Kinglake.
Following their A grade netball loss Alexandra opened the seniors footy by kicking the first score of the seniors in the opening minutes and kicking the opening goal of each quarter, Alexandra could not continually penetrate their forward fifty losing to Kinglake by 38 points.
The first quarter saw Kinglake laying 11 tackles with 14 centre clearances to just three from Alexandra leaving Kinglake with a quarter time margin of just nine points, Kinglake 4.1 (25) to Alexandra 2.4 (16).
Despite Kinglake having only 11 inside 50s to Alexandra’s 12 during the opening quarter the scoreboard didn’t reflect such with Kinglake’s Zac White then kicking a Lakers goal just as the siren sounded.
Kinglake playing coach Brad Wilkinson describes Kinglake’s first quarter effort as
“We got right on top.”
“Fantastic that quarter…that’s what happens when we stay switched on…talking to one another and staying focused.”
“We’re cutting them off and we’re getting scoring shots from it”
“Keep on top of that contested ball guys…” whilst Alexandra co-coach’s Sam Kidd and Scott Rowan asked Alexandra players to “…stop just stop watching them (Kinglake) run off with the ball…stop just watching it happen and do something about it…”
“We’ve got to work harder and stand together harder.”
After their quarter-time rev up it was Alexandra who came out firing to quickly put the first goal on the board before Kinglake would later break away to an 18-point lead midway through the second quarter.
Despite centre clearances being equal at four each, Kinglake would manage 15 inside 50s to just two from Alexandra to see Kinglake twenty points up at half time. Kinglake 6.7 (43) to Alexandra 3.5 (23).
Alexandra again opened scoring to reduce the margin to just 14 points whilst Kinglake doubled Alexandra’s centre clearances, six to three with Kinglake have 13 inside 50 metres whilst Alexandra only managed eight by three quarter time. Kinglake 8.11 (59) to Alexandra 5.10 (40) with Kinglake coach reminding players during the three quarter time huddle to “be mindful of the player out the back of the pack” and insisting that players “keep that pressure on them (Alexandra)…”
Kinglake came out firing in the last quarter putting to rest any hope of a last quarter revival from Alexandra with Alexandra coach Scott Rowan summing up his teams’ effort post-match
“We’re pretty disappointed…that’s two weeks in a row now we haven’t played decent footy.”
“All we can do is reset and start again in seven days’ time”
Kinglake 13.13 (91)
Goals: Brad Wilkinson 4, Jack Crowe 2, Ethan Robinson 2, Lachie White, Bailey Robinson, Hadrian Prest, Michael Fitzclarence, Zac White.
Best: Brad Wilkinson, Ben White, Bailey Hamer, Josh Mende, Jayden Butterworth, Michael Fitzclarence.
Alexandra 7.11 (53)
Goals: Stephen Steiner 2, Ryley Norris, Callum Tranter, Brayden Norris, Zachary Heaslip, Ben Cooper.
Best Players: Lee Ragg, Connor Heaslip, Ben Cooper, Stephen Steiner, Michael Coombs, Ryley Norris.
Text & Images ©COPYRIGHT 2017 Kinglake Ranges News.
Article first published in The Local Paper, May 31, 2017.
