Panthers bare claws in thrashing
HOURS after Bell Post Hill officials signed coach Brad Martin for a further two years, the club legend justified the decision with a 101-point annihilation of finals contender Geelong West.
And the former premiership captain believes his side, aiming for a 10th straight grand final appearance, is on track for another competitive September at the St Albans Reserve it knows so well.
Bell Post Hill had history on its side when it went to West Oval to play a Geelong West side it had not lost to in 5941 days. That dates back to Round 2, 2001. There had been two draws in that time, including earlier this season when their match was abandoned before halftime due to lightning.
The Panthers’ one-sided win before a lacklustre crowd showed all the signs of a side sharpening its focus before another premiership tilt.
Down back, brilliant defender Cam Addie held Geelong West forward Ben Toner goalless and well away from the footy while collecting 16 disposals of his own.
“Cam had some goals that he wanted to achieve — obviously he was able to do that and he was one of our better players,” Martin said.
Whitley Medal contender Adrian Fantella finished with 30 disposals and seven marks, Caleb Bacely was arguably the best on the ground with four goals and Tane Rabbas put the icing on his three-goal game with 11 disposals in the final term.
“Tane had been playing on the wing a lot as more of an outside onballer and we wanted to get him back inside the middle and give him more of a run this week and next,” Martin said.
“We worked a lot on the forward line and having fluent passages, as per usual Justin Tarr will take their best defender and that frees up (Jayden) Ettridge and (Nick) Costello.
“Jake Barlow (in his 50th senior game) was also instrumental at centre halfforward.”
Up forward both Tarr and Costello finished with three goals apiece, while Ettridge (two goals) was influential with 15 disposals in the first half alone.
Late goals to Tim Barton and Bacely made for the touching finish before the pair were chaired off the ground for their 150th games.
Now Martin needs to find a place for interleague star Matt Lentini, who featured in the reserves’ 20.14 (134) to 1.3 (9) win alongside Attila Sulics and former captain Joel Page.
“All teams will want to be settled after the bye, we’re not going to rush Lentini after eight weeks in Europe and we’re lucky enough that we don’t have to rush him either,” the coach said.
“He’ll have another week in the reserves, then the bye and then we’ll look into the Winchelsea game.
“Surprisingly, Aaron Vacirca more than held his own at the contests, he was very good and it was great to see him kick a goal in his first senior game,” Martin said.