Ellinbank and District Football League match of the day – round 10

By Ken Moore
CATANI put up its hand up as a genuine premiership contender after crushing Nar Nar Goon by 49 points on Saturday.
The contest turned into an anti-climatic affair after the Blues rammed on six unanswered goals to break clear inside the first 15 minutes of the opening term.
Despite the appearance of star Goon youngster and 2008 league best-and-fairest Andrew Oldmeadow, back from Springvale for one week, and another former Scorpion Chris Adams, also playing his first game for the season, the Goon did not recover from its slow start and was never a winning threat.
The warning bells sounded early for home fans when powerhouse Catani ruckman-forward Phil Smith took a well-judged mark and goaled inside the first minute of the game.
The Goon plunged further into the mire over the next 10 minutes when Luke James escaped his opponent to goal on two occasions, quickly followed by another to Smith, with a long bomb from outside 50, and soon after Leigh Jose and Luke McFarlane added to the Goon’s woes.
In the latter part of the quarter Oldmeadow scored the Goon’s opening goal and Chris Jones presented well and drilled through two to reduce the deficit to 29 points at the first break.
Catani started off the second quarter with a third goal by Smith, who was posing a major threat with his strong bodywork, sticky hands and accurate kicking.
Nar Nar Goon managed to stem the torrent of forward thrusts and goals for the next ten minutes and hit back with six-pointer by Shannon Stocco to pull back the gap to 29 points midway through the term.
There was only one more goal for the quarter scored by the mercurial Luke James to give the visitors a comfortable 35-point advantage at half-time.
Fired up by some harsh words from coach Clint Williams Nar Nar Goon came out a rejuvenated outfit in the first 10 minutes and gave its supporters a glimmer of hope when Matt Noonan marked and goaled early.
However, all the hard work and dominance over this period it was not reflected on the scoreboard.
A goal at the 15-minute mark by Clint Williams trimmed the difference to 31 points, but the Blues answered in the latter stage of the quarter with a pair of goals to the ever-elusive James to take a match-winning 43-point lead into the three-quarter-time huddle.
It did not take long before James featured again and at the five-minute mark he popped through his sixth goal to set up a 52-point lead and slam the door shut on any slim chance of a Goon revival.
To its credit, the Goon rallied mid term with four consecutive goals, however the Blues replied with the final four goals of the game to record an emphatic victory.
Catani’s victory was largely due to its flawless play in the first 15 minutes of the game that shell-shocked the home side.
For the most part, the Blues mix of seasoned and quality midfielders, led by Justin Evans, Antonio Benevenuto, Aaron Alger, Luke Harris and Shaun Pickering, gave their counterparts a lesson.
Across the forward line Phil Smith troubled the Goon defence with three early goals and Luke James underlined a fine game with six goals and could have made it double figures if he had kicked accurately.
Tough utility Paul Youle set the Blues on their way to victory with some strong ruck work in the first half and in defence Fiatupu Too Too, Nathan Ruskin and Andrew Stockx read play well and picked off their opponents with far too much ease.
It wasn’t the first time that veteran Catani mentor Paul Alger played down his team’s effort.
“Happy to play four good quarters against a good side,” he said.
“It was an important to start well because they jumped us last year.
Clearly not getting carried away with his team’s most impressive performance this season he said the win would keep them in touch with the top two on the ladder.
Catani faces Cora Lynn in two weeks (round 12) that will now be a real blockbuster and the result will give an indication as to whether the Blues are the real deal or just teasing their fans.
Nar Nar Goon was overshadowed in all departments and struggled to wheel out its usual free-flowing play-on style of game.
The Goon had two fine performers in Matt Wade, who displayed his characteristic gut-busting running and lightweight Dean Kelly, who repelled many attacks and offered plenty of run out of defence, especially in the first half when he had few allies to help.
Clint Williams tried hard to lift his team and Luke Dore and Brent Hughes offered plenty of cover across defence.
Andrew Oldmeadow garnered many disposals and kicked two late goals, but couldn’t break the lines and did not have his usual impact.
Ben Scanlon provided some rebound out of defence, but often blazed away with his kicking downfield.
Chris Jones (three goals) took a few nice grabs across the forward line, while Shannon Stocco and Brodie Howe showed a bit of toe and flair in glimpses and will be better for the big-game experience.
Goon coach Clint Williams did not mince words after the game and told his players in no uncertain terms that their effort, especially in the opening quarter, was unsatisfactory and said they failed to follow instructions.
Half an hour later and after he had cooled down Williams offered: “I am pretty disappointed. We couldn’t play the type of football we wanted. Our guys could not commit to the one-on-one contests and we were badly beaten at the stoppages.”
The Goon lost only two home-and-away games in 2008, but has already lost four games this season which says it is not playing anywhere near the same level of last year in the big matches.
It may need to restructure its line-up if it hopes to step up and match it with the top sides this season.