Trevor Jackson
Mount Burr 19.11 (125) d Kongorong 6.9 (45)
Mount Burr continued its climb up the Mid South East football ladder, with a big win over Kongorong on the road.
Courtesy of a loss to Port MacDonnell, the Mozzies shot up to third place, now four points clear of the fifth-placed Robe, who also suffered a loss.
The Mozzies were always on top of the Hawks on Saturday, 21 points clear after the first quarter and building from there.
Three goals to Kongorong in the third term showed some resolve from the hosts but even then, the Mozzies banged on six majors to keep the Hawks at bay.
The final term saw the Mozzies run the game out, with four major scores to just one.
The win came on the back of an impressive effort in front of goals by Mount Burr’s Hamish Smith who banged on eight goals, despite the slippery conditions, while Jack Gregory added six.
Winning coach Reece Duncan said he approached the game with a simple plan – to have a good start and keep it rolling for four quarters.
“Overall I have been happy with our starts all year,” he said.
“We have had the odd game where we may have slipped a bit then battled to get back.
“Before the game e just spoke about how important our pressure and start is.
“Kongorong is one of those sides, if you give them a sniff and they are up and about, I think they can beat anyone.
“They are a hard team to contest against, have big bodies and move the ball well.”
Duncan said ball movement and defensive pressure were two areas he focused on.
By the main break the 44-point margin favoured the Mozzies but Duncan wanted to retain the advantage and run the game out.
“Coming in at half time we were up, so I challenged the boys,” he said.
“I said are we happy enough with it, are we are just going to fall asleep now or are we hungry enough to keep pushing and really try to up our defensive pressure.
“I thought we moved the ball well in the first half but I thought our defensive pressure could pick up.
“So we knuckled down and pressed on with our pressure and ball movement.”
Duncan said as the end of the season approached, his side players needed to be over every aspect of their game, specifically this weekend against Port MacDonnell.
“This weekend will be a huge one for us,” he said.
“We are treating every game as a must win and if we can win this weekend it will go a long way to help the end of our season.
“It is the next challenge and we look forward to it.”
