ON an almost prefect day for football, East Gambier added another victory to its list with a solid 40-point win over South Gambier.
While it seems a comfortable result on paper, the Bulldogs were forced to work hard for the victory, with the Demons providing plenty of resistance around the ground.
With the likes of Brayden Kain up forward and a host of young running players in the list, South was always going to be tough on home soil at Blue Lake Sports Park and it showed just that.
The first quarter became a hard grind, despite East appearing to have more quality possession.
At the first break the margin was just 10 points, but could have been far more decisive was it not for inaccurate kicking by the Bulldogs.
East kicked five behinds in the opening term, with just two major scores.
However, the Bulldogs reversed that in the second quarter with five major scores and two behinds.
“We were missing goals in the first quarter,” Bulldogs coach Matt Willson said.
“In the second quarter we were missing players.
“But once we got it forward we were able to kick goals, which was good.”
Much of the improvement came from a strong defensive six, which seemed almost impenetrable at times and rebounded the play back up the ground quickly to the waiting Bulldogs in the attacking zone.
Nick Lock was impressive deep, with the ability to not only stop Demons spearhead forward Kain, but to also create momentum and push the ball through the middle of the ground.
“I thought our back six was very good,” Willson said.
“It was a bit different again, but they worked well together.
“Nick Lock has taken his game to another level.
“He missed a lot of games early in the season, but has come back well.
“He closed down the best forward in the competition, but he also generated a lot of pace through the middle of the ground.”
That pace was picked up by the likes of Jack Dawe, Jayden Eldridge and Willson himself to push forward.
Eldridge provided his trademark hard-at-the-ball style of play, while the pace generated by the likes of Dawe, Willson and Jake McKeon saw the ball head forward too quickly for the Demons to counter.
Once inside 50 there were plenty of options to score.
By the long break the Bulldogs had clearly fixed their issues kicking for goals and the scoreboard pressure continued to rise from there.
While the Demons threw everything at the contest in the third term, with the likes of Jake Tentye, Bronson Saffin, Brent Howard and Dion Stratford all showing experienced heads, the Bulldogs seemed to have an answer.
Unfortunately Nick Jenkin finished his day early for the Demons after a harsh tackle from Willson in the third quarter.
The game was held up for a long period while Jenkin was attended to, with an ambulance on its way to the ground.
He eventually walked off towards the ambulance with the assistance of medical personnel.
While the pace of the contest continued, so did East’s prowess in front of goal.
By the final break the margin had crept out to 27 points and the Bulldogs looked almost home, although more would be needed to put the result beyond doubt.
Both sides came out hard in the final stanza, with the game still on the line.
An early goal to Dawe stretched East’s margin further.
By then the result was all-but a foregone conclusion, but the contests around the ground continued, until Patrick Hatch banged through a major late in the game and it was all over.
The East back six kept the pressure on all game, with Lock having a blinder.
The Demons were presented with few opportunities in their attacking half of the ground, with 10 less scoring shots at the end of the day.
For the Bulldogs, Matt Scanlon stood tall around the ground again and banged on four goals by the final siren.
Once again Willson praised the former coach.
He said his style of play was so important to the side, which was clear on Saturday.
Kevin Thomson was also on target up forward, with three major scores.
Other goal kickers for the Bulldogs included Dawe with two, plus Jeremy Clayton and Grady Janeway, who contributed a goal each.
While the Bulldogs have lost three games in 2019, for Willson it was a welcome result, after a tough victory over Casterton Sandford last round, preceded by a loss to North Gambier in round eight.
“It was great to get the win, especially going into the bye,” he said.
“Now we can have a break and come back ready for a big challenge against West Gambier.”
The 2019 season will break this weekend for the South Australian Country Championships in Port Pirie.
