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Monday April 25, 2016

BENDIGO ADVERTISER

27

HEATHCOTE DISTRICT FOOTBALL-NETBALL LEAGUE SPORT

LOOSE BALL: Mount Pleasant's Jason Shaw, who was his side's best player, leads the race for the ball against Huntly. The in-form Hawks won by 78 points. Pictures: LUKE WEST

Happy Hawks flying

Huntly belt Blues to
remain undefeated
ROUND 4
BY LUKE WEST

UNTLYS blistering Heathcote

District Football-Netball
League season continued
on Saturday as it disposed of
Mount Pleasant by 78 points.
Both teams had gone
into the game at Hy-Line
Australia Oval undefeated,
but it was a no-contest, with
the Hawks already in complete control by half-time on
the way to a 16.14 (110) to
4.8 (32) victory.
Like they had in their previous two games, the Hawks
burst out of the blocks, racing to a 39-point advantage
at quarter-time as they led
6.4 to 0.1 after kicking with
the breeze, before increasing
their lead to 50 points at the
main break.
It was another good
performance by the boys
today we started well
again and were able to make
use of the breeze in the first
quarter, Hawks coach Jamie
Hogan said.
And we outscored them
each quarter after that, so
I couldnt have asked for
more from the boys.
Defensively the Hawks
restricted the Blues to just

two goals in each of the first

and second halves.
Harry Whittle, who was
his sides best, Chris Gleeson
and Ryan Semmel all kicked
three goals for the Hawks,
who are now 4-0, with the
past three of those wins
by margins of 78, 98 and
125 points.
Its still early, but I havent coached a team that has
gelled together this quickly,
Hogan said.
Its a good vibe at the
club, the players are all
pushing themselves really
hard and it was a good team
effort again.
Cameron Moore kicked
two of Mount Pleasants
four goals, with the best
for the Blues Jason Shaw
and impressive youngster
Jesse Tuohey.
Colbinabbin won
its third match in a row,
emerging from what had
shaped as a danger game
with a 58-point victory
over Elmore.
The Grasshoppers broke
away to a 26-point lead at
quarter-time after kicking
with the wind and held sway
for the rest of the match in
winning 16.12 (108) to 7.8
(50) at Elmore.
We approached this as a
real danger game knowing

ROUND 4
Results
Huntly d Mount Pleasant
by 78
Colbinabbin d Elmore
by 58
Heathcote d LBU by 40
Leitchville-Gunbower d
White Hills by 108

Elmore has recruited well

and is well-coached by
Alex Gleeson, Colbinabbin
coach Nick Knight said.
But we played to our
structures well and got the
result we were after.
Again, Knight led superbly
from the front in being
named the Grasshoppers
best player for the third
game in a row.
Knight booted six goals
and leads the league
goalkicking with 21 after
four rounds.
Ryan Hon added three
goals for the Grasshoppers,
who also had Pat OBrien,
Hugh Barlow and Sam Vale
influential in what was
Colbianbbins ninth-straight
win over Elmore.
The Bloods, who slipped
to 1-2 with the loss, were
best served by recruit Niall
McDonagh, Travis Mills and
Danny Brewster.
Brewster and Phil Lobb
each kicked two goals.
Heathcote notched its
first win of the season as the
Saints made more of their
scoring opportunities to

TEMPERS FLARE: There was no love lost between Huntly

and Mount Pleasant players during this third quarter
scuffle in the Hawks' forward line on Saturday.

defeat Lockington-Bamawm
United by 40 points at home.
The Saints led at every
change in winning 13.10 (88)
to 6.12 (48) in what was just
their fourth victory in their
past 37 games.
Well take the four points,
but it was a horrible game of
footy to watch, Heathcote
coach Paul Kennedy said.
The wind played havoc
and Lockington certainly put
us under pressure for most
of the day.
It probably wasnt
until the 10-minute mark
of the last quarter that I felt
fairly safe.
Recruit Rikki Stephens
booted seven goals for
the Saints kicking more
himself than the Cats did.
Hes a very good player
hes a livewire, is good in the
air and had enough opportunities to probably kick 10,
Kennedy said.
As well as Stephens,
the Saints also had Daniel

Carroll and Marc Millard

play key roles off half-back.
While the young Cats
battled hard, their second
quarter was particularly
costly when they failed to
capitalise inside 50 when
they kicked 0.7.
Despite having three more
scoring shots at half-time,
the Cats trailed by 17 points,
6.2 to 2.9.
We didnt hit the scoreboard the way we would
have liked in the second
quarter we probably
should have been in front at
half-time, Cats coach Peter
Gibbs said.
But thats full credit to
Heathcote. We had the ball
in our forward line for a
lot of that quarter, but they
continued to put pressure
on us.
Rhys Woodland kicked
three of the Cats six goals.
The best player for the Cats
was David Ismail, who spent
the game in defence.

Leitchville-Gunbower
won by more than 100 points
for the second week in a row.
The Bombers inflicted
another heavy defeat on
White Hills, thrashing the
Demons 21.17 (143) to 5.5
(35) at Leitchville.
The Bombers half-time
advantage was 27 points, before the floodgates opened
as they piled on 15 goals to
two after the main break.
The Bombers had 12
goalkickers, including five to
Matt Perri, while Bart Walsh
and ruckman Cameron Ross
led their best players.
For White Hills, the
Demons are now 0-3 with an
average losing margin of 96
points in whats their worst
start to a season since 2009.
Saturdays 108-point
defeat was compounded
by an injury to ruckman
Ben Greene, while Hayden
Wright was hampered
during the game.
Weve got a young list
and its probably going to
take a bit more development
than we thought at the start
of the year, Demons coach
Carl Hardingham said.
We had 12 new players
this year in the side on
Saturday, so it will take a
bit of time to gel, but weve
obviously got a lot of work
to do.
Adam Healy was named
the best for the Demons,
with Hardingham saying
he set a competitive
effort example.