MARONG will finish on top of the Loddon Valley ladder for the third straight season after defeating Bridgewater by 68 points at the weekend.
The 16.13 (109) to 5.11 (41) result locked top spot for the Panthers, who sit two games plus substantial percentage clear of second-placed Bears Lagoon-Serpentine, with both clubs having two home-and-away games to come in the final three rounds.
The loss also effectively locks Bridgewater into fourth spot, with the Mean Machine needing Pyramid Hill to lose their remaining three matches Newbridge, Inglewood and Maiden Gully-YCW to jump back into the top three and earn a second chance.
Despite a competitive opening half, Bridgewater were left to rue their inaccuracy on front of goals, kicking just two goals from 10 scoring shots to trail by just 11 points at half-time.
The reigning premiers put their foot down as the weather turned in the second half, kicking 12 of the last 15 goals.
The performance impressed Marong coach Linton Jacobs, who praised his team for their ability to control the game in the second half.
“It was more of a Marong brand of footy that we’ve been playing over the last couple of weeks,” Jacobs told the Gannawarra Times.
“We’re still building, it’s hard to play at a high level for a whole year, but we dominated big chunks of the first half.
“Our clearance work was really good, we dominated clearances and probably didn’t get the reward on the scoreboard as we would have liked in the first half, which kept Bridgewater in the game.
“We were probably lucky in the second quarter that they missed some gettable shots.
“I felt like we were in control of the game a lot and in the third quarter in particular, we got our running game going and moved the ball really well.
“Some of our ball movement was really strong, even though the conditions weren’t great at times, but we were able to hit the scoreboard and put some pressure on and put the game away.”
Conditions definitely turned late in the third quarter, with heavy rail and hail making ball movement difficult for both teams and ending any thought of a Mean Machine comeback heading into the last quarter.
Lachlan Lee and Jimmy Gadsden got the ball rolling in the middle for the Panthers, before Gadsden’s day ended prematurely with a rolled ankle, but the performance of ruckman Michael Bradbury earned special praise from Jacobs.
“(Bradbury) was really good in the ruck in just his second game back from a shoulder injury,” Jacobs said.
“His stoppage work was really good and he was dangerous around the ground and took some strong marks as well.
“Nathan Devanny was super in the midfield also and really got us going, his pressure and his intent around the contest was good.
“Brodie Hartland did a pretty solid job on Lachie Sharp and Jai Gretgrix did a handy job on Andrew Collins as well. It was good to see a couple of young boys doing a really good job in defence and nullifying a couple of really good players.”
Sharp could manage only two goals opposed to Hartland, with Jack Neylon, Harry Conway, Boden Alexander, Harry McKinley and Ben Derrick named as Bridgewater’s better players.
Newbridge continued to hold onto the final spot in this year’s finals series, defeating Maiden Gully-YCW by 67 points.
Christopher Dixon led the way with six goals in the 15.19 (109) to 6.6 (42) win, which maintained a four-point advantage on the ladder over Inglewood and Calivil United.
Inglewood also claimed a 67-point win to remain in the hunt, defeating Mitiamo 16.11 (107) to 5.10 (40).
Jed Rouse kicked five goals for the Blues in a best-on-ground performance, with Lachlan Ford, Thomas Kennedy and Campbell Love the other key contributors in their side’s fourth win of the season.
Bears Lagoon-Serpentine moved a game clear of Pyramid Hill following a 69-point win over Calivil United.
After a competitive first half, the Bears booted 10 of the final 12 goals of the match to claim a 16.13 (109) to 6.4 (40) victory.
