By Patrick Reincke
West were flying high on Saturday after they downed Central in a hard-fought contest at Jubilee Oval.
After falling to the black and white in round one, the Robins had to earn their first win over the Magpies this season. With the game going to and fro across all four quarters.
“We sort of knew after that first week, we didn’t play to our best,” said West co-coach Chris Jones after the game.
“Coming out this week, we had to lift a fair bit to beat them.”
The first half was a tight tussle with either side able to break away.
West’s Josh Cieslik opened proceedings with the first goal of the game, the backman getting a run-up forward early.
Central’s power forward in Caiden Deckert got the Magpies onto the scoresheet soon after before he snagged his second to give his side an early lead at quarter time.
With the breeze, Central had multiple entries into forward 50 across the first quarter, but the quality of these entries was subpar and further goal chances were squandered.
However, now with the breeze themselves, West didn’t find it easy to get in front of goal in the second quarter, taking until the 11-minute mark before slotting a goal through Liam King.
King had a day out for the Robins.
He, along with Michael Andruszkiewicz, was damaging in midfield, recording multiple clearances despite Central’s Jake Crozier winning most of the taps.
The Magpies fired back with a goal to Nick Devoy. He had another stellar game.
West’s Brock Ellis bagged a couple before Callum Rosewarn tied the game up with a goal against his old side.
At the major break, scores were deadlocked.
The end of the third and the start of the fourth was where the game was won for the Robins.
They had the Magpies on the back foot in the last ten or so minutes and were able to take a lead of nine points into the final quarter.
From there, they pulsated with three quick goals to have the game almost on ice.
Central were again let down by that last kick going into forward 50.
West’s Heath Harris had a great game along half the half-back line while Josh Cieslik had dropped back to be a loose man.
Clint Pearce turned the clock back a few years as he went toe-to-toe with Central’s Caiden Deckert.
Pearce was able to gather many loose balls and handle himself in the marking contests.
To counteract this, Central’s speedsters stepped up in Ethan Callegher and Blake Rogers.
The pair saw plenty of the ball as they gathered crumbs around the packs.
With West sitting clear on a four-goal lead halfway through the final quarter, Central refused to give in.
The black and white rallied with goals through the devilishly dynamic duo of Devoy and Dewar.
But the surge was left too late and West held strong in defence to reach the final siren with an 11-point victory.
Co-Coach Chris Jones highlighted his side’s tidier skills in the back-end of the game.
“What was holding us back in that first half was we were giving away a lot of the footy and it certainly didn’t help ourselves and Central’s pressure was good throughout the game,” he said.
“Once we reduced our turnovers, we able to get a few through the big sticks,”
“When we were able to turn the tables on them a little bit and get a bit of a run on, it helped in the end when we had a buffer when we needed it.”
Full time score — West 10.7 (67) defeated Central 8.8 (56)
