Springbank 8.13 (61) d Beaufort 6.10 (46)
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Springbank remains well and truly on track for a third-straight Central Highlands Football League premiership after beating Beaufort in a top-of-the-table showdown on Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers, which are looking to become the first team in the league’s history to win three consecutive senior grand finals, fought off the Crows by 15 points to remain the only undefeated side in the competition after seven rounds.
The victory comes at the start of an uncertain period for the Springbank outfit, which will be without a handful of key players for at least the next month.
Leading forward Tom Eltringham and Mitchell Keighrey missed the weekend’s game against Beaufort due to overseas travel and will now be joined on their holiday by Mitch Couch and Justin Simpson.
It was a strong performance in the first half that set the tone for the Tigers, but it took a gutsy effort in the final term to secure the result.
Springbank showed the better intensity and starved the Crows of opportunity in the first two quarters to lead by 23 points at the main break.
But a rejuvenated Crows outfit hit the ground running in the third quarter, and through the efforts of Jack Duke – who kicked three goals in the term – they were able to close the gap to just two points at the last change.
As the rain started to fall, it was always going to be a scrap to close out the game. But that didn't deter Springbank's Nick Couch from producing two pieces of individual brilliance that resulted in the only goals of the last term.
Despite a couple of chances late in the match, the Crows were unable to convert and eventually fell to their first loss of season 2017.
“We have been okay the last few weeks, without being great and I was really looking forward to the challenge to put to the boys because I thought this was going to be a good indication of where we are at and where we are travelling,” Springbank coach Michael Searl said of Saturday’s encounter with the Crows.
“It was definitely our hardest and most competitive game that we’ve had this year. They’re a quality outfit and we can’t just rest on our laurels. We’ve got to be able to push forward and keep building and use that win as a bit of a platform to go from.”
Searl said he knew both teams would have periods of momentum and was pleased that his side was able to fight its way back into the game after the Crows got hold of the contest.
Couch was one of the standouts for the Tigers, as was Billy Driscoll, Joel Maher and Tyler George, while Duke played a lone hand in attack for Beaufort with five of the team's six majors for the day. Brendan Howard tried hard in defence, while Rupert Sangster and Joel Chester gave some spark.
Beaufort entered Saturday’s clash with a string of key absentees, with Michael Foster, Tom Stapleton, Lachlan Pfeifer and Alex Petrie all sidelined with injury.
But Crows coach Rohan Brown wasn’t using that as an excuse after the match.
“We went away from a few things that we’ve been doing well the last six weeks and it has probably showed in the first half,” Brown said.
“Then we went back to doing what we’ve been doing well in those six weeks in the last half and I thought we probably broke even with them in the last half of footy.”
Next weekend, Springbank takes on Learmonth, while Beaufort travels to battle Hepburn.
Gordon 37.25 (247) d Skipton 6.11 (47)
Skipton was on the wrong end of a red-hot Gordon, which kicked a whopping 37 goals to land a 200-point win on Saturday.
The Eagles booted eight majors in the opening term and never looked back on their way to a percentage-boosting triumph.
Jye Cousins kicked six in his return from injury, Brendan Sutcliffe played well in the ruck and Tye Murphy, Cam Richardson, Chris McGuigan and Matt Raworth all had big games through the midfield and up forward.
Tom Breed kicked two goals for Skipton and was named the team’s best.
Newlyn 8.9 (57) d Clunes 7.5 (47)
Newlyn got back to winning ways on Saturday, narrowly getting home over Clunes.
The Cats bounced back from the shock loss to Carngham-Linton with a 10-point win over the Magpies on home soil.
Declan Lourey kicked three goals to be named Newlyn’s best ahead of defender Wes Carter, while Josh Thompson won the best afield honours for the Magpies.
Buninyong 7.14 (56) d Rokewood-Corindhap 6.11 (47)
Coach Jarrod Morgan and defender Tyler Dittloff were added to Buninyong’s list of injury concerns as the team was made to fight for its victory against Rokewood-Corindhap on Saturday.
Morgan is set to see a specialist on Monday after a heavy tackle left him with a chest issue, while Dittloff aggravated a troublesome hamstring and is set to miss the next couple of matches.
The two players were injured in the opening term, but the Bombers still did enough to lead the contest at the first change. From there, the home side always led the clash, but couldn’t completely shake the determined visitors, which went down by just nine points at the final siren.
