Lake Wendouree 13.10 (88) d North Ballarat City 7.20 (62)
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By David Brehaut
LAKE Wendouree is where everyone in the Ballarat Football League wants to be – on top.
The Lakers stand alone as the only unbeaten combination after five rounds, having had the better of a battle-scarred North Ballarat City by 26 points at Wendouree on Saturday.
Lake Wendouree coach Gavin Webb heaped praise on his players for producing what he described as an “ugly” win.
“I don’t mind ugly. It’s okay when you get the points.”
And at this time of the season the premiership points were what counted most for Lakers, not how they were acquired.
Webb said he was pleased with the growing maturity of the player group – demonstrated by they they withstood everything North Ballarat threw at it..
“We can’t say we’re young any more.”
He said the bulk of this group had been together two and three years, and it was starting to show in its performances.
While the margin was comfortable, it was not until the last 10 minutes that Lake Wendouree began to feel safe.
North Ballarat City stuck at it, with its fleet-footed brigade finding a second wind to show some real spark through the midfield in the last quarter. The Lakers were ultimately more poised, too tall and physically stronger.
City can only blame itself for not taking stealing a march in the opening quarter when it had the use of a handy wind. North dominated possession, but was wasteful in front goal – scoring eight behinds before kicking its first major on 18 minutes. It led by 13 points at the break, but this was nowhere near enough.
Then it was dealt a double blow with injuries, losing James Vanderkley (shoulder) and ruckman Lou Campana (knee) in the second quarter.
With rotations down, North was unable to make the most of Lakers being down to 17 players after Ben Hayes was shown a yellow card late in the second quarter. It was out-scored by Lake Wendouree in this period – kept goalless in the third term in the face of disciplined defence led by Tom Littore, Lucas Anderson and Nathan Monk when going to what should have been the scoring end.
On a day when goals were hard come by, Andrew Pitson was again a menace with five for Lakers.
Ryan Luke was tireless for the undermanned North Ballarat. He threw himself into the game with plenty of vigour, whether in defence or filling in in the ruck after Campana's departure.
Sam Willian also battled hard with Jarryd Graham and Daniel Jones for North.
Bacchus Marsh 24.14 (182) d Ballarat 8.3 (51)
LATE recruit Damian Cupido has rushed to the top of the Ballarat Football League goalkicking list with 10 majors for the second week running.
In only his second appearance for the Cobras, Cupido was again a catalyst in attack as they took Ballarat apart by a massive 131 points at Bacchus Marsh on Saturday.
It was all one-way traffic with the young Swans simply out-classed. Matt Denham was again prominent for Bacchus Marsh, which had 11 goalkickers.
These included Alex Del Papa, who finished with four. The Cobras have three of the BFL’s leading goalkickers after five rounds – Cupido, Del Papa and Cam Richardson.
Jack Blackburn (four goals) did a top job for the Swans.
Melton 11.12 (78) East Point 9.7 (61)
JAKE Gleeson has once again delivered big time for Melton in the Ballarat Football League.
He was instrumental in a 17-point win over a hapless East Point at McPherson Park on Saturday.
The midfielder was everywhere in the first half before creating almost a one-man wall in the second – repelling numerous Kangaroo thrusts forward with clean disposal and courageous attack on the football.
He had plenty of help from midfield partner Ryan Davis, with the two dominating the opening term at the stoppages to allow the Bloods to get out to a 25-point lead at the first break. They extended lead before East Point rallied late to send a scare through Melton.
Melton coach Brad Murphy was elated with the performance
“It’s such an important win for us to get over the line against a team which will be competing for the last couple of spots in the top six with us. I was really proud of the boys’ composure in the last to kill time and force repeat stoppages,” he said.
However, Murphy is under no illusions about where his side sits in the overall scheme of things after having beaten only Melton South and Sebastopol before this success.
“The top four in Lakers, North (Ballarat City), Redan and Bacchus (Marsh) are all pretty much locked in, but the next four is really open.
“It puts us 3-1, with heaps of confidence, but we’re still focusing on the next round.”
Redan 15.16 (106) Darley 7.12 (54)
By Michael Hankin
A RESURGENT Redan added to reigning premier Darley’s woes with a commanding 52-point win in the Ballarat Football League at the City Oval on Saturday.
And it was not only the loss which added to the Devils’ pain.
Already struggling with injury, Darley was dealt another blow when Henderson Medallist Steve Kennedy was helped from the field and taken to hospital with a leg injury.
Devils coach Jarrod Edwards was unable to hide his disappointment with being so comprehensively beaten – a loss which leaves them with just one win in five games.
“We can’t take a trick with injuries.
“I’d love to bring more guys into the team, but we just don’t have the manpower at the moment to do it,” he said.
“It’s been the story of our year at the moment.
“The the guys in the middle of the ground are just unable to get going and get their hands on the footy.”
Redan and Darley spent the first 15 minutes of the day engrossed in a goalless defensive struggle.
Once Redan did hit the scoreboard it wasted little time making up for lost time by piling on four goals in quick succession to take a 21-point advantage into the first change.
From then on the Lions were never really threatened, with Darley never able to do enough to cause any real concern.
With the margin at 31 points at half-time and 36 points at the final change, the home side worked hard to not allow Darley back into the contest.
Not for the first time this season Brenton Riordan and Callum Currie were in ominous form up forward.
Riordan kicked four goals to give him 15 goals in the past three rounds, which have all been wins for the Lions.
Redan coach Eammon Gill was more than happy with the four-quarter performance of his side – particularly after a last quarter fade-out the previous week.
“Our first half last week against East Point was the type of footy that we wanted to play. We were able to do that for the majority of the game today.
“There were still times today where we didn’t quite do things like we would’ve hoped, but that’s something to work on going forward as we continue to strive to improve,” Gill said.
Redan is sixth with a one-game break over the chasing pack.
Sunbury 23.15 (153) Melton Sth 9.7 (61)
SUNBURY might have accounted easily for Melton South, but Rick Horwood was far from happy with the way the Lions finished off at Sunbury on Saturday night.
The Lions allowed the winless Panthers to kick the last five goals of the game in the 92-point victory.
Sunbury coach Rick Horwood said while it was hard not to be pleased with such a big margin, the finish had taken some gloss of it.
The Lions had opened right up with the first five majors of the term before Melton South had the last say.
Sunbury did come out of the match unscathed though with injuries to key big men Joe Redfern and Jess McInneny.
Former GWS Giants rookie Redfern rolled an ankle and will miss the Ballarat Football League’s AFL Victoria Community Championship fixture, while McInneny suffered a broken nose.
With four wins in five games, Sunbury is fourth and with a strong launchpad to go into the next phase of the season.
Melton South is the only team yet to win.