Above: Cora Lynn’s Michael Duiker looks to spoil Nilma Darnum’s Brenton Martin in their qualifying final on Saturday. Nilma Darnum had front position all day, recording a 35-point win. By Ken Moore
THE minor premiers Nilma Darnum won through to the 2009 EDFL grand final after a convincing 35-point victory over Cora Lynn at Western Park on Saturday. It will be the Bombers’ first grand final appearance since 1978.
For a large part of the match Nilma played the game on their own terms and their midfield dominance shut down the supply line to the Cora Lynn forwards. The Bombers avenged victory for their loss, the previous week at the hands of Cora Lynn in the final round of the home and away season and the all round team effort has reinforced its flag favouritism.
Kicking with a slight wind advantage in the opening term Nilma scored the first goal when former AFL star Mal Michael was awarded a free kick after he brilliantly ran down and dispossessed his opponent Dan O’Hara of the ball at the seven minute mark.
Mid-term star Cora Lynn forward Darren Sheen took a good mark and coolly went back to slot through a goal and tie the scores up. Nilma controlled play early in the quarter before the Cobras showed a few more promising signs in the later part of the term.
Only one point separated the teams at quarter time. Cora Lynn spent a long time defending and was well served in this department by veteran Chad Ingram, Tim Payne, who did a good job early on Bomber goal sneak Kael Bergles and Tim Crespin, who returned back from Springvale. Through the midfield the Allan brothers, Jack and Joe were competitive and kept the reigning premiers well in the hunt.
For Cora Lynn, midfielders Allan Chandler, Brenton Martin and Shane Youngman directed many passages of play and Mal Michael was prominent across centre half forward but let himself down by converting only one major from four scoring shots. Nilma entered their forward fifty metre zone far move often but gave away too many easy free kicks and did not keep their feet number times which kept their lead to the minimum.
Nilma opened the second quarter brightly with successive goals by the league leading goal kicker Kael Bergles inside the first five minutes to open up a 14-point lead.
At the 10-minute mark the Cobras gained traction in the contest when Darren Sheen won a free kick and steered through his second goal from an acute angle before Nilma stole back the initiative with late goals by Sale recruits Kane Martin and David Ivey to give the minor premiers a handy 22-point buffer at half-time. During the term Bomber best and fairest Jamie Cann and Rhett O’Hara set up many forward attacks and across the half back line Harley Lacunes and Phil Harris made some crucial spoils. Apart from Luke Hughes, Chad Ingram and Brendan Kimber, who all provided plenty of resistance in the second quarter, most of the key Cobra play makers went unsighted.
The opening five minutes of the third quarter was a carbon copy of second with Bomber wizard Kael Bergles showing his elusiveness to drill home another two goals and put the Bombers 34 points to the good.
The game turned into a real battle over the next 15 minutes and nether side could make any head way until Jamie Cann, a prolific ball winner, pounced on a loose ball and drilled home a goal from a difficult angle to extend the margin to a match winning 42 points.
In the dying second of the quarter Cora Lynn’s Joe Allen marked and played on and despite the siren sounding when it appeared he had yet to kick the ball, his accurate shot on goal was approved by the umpires and it reduced the deficit to 36 points at the last change.
Under pressure in the third quarter, the Cobra defence led by Dan O’Hara, Tim Crespin, Jason Hall, Jesse Edmonds and Luke Hughes all did well to repel a number of dangerous Bomber forward forays but Cobra Lynn struggled to mount any constructive forward moves. Jamie Cann and Kane Martin continued to be key drivers for Nilma in and around the middle.
Five minutes into the last quarter Cobra forward Matt Davey goaled after being on the end of one of the Cobras best passages of play for the game to give supporters a smidgeon of hope however Nilma kept things tight and Cora Lynn could not produce any more majors over the next 15 minutes to pose a menace. In the later minutes Brenton Martin poked through his second goal just prior to a late six pointer by hard working Cobra utility Jack Allen to reduce the margin to 35 points at the final siren.
Nilma won because of it had a far superior midfield led by Kane Martin, Jamie Cann and Allan Chandler, who all put the Cobras in a strong position early and their drive and work ethic never abated all game.
Rhett O’Hara picked up plenty of vital midfield disposals and Sale recruit Phil Harris read play well and provided good rebound from behind the centre. Harley Lacunes did well to contain Shane Dwyer and Michael Mooney and Shane Morgan played steadily in defence. Steve Hoskin, in his first game for the season, continually hassled and ran with Cora Lynn dynamo and Captain James Bradshaw and kept the Cobra quiet all game.
“We stuck to our game plan and were happy with a few adaptations (after last week’s loss to Cora Lynn). When I saw the rain I was rapt and thought that would help us. We met our team goals and our KPIs (key performance indices) across all lines,” said an elated Nilma Coach Brad Sinclair after the match.
Cora Lynn struggled to link and break the lines all game. The best of a disappointing effort were Brendan Kimber and Dan O’Hara. Kimber featured prominently in and around the middle and O’Hara did well to nullify Mal Michael. Across half back Luke Hughes read play well, took a number of courageous marks and offered good drive. Midfielders Jack and Joe Allen were far from disgraced and in the face of many Bomber advances Jesse Edmond, Tim Crespin and Jason Hall all weighed in with some handy resistance.
A pensive Cora Lynn Coach Chris Toner said after the game, “They were too good and handled the conditions far better. Our skills were not where they should have been. We were too stagnant all over the field and could not work off our opponents. Too often they reduced us to a kick and mark type play of game.”
