Mt Gravatt are suddenly a genuine top three candidate after easily disposing of Redland at Dittmer Park today, with Billy Cleary kicking six goals in a brilliant display.
Saturday 29 May 2010
Mt Gravatt are suddenly a genuine top three candidate after easily disposing of Redland at Dittmer Park today.
The Vultures were never headed and could have won by more than the final 35-point margin, 15.12 (102) to 10.7 (67), but for some poor conversion, particularly in the third term.
It was the second impressive performance in the space of a week by the Vultures, who showed no sign of lethargy from their trip to Alice Springs last week that yielded a critical four-point win over the Thunder.
The Vultures now boast a 5-4 win-loss record and go into next Saturday’s clash with Southport at Dittmer Park with plenty of confidence.
Today’s win was built around a brilliant six-goal haul by Billy Cleary and a terrific defensive display by Adam Tarrant, who never let Redland matchwinner Adam Mueller out of his sight.
The often underrated Tarrant limited Mueller to a handful of kicks and gave his side plenty of springboard from defence.
Cleary had one of his ‘on’ days where he marked everything that came his way and kicked beautifully.
His effort compensated for the loss of the player who has been very much the barometer of their recent revival, Shane Morrison.
The big forward hurt his troublesome foot and played just the first two quarters before sitting out the remainder as a precautionary measure.
Mt Gravatt’s supremacy really started in the engine room, where the prolific Rory Lake again collected a mountain of possession, as did tall centreman Dean Page and terrier Aiden Pratt.
The trio dominated the midfield battles and ensured a glut of ball went forward.
John James was typically lively across half-forward and chipped in with two goals, while Nathan Gilliland was deadly around goal with four majors.
When the Bombers were able to rush the ball forward, they ran into problems passing the tall half-back line of Sam Carins, Jake Furfaro and Michael Schultz.
Carins held Daniel Dzufer to a solitary goal, Furfaro won plenty of ball as he has done all season, and former Zillmere utility Michael Schultz was again among the best in his second game for the Vultures.
The Vultures jumped their opponents by three goals in the opening term, shared five goals each in a freewheeling second term, then dominated the Bombers with 2.7 to 1.2 in the third term which should have seen them lead by double their 32-point three-quarter-time margin.
“A lot of those were easy misses – we’ve got to learn to put sides away,” said Vultures coach David Lake, who was nonetheless more than satisfied with the victory.
Redland always appeared on the back foot and were unable to get numbers around the ball as well as their opponents.
Adrian Williams did a top job under siege in defence, Scott Clouston tried hard to lift his side and Ben Weightman was lively in patches through the midfield, but the Bombers battled to find a reliable avenue to goal.
