YET another four-quarter effort on Saturday sees the Penola A Grade footballers remain undefeated in the 2019 Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara season.
The Eagles claimed a 142-97 victory over Kaniva Leeor United on Saturday to stamp their authority on the competition.
However, after having a bye, Penola still sits second on the ladder, with top-placed Mundulla undefeated after five games, while the Eagles have only played four.
The Eagles do have the better percentage, but the two top sides will face off this weekend, which should sort out the top of the table one way or another.
But Saturday was all about the Eagles as they showed KL a clean pair of heels from the outset.
Penola paid little respect to the Cougars’ home ground, as they kicked out to a 25-point lead at the first break.
The Cougars fought back in the second term with eight major scores to Penola’s seven, but the Eagles still enjoyed a 20-point margin at the long break.
From there it was all Penola, with a further nine goals scored in the second half, while holding the home side to just five.
Once again the Merrett boys dominated in the attacking zone.
Adam Merrett kicked eight goals, while Brad Merrett followed up with seven.
Matt Berkefeld added two, while singles came from five other Eagles.
Interestingly KL’s Michael Wundke still sits well clear at the top of the goal kicking ladder, with 34 to his name after a bag of nine.
Adam Merrett is the closest Eagle to him, in third place with 23, while Brad Merrett fills fourth spot with 18.
Merretts also dominated the best players for Penola, with brothers Matt, Brad and Scott filling the first three places, while Adam was down in sixth.
Fourth and fifth were filled by former Western Border footballers Berkefeld and Brad Bryant.
Before the clash the Cougars were in fourth place with just one loss for the season, but have now dropped down a spot on the ladder.
The 45-point victory was the closest any team has come to the Eagles this season, with other victories including a round-one 82-point victory over Lucindale, a 55-point win over Kingston in round two, in round three a 59-point margin over Keith and this weekend’s victory.
Coach Matt Tilby was rightly pleased with another big win, despite a challenge from the Cougars in the second quarter.
“It was a funny sort of game,” he said.
“We had chances where we could have really been on top of them, but they fought back well.
“About 15 minutes into the second quarter we were up by seven goals, then they fought back and we were 20 points up at half time.
“I was still happy
with the boys, but we struggled a bit with our accountability.”
Tilby said KL played a couple of loose players behind the football, which his guys were slow to act on.
However, once that was sorted out, the game then returned to the Eagles’ favour.
He said Adam and Brad Merrett up forward continued to be a big advantage for his side.
“Adam has been exceptional coming back from a serious injury last year,” Tilby said.
“He sometimes flies under the radar – you get to the end of the game and think he kicked about four or five goals, but has eight.
“On a lead I do not think I have seen many better and he kicked 8.3 on Saturday, which was a good return.
“Brad has improved each week.
“He is an unbelievable talent and his marking ability, you would not see much better in country footy.”
Overall the victory places the Eagles in the ideal position as they face the biggest test of the season against Mundulla on Saturday.
