South enjoyed a crushing win against Central to remain on top of the ladder in Round Six of the AFL Broken Hill Men’s competition, while North broke away in a second half burst to find victory against West.
WEST V NORTH
At Jubilee Oval, West and North were locked in a fierce battle, with North eventual victors, winning by 23 points.
A goalless first term to West against a four-goal effort from North, followed by a four-goal-to-one quarter West’s way, saw a three-point margin the way of North going into the main break. West kicked the first goal of the second half 15 minutes into the third term, but from there, North kicked the next five unanswered, finding a way to break the trend of multiple goals kicked in a quarter down the other end. West kicked the final two goals of the game, but it was too late.
Shane Dalby and Jayden Kelly kicked three goals apiece for North, with James Lawton chipping in with two goals in his first match of the season. For West, Daniel Milne in his 150th game, and Jayden Sutton each kicked two goals.
“In the first and third quarter with that wind, West did drop a number back so we utilised that number to come in as a plus one and try to pretty much lower our eyes and hit our targets moving into forward 50 with an option,” North coach, Mark Pitt, told us.
“But unfortunately, that didn’t work all the time. Through it all, our execution of the footy was a little bit down. We did turn the ball over here and there, but we just stuck to our plans and went forward and in the end we hit the scoreboard up alright.”
West assistant coach, Chris Jones, told us the club, “had some opportunities against the breeze early which we weren’t able to capitalise on. Three goals down in the last with the breeze dropping, we thought we had a pretty good chance and unfortunately North were just too strong in that last quarter and were able to kick a few against the tide”.
On Daniel Milne, he added it’s been a really long journey, but, “it was great to see him reach the [150-game] milestone that a couple of family members before him have also achieved, so it meant a lot to Daniel and it meant a lot to the club for him to get to that number”.
| TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | TOTAL |
| WEST | 0.2 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 7.9 | 51 |
| NORTH | 4.3 | 5.4 | 8.8 | 11.8 | 74 |
Goals: Shane Dalby (North), Jayden Kelly (North) 3, James Lawton (North), Daniel Milne (West), Jayden Sutton (West) 2
SOUTH V CENTRAL
South made light work of Central at Alma Oval, finishing with a 120-point win. It was a game of free-flowing football on both sides, attacking the ball and the contest to use the run and carry, with both sides entering inside 50 many times throughout the first half.
The Roos got the first score of the day – a behind – but it was the Magpies who struck the first goal, thanks to Samuel Wilson. From there though, it was all South, piling on a string of unanswered goals to go into the halftime break with a 61-point lead. Central found a couple more goals in the third quarter, but South pulled away even more in the second half to record a comfortable victory.
South’s Cody Schorn – after bags of six and seven goals in the past two rounds – kicked eight majors this last weekend, trading goals at times with Todd Davidson (five) in a one-two punch in attack. For Central, individual goals to Luke Barnes, James McClure, and Wilson showed on the scoreboard.
“We’ve got a pretty reliable back six with Michael Westley and Riley Schorn lucky enough to play every game so far and them two just hold the backline together so it’s always good having two experienced players behind the ball,” South assistant coach, Drew Mashford, told us.
“We had a few extra young fellas in there making their debut in 15-year-olds Lenny Smith and Matthew Slattery coming into the side which just gives us a bit of added pace. It was probably a bit unplanned and that just made it made it a faster game of football.”
Central coach, Sheldon Hall, said Samuel Wilson in the ruck had his fair share of hit outs, “but to South’s credit, just read it a bit better than our midfielders at times so we didn’t always get first use. The first quarter was sort of up and down, free flowing. It was really good to watch. It was just unfortunate we ran out of a bit of legs in the second half”.
“Like I said, sort of down on numbers. It was a tough one there. But the main thing is the boys are still hungry at the contest and it was a good display.”
| TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | TOTAL |
| SOUTH | 4.3 | 10.8 | 16.11 | 21.16 | 142 |
| CENTRAL | 1.1 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 22 |
Goals: Cody Schorn (South) 8, Todd Davidson (South) 5, Harrison Butcher (South), Harley Cannard (South), Joel Van Kemenade (South) 2
Round Seven will see the top two men’s teams, North and South, locking horns at Jubilee Oval, while Central and West face off at Memorial Oval. The first bounce for both fixtures is set for 2.30pm on Saturday.
