Brendon Kimber was dominant in defence as Cora Lynn trounced Lang Lang on Saturday. 19158 By Ken Moore
IN A replay of last season’s grand final, Cora Lynn opened its quest for back-to-back premierships with a decisive 46-point victory over Lang Lang.
The Cobras showed no sign of a premiership hangover, building a three-goal advantage at the first break and extending it to six at the main break.
The Cobras looked set to crush the Tigers when they cruised to a 66-point lead in the third term, but credit must go to the home side for a rallying to bring the deficit back to 35 points before the visitors eased home.
For the most part Cora Lynn was never seriously challenged.
Lang Lang boxed on well, but fielded a team with talent far short of what it had last season.
The Tigers enjoyed a purple patch from late in the third quarter until the 10-minute mark of the last quarter when it posted four unanswered goals, but struggled to impose pressure on its opponents for any great length of time.
Despite losing a number of quality players over summer, Cora Lynn looked every bit as good as last season.
Former Narre Warren star Brendon Kimber, who missed almost the entire 2008 season with a serious collarbone injury, set up many plays and was superb at centre half-back to be the pick of the Cobras in an even team performance.
New arrivals Ryan Davey from Cranbourne, Shane Dwyer and Jesse Edmonds, both from Narre Warren, featured prominently and veteran Chad Ingram displayed his usual happy knack of finding the ball all game.
Sharpshooter Ryan Donaldson again proved to be a potent force, steering through seven goals and there was a lot to like about the games from Matt Davey and Jason Hall, the latter a former Springvale Districts star who has returned the club.
After the match, Cora Lynn coach Chris Toner said they had eight new players and a new forward structure and he thought it was a good first-up effort.
“It took us time to adjust to our new rotations which we intend to use more often this season,” he said.
Lang Lang was outclassed, but plugged away all game.
Centre half-back Jason Kelly repelled many attacks, youngster Chris McCurdy appears to have bulked up this season and toiled hard in his ruck role and Corey Dowson gave it his all.
Debutants Ricky Caddell and Dale McIntyre both showed enough to suggest they have a bright future.
New recruit Luke Muirhead led and marked well from limited opportunities before leaving the field early in the third quarter with a facial injury.
Lang Lang coach Clint Evans said after the game that with so many new players it was going to take four to six weeks before they showed their best.
“To be honest, we’re not going to be where we were last season,” he said rather candidly.
