AN injury-ravaged Kerang claimed their third consecutive victory to maintain their grip on second place with a 37-point win over arch-rival Cohuna at the weekend.
The 18.13 (121) to 12.12 (84) win was not only notable for the on-field return of premiership coach Troy Coates, who retired following the Blues’ grand final victory last season, but also the continuation of the reigning premiers’ injury curse, with Tom Hetherington (ribs) and Scott Pay (hamstring) the latest on a growing injury list.
Hetherington and Pay will join the likes of Adam Baird (ankle), Caleb Nitschke (shoulder), Lachlan Ross (hamstring), Ryan Gillingham (ankle), Bradlee Pay (concussion), Liam Jardine (concussion) and Jack Daglish (knee) on the sidelines.
While inaccuracy plagued the Blues in the opening quarter, trailing Cohuna by 13 points at the first change after kicking 1.6, their range kicked in with seven of the next nine goals to take control in the second term, before repeating the dose after the main break to open up a 47-point lead at three-quarter-time.
It wasn’t just Kerang’s inaccuracy that left them vulnerable in the first quarter, according to assistant coach Josh Hann.
He said a strong opening quarter from Kangas key forward Dylan Johnstone threatened to take the game apart before being shut out of it after quarter-time.
“We didn’t really have the right match up for him,” Hann said.
“He kicked three goals in 10 minutes and even though we were up at quarter-time with regard to inside-50 entries, they managed to isolate Johnstone and got the ball in deep to him and he took advantage.
“We tried a couple of match-ups, but Josh Hunter was just a bit small and then ‘Gitsch’ (Rylee Gitsham) wasn’t quite strong enough, so we threw Archer Dibsdale back on him and he did a great job.
“We play our best footy on their ground and our boys love the extra space and the run, we got it out to 50 points at three-quarter-time but then the injuries in the last quarter took its toll a bit on our boys with a lack of rotations, so we threw a few numbers behind the ball and tried to maintain possession as best we could.”
Sean Hunter and Brett Kennedy both finished the afternoon with five goals apiece in a dominant display up forward.
Hann said the move of Hunter forward from half-back paying dividends in a new-look front half.
“We purposely went small up forward, because they have a pretty tall back line and it paid off for us in the end,” he said.
“Having that extra space helped our smalls, along with our ability to run and spread on the outside.
“We just tried to get the ball coming in low into our forward 50, especially after we lost Tom (Hetherington) and Scott (Pay) to injury, and then with Archer (Dibsdale) moving back into defence, we didn’t really have a lot of other tall options, but it worked out really well in the end.”
It was an area of the game that eventually separated the two teams, with Cohuna coach Jack Geary agreeing with Hann’s assessment that Kerang’s ability to move the ball effectively into their small forwards was ultimately hard to stop.
“(Kerang) probably had too many winners over the ground and they had a few good forwards that kicked five goals each, and that was probably the difference,” Geary said.
“That’s nothing against the boys we had playing on them – the ball just came in to freely and they ran in waves and used the outnumber well.
“We matched Kerang for periods of the game but weren’t able to sustain the same intensity for as long as they did, we had a 20-minute lapse in the third quarter which ultimately cost us the game.”
Jayden Cordy was given the task of quelling Josh Nitschke’s influence and did an admirable job, although Nitschke still had an impact, while Ryan Semmel was the best for the Kangas with four goals, with the forward at times looking the only player capable of ripping the game from Kerang’s grasp after quarter-time.
Joel Helman and Jack Donat found plenty of the ball through the midfield for Cohuna, while Hann and Clark did likewise for the Blues, but it was the dominant forward-half performances of Hunter and Kennedy that stood out most in another dominant win for the reigning premiers.
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| Cohuna | 4.1 | 6.4 | 8.7 | 12.12 | 84 |
| Kerang | 1.6 | 8.8 | 15.12 | 18.13 | 121 |
VOTES
3 – Sean Hunter (Kerang)
2 – Brett Kennedy (Kerang)
1 – Ryan Semmel (Cohuna)
