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Monday April 18, 2016

BENDIGO ADVERTISER

27

SPORT

North denies Elmore

Wasted
chances
costly for
Bloods
ROUND 3
BY LUKE WEST

LMORE was left to

rue poor conversion
as the opportunity
to upset reigning
Heathcote District Football
League premier North
Bendigo went begging for
the Bloods on Saturday.
The Bloods had three
more scoring shots, but were
overpowered by the Bulldogs in the last quarter, with
North Bendigo pulling away
to win by 37 points, 16.8
(104) to 8.19 (67), at Superior
Roofing Oval.
Elmore led by just two
points at half-time, despite
having had 12 more scoring
shots 4.15 to 6.1.
The margin at three
quarter-time was one point
in favour of the Bloods, who
at that stage had scored 24
times to 13, before the Bulldogs with the wind at their
backs piled on 7.4 to 1.2
in the final term to remain
undefeated.
Conversion obviously
hurt us if we had have taken our chances its probably
a different story, Elmore
coach Alex Gleeson said.
They got away from us
in the last 20 minutes of
the game, so theres a few
things we need to work on
in terms of stopping run-ons
in games.
The Bulldogs were
hampered with the losses
of Blayne Ryan-Storey
(hand) and Jarrod Findlay
(knee) early in the game,
with Findays injury likely to
sideline him until after the
inter-league break.
Elmore was well and truly on top of us for two-anda-half quarters, but we were
finally able to get a bit of our
gamestyle going to win the
game, North Bendigo coach
Rob Bennett said.
The most pleasing thing
about today was the way
we finished off after we had
been down to two on the
bench for most of the game.
Sam Barnes bagged six
goals for the Bulldogs,
whose best included Daniel
Morris off half-back and in
a run-with role on Cameron
Milward in the second half,
recruit Luke Buttigieg (two
goals) and Tyson Findlay
(three goals), while pacy
youngster Sani Egan also

CONTEST: Elmore's Travis Mills and North Bendigo's Aiden Metcalf compete in a marking duel on Saturday. Picture: GLENN DANIELS

ROUND 3
Results
North Bendigo d Elmore
by 37
White Hills d Huntly by
98
Colbinabbin d Heathcote
by 73
Leitchville-Gunbower d
LBU by 107

impressed on debut.
Danny Brewster kicked
five of Elmores eight goals
to be one of its best, while
assistant coach Jesse Smith
and Kyle Lang were others
to play well in one that got
away for the Bloods.
Huntlys blistering form
continued, and in doing so
the Hawks inflicted more
early-season pain on White
Hills with a 98-point hammering at Tint-a-Car Oval.
The Hawks scored 49
times and moved to the top
of the ladder with their 24.25
(169) to 10.11 (71) thrashing
of the Demons.
Huntly bolted out of the
blocks, piling to on 10.4 to
1.2 with the wind in the first
term to lead by 56 points at
quarter-time.
We really focused on
getting off to a good start.
We felt they would be down
on confidence after what
happened to them the

FIGHT FOR POSSESSION: Huntly's Matt Klein-Breteler and White Hills' Doolan Nihill do
battle on the wing during the Hawks' belting of the Demons. Picture: LUKE WEST

week before (79-point loss

to Mount Pleasant) and
we did that, Huntly coach
Jamie Hogan.
Obviously, you cant
maintain what we did in that
first quarter, but it was just a
matter of finishing the game
off, which we did.
The Hawks score of 169
followed their tally of 174
against LBU last round, with
the side having booted 51
goals the past two weeks.
Harry Whittle and Chris
Gleeson both kicked five
on Saturday and Jaydon
Cowling chipped in with
four as his fine start to the
season continued.
The classy Gavin James
was the best for Hawks, who
now have a clash against
another undefeated side,
Mount Pleasant, to look

forward to next week.

Forward Jake Ward kicked
three goals for the Demons
to be their best player, with
the task next week not
getting any easier for White
Hills, with an away trip
against Leitchville-Gunbower awaiting.
Eight goals from coach
Nick Knight helped Colbinabbin to a comfortable
73-point victory over Heathcote at M.J. Morgan Oval.
The Grasshoppers led by
30 points at quarter-time
after kicking with the wind
in the first term to set them
on the path to their 18.10
(118) to 6.9 (45) victory.
As well as Knights eight
goals, forward Ryan Hon
also bagged five before
he was knocked out in a
marking contest.

Knight, who has kicked

15 goals in the first three
rounds, consistent defender
Tom Hill and Mitch McEvoy were the best for the
Grasshoppers.
Forward Rikki Stephens
kicked four of Heathcotes
six goals to be one of the
Saints better players, along
with Jake Condon and
Daniel Carroll.
Colbo used the breeze
really well and we didnt use
it well in the second or last
quarter, Saints coach Paul
Kennedy said.
It was a step back today
from where weve been
playing the past few weeks,
which was disappointing.
The Saints kicked just
four goals with the breeze
compared to Colbos 11.
Leitchville-Gunbower

won its first game of the season, comfortably accounting

for Lockington-Bamawm
United by 107 points.
The Bombers won
20.19 (139) to 4.8 (32) at
Lockington in what was a
victory where they had 11
goalkickers.
I thought we played
really well in the first half, in
particular, but were let down
by some poor conversion in
the second half, Bombers
coach Matt Hawken said.
The Bombers kicked 11.6
in the first half by which
stage they were already 61
points up before adding
a further 9.13 in the second half.
Daniel Coates and Tim
Lincoln (two goals) were
both prominent for the
Bombers, who had Matt
Perri (four), Ayden Walton
(three) and Sam Kennedy
(three) combine for 10 goals.
The best for the Cats in his
150th game for the club was
Matt Bongiovanni. Veteran
Mick Dobson kicked two of
their four goals.
It might not look like it
on the scoreboard, but we
took some steps forward. We
got it forward more today
and took some marks in our
forward half, but we need
to keep working to improve
defensively, Cats coach
Peter Gibbs said.