WESTERN Border Football League ladder-leader East Gambier produced a seven-goal second term burst to set up a 59-point victory over an undermanned West Gambier to claim their second Call-to-Arms Cup since it’s inception in 2011.
The cup was struck to raise funds and awareness for men’s health and in particular to honour the late Phil Muhovics who lost his courageous fight against cancer in 2010.
Muhovics was a loyal and dedicated servant of both the Kangaroos and Bulldogs clubs, in a playing and coaching capacity at senior and junior levels where he left a positive impact on the players he developed.
West started the battle to retain the prestigious silverware in its Malseed Park trophy cabinet, with a team void of seasoned key-position players and an abundance of light-weight rookies striving to establish themselves in senior ranks.
Conversely East – which is on target to contest top end finals action – was strengthened by the inclusion of robust joint coach and pivotal tall utility Matt Scanlon, who has recovered from a fractured arm he sustained in the South East Zone Carnival six weeks prior.
The Bulldogs were still missing injured high-flying forward beacon Mark Rumbelow and fleet-footed line breaker Jack Dawe was an exclusion from the selected squad.
When East dynamo Jesse Fry jetted away from the opening toss-up to spear the ball into fast leading Shem Balshaw’s hands, who then confidently converted for full points, images of the expected blowout game result loomed early.
In respect for the symbolism of the occasion the rebuilding Kangaroos as a collective group enthusiastically dug deep and responded to challenge of the threatening Bulldog dominance of proceedings.
This turned the game into a vigorous “scrap and scramble” for clean possession and stifled fluid movement away from the stoppages, as both teams struggled to smoothly transition through the midfield zone.
This game trend created an impasse which restricted scoreboard impact to only two more goals provided by the now dominant Bulldog Fry and hard-toiling solo Roo ruckman Todd Lewis, who snapped truly just prior to the quarter’s end.
The second term saw the Bulldogs finally break the restraining “leash” applied by the desperate Kangaroos to blast seven majors in a row, until the home side snuck one back nearing half time to trail by 43 points.
During this period Fry built on his display of arrogant ball getting/carrying and distribution, which set a standard readily adopted by the likes of teammates Matt Willson, Frazer Scanlon, Shem Balshaw, Kevin Thomson (two goals) and Mark Keiselbach.
The second half mirrored the opening term, with the negating Kangaroos continuing to harass and pressure the Bulldogs arena wide to prevent them from repeating the earlier match killing cluster of goals.
As the standout contributor in all facets of the game, featuring his courageous attack on the ball, Fry was presented with the Phil Muhovics Memorial Medal by Dennis Muhovics.
While East’s official best players list reflects those who had the most sustained impact on the final result, I was impressed by the promising input at various stages of developing Roos Jake Blackwell, Bowen Hosking, Lachlan Jones and Aden Pfitzner.
The eventual 59-point victory reflected East’s ability via a nucleus of multi-optional proven talent to stamp their authority on a lowly ranked team for a short period to secure a regulation win.
Bulldogs joint coach Matt Willson said he was happy with the second quarter effort, but the game became a scrap in the end as West applied pressure around the ball to shut down the run.
“We had to work through that and it’s a good learning curve for us and similar to last week,” he said.
“It’s just finding that consistency for four quarters.”
Willson confirmed he had been added to the SA Country Squad to play Western Australia Country in Fremantle next Saturday evening, which already included teammate Rumbelow.
If the duo are included in the final state team it will impact the eagerly awaited blockbuster in the form reigning premiers North Gambier to be contested next round at McDonald Park.
West coach Steve Wenman said even though East is a slick unit that jumped his side early, he was happy overall with his side’s defensive efforts in the second half.
“I haven’t been able to complain about the boys competitiveness over the past five or six weeks as well as the combative nature of our kids who have been cracking in 110pc,” he said.
“It’s just our skill, ability and maturity that’s costing us.”
