Casey Cardinia League first semi-final

By Brad Kingsbury
CRANBOURNE announced it was back in local football as a genuine finals force after 10 years in the wilderness, with a devastating 75-point thumping of reigning triple-premiership holders Narre Warren in Saturday’s first semi-final.
The swagger was back at Casey Fields as captain and spiritual leader Marc Holt treated three of the competition’s best defenders as novices, slotting nine of his side’s 21 goals in breezy conditions at the Toomuc Reserve.
It was Cranbourne’s biggest score for the year and coach Doug Koop had no hesitation in praising his side’s super effort.
“Today was easily our best team performance for the year without doubt,” he said.
“We didn’t want to make the finals and go out in straight sets, we thought we were better than that. I think we proved that.”
Despite the Eagles taking a two-nil home and away record into the cut-throat clash, Narre Warren fielded its strongest side of the season with the return of Daniel Borninkhof and Chris Collins and started the game as slight favourites.
However that counted for nothing after Holt won the toss and kicked with the assistance of a steady cross breeze.
Cranbourne piled on four goals in the first 12 minutes with the Magpie forwards only able to watch from a distance thanks to some superb rebounding across half back by Matt Thompson, Aaron Shedlock and wily veteran Troy Datson.
Matt Werner scored the Magpies only goal of the term just before time-on before another six-minute burst of power from the Eagles produced a further five unanswered majors.
When Holt slotted his fourth for the quarter on the siren to give his side a 52-point lead at the first change, the contest was as good as over.
The Magpies were soundly beaten out of the midfield with Eagles Adam Wright and Stuart Morrish dominating the ruck, and Narre Warren players simply did not work hard enough both ways to make a run at their super-confident opponent.
Cranbourne retained a lead of more than 40 points for the rest of the match and finished the game with four goals to put the icing on a well-prepared cake.
The Eagles exerted extreme physical pressure on the Magpie youngsters at every stoppage and it took a swift and significant toll.
Koop’s match-ups all worked well with Luke Martin shadowing Magpie young gun Jackson Parker, Daniel Watson keeping Brett Evans in check and Ricky Harmes running with star midfielder Michael Collins throughout the afternoon.
Collins still had plenty of the ball and booted two goals but did not have enough mates prepared to sacrifice themselves to stop the Eagles’ momentum.
Magpie captain Glenn Hamilton battled the game out manfully along with defender Daniel Vandenbroek, but it was a disappointing day for the Magpies’ army of supporters who have become so accustomed to winning at this time of year.
Holt was clearly best afield and saw off top line defenders including Lee Boyle, Colin McNamara and Steven Kidd, while teenage sensation Ryan Jones was busy on a wing and had the better of Magpie Chris Lee.
One of the most telling statistics between the sides was the number of inside-50s. Cranbourne had almost 30 more entries to their scoring area than the Magpies which underlined the Eagles’ dominance in the midfield and superior work rate around the ground.
Koop, who was named as coach of the 2009 Team of the Year on Monday night, said the effort was exactly what was required to win finals football and his players would be better again for that experience.
“We were expecting a really tough game but our first quarter made it very difficult and I thought our second quarter was just as good,” he said.
“They really needed to do something very special after half-time and it was just beyond them.”
“We put it to the players and just made sure we covered the bases after half-time.”
“There were certain things we knew we had to do to stop Narre Warren and we did them perfectly.”
He also acknowledged Holt’s performance as inspirational but added that there were more strings to the Cranbourne bow this season.
“We got enough supply to him so that was good, but there were nine others who contributed to the goals so that was even better,” he said.
“But when Holty’s on you just have to sit back and watch, don’t you?”
Narre Warren coach Matt Shinners complimented Koop and his side, saying there were no excuses for the Magpies.
“Cranbourne has been working on a game plan for three years and it clicked and they played four quarters of footy. We just couldn’t get into the game,” he said.
“The players just didn’t listen to instructions and that was the result.”
“I played what I thought was my best side but the way Cranbourne played, I don’t think it would have mattered who was in the team today.”
Narre Warren’s awesome era of domination was brought to a halt by the drubbing but Shinners was realistic in his assessment of the performance of his predominantly young group in 2009.
“I think the season caught up with us and we finished where we should have finished. We didn’t beat Cranbourne during the year and we haven’t beaten the others above them so I suppose that says it all,” he said.
“This year we played 42 players through the side. That’s an achievement because players played senior football that probably never thought they would and we won games that maybe we shouldn’t have won.”
“It’s a reality check but we got two finals into this group and they know what’s required to get up to the top again.”
One thing that was plainly evident is that both Saturday’s combatants are on the way up and it would not surprise to see these two sides battle it out in a grand final in the next year or two.