Wilston Grange 24.16.160 defeated Sandgate 7.9.51
It was a big occasion for the Wilston Grange Gorillas on Friday night, and they delivered.
They asserted their dominance on the contest from the opening bounce, beating up Sandgate around the ball early.
Before you could blink, they were four goals up.
Sandgate turned it on around the stoppages for five minutes in middle of the first quarter, but once the big bodies of Wilston Grange settled, they were never headed.
Declan Bevan had it on a string in the forward 50. He kicked three of his seven in the first quarter, meaning the Gorillas went in to the first change 38-points up.
The main difference in the game was the disposal by foot. The Gorillas cut through the Hawks set-up and placed a heap of pressure on the kicker when it was coming the other way.
They lead at the main break by 67, and despite being down to one rotation on the bench, looked in complete control.
The Gorillas added to their advantage during the second half, before running out 109-point winners.
ANZAC medal winner Eric Kuret was outstanding through the middle, as was Steve Brittain and Matt Trewhella.
Connor Stakelberg provided a good option for the Hawks up forward, he finished with three from limited opportunities, and Alex Craft fought hard all day.
The Gorillas certainly came to play on Friday night
Coach’s thoughts
Matt Trewhella – Wilston Grange
“I was very proud of how we went about tonight. They are a good side coming off the back of a good win. We just tried to focus on our defensive pressure.
“We used the ball a lot better than what they did. We were poor last week with our foot skills, but tonight was about trying to isolate a lot of their guys and getting some run and carry from behind.
“We realised that we always need one of our bigger bodies or leaders on the ball, we find with the bigger guys the opposition gravitates toward them, which frees a few others up.”
Graham Adams – Sandgate
“It wasn’t our greatest performance, we were out-gunned everywhere on the ground.
“Their bigger bodies were too strong for us, we tried but we were out muscled.
“We are going to have our highs and our lows being a young group, and tonight wasn’t our greatest performance.
“We are still 1-2, and we’ve played some really good footy teams, so there is plenty to work with, I’m really proud of these boys and where they have come from.”
Broadbeach 8.10.58 defeated by Western Magpies 9.16.70
It’s been an up and down start to the season for the Western Magpies, but they got it all to click yesterday.
Both teams pride themselves on their contested ball work, so this one was always going to be won in the guts.
The Magpies lead at the first change by seven-points, but really ramped it up in the second.
They kicked four goals to one, really strangling the run of Broadbeach out of their backline, to lead by 21 at the long break.
The Cats got on top of the contested ball stats in the third, and it translated directly onto the scoreboard.
They hit the lead for the first time late in the third, and had all the momentum going into the final change.
Glenn Humphrey urged his men to go back to what had worked in the first half, and they responded.
They hit the contest hard in the final quarter, wrestled control back off the Cats, and kicked away to win by two goals.
After showing signs of what they are capable of in round 1, the Magpies are on the board.
Coach’s thoughts
Wayne Petterd – Broadbeach
“To their credit they didn’t allow us to get our running game going.
“We had a good third quarter where we put ourselves in a position to win it, but couldn’t go on with it.
“It was an ugly game of footy, but we are miles off at the moment.”
Glenn Humphrey – Western Magpies
“It’s very good to get the win, the boys have worked pretty hard for it, so it was good to see them get rewarded for their hard work.
“Our approach at the stoppages and our contested footy won us the game. Once we won the contested footy, we shared it well, and broke the game open.
“They got back into the game in the third quarter because they started wining the contested footy.
“We stopped them from having free running players down the ground, they had to go through our numbers to get where they wanted to go.”
Mt Gravatt 10.9.69 defeated by Palm Beach Currumbin 10.15.75
Two weeks, two thrillers, two heartbreaks for Mt Gravatt.
For the second week in succession, the Vultures have been pipped at the post, this week, by a hard charging Palm Beach.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Lions got the job done when it counted.
The Vultures again struggled to get out of the blocks, trailing at the first break by 11.
The Lions had the opportunity in the second to really put Mt Gravatt to the sword, but failed to capitalise on their opportunities, kicking 1.6 for the quarter, and putting three out on the full.
The Vultures came out of the sheds in the second half up and about.
In a very stop start game, they started to win the clearances and pump the ball in long.
They kicked five in the third to lead by 14 at three quarter time.
Chad Owens made the call at the break to go man on man, keep it simple, and bang it in quickly. It worked.
They started to get their hands on the footy first, and for the first time all day, capitalised on the scoreboard.
With 5 minutes to go, it was still anybody’s game, the Lions were finishing stronger but the Vultures were hanging in there.
