SEA Lake Nandaly Tigers dominated their home game against an injury depleted Jeparit Rainbow to run out easy winners by a whopping 149 points.
With Cliff Ryan providing a high marking target and with the on ball supremacy of Darcy Ryan and Col Durie, the Lakers were never in the hunt.
The match was effectively over when the Tigers notched up seven goals in the opening term, while Jeparit Rainbow failed to register a score.
In a season of highs and lows, it does not get much lower than this effort from the Lakers.
After last week’s soul-stirring win over the Cats, this was a very disappointing contest.
It was Jeparit Rainbow’s lowest score since the amalgamation.
The fact that they only managed to kick one behind in the whole of the first half gives an indication of the one sided nature of the game.
It was not until half way through the third quarter that Greg McLeish kicked the Lakers’ first goal.
For the second week in a row Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers full forward Cliff Ryan kicked nine goals.
The Tiger sharp shooter set the scene early with five goals in the first quarter.
Skipper Col Durie played a great game and kicked three goals, Simon Weekley found form in his second game for the year snagging three and Darcy Ryan ran hard all day and booted two.
Jeparit Rainbow’s terrible run with injury continued.
They went into the game missing several key players, including Josh McCleary and Joel Schulze.
This meant that Greg McLeish was required to do the bulk of the ruck work.
With Ben Zanker still injured and Andrew Watson not available, the Lakers had no tall forwards playing.
Their midfield won its share of the ball, but the Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers defence dominated.
Time after time they were able to run the ball out of defence to set up their own scoring opportunities.
Chris Farrell, who usually plays on a half back flank, had to fill in as second ruckman.
Farrell did an admirable job under difficult circumstances.
Brett Fisher was Jeparit Rainbow’s only tall defender and he stood up in the second half as a lone hand against a rampaging Tiger attack.
Captain Lucas Edelsten tried hard to lift the team, while youngsters Nathan Cocks and Tom Clugston tried hard all day.
The next two weeks will shape the season for the Tigers with Beulah next week and Walpeup Underbool in a fortnight.
For other MFL reviews see Wednesday’s edition of The Guardian (June 26, 2013).
