By Lachlan Onions
Hatherleigh 26.21 (177) d Tantanoola 7.4 (46)
Hatherleigh’s strong run of form continued on Saturday as the Eagles claimed an emphatic 131-point victory in Round 13 of Mid South Eastern football.
“It was a pretty good win in the end,” Hatherleigh coach Jake Dowdy said.
From the first bounce, it was all Hatherleigh as the Eagles kicked seven majors in the first quarter to take a 35-point lead at the first break.
Tantanoola showed some fight in the second term to restrict Hatherleigh to just three goals, while it added two of its own.
“I think we played a good three quarters, the second quarter we still out-scored Tantanoola but it was only by one goal,” Dowdy said.
“Tantanoola played really good in that quarter and we probably didn’t quite play as well.”
He said his side lost concentration in the second quarter and he wanted them to get back on track in the third term.
Dowdy said earlier this season his team have struggled to stay in the game for four quarters and it has been an area which he is focused on improving for Hatherleigh.
The Eagles flexed their strength in the third quarter as they kicked nine goals to extend their lead to 100 points at the final change.
“It was a pretty good response from the boys,” Dowdy said.
“Everyone switched on after halftime.”
The one-way traffic continued in the final quarter when Hatherleigh added seven majors to put the icing on the cake.
The Eagles were relentless in attack as they had five players kick three of more goals.
Patrick Chay was the pick of the bunch with an impressive seven goals straight.
Dowdy was pleased with the performance from Chay after the forward has had an interrupted season due to a serious back injury.
He said Chay played as a winger last season and has only “played up forward a bit” this year.
“He (Chay) was really good,” Dowdy said.
“He has started to play more up forward and he just looks really good there.
“He leads forward and takes a lot of marks.”
Dowdy said his forward line is hard to match up on due to the range of players who are strong in the forward 50.
Sam Telfer backed up his 21 goals last week against Robe with four majors against the Tigers.
Telfer now has 31 goals in eight games this season.
Brad Mitchell’s strong season continued as he kicked four majors.
This was the sixth game this year where Mitchell has kicked three of more goals.
Jordan Galpin was named best on ground with a strong performance which included three majors.
“Galpin was unreal in the middle,” Dowdy said.
“He was just hard at the footy and got into really good spots.
“His delivery to our forwards was unreal.”
Jack Skeer was named amongst the Eagles’ best players with a strong performance on the wing.
“He got a lot of the ball and played really well,” Dowdy said.
