ROOS BEAT THE ‘ELITE’
Anglesea fulfils form promise
ANGLESEA coach Paul Carson remains focused on leading his team out of finals wilderness after Saturday’s defining 39-point win over Ocean Grove.
Carson said his players had “a real look in their eye” when they arrived at Alcoa Oval on Saturday morning, before putting away an in-form Grubbers outfit with the conviction of a finals contender.
“I’m proud of the boys, for sure,” Carson said.
“It’s probably the best fourquarter performance we’ve put out there this year, which was the most pleasing (thing).
“I think we’ve only seen glimpses or patches of our best, but today was a real fourquarter performance and we had 22 contributors.
“There was a real sort of funny feeling around the place when we turned up today that guys knew there was a job to get done.
“There was a real look in their eye, like ‘They’re on today’, and it showed. The first 20 minutes we bounced out and they set the scene very early.”
Five unanswered goals in the first term proved the difference, despite Ocean Grove finding a way to cut the deficit to just 11 points at halftime.
Key forward Jordan Erskine got on the end of five majors, while James Edmonds (four), Blake Grant and Dale Carson (three each) also troubled the scorers, but Carson lauded his side’s on-ball brigade for outworking Ocean Grove’s.
“We identified their midfield is pretty elite in this competition, so we really wanted to nullify that the best we could,” he said.
“We felt like if we could break even at the stoppages or win them by a stretch, we thought we would be a chance and if we gave our forwards enough use or enough forward entries, that we’d be able to score.
“It was probably the midfield, for mine, that we just needed to nullify. We put a lot of time into match-ups and thankfully today everything came to fruition.”
The victory puts Anglesea in second spot on percentage, two games behind undefeated ladder leader Barwon Heads, with Newcomb to come ahead of the bye.
Carson said he hadn’t even thought about the rewards of a topthree finish.
“Top five is absolutely the carrot, and that’s what makes these games important — you’ve got to beat the teams above or around you on the ladder and we knew that this week was really important for us,” he said.
“We’re probably a little bit away thinking about top three, but where we’ve come from, we’re really keeping a lid on it.
“Yes, we want to play finals, but it’s one week at a time for us.”
MODEWARRE BLITZ
MODEWARRE had little trouble against Portarlington, lighting the fuse for a 99-point win with a nine-goal opening quarter. The brute strength of John Meesen proved decisive for the Warriors on an afternoon where Tom Worpel dined out on five goals.
POWER SHUT DOWN
REGAN Grimwood led the charge in Queenscliff’s 20.6 (126) to 9.16 (70) win over Newcomb. Jayden Durran kicked five for the Coutas, who needed an eight-goal final quarter to finally put away a dogged Power side that was left to rue some missed chances around goal.
AMMOS FIRE
GEELONG Amateur kicked clear in the second half of its 47point win over Drysdale. with Brad King and Hamish Dahl (five goals) flexing their muscle when it mattered most.