By David Nagel
“We want to be consistent across the full four quarters of football.”
You hear every football coach say it, at all levels of the game, but playing four quarters of football is an almost unachievable pursuit that that all teams are chasing.
Momentum swings, luck with umpiring decisions or the bounce of the footy, injuries with a three-man bench, a strong wind blowing straight down the ground, and even simple concentration lapses for short periods of time are all things that can rip that almost unattainable task to shreds in the West Gippsland footy league.
Taking those things into consideration is what makes the quarter-to-quarter record of Tooradin-Dalmore this season so absolutely outstanding.
The Seagulls are miles ahead of the pack when it comes to winning quarters of football this season.
Lachie Gillespie and his team have overcome those aforementioned challenges to win 44 of a possible 48 quarters over the first 12 rounds of football.
The Seagulls won 25 quarters straight to begin their 2022 campaign before losing the second quarter to Inverloch-Kongwak by seven points in round seven.
They then lost the first quarter by one point to Bunyip in round eight, before squaring the ledger with Phillip Island in the third quarter of round nine.
The Gulls then lost the first quarter by seven points to Nar Nar Goon in round 10…but that’s it, no more blemishes on an almost perfect scoreboard.
The quarter-to-record records of the chasing pack reveal some very interesting facts (well we think so anyway).
The team that many still consider the best team in the competition, Philip Island, surprisingly sits fifth on the list of quarters won with 29 wins, three draws and 16 losses this season.
Inverloch-Kongwak (36-0-12), Nar Nar Goon (31-0-17) and a resurgent Cora Lynn (30-0-18) have surprisingly won more quarters than the Bulldogs this year.
And winning quarters has given the bottom teams in the competition something to cheer about this season.
Garfield has only won five quarters, but has had some big second-quarter wins against Nar Nar Goon and Inverloch-Kongwak in rounds two and nine respectively.
Coach Paul Carbis would have been thrilled with his team’s efforts at those two half-time breaks.
Korumburra-Bena has also had quarter wins against the Sea Eagles and Goon this year.
The finals score is obviously what counts…but the consistency shown across all four quarters by Tooradin-Dalmore this year – and its clear margin over the rest – must surely give it supreme confidence that its brand of footy stacks up best.
Here’s the quarter-to-quarter record of all teams this year.
QUARTER RECORD IN 2022
TEAM WON DRAWN LOSS
TOORADIN-DALMORE 44 1 3
INVERLOCH-KONGWAK 36 0 12
NAR NAR GOON 31 0 17
CORA LYNN 30 0 18
PHILLIP ISLAND 29 3 16
BUNYIP 25 0 23
WARRAGUL INDUSTRIALS 25 2 21
DALYSTON 17 1 30
KOOWEERUP 15 3 30
KILCUNDA-BASS 15 2 31
KORUMBURRA-BENA 8 1 39
GARFIELD 5 3 40
