LEITCHVILLE/GUNBOWER is set to claim a second consecutive Heathcote District Football League minor premiership thanks to a 40-point win against Huntly on Saturday.
The win – the Bombers’ 12th in a row – leaves last season’s grand finalists one win clear on top of the ladder, which will be eradicated following this weekend’s bye.
The loss means Huntly will play during the first weekend of the finals unless the Bombers drop both of its remaining matches against Heathcote (round 17) and Elmore (round 18).
Only reigning premiers, North Bendigo can knock the Bombers on top of the ladder, but face a tough finish to the season thanks to a round 18 encounter with the Hawks.
From the outset of Saturday’s match between the league’s top two sides it was obvious that the bigger bodied Huntly side were intent on a physical approach to the game and had two of the smaller Bombers in their sights in Adam Decicco and Jackson McEwen.
Both weathered the early storm from the Hawks and were vital cogs in a Bomber machine that appeared to simply take up from where they had left off the previous week against Mount Pleasant.
Displaying a liking for the big ground, Leitchville/Gunbower ran hard, ignoring the clumsy efforts of the Hawks and driving the ball forward as rucks Lee Pollock and Jason Dal Santo had the better of the centre contests.
Matt Perri and Ayden Walton have been an effective forward pairing for the Bombers, albeit with contrasting styles, and so it was again in the early going with Perri leading well and Walton using his weight to advantage.
Sam Kennedy’s mobility at half forward was causing the Hawks’ defence headaches and with plenty of supply Perri (two goals) and Walton (two) capitalised.
After leading by 19 points at quarter time, the Bombers extended their lead to 36 points, scoring three goals in the first six minutes before Huntly through stars Ryan Semmel (one goal) and Harry Whittle (two) reeled the Bombers back to the quarter-time margin.
Unusually Semmel was not the subject of a heavy tag but rather a revolving procession of casual markers – a tactic that appeared to have reasonable success with the Hawk never quite sure of who was about to tackle him.
And tackle the Bombers did – Huntly were put under tremendous pressure, particularly when going forward where veteran Kieran Treacy, Jye Keath and Dan Meroli spearheaded a ferocious defence.
Huntly’s Phil Ryan missed a shot after the siren that wold have put Huntly within three goals, ensuring the Bombers maintained a 22-point half-time advantage.
Much has been written this season about the Bombers’ inaccuracy and thoughts have turned to how much more effective the competition leaders could be if accuracy in front of goal improved.
Saturday’s third quarter saw just that with not only a improvement in accuracy but one of the best quarters the Bombers have produced in the last two years.
Opening with a great team goal from Daniel Couwenberg, the Bombers ran rampant with Tim Lincoln kicking three from his wing position and Perri made the difficult look easy with two goals from set shots on tight angles.
Walton took his tally to four and Daniel Coates – another solid contributor -marked and goaled and at one stage the Bombers held a 68-point lead as the Bomber midfield, led by the industrious Tom German and inside specialists Bart Walsh and Couwenberg, got on top.
Huntly looked fatigued and had no answer for the speed of the Bombers on the outside of the contest where the Brereton brothers, Will and James, along with Coates, Decicco and McEwen swept the ball forward.
Where it has not been unusual for the Bombers to kick 2.8 for a term this year Saturday saw a reverse with 8.2 while the Hawks laboured with nine behinds.
Three-quarter time saw the Bombers 63 points up and the game effectively over.
Huntly showed much more system in the final term as the Bombers coasted somewhat with Lincoln kicking his fourth and Decicco exacting revenge for a day long battering with a cheeky goal after selling some candy to his opponent on the mark.
Bombers coach, Matt Hawken wasn’t perturbed by the slow down in the final term that saw the Bombers outscored six goals to two.
“We took our foot off no doubt, but we had done the hard work and to Huntly’s credit they played good footy in the last quarter.”
