By Lachlan Onions
GLENCOE 25.11 (161) d HATHERLEIGH 9.10 (64)
GLENCOE sent shockwaves across the Mid South Eastern Football League when it downed Hatherleigh by 97 points on Saturday.
Glencoe coach Tom Edwards was delighted with his team’s comprehensive performance against one of the stronger sides in the competition.
“We were really happy with the way we played and we were able to execute the plan we put in place so we are really happy with the win,” Edwards said.
“We were pretty disappointed in our Round 1 effort against Port MacDonnell and we had a few players who missed that game who were able to play this week.
“So we knew that if we played our best and put in to practice what we have been doing at training, we would be competitive.”
The Murphies went into this clash off the back of a 93-point loss in Round 1 and faced last year’s grand finalists in what many would have expected to be a comfortable game for the Eagles.
With a goal and multiple inside 50s in the opening minutes of the encounter, Hatherleigh was on the prowl held the ascendancy.
However, the Murphies remained unfazed and soon turned the tides as they kicked 3.5 (23) to head into the first break with a healthy 16-point lead.
The second quarter was where Glencoe shone and the hosts kicked 11 majors to lead by a monster 58 points at half time.
“We had a lot of the play in the first quarter but we just were unable to execute the goals and they were putting us under some pretty good pressure and making it hard,” Edwards said.
“So at the break, we just talked about getting the ball in good areas and trying to give our forwards a good look at it and giving it to them in high-percentage areas so they could kick those goals.
“We managed to go on a pretty good run and I think we kicked 10 goals straight at one point.”
It was a similar story in the third stanza as the Murphies added eight goals to the Eagles’ three and the margin was increased to 85 points with one quarter to play.
Glencoe’s onslaught continued into the final term as it scored three majors to seal a 97-point thrashing.
It was an unforgettable afternoon for Tory Weaver as he kicked nine goals and was named best on ground.
“He was really good, he just worked really hard all day to get himself into some really good positions and was able to kick a lot of goals which was pleasing,” Edwards said.
He was supported by Harry Comley and Patrick Mitchell, who kicked three majors each, as well as Jake Blackwell, Sam Giersch and Alex Hentschke, who all bagged two goals.
“Patrick Mitchell was really strong all day, as was Zacc Cocks and Jack Edmonds was really good down back,” Edwards said.
“It was a really good team effort – we did not have any passengers on the weekend.”
For the visitors, Sam Telfer was the standout performer in the forward line with a bag of five goals, while Matthew Francis was named best on ground in an otherwise disappointing performance for last year’s runners-up.
