THERE were goals aplenty in round 8 of Golden Rivers football, headlined by an Ultima forward’s bag of seven propelling his side to victory.
The Kangaroos kept themselves within touching distance of the ladder’s top spot thanks to their 80-point win over Wandella.
Ryan Devereux’s seven-goal haul moved the Roos forward to the top of the league’s goal-kicking ladder, bringing his total to 22.
Devereux sits two goals clear of Wandella’s Justin Robinson, who was kept goalless for the match by a strong Ultima backline.
Roos skipper Jake Foster also pitched in with four goals of his own from the midfield, on top of a strong showing around the stoppages.
The damage was done early in the match, Ultima piling on six goals within the opening quarter while Wandella could manage only six behinds for the first half.
The Roos dealt with their own inaccuracy, adding 11 behinds to their seven first-half goals before turning up the heat after half-time.
Seven goals were added to Ultima’s total in the third quarter alone, with Wandella unable to get their first goal until the final quarter.
While it brings little relief to Wandella’s supporters, the Bombers were able to hit the scoreboard late, kicking four goals to two to claim the final quarter.
The scoreboard could have been a lot uglier for Wandella if the Roos had found their accuracy in front of goal, kicking 18 behinds from their 34 scoring shots.
Tyler Makepeace put in a strong all-around performance from the half-back line, named Ultima’s best for the game.
At the other end of the ground for the Roos, Bailey Codling and Matt Taverna each impressed from the half-forward line.
Wandella’s best players included midfielders Russell Rich and Tim Robinson, who put in tireless efforts, as well as wingman Jack Radcliffe and Adam McKenzie.
Under immense pressure, the experienced performances of Logan Keighran from centre half-back and Kaine O’Connell, who started deep in defence, stood out.
Elsewhere, Macorna were able to weather a slow start to avenge their round two loss at the hands of Murrabit as they kicked away to win by seven goals.
The game could have been much different if the Blues had been able to make their early dominance count in front of goal, kicking three goals and six behinds before the first break.
Scoring just nine points up to that point, Macorna hit their straps in the second term defensively and in front of goal as they kicked five goals and held the Blues to a solitary behind.
Macorna coach Scott Wishart said he told his players they needed to get on top of the contested ball.
“Murrabit were really beating us around the footy early,” Wishart said.
“Early in that first quarter they came out really strong and were putting us under the pump.
“We had a chat with our midfielders and told them that if we were to come back from there it was going to start with them.
“Our midfield stood up really well after that.
“We were able to win a couple of clearances early in the second quarter and really drove the ball into our forward 50.”
Tristan McIntosh led all-comers for the game with five goals, bringing his total for the year to 19.
But Tigers youngster Xavier Wishart wasn’t far behind McIntosh, adding four goals to the Macorna total while filling various roles around the ground.
It was an intense battle in the ruck between Macorna’s Reegan O’Rourke and Ben Gillingham, with the Tigers rolling multiple players through the ruck to nullify Gillingham.
Wishart said his side kept a close eye on the connection between Gillingham and Murrabit skipper Nathan O’Toole.
“Ben is a pretty good ruck; he’s a pretty big guy and gets his hand on a lot of the ball,” he said.
“We rolled a lot of guys through the ruck.
“Mick Govus, Harley Somerville and Johnny Dawes all went up against him, just to try to wear him down that bit more.
“Ben seems to find (Nathan) O’Toole pretty regularly so we tried to rectify that and we were able to get on top of that pretty well.”
The win moved Macorna into third place, ahead of Wandella by just percentage.
Hay continued their undefeated start to the season, their 53-point win away at Moulamein their seventh on the trot this year.
Skipper Brad Pocock was impressive for the Lions, as were Jensen Hargreaves, Jack Cattanach and Cooper Scott, while Tom Spence kicked three goals from full-forward.
Moulamein’s bests included the Swans midfield quartet of Morgan Turvey, Andrew May, Heath Moloney and Rodney Reeves.
William Gibson and Jayden Haeusler also put in strong performances deep in defence for the Swans.
