Brauman move a winner

FORMER Cats Peter Riccardi and Darren Milburn have been around football long enough to create game changing moves. So when the Bannockburn co-coaches temporarily shifted ball-winner Jack Brauman to Kieran Fulton’s full forward spot at the start of the final quarter with their side down by 29 points, the pair almost pulled off the come-from-behind victory. Fulton, at 200cm, nullified Bell Post Hill tagger Jack Yates in the middle, allowing reigning best-and-fairest Matt Tyquin to win the clearances for the remainder of the match. Brauman would only have been in the forward line for 10 minutes but the move helped spark a Bannockburn comeback that helped close the eventual margin to 11 points. “We talked about it at the start of the year, we’d seen Kieran do some great things in the midfield and sometimes you have to throw some magnets around and hope they work,” Milburn said. Tigers Connor Jervies and Jake Peters also stepped up to the plate in the final term, allowing Brett Harding, Brent Jacques and teenager Kyle Rollo to register four of the final five goals. But it was a bridge too far for the Tigers, who were left to rue their dismal efforts of the opening three quarters. “Our efficiency with the footy was just horrible in the first half and our half forwards were just going too high up the ground in the first half, it was as simple as that,” Riccardi said. Michael Stevenson was named best for Bannockburn ahead of Brauman. “He (Brauman) gives us everything he’s got and he does that every week; we can’t ask him for more than that,” Riccardi said. Tiger ruckman Ben Stretton also played well in his first GDFL final. “No matter what the consequences are he (Nathan Kelly) goes at it 100 per cent and he’s good like that, so he’ll continuing doing what he does best next week,” Riccardi said. Bannockburn looks to enter this Sunday’s first semi-final unchanged, with Josh Cole (hamstring) expected to remain on the sidelines for another week.