Ruckman Liam Rigby was named best for the victors, while Fraser Russell was the only multiple goal-kicker on the ground and proved another of the Bombers’ leading contributors.
Saturday’s performance was one that pleased Rokewood-Corindhap coach Jarrod Thompson, but left him contemplating what might have been.
Onballers Damon Delaney, Sam Chapman and Sam Cameron led the way for the Grasshoppers, which now have a winnable fixture against Ballan to look forward to. Meanwhile, the Bombers come up against Skipton next weekend.
Bungaree 13.13 (91) d Creswick 6.9 (45)
Bungaree strung together its third-straight win and jumped to fifth spot on the ladder with a comfortable 46-point success against Creswick.
With the aid of a good breeze on Saturday, the Demons held the Wickers scoreless in the first term and led by 22 points at half time. The hosts then broke 40 points clear by the final change and from there the result was never in doubt.
Ruckman David Benson was a standout with two goals for the winners, while defender Jack Oostendorp drew praise from coach Heath Pyke for his minding job on in-form Wickers forward Clint Robinson, who kicked just one major.
For Creswick, Caleb Hepworth was rated best.
Daylesford 19.14 (128) d Carngham-Linton 9.12 (66)
Daylesford stayed in touch with the top eight thanks to a 62-point victory against Carngham-Linton on Saturday.
The Bulldogs, which were beaten by Creswick last round, had 12 players find the goals in the convincing display on home soil.
Tall Sam Winnard was the Bulldogs’ best ahead of Ken Cummings and Luke Carland, while Beau Ketchen and Wayne Bruty tried hard for the Saints.
Waubra 20.10 (130) d Ballan 3.8 (26)
Waubra bounced back from its first defeat of the season in emphatic fashion, thumping Ballan by in excess of 100 points.
The Roos, which lost to Buninyong in round six, put the foot down after quarter time to record the 20.10 (130) to 3.8 (26) success on the Blues’ home ground.
A 10-goal final term was the icing on the cake.
Waubra coach Grant Luscombe was upbeat about the performance of onballer Nick Dinsdale, who kicked three goals on Saturday, as well as the efforts of onballer Ben Wilson, defender Billy Douglass, Paul Dodds across half forward, Tim Boyle deep in attack and Geordie Lukich in the ruck.
For the Blues, it was a disappointing display and one coach Jason McNamara thought might be attributable to consecutive clashes against top-end opponents.
Jacob Wilkinson, Austin Bongart and first-gamer Jack Connor were among the team’s best.
Hepburn 11.14 (80) d Dunnstown 9.6 (60)
Hepburn coach Jason Olver is used to tough encounters at Dunnstown and Saturday’s clash with the old foe didn’t disappoint.
The Burras were made to fight hard for their 20-point win, and despite their efforts, suffered a drop on the Central Highlands Football League ladder.
Hepburn started the round in fifth spot, but was leapfrogged by Bungaree on percentage.
Burras coach Jason Olver was simply happy to come away with the points from a venue his club has traditionally struggled at.
“We played terrible, there’s no two ways about it,” Olver said of Saturday’s performance.
“But we got through unscathed, we got four points and we always knew playing at Dunnstown that it’s never going to be easy. It’s just the history of the Hepburn Football Club.”
Olver said Brad McKay played a “fantastic” game in the middle for the Burras, which were also well served by Finn Anscombe and Leigh Santurini in defence.
After describing the game as a “dour struggle”, Olver paid tribute to a Dunnstown team that is yet to register its first points for the season.
Olver said the Towners – which have played six of last year’s finalists in the opening seven rounds – will win plenty of matches in the back end of the campaign.
Despite suffering another loss, Dunnstown coach Justin Abrams took some positives out of the team’s seventh-straight defeat in 2017.
“I’m really pleased with the improvement and progress of our young group of players,” Abrams said.
“They played a really disciplined brand of footy.”
Mitchell Kennedy, Sam Jenkins and Ben Collins were among the Towners to shine on the weekend.
Saturday’s result comes ahead of a huge period for the Burras, which have big games against Beaufort, Springbank and Waubra in the coming rounds.
Next weekend’s battle with the Crows will see Nick Dal Santo pull on the Hepburn jumper in a special appearance from the former St Kilda and North Melbourne star.
Dal Santo is set to train with the Burras on Monday night and then play alongside his cousin and 2017 recruit Luke Stanton on Saturday.
Dunnstown has another tough match against Waubra to plan for before things start to get a little easier in the run home to finals.