Berwick midfielder Jason Rahilly tries to shake a tackler during Saturday’s clash with Cranbourne at Casey Fields.By Brad Kingsbury
SATURDAY was cold, but Berwick was hot as they despatched Cranbourne’s hopes of sealing third position on the ladder, easing down to win a torrid game in slippery conditions by 16 points at the Edwin Flack Reserve.
The tougher it became the more the Wickers dug in and their sheer will to work hard and create numbers at each contest was the difference on the day.
That point was emphasised by a bitterly disappointed Cranbourne coach Doug Koop after the game.
“They worked for each other and we didn’t, it’s that simple,” he said.
“We’ve lost respect over the last three weeks and opposition sides will be thinking that if they put pressure on Cranbourne players, they will step aside. That really hurts and it should hurt too.”
The ground was wet and chopped up after significant rain during the week, with both sides having trouble handling the ball and gaining a break in the first half.
The Wickers missed talented young gun Nathan Page, who was a late withdrawal due to illness, but smaller ground-dwellers in Kris Fowler, Jason Rahilly, Nathan Talbett and captain Andrew Tuck were instrumental in matching the bigger-bodied Eagles at the stoppages.
Cranbourne’s attack was impotent with key targets Troy Tharle-Adams and Marc Holt well covered by their Berwick opponents and little back-up from team-mates.
The home side led by two points at quarter time and extended that against a slight breeze to 10 points at the main break, with the onus to regain control of the game firmly on the Cranbourne players in the second half.
The opposite occurred.
After a spirited opening to the third quarter, Berwick’s persistence and intense work ethic took its toll.
After a spate of behinds kept the Eagles in the contest, the match-breaking moment came at the 15-minute mark of the third term when, after a ball-up on the 10-metre line, Fowler somehow got his foot to a loose ball in the goalsquare and slotted a major that saw the Wickers grab an 18-point lead.
Cranbourne players’ heads dropped noticeably and the floodgates opened with the advantage blowing out to 35 points at the final change.
The two three-quarter-time huddles were a complete contrast.
Koop was trying to inspire his deflated and noticeably flat charges to lift and fight out the final term, while Berwick coach Glenn Dale went to pains to keep his excited players (and supporters) focussed on waiting another 30 minutes before celebrating their first win over a final-five contender.
That win was achieved, although the Wickers did fall away slightly in the last 15 minutes of the game and Koop was direct about what happened and how his side had to address their slump after the game.
“We played a side that worked harder than us and stuck to their game plan better than we did,” he said.
“They had much better numbers at the contest and in slippery conditions and they were cleaner with the ball.
“Over the last three weeks in particular, too many blokes have wanted to do their own thing and play for themselves, while the opposition have played for each other. We just need to toughen up mentally and physically.”
On the plus side was the effort that Adam Wright did to keep star Berwick spearhead Grant Noonan to two goals, together with the good form of Matt Thompson, Stuart Morrish, Ray George and lively small man Matt Fletcher.
Koop acknowledged Berwick was the far better side on the day and said that some of his players had got ahead of themselves and needed to reassess their football over next weekend’s bye.
Berwick was superb in the adverse conditions and apart from an arm injury to Michael Hannigan, the afternoon was a happy one.
Star forward Jason Heath presented well all day, while Sean Calamatta had the better of Holt and Dale Robinson proved a tower of strength in the ruck.
Captain Andrew Tuck said that the pre-match thinking was that, with the rain, Cranbourne would be fairly one-dimensional and reliant on Holt and the more players that the Wickers could get to the contest the better chance they had to apply pressure.
“We’ve got a good mix of height and running players this year. The first half was a real fight, but in the third quarter we got more numbers to the ball and went as hard as we could to force it our way,” he said.
“That’s what got us some momentum and when we got it into our forward 50, our forward pressure was enormous.
“We worked on setting up so we had blokes going in to get the ball out, but also players to get the ball out to as well. It was just our work rate and, it was a little disappointing that we didn’t finish it off better, but we had enough of a lead to hold them off.”
Dale said the win was important for the side, given it gave the Wickers a two-game break inside the top five and also proved that they were able to mix it and defeat another side entrenched in that top five.
