Round 5 of the AFL Broken Hill Men’s A-Grade competition, saw the South Roos and North Bulldogs each secure well-earned victories against West Robins and Central Magpies.
WEST V SOUTH
A top-of-the-table clash where both teams held a 3-1 record going into this contest, it was South who evened the season ledger against West (following the Round 2 defeat), this time prevailing by 45 points at Jubilee Oval.
After a somewhat even first quarter which saw the Roos in front by 14 points at quarter-time, a solitary point from the Robins in the second term allowed for the visitors to extend their lead, which was a similar story in the third quarter too. However, despite being down by 63 points at the final break, West didn’t give up, winning the fourth quarter with an eight-goal-to-five effort and clawing back the margin come the final siren.
South’s Cody Schorn backed up his six-goal effort last week with a seven-goal haul this time, and Todd Davidson’s three goals was his second three-plus effort in the past fortnight.
Alex Johnston kept his five-game consecutive goalscoring streak going with an additional two majors, while Luke Lines kicked two goals also. Daniel Milne kicked a season-high five goals for West.
“We just wanted to get the game on our terms pretty much from the first quarter, play our brand of football. I thought we did that really well for three quarters,” South coach, Craig Thomas, told us.
“The last quarter, West got a bit of momentum back and scored a little bit too freely. We just didn’t get back to cover some of the holes in our back half but overall, to get the win over West by 45 points, it’s a great team effort that we had and we’re looking forward to continuing our good work.”
West coach, Nathan Pearce, told us, “I’m very happy with where we’re at. I was pretty happy with the game, to be honest with you. If we break it down, our first quarter was really even as much as South went two goals up, I thought the contest was really even. We had our opportunities. I think our inside 50s were actually more than theirs in the first quarter.
“We lost the game more than anything in a 12-minute period where we switched off. It’s as simple as that. I thought South played well and I thought we played well other than that 12-minute period.”
| TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | TOTAL |
| WEST | 2.0 | 2.1 | 4.4 | 12.5 | 77 |
| SOUTH | 4.2 | 9.5 | 14.7 | 19.8 | 122 |
Goals: Cody Schorn (South) 7, Daniel Milne (West) 5, Todd Davidson (South) 3
CENTRAL V NORTH
Central is still looking for its first win of the season but showed continued signs of improvement at Memorial Oval, taking it to North in the first half, but falling short by 98 points in the end as the visitors took the game away.
It was a largely goal-for-goal first quarter, with both the Magpies and Bulldogs each enjoying their highest first-quarter scores of the season. The Magpies still held themselves up against the Bulldogs for the second quarter, though, were edged ever-so-slightly again. In the second half, Central managed just one goal to North’s 12 as the margin ballooned out to almost triple figures.
North vice-captain Shane Dalby got on the scoreboard for the first time this season with a game-high nine goals. Anthony Henderson (four goals) and Alex Heuzenroeder (three goals) helped the team up forward too.
For Central, Samuel Wilson kicked his second consecutive bag of five goals as Blake Rogers, Nicholas Devoy, and James McClure also contributed to the scoresheet.
North coach, Mark Pitt, told the Barrier Truth it was, “pretty much an all-around team effort” that helped his side record the win as they needed to adjust to the way Central was playing.
“The process we’ve been sticking at at training, they implemented that on the green grass on Saturday – handball link up, run pass receives, attack on the footy, the ball carrier getting that ball back from his boot and then trying to hurt the opposition on a turnover.
“Our efficiency inside 50 was excellent, and the forward line, they were communicating well to each other, and they had it organised down there, which helps. Our efficiency was pretty high as well so that’ll mean a good effort down in the forward line.”
Despite the result, Central coach, Sheldon Hall, said, “it sounds weird when you get belted by [almost] 100 points, but it was probably one of the better games we’ve played”.
“We moved the ball a lot better, we were a lot better by foot in the first half, not as many turnovers as weeks gone past, so that was pleasing. It was just a bit of a shame that the defence let a few easy ones over the back go through and they skipped away to that 30-point lead at half time and we just couldn’t bring it back, and in the second half they just ran away with it.
“The signs are there that we can play some good league footy. It’s just about piecing it all together for four quarters and not just halves like we’re doing at the moment. We need to get over that half-time hoodoo.”
| TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | TOTAL |
| CENTRAL | 5.3 | 8.8 | 8.10 | 9.11 | 65 |
| NORTH | 7.3 | 13.7 | 17.10 | 25.13 | 163 |
Goals: Shane Dalby (North) 9, Samuel Wilson (Central) 5, Anthony Henderson (North) 4
