CASTERTON SANDFORD 11.10 (76) d MILLICENT 7.3 (45)
CASTERTON Sandford scored its first win of the 2019 Western Border Football season, after a 31-point victory in an intense contest against Millicent at McLaughlin Park on Saturday.
The 2018 minor premier’s victory ensured the Saints suffered a third-straight defeat to continue the home side’s miserable start to its premiership defence.
A dominant third quarter display by the Cats set up the five-goal win in the interrupted game.
Tensions soared early in the contest which featured an additional break after an unfortunate incident involving Millicent youngster Frazer Bradley.
Midway through the second term Bradley was in possession of the ball on the club-side wing before he was knocked unconscious after contact by Matthew Killey.
Half time was called early as Bradley required the assistance of an ambulance, while Killey was reported and handed a yellow card.
Bradley was later released from hospital after the mandatory observations.
This occurred just moments after a smaller scuffle on the 50-metre mark, which saw Jonah Grimes receive his second yellow card in as many home games.
Despite these heated moments, before and afterwards, the game was played in a hard style.
It was the Saints who hit the scoreboard first to take the lead, but the Cats answered back quickly.
An “ear massage” from Craig Gysbers gave away a 50-metre penalty, which handed Dylan Ayton the first of his two goals.
Sam Willis made his presence felt in the early stages, with his fast ball movement and his opening goalset up by an impressive tackle from Bradley.
A major each from Jackson Gibbs and Daniel Richardson saw Casterton Sandford stretch out to a 19-point advantage at quarter time.
Another 50-metre penalty at the expense of the home side was capitalised on, this time by Tom Sullivan who kicked the solitary goal for the Cats in the second term.
The intensity of the contest reached boiling point when MacDonald, Tincknell, Grimes and Mark Cowland were involved in a scuffle after a Millicent kick out, before Bradley’s game came to an early end.
Trainers rushed to Bradley’s aid, while the players moved off to their respective huddles before an early half-time break was called.
The resumption in play began with a roar from Willis, who converted a challenging set shot from the pocket to bring the margin back to just 13 points as a result of a 50-metre penalty from the Bradley hit.
The scoreboard was untouched for the remaining minutes of the second term, with all results a possibility heading into the second half.
Casterton Sandford playing coach Hamish Jarrad told his players to “go quick, long and direct”, which was exactly what the Cats did during the game-changing third quarter.
The away side booted six unanswered goals to lead by 40 points at the next break and put the result to bed.
The Sherrin was rarely seen outside Casterton Sandford’s forward half, thanks to fast and direct kicking from Richardson, quick hands from Sullivan and a dominant presence from MacDonald all around the ground.
The Cats were in party mode during the closing stages, as youngster Adam McKinnon snagged a major in his A Grade debut.
But Millicent did not go down without a fight, as the reigning premier outscored its opponents in the final quarter, with Willis collecting a bag of five goals to top off his standout display for the home side, while Hamish Smith was the only other Saint to kick truly with two majors.
In the end, a third straight loss to the Saints was inevitable, with the Cats on the winning side of a 76-45 scoreline at the final siren.
Tincknell’s defiant effort in defence saw him named best Saint on ground ahead of Willis, while Justin Carlin impressed in his elevation to senior football to win the top honour for the victors, followed by Richardson and MacDonald.
Ayton, Richardson and Josh Searle were the leading goal kickers for Casterton Sandford with two each.
Post match, Jarrad said playing a complete four-quarter effort was the key to the Cats’ breakthrough win.
“I was really proud of the boys,” he said.
“We put a big emphasise on making sure we didn’t go back into our shell and being mentally in the game, which has been a challenge for us as we tend to switch off in patches.
“We were just on from the first bounce and we applied really good pressure on the footy all day.
“There were very few occasions when they were able to get clean possession, which was a focus coming into the game.”
Despite a disappointing start to their 2019 campaign, Jarrad did not see the clash as a must-win game, instead he was pleased to see his side rediscover its style of football.
“It was just important to get back to playing our brand of football and to improve our execution, particularly centre-forward, which has really let us down in the first two weeks,” he said.
“I thought our connection, run and carry was a lot better today, which enabled us to put more scoreboard pressure on the opposition.
Jarrad said he was impressed by a number of inexperienced A Grade players in the side – which included four debutantes – who were the inspiration behind the win.
“Coming into the year, we obviously lost some quality players from last year,” he said.
“I have really put it on one or two guys who played in the reserves premiership (last year) and three or four of the players who have played a fair bit of senior footy to take that next step, so Justin Carlin was one of them.
“I thought it was time for him to step up and become a really good senior footballer and he is good enough to do it.
“He has showed that early in this season.
“Jackson Gibbs was outstanding from half-forward and it was great to see young Adam McKinnon kick his first goal.
“We wanted to make this a day that them blokes remember and it is great to enable them to have that for the rest of their lives.”
