DO NOT FORGET THE WARRIORS
Waratah delivers on potential, claims big scalp
WARATAH recorded its best win of the 2020-21 NTFL season when it beat the Darwin Buffaloes by 23 points last night.
The red-and-white jumpers were challenged in the third and last quarters before sealing a 13.5 (83) to 9.6 (60) win with a fine Rob Turnbull goal from a forward pocket.
Waratah dominated the first half of football by applying the basics extra well.
Tahs had numbers around the ball, kicked to position and made every shot for goal count. The first three goals of the match and the last five of the second quarter resulted from some of the club’s best football this season.
Rob Turnbull and Brodie Carroll around the ball, Zach Westerberg in the ruck and a mobile forward line where Jake Sutton and Cameron Arnold were on target presented some major hurdles for Cameron Stokes and his Buffalo coaching staff to overcome.
The Buffaloes suffered from an early attack of the goalkicking yips when the active Mihail Lochowiak and
Max Kennedy missed relatively simple shots.
But five minutes into the third quarter the momentum shifted towards the Buffaloes.
The Buffalo revival began with goals from Lochowiak (twice) and Ishmael Palmer that dragged the difference back to 19 points.
It was a margin that would have been 13 if Lochowiak had converted from a big mark deep on a forward flank.
Then it was 12 points when Shaun AhMat was held 25m out and directly in front, a task he completed by splitting the goals with a drop punt.
Both sides swapped goals before a Callum Searle snap lifted the red and whites to an 18-point lead at the last change with the Buffaloes surging. WARATAH 3.2 8.4 10.5 13.5 (83) BUFFALOES 0.2 2.4 7.5 9.6 (60) GOALS – Waratah: J Sutton 3 R Turnbull 3 C Arnold 2 M Blake 2 T Fields C Searle S Godden. Buffaloes: M Lochowiak 3 S AhMat 2 I Palmer 2 J Collinson T Eldridge
BEST – Waratah: Z Westerberg R Turnbull S Godden C Searle J Sutton. Buffaloes: J Stokes M Lochowiak M Kennedy R Pendlebury T Eldridge.