A 14-goal second half has helped Nyah-Nyah West United maintain their unbeaten, registering a 51-point win over the Mallee Eagles on Saturday.
NNW United kicked an astonishing 18 goals and one behind after the quarter-time break, as key forward Brandyn Grenfell helped himself to a seven-goal haul for the second week in a row.
The 20.5 (125) to 10.11 (71) result has the Demons atop the Central Murray ladder, but also leaves the Eagles precariously placed in eighth, with just one win from their first three games.
NNW United co-coach Jason Murphy was quick to temper expectations following the win.
“The old saying for every coach is one week at a time and we’ve taken that approach since the start of the year,” Murphy said.
“The landscape of the league this year is that there are no easy games, so we just have to prepare ourselves and take each challenge on, and we’ve been able to do that so far.
“We’ve been able to beat four pretty good teams to start the year and now the next challenge is in front of us.”
The Demons’ accuracy in front of goal made a large dent in the Eagles’ hopes, but an untimely run of injuries in the first half was costly, as Matthew Despott (groin), Brett Thomas (hip) and Beau Bennett all made early exits.
This left the visitors with just one rotation for the final 60 minutes of the contest.
Mallee Eagles co-coach Harry Allen was pleased with the way his side fought out the second half.
“We were right in the contest but just couldn’t convert unfortunately,” Allen said.
“It was a tough day on the bench, by the last quarter we were cooked and they (NNW United) were too quick for us outside of the stoppage and cashed in during the last quarter.
“They were very sharp and well drilled in that area of the game.
“Certainly in the first half we did pretty well on the inside and matched it on the outside as represented by our scoring shots, but evidently we couldn’t keep up in the end.”
The midfield certainly proved a key battleground, with Jordan Iudica, Dom Gallo and Lucas Iudica finding plenty of the ball both around the stoppages and on the outside.
This was clearly a focus for Murphy and the Demons going into the match, especially with the visitors traditionally strong around the clearances.
“They are a good stoppage team and we knew if we could even the contest in the middle, we could gain territory and look to hem them in our half of the ground,” Murphy said.
“We rotate a lot through the middle and we felt that we could run them into the ground late in the game, especially after they lost a few players.
“They probably had the better of it in the first half, but in the second half, Jordy (Iudica), Ethan Saville, ‘Bomber’ Gallo and Riley Daniels managed to even it up and get our territory game going.
“It helped that we kicked a lot straighter too, but I think we ended up in better positions inside forward 50.
“We’ve been working on going through the corridor more and playing more central which will make goalkicking easier.”
While Iudica, Grenfell and Gallo were among the key players on the ground, so too was Demons co-coach Nick O’Neill, who finished with five goals and provided a strong marking target, along with youngster Darcy Butler.
For the Eagles, midfielders Wes Bennett, Darcy McGregor and Brady Fordham were among their best players, along with Darcy Hourigan and Andrew Mead-Harding, who both kicked four goals for the match.
FINAL SIREN
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| NNW United | 2.4 | 6.4 | 13.4 | 20.5 | 125 |
| Mallee Eagles | 3.1 | 5.7 | 8.10 | 10.11 | 71 |
VOTES
3 – Jordan Iudica (NNW United)
2 – Brandyn Grenfell (NNW United)
1 – Dominic Gallo (NNW United)
