ABC's South East Wrap from April 12, 2008

Western Border and Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara football began on Saturday, joining the Mid SouthEast which had begun a week earlier. In the KNTFL all games went as expected but with only one margin as big as recent seasons and that was when reigning premiers Keith demolished Border Districts by 132pts. Even without Tony Modra the Crows had too much talent, Luke Skoblyk and Jason Snajdar booted 5 goals each and Redden was best afield, the Eagles hardly had a good player but Vickery and Pretlove tried hard. The local derby of Lucindale and Kingston proved a fizzer as Lucindale romped away after ¼ t, goalkicker’s Nigel Fiegert and Phil Smith got 6 and 4 respectively and Shane McGurk played well. Kingston’s Stewie Cooper managed 4 goals and Lincoln Sharpe played well for his new club but the Seasiders would rather forget the day. New Penola coach Paul Mullen had a first up win when his team started brilliantly with a 7 goal 1st ¼ to comfortably defeat Padthaway by 66 pts. Mullen also managed to kick 3 goals whilst Mark Edwards gave his usual lion hearted best for the losers. Scott Fiora returned to his home team Naracoorte after a longtime away and performed brilliantly to boot 6 goals as the Demons blew Mundulla away in the last ¼ after a close tussle earlier. Jamie Dixon 5 goals and Matt Gill 3 were in good form whilst Sam Excell and Heath Thorpe did well for Mundulla but the Demons home by 58 pts. The closest game saw Kyby struggle all day against Bordertown before finishing strongly to get up by 10 pts after trailing by 14 at 3/4t. The Roosters losing effort suggests they may be the leagues big improvers in 2008.

Two MSE teams expected to move up the ladder again had disappointing days , Kongorong went down to Tantanoola after a slow start. Ball magnet Tim Stringer with those dreadful helicopter kicks led the way for Tant supported by Matt Warren and Cytrowski’s 5 goals. Mark Hunter played solidly for the Hawks but a lack of depth cost them dearly. Nangwarry started in great style against Glencoe but struggled after ½ t when they could manage only 2 goals to Glencoe’s 7 and gave up 24 pt lead to lose by 4. Mark Kieselbach and Anthony Cary were best for Glencoe and veteran Chris Fenn and Brett Lindner almost got Nangwarry home but it was a second defeat for the Saints. Hatherleigh were too strong for Mt Burr and eased down at the end to win by 59 pts. The Eagles had many forward options with Dave Green and Brett Sneath each kicking 5 and Simon Beggs 4. Adam Wiese got 5 for the Mozzies and youngster Jon Agnew played well but Mt Burr were never in the game. Port MacDonnell with straight kicking kept Kalangadoo at bay all day but were hardly convincing as they had only one good quarter, 9 goals in the second set up the win. Speedster Adam Stewart with 6 goals and recruit Will McDonald starred for the Bay and coach Anthony Kilsby with 5 goals was high on Kalangadoo’s best. Robe had the bye.

In WB footy, reigning premiers Portland, with a very different looking team to 2007, no big names but a lot of youngsters over-ran East Gambier after 1/2t to win by 64 pts. The Victorian Tigers handled the ball better, marked strongly and were quicker. Clint Lancaster dominated the ruck, Nathan Bennett was lively on the forward line and James Imbi mopped up the mistakes down back. Skipper Kelvin Cook kicked 5 goals for East and Dwayne Phillips tried hard but losing coach Jason Dawe to injury didn’t help. Imperials reversed the Elastoplast Cup result from earlier with a battling 15 pt win over North Gambier. The Bulldogs made fewer errors in a low standard game but a wins a win. North lacked forwards and Imps forwards kicked poorly. Michael Uebergang seemingly had no opponent to be best for Imps and Glen Darroch and former coach Brad Cooper, both returning after years away played well. North’s best were the usuals, Simon Brook, David Nulty, Garth Willoughby and Jamie O’Neil. Millicent comfortably defeated Heywood by 47 pts. Nathaniel Robbins was excellent for the Saints, ably assisted by Pat Contin and Andrew Nitschke. Josh Nash, Josh Marnell and John Dunn continue to do well for Heywood. After an even 1st ¼ Hamilton proved too good for Casterton and ran out winners by 53 pts. The evergreen Brian McGinley starred for the Magpies and Adam Coulter bagged 6 goals as Hamilton looked to be a team on the up. Grant Coxon and Sam Dowler played well for the Cats but they lacked depth. West Gambier provided the biggest surprise by defeating South Gambier for the first time since 1991. They started well but squandered a lead to trail by 10 pts at 1/2t. They regained the lead early in the 3rd quarter and held out a determined but under-manned South to record a morale boosting 16 pt win. Rowan Fox played a fine captain’s game and recruits Adam Merrett, Jarrod Ryan and Steve Wenman were strong contributors. South veterans Pete Harten and Adam Salmon did well with support from youngsters James Paprotny and Jed Mullen. The West Gambier team-song never sounded so good, if only they knew the words!

Scores Western Border West Gambier 16-10 d South Gambier 14-5

Hamilton 18-6 d Casterton 9-7

Imperials 10-16 d North Gambier 8-13

Millicent 17-11 d Heywood 9-12

Portland 21-11 d East Gambier 10-13

MSE Glencoe 13-8 d Nangwarry 11-16

Tantanoola 14-14 d Kongorong 10-11

Hatherleigh 22-15 d Mt Burr 13-10

Pt MacDonnell 17-7 d Kalangadoo 12-11

KNTFL Penola 17-17 d Padthaway 8-5

Lucindale 16-13 d Kingston 6-8

Naracoorte 21-13 d Mundulla 12-9

Keith 26-13 d Border Dist 5-7

Kybybolite 14-15 d Bordertown 13-11

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