MILLICENT made a statement on Saturday in Round 3 of Western Border football, when it hosted West Gambier at McLaughlin Park.
With both teams showing promise in the early stages of the season, this match was highly anticipated by fans going into the round.
However, the Saints blew match of the round expectations out of the water, as it claimed a definitive victory over the Roos.
Much of that came on the back of a seven-goal haul from youngster Sam Willis, along with five from Dylan Bromley.
The pair finished off the work of a determined mid-field, that ran the ball hard and delivered forward with accuracy, something the Roos were unable to prevent.
Apart from a third-quarter slump, the Saints were simply clinical, running the Roos tagged.
Five first-quarter goals set up the win, with West held to just one major score.
Jonah Grimes was holding his own in the ruck against Todd Lewis, despite a distinctive height disadvantage.
The Saints simply used the disparity to their advantage and took on a couple of the best mid-fielders in the business in Brad Wilson and Tom Holmes.
The likes of Tom Hutchesson, Hamish Gordon, Hamish Nitschke and Reece Duncan simply worked hard and gained possession, pushing forward to find the likes of Willis to finish the job.
By the long break the margin had blown out to a massive 61 points and the Roos were always going to struggle to bridge the gap.
A renewed effort in the third term saw West turn the tables, to outscore Millicent by 18 points.
However, a stern talk from coach Clint Gallio had the Saints back on track in the final stanza, banging on 6.4 to West’s 3.2.
The final 63-point margin showed the Saints are on target to play finals football this season, considering the results from the remaining games.
East Gambier made short work of South Gambier, while North Gambier was found wanting against Casterton Sandford, with the Cats doing enough to steal top spot from the Saints by the slimmest of margins.
For Gallio it was a welcome result, specifically with such a good start to the game.
He said something simply clicked and the players were on from the start.
“Our starts haven’t been our strong point, but we have been working on a couple of things pre-game and trying to get everyone switched on a bit earlier,” Gallio said.
“We are trying to focus on footy and the two hours ahead of us, which helped.
“I think on Saturday everyone was on the same page and ready to go, which got us a good start.”
Gallio said he was pleased with the performance of his mid-field, up against the tough runners of the Roos, while Grimes work in the ruck was solid.
“Being a mid-fielder myself, I am hard on myself, so I have to be hard on them this year, because that is a real strength of ours,” he said.
“With Tom (Holmes) and Brad (Wilson), we know what kind of quality footballers they are, but I have Faith in my guys to go one-on-one with them.
“We won the footy and they were doing a lot of chasing.
“They are good footballers, but if they don’t have the ball, they can’t hurt us.
“Jonah just kept battling and creating a contest.
“There wasn’t a clear advantage to us or them in the ruck, but I think we were just able to go one-on-one with their mids and capitalised when the ball hit the deck.”
However, Gallio said he was not pleased with the third quarter, after such a dominant first half of football.
“We knew West would come out and have another crack, which they did,” he said.
“We had a lapse and a few decisions didn’t go our way, which is just footy, so we just have to learn to get over stuff like that, to keep pushing forward.
“We have a lot of experienced footballers in our side and they just didn’t stand up and lead the way.
“But that is something we can address and fix.”
Despite that lapse Gallio said it was pleasing to see his players bounce back in the final term and finish the game off in style.
“I put a challenge to the boys at three-quarter-time to kick 20-plus goals and we kicked 21,” he said.
“It was good to see the boys respond to that.
“We could have been happy and won by 40 points instead of 60, so in that respect it was good.”
After three rounds of football Millicent certainly appears one of the stronger sides in the competition this season, along with the Bulldogs and the Cats.
Much of that has come through the ranks at Millicent, with the weekend seeing not only Willis’s big bag of goals, but also Harry Tunkin in just his second senior game.
Gallio said that was all about rewarding players for their efforts.
“Sam and Harry were super in the pre-season,” he said.
“Sam has super skills and is fit.
“Young Harry has only just turned 15.
“He made his debut against North last week and didn’t look out of place at all.
“He is clean, his skills are good and his decision making for a young kid is unbelievable.
“Sam kicked a couple of set shots and a couple of snaps.
“He is a pretty skilful kid.
“He is not 18 yet, but is smart and knows where the goals are.”
With three wins now under their belts, Gallio said the feel around the club was buoyant, but he said he was not looking too far ahead at this early stage of the season.
“We are ticking off things we can and trying to improve on things,” he said.
“It is a cliche, but we are taking it week by week.
“That’s all we can do.”
