By David Nagel
It’s a bit like facing Shane Warne in his prime.
You know he’s a leg-spinner…you know what he’s trying to do…but the reality of dealing with it on the canvas of a playing field is a completely different story altogether.
Tooradin-Dalmore knew what Inverloch-Kongwak was trying to do at the Inverloch Recreation Reserve on Saturday – and took measures to counter it.
But it took just minutes to identify what was going to have more impact.
Tooradin’s steady and purposeful ball-use – using 15 to 20 metre kicks to progress – versus the Sea Eagles swift transition from half back.
Tooradin was kicking into a two-to-three-goal breeze in the first quarter, and players like Adam Oxley, Brent Macaffer, Hayden Bertoli-Simmonds and Liam Adams were content to chip the ball around.
It was a wise plan, and a great alternative to kicking long to the waiting arms of Tate Short, Lewis Rankin, Shem Hawking, Jarvis Pryor and co.
The danger of kicking long for the Seagulls was highlighted early, when the home side caused a turnover and went coast-to-coast in transition in the opening minutes of the contest.
Only a miss from Bailey Patterson stopped a magnificent piece of team play from being rewarded.
Patterson, Tom Wyatt, Will Hams and Will Turner – Inverloch’s high half forwards – were the consistent catalysts for the transition game throughout the course of the afternoon.
Those four would be seen applying defensive pressure on their own half-back line at times, before exploding towards goal – spring-loaded – and sharing the TW Sherrin at, and with, Will.
An additional problem for Tooradin coach Lachie Gillespie was that not every player on his team has the kicking skills and decision-making process to be a success at the short-kicking game.
One or two players bit off more than they could chew, more than once in the first term, and turned the ball over in the Seagulls back half.
The home side didn’t always capitalise…but the danger signs were there!
Gillespie and his coaching staff would be content with certain aspects of the second quarter, where the Gulls had seven scoring shots to four…but fell behind even further after a 1.6 to 3.1 lead in to half time.
The Gulls missed some medium range opportunities that could have tightened up the scores, but it was the home sides’ third and final goal of the second quarter that basically summed up proceedings.
The Sea Eagles went the length of the ground, against the breeze, with the overlap game finding the hard-running Turner alone in the goal-square – unattended – to kick the margin out to 21 points.
It looked like one team was playing on instinct…and one was being a little bit too careful.
It’s highly likely that the Sea Eagles and Seagulls will finish first and second on the ladder and meet again in the second semi-final at Nar Nar Goon on Saturday 2 September.
Inverloch has lost all five games to the Goon on that deck, while Tooradin produced its best performance of the season with an 87-point win all the way back in round five.
The canvas has been provided for the Seagulls…but it’s just a matter of what the landscape might look like?
