By Brook Shaune-Bould
COHUNA Kangas coach Neil Bradley admitted his team still had plenty of work to do heading into finals despite cementing their top-two spot with a dominant 96-point win over Tooleybuc Manangatang on Saturday.
The Kangas showed glimpses of their best, but at other times were made to look average by the severely undermanned Saints, who were without key players Shylo Smith, Shane Foley, Darcy Spinks, Ryan Kliemt and Johnathan Marsdens.
“If we play like that against better sides they’ll cut us apart,” Bradley said after the match.
“We’ve got to keep on improving, improving, improving”.
The signs were ominous early as Cohuna kept Tooleybuc Manangatang scoreless in a scrappy first quarter, opening up a 27 point lead.
But the Saints lifted in the second quarter, with Brayden Pitcher scoring their first goal. They kept the home side to two goals for the term, but still went into the half time break 30 points in arrears.
The Kangas flexed their muscles in the third quarter, with most of the play happening in their forward half of the ground. They kicked eight goals to the Saints’ one and by three quarter time the game was well and truly over, with the home side up by 87 points.
But, to their credit, the Saints kicked two goals to Cohuna’s three in the final term, which ended under lights as the skies darkened.
Joel Helman kicked seven majors for the Kangas in a best on ground performance, while Dylan Johnstone was also strong up front with four goals and Riley Hird kicked three.
Ben Archard delivered a strong performance for the Kangas, following more than a month off – while Brayden Pitcher was the Saints’ best performer, working hard in a solid four quarters performance alongside Alex Powell and Ryan Standen, who also played well.
The loss was the seventh in a row for the Saints, but coach Dean Helmers said his team showed some positive signs.
“Collectively I thought we shared the ball around quite well,” he said.
“In the past we might have looked up and said ‘that’s not the option I want’ and been tackled. But today you showed faith in each other and shared it around.”
“There are very positive signs going forward.”
VOTES
3 – Joel Helman (Cohuna Kangas)
2 – Ben Archard (Cohuna Kangas)
1 – Daniel Coates (Cohuna Kangas)
MATCH RESULTS
COHUNA KANGAS 4.3 6.11 14.16 17.19.121
TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG 0.0 1.1 2.1 4.1.25
GOALS – COHUNA KANGAS – Joel Helman 7, Dylