By Ken Moore
LOWLY Catani belied its poor recent form to snatch a draw against top six candidate Bunyip on Saturday.
Trailing by four points at half-time, the Blues looked set to pull off an upset victory when goals by Andy McKenna and Owen Fitzpatrick in the third quarter gave them a nine-point lead in heavy and muddy conditions that made every goal precious.
In an exciting finish, a goal by the Bulldogs’ Doveton recruit, Michael Lasczyk, reduced the margin to one point before Catani captain Luke McFarlane won a free kick in the goal square and kicked truly to seemingly ice the game.
But the Bulldogs kept coming and, with a late goal by strongly built youngster Jake Buckingham, the four match points were shared.
Catani defender McFarlane was at his resilient best and another plucky type, Justin Evans, played his best game for the season since returning from Drouin over summer.
Nat Rodda and Jake Delphine found plenty of the ball again and fellow midfielder Antonio Benvenuto, in his first game back in well over a month, showed a few glimpses of his best.
Youngster Ryan Williams earned another senior game after he gathered a number of handy disposals and Tom Grant repelled many attacks in the last line of defence.
Bunyip defenders Brad Wolfe, Aaron Henwood and Marc Jolley offered strong resistance all game while midfield Ash and Brad Walker, Callum Pattie, Ben Jostlear and Robbie Lee were regularly in the thick of the action.
DESPITE an encouraging start to the season, when it did not lose a game until round five, Longwarry is now 10 points away from sixth spot after it suffered a 16-point away from home loss in slippery conditions at Ellinbank.
After leading by eight points at quarter-time the home side grabbed the ascendancy in the second term and went into the main interval with a match-winning 26-point advantage.
The Crows fought back with three goals to reduce the difference to only seven points at three-quarter-time but failed to score in the last term.
Banker half-back Andrew Quirk played an instrumental role, midfield Ash Wallace and Terry Mildren were busy and Tim Farthing did well to subdue Crows forward Luke Serong.
Brad Berry attacked the ball with purpose all game and former Nar Nar Goon junior Nathan Van Steensel stymied a number of attacks in defence.
Longwarry assistant coach Tye Holland racked up plenty of possessions, Tim Milner, in his 100th game for the club, was his steady self across the half-back line and ruck-rover Leigh McDonald had his usual vigorous presence in and under the packs.
Scott Hamilton was solid at centre-half-back, Luke Bond made an impact against his former club when he moved into the ruck in the third term and back pocket Brock Neve played his part when needed.
NEERIM NEERIM SOUTH south proved it was a serious top two chance after it romped home by 52 points over a disappointing Cora Lynn.
The Cobras started well with four first-quarter goals to lead by 12 points at the first break but thereafter lost its way and were easily outscored by the home team in each of the remaining quarters.
Strongwilled Cat Cam Hinkley provided the midfield grunt, Mick Urie (three goals) and 16-year-old Kody Wilson were lively across the forward line and former Garfield and Drouin utility Dean McFarlane was a pillar of strength at centre-half-back.
Luke Nobelius funnelled the ball out of the packs regularly and Matt Ward, best and fairest in the thirds last season, did some nice things and looks a likely prospect.
For the Cobras, rover Brady White was prominent, Dan Harders barely lost a ruck duel and Tim Payne produced good drive from his wing position and laid many effective tackles.
Michael Duiker gave the Cobras good run and carry off the half-back line and Matt Pierce was solid at centre-half-back and used his body well when sidelined coach Brendan Kimber moved him into the middle in the second half.
Such is the closeness of the teams below Garfield on the ladder that Cora Lynn’s loss saw it plunge from third to sixth and it is now under threat of losing its spot in the top six.
WARRAGUL Industrials came from behind to beat Kooweerup by 16 points.
The Dusties faced a huge upset when the Demons produced an eight-goal opening term blitz and held a 43-point lead at quarter-time.
From then on Warragul worked its way back into the contest but it took until the last quarter before it hit the front when Kooweerup eventually ran out of steam.
The Dusties had two good attacking options in Troy Hemming (four goals, including three in the second quarter when he came off the interchange bench) and Ben Campbell (three goals) while after the first break Russell Ware and Adam Neal provided solid defence.
Demons coach Rhys Morgan ignited the home side with three opening term goals and gave his opponents the run around all afternoon, despite close attention from Damian Dawson, and ruck-rover Jack Carson also found an appetite for the ball.
Craig Dyker was steady down back and Matt Jackman and Max Longson were assigned a tagging role and both carried out their duties well.
Warragul will have to lift enormously if it is to beat Garfield in Saturday’s match of the day.
BULN BULN ground out a seven-point victory over Nilma Darnum in shockingly heavy conditions at the Darnum Recreation Reserve.
The Bombers fired the opening salvo with an early goal by Stanis Susuve and dominated the first quarter but, incredibly, could not score another goal for the rest of the game.
In the second quarter two goals by opportunist Buln Buln forward Brendan Santurini and another by promising youngster Trent Baker turned an 11-point quarter-time deficit into a seven-point lead.
No goals were scored after half-time and players, all caked in mud, were barely recognisable.
The difficulty for players and umpires alike was highlighted when Nilma was awarded a free kick in the last quarter after a Buln Buln player tackled his own team mate.
For the Bombers, ruckman Johnny Ikupu had a crack, Shane Youngman, Michael Mooney, Andrew Fyffe and James Hamill tried hard to move the ball forward all game.
The Buln Buln victory, its third for the season, will help it ease any wooden spoon fears it might have held a fortnight ago.