Both teams were looking for a hero. It was Stephen Thynne who booted one at the death to hand the Lions their second win of the year.
Liam McNevin was outstanding at full back for the Lions, and Jesse Derrick played a pivotal role across half forward all day.
With 19 players between the two teams being under 20 years of age, the Lions may have walked away with the points, but the future is very bright for both teams.
Coach’s thoughts
Brad Pollock – Mt Gravatt
“It was a bit of a Russian roulette game, we had a poor start, but to the boys credit they hung in their and played some better footy in the second half.
“To their credit they won it around the stoppages when it counted.
“We aren’t playing our best footy and the moment, and aren’t playing the way that we want to play, but their effort is unquestionable and we can certainly build on that.”
Chad Owens – Palm Beach
“The second was when we should have really gone ahead, but we kicked 1.6 and three on the full.
“We are a strong contested team, so we were confident that if we went back to man on man we could get the job done.
“We looked to keep it simple today, bang the ball forward, nothing fancy.
“I’ll need to find a good heart surgeon by the end of this year though because my heart rate was through the roof at the end.”
UQ 5.10.40 defeated by Morningside 42.16.268
David Lake said in the Friday Forecast that it was time for Morningside to “up the ante” this week. Kicking 42 goals in a game of football is certainly one way of doing that.
Their massive win over the Red Lions will act as a reminder to all pundits that they are still the team to beat in 2015.
The Panthers didn’t have it all their own way in the first quarter, with UQ’s run creating a few opportunities in front of goal.
It was 8 scoring shots to 7 in Morningside’s favor at the first break, but that’s when it all changed.
Morningside came out with real purpose in the second, flexing their muscles, and kicking 13 goals in the quarter.
A young UQ side was unable to stop the bleeding in the second half the Panthers were dominant in every aspect of the contest.
It would have been a tough day down back for the Red Lion defenders.
The Panthers finished with 18 different goal kickers for the day in their 228-point demolition, including seven from McNiece.
They got the job done in the first two weeks without being brilliant, but yesterday they were breathtaking.
It was team football, they ran for each other, they spread well, and they played with real intent right until the final siren.
The statement has been made, catch us if you can.
Coach’s Thoughts
David Lake – Morningside
“We had a crack for four quarters and they had a crack for one.
“10 minutes into the second quarter it really started to click, and then we kicked 13.
“That’s as good as we have been in the middle today. We have been working at it, and it finally clicked today.
“They were ferocious today; we tackled the same in the last 30 seconds as we did in the second quarter.
“18 goal kickers is a huge result. The scoreboard looked after itself today; we just played some good footy.
Darren Pfeiffer – UQ
“The first quarter was a really high quality game. They were able to take their opportunities and kick their goals.
“In that second quarter we just went away from our structures and processes, and it all came undone.
“Late in the second half it was a bit of a write off, and some of our boys gave up a little bit.
“It’s about how we respond next week.”
Surfers Paradise 10.7.67 defeated by Labrador 23.13.151
Labrador today proved that last weeks big win was no fluke, taking care of Surfers Paradise by 84-points.
Surfers, with the breeze at their backs were on early.
It wasn’t the prettiest quarter of football you’ll ever see, but the Demons were up by 4 points at the first break.
Having withstood the attack from the Demons kicking to the scoring end, Labrador needed to make the most of it in the second.
An 11 goal to one quarter really set the game up.
The Tigers went into half time 61-points up, it was going to take an almighty comeback for the Demons to get up from that far back.
To their credit, they had a crack in the third, reducing the margin to eight goals at the final change, but that’s where their charge ended.
The Tigers kicked away in the last, putting the result beyond doubt early.
Josh Fraser booted five, while Matt Lappin had three for Labrador, proving they have both still got it.
The Tigers are building very nicely in season 2015.
Coach’s thoughts
Peter Young – Surfers Paradise
“Labrador are good, full credit to them, they are a quality football club and we knew we would be up against it.
“We started really well, we were happy with the first quarter but it got proven the if you have a lapse for a quarter it can end the game.
“We came back at them in the third, the boys had a crack which was good.
“The guys stuck to their tasks all, they had a crack all day, we still believe that we are on the right track
“We are going to keep playing the kids, and we believe that when we play some of the sides below Labrador and the like, we are right on the mark.”
Jarrod Field – Labrador
“It was pretty blowy and the skill level wasn’t great, but we are very happy to walk away with the win.
“They had the wind early, but we turned it on in the second.
“We kicked 19 goals with the breeze so that was the difference. We made the most of it.
“We were pretty good at the stoppages, the numbers were really good, and we got some good return from our forwards.”
By Andrew Wiles – @andrewjwiles
