Cleve Hughes kicked 11 goals and Danny Wise was everywhere in Southport’s crushing win over an injury-stricken Broadbeach today.
Saturday 3 July 2010
An injury-ravaged Broadbeach were no match for the Southport machine at Fankhauser Reserve today as Sharks stars Cleve Hughes and Danny Wise destroyed the Cats.
Hughes booted 11 goals and Wise ran amok in the midfield to instigate a 21.12 (138) to 4.8 (32) shellacking.
The Cats have been brave all season but were lambs to the slaughter without Dayne Zorko (suspended), Korey Fulton (calf), Ben Walters (flu), Darin Stewart (Shoulder), Joel Wilkinson (collarbone) and Jackson Emblem (ankle).
Broadbeach were intent on shutting down the game, pushing huge numbers around the ball early.
It took seven minutes for the first score of the game to be registered, but with Matty Payne on fire early and Wise bobbing up everywhere, the Sharks eventually booted 4.4 to 0.1 for the term.
With so many numbers around the ball, every time the Cats did go forward they were outnumbered and outgunned.
With Kurt Niklaus marshalling the defence, Broadbeach limped to just 0.2 at halftime and were just 1.4 at the final change.
At the other end, Hughes was still able to find space to lead into, or simply took pack marks.
He would have taken the mark of the year, standing upright on the top of a pack, but for opponent Nathan Quick standing on the shoulders of a teammate right behind him and producing a most spectacular spoil.
Hughes kicked five goals in the first half and six in the second as he took his season tally to 60 from 12 games.
While Payne and Wise were running rampant, they had plenty of company from Darren Pfeiffer, who has also added plenty to the five-star midfield.
Pfeiffer was tagged early by Ryan Clough, but the hard-working Cat found himself constantly under pressure from Glenn Screech, allowing Pfeiffer the space to win the ball.
Former Broadbeach player Brodie Grant produced a strong game against his old club, while Adam Devine was prominent in a more free-running role.
It was a tough day for the Cats, with Josh Searl winning plenty of early ball and showing some dash opposed to the finely skilled Cameron Maclaren.
Tayler Rolfe won his share of ball and Simon Russell worked hard against the odds, but they proved to be overwhelming.
The size of the loss put a hefty dent in the percentage of the Cats, who slip out of fifth position on the back of their second successive loss.
Broadbeach face a must-win game against fellow finals contender Brisbane at Coorparoo next Saturday, while Southport have a mouth-watering top of the table clash at home against Labrador.
