on the eve of the finals, was the Collingwood v Carlton game in round 23, 2022. Collingwood knocked Carlton out of the top eight and sealed a top-four spot themselves in a one-point win.
DAVE: Love it Jonty…Jamie Elliott breaks navy blue hearts.
MARCUS: It always comes back to Collingwood, doesn’t it with you two. A couple that came to mind for me was the St Kilda v Geelong game in 2009 under the roof at Docklands. They were both undefeated coming in and played one of the best home-and-away games we’re likely to see, with Michael Gardiner taking that hanger and kicking the sealer. Then we’ve got the 2019 Ashes, when David Warner and Steve Smith returned after the sandpaper bans and we had one of the best series since 2005, when Smith turned into Bradman for five Tests.
JONTY: Potentially even bettered by last year’s series, too.
WEATHER CONDITIONS
MARCUS: It feels like a long time since we’ve had some wet weather footy on a Saturday. In my 18 months on the sports desk, I can’t think of one proper slog in the wet. Coming into winter, I’d love to see the wet add a new dimension to the games in the back half of the year. So this is a two-part question; which sides have benefited from the dry weather, and who will excel in the wet?
DAVE: The top five teams in West Gippsland are all pretty adept in these departments and I don’t see conditions making too big of a difference to them. I’m trying to picture grand final day, and if it’s wet that day, the man who’s been appointed co-coach of Cora Lynn for next year, Jimmy Munro, can be pencilled in for best on ground. He’s an extractor; he goes into contests, wins the footy and gets it out. He’s a gun.
JONTY: The 2022 VFL grand final was played in the fiercest rain that I’ve ever witnessed at a game, and Munro finished with 21 tackles that day at Ikon Park. The rain was so loud that I couldn’t hear myself think under the tin roof there, and he relished those conditions; contest after contest after contest, Munro was there to lay tackle after tackle.
DAVE: That’s what he does – he just gets to so many contests! He never stops moving. So if it’s wet, Munro gives Cora Lynn an edge. In the dry, Nar Nar Goon move the ball as quickly and efficiently as anyone with crisp skills, so I think the dry weather suits them. Inverloch-Kongwak too, has a lot of classy players. Also, Cam Pederson made his return from an ACL injury on the weekend, so going forward, I expect Phillip Island to be okay if either conditions arise.
JONTY: Endeavour Hills is really fierce in the contest and have a few terrier-like players that get to lots of contests and can make the game messy, to get them into the game. When other teams can move the ball quickly they struggle to stop it, because they don’t have the speed to match them. So they’d benefit from the wet weather. Similarly for Hampton Park – I’ve spoken a lot about them lacking marking targets, so when the ball is played on the ground in wet conditions, they’ll benefit. In a similar vain to you, Dave, Devon Meadows’ ability to move the ball from one end to another, started through their intercept marking players, lends itself really well to dry footy.
MARCUS: With this topic, I feel like the good teams are going to be good no matter what the conditions are, but the teams in the lower half are likely to be more susceptible to Mother Nature. With that in mind, I’m looking at the teams in the relegation mix. Emerald likes to move the ball quickly and looked fantastic against Berwick Springs last week when they had the opportunity to do so. They’ve got a lot of key position players and big bodies, like Jared Derksen, Steve Cannon and David Johnson…
DAVE: Here we go; another Dave Johnson reference! Is he Marcus’ Joel Hillis?
JONTY: Yes, I’ve heard his name mentioned a few times.
MARCUS: He’s a talent, that’s for sure. Anyway, I think Emerald will struggle when the ball gets wet. Conversely, Berwick Springs and Gembrook Cockatoo are, like Hampton Park, lacking for marking talent, and really struggle to score. If it’s wet and they’re going to be able to neutralise their opponents, and keep opposition scores down as a result, they’re going to be in the mix in low-scoring contests.
DAVE: Before we go, I’d like to give a shout out to Courtney Stevens from the Pakenham Women’s team. She’s a midfielder but she rolled her ankle five minutes into the game on Saturday, and because she refused to come off, she played in the goal square all afternoon. In the final quarter of the girls’ game against Upwey Tecoma, she got a free kick for a boundary line infringement, and on her heavily strapped left foot, she curled a goal home from outside the boundary line. Courtney, I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you best action, but you’re getting a shout out here instead!
