By Matt Fotia
It’s the most cliché and simplistic piece of analysis in the game, that bad kicking, is bad football.
And there’s a good chance it’ll be the main criticism when Brent Kiker sits down with his Ferntree Gully squad on Tuesday night, as the Eagles wayward disposal in front of goal condemned them to an 0-4 start in this season’s Division Three, after the Eagles went down to Warrandyte 8.13(61) to 10.4(64) in front of their home faithful at Wally Tew Reserve, despite more shots, more ball and more to play for.
Coming into the clash winless and under immense pressure to breathe life into their season, the hosts were impressive from the outset, having the best of stoppages and the play overall, with Sam Crocker and Jack Flannery two of their best early on, as the Eagles possessed the ball well by foot, the only glaring issue their final ball inside 50.
Meanwhile Warrandyte – who lost Mitchell Buckley to concussion in the early stages – picked up several intercept marks in their own fifty and hit the Eagles on transition, with the footspeed of former North Ringwood man Jake Moss, Conor Bowden and Nikoda Brooking wreaking havoc on the counterattack.
Ryan Phillips was the main beneficiary kicking truly on three occasions in the first term, as the bloods pushed out to 11-point lead at the first change.
Successful Warrandyte slingshots controlled the storyline throughout the second quarter, with Ferntree Gully’s superiority around the stoppages having little to no impact on the margin.
The Bloods were happy to concede possession high up the ground and get numbers behind the football, gambling that their opponents would be unable to find a target inside 50, before catching the over committed Eagles on the way out.
Quinn Clark kicked two impressive long-range goals either side of Ryan Phillips’ fourth major, the former Vermont and Upper Gully man showing his class whenever the opportunity presented itself.
The aforementioned Warrandyte gamble was barely a risk however, with the Gully unable to register a mark inside 50 that wasn’t a Warrandyte turnover in the first half.
Despite this, the Gully could justify feeling unlucky to be trailing by 13 points -if at all- at halftime on the balance of play, with three more scoring shots and a lot more territory, but they only had themselves to blame with their severe lack of polish in the forward half the glaring difference between the two sides.
Daniel De Ieso became the key forward the Gully had been screaming out for after half time, hauling in two strong marks in third quarter and converting one major, but their inability to exploit their supremacy on the scoreboard remained, with Jake Harper hitting the post, De Ieso hooking left and Mitch Tsirtsikos pushing to the right all in quick succession.
Meanwhile at the other end the Bloods remained ruthless in front of goal, with Nick Prelorenzo and Brooking kicking truly from Warrandyte’s only real opportunities of the quarter, with Brooking’s pushing the lead out past three goals once again when he coolly slotted from 35 out, before a late Ricky Aitken major pulled the deficit back to 10 points at the final change, regardless of the hosts boasting 16 shots to 11.
The game’s injury toll continued to rise after Chris Waldron and Matthew Camera were ruled out the game for the Eagles at three quarter time – to be joined later by Thomas Gasparroni – as the shadows rolled down the mountain.
And out of those shadows appeared Tom Grimes, one of the Bloods key off-season signings, to mark and goal early in the last term pushing the margin out to 16 points.
The Eagles dominated the next 10 minutes but failed to make any meaningful inroads, until Jake Browne wobbled one through from a rushed snap to bring the margin back to eight points and when De Ieso marked on the lead with four minutes remaining Warrandyte hearts were in mouths, but De Ieso – one of the Gully’s best – couldn’t buck the Eagles poor conversion trend, hooking to the right, taking wind out of the home sides sails. Jack Flannery got a well-deserved goal after the siren, kicking truly from a downfield free kick, but it was too little to late for the erratic Eagles.
The Eagles can take confidence from their efforts into their huge clash with Scoresby next week as they continue their search for win number one in 2022, whilst Warrandyte host a refreshed Whitehorse in another big game for the sharpshooting minor premiers.
