Blues dust off Industrials

By Ken Moore
PERENNIAL finalists, Catani, moved into second spot on the ladder after a convincing and surprisingly easy 50-point victory over one of the season’s big improvers, Warragul Industrials on Saturday.
Playing at home, the Dusties were focussed early and slotted through the first two goals, but as the game wore on its efforts petered out.
After an even first quarter, the visitors nudged ahead in the second term to establish a13-point lead at the main break.
It then rammed home its advantage with five answered goals against the wind in the third quarter to lead by 43 points at the last change, effectively putting the result beyond doubt.
Blues’ recruit Luke James was the architect behind the victory with a number of freakish marks and five goals to underline his name as one of the elite forwards in the league.
Ruck-rover Andrew Stockx was hard at the ball all game and helped link the defence and midfield with their forward line to be the Blues most effective contributor.
Promising wingman Kaine Wedlock showed he was going to be a key player for the Blues with a fine game and experienced Garfield recruit Shaun Pickering found plenty of the ball and kept pumping it forward all game.
Youngster Leigh Jose returned to the senior line-up and found some form with two third-quarter goals and also two apiece during the quarter from James and Owen Fitzpatrick.
It was these three forwards that made the difference.
Fiatupu Too Too provided good rebound out of the backline in his best game since crossing from Nyora over summer and Justin Evans and Antonio Benevenuto played a big role in the Blues midfield engine room, while Luke McFarlane seldom missed a beat in the last line of defence.
Any slim hopes the Dusties held for a last-quarter revival were snuffed out when Catani steered through the opening two goals of the final term.
The Industrials had more than enough forward 50 entries to be closer on the scoreboard, but couldn’t convert their forward forays into goals.
Too many times the Dusties midfielders failed to hit a forward target and they will need to pick up on this part of their game if they are to knock over the top sides.
Narre Warren recruits Chris Larosa, Shane Brewster and Brett Wadleton were in and under the packs all match and kept the Dusties fighting, while Nick Visser and Jamie West offered heaps of rebound from defence and ruckman Gerard Bongiorno was more than competitive all game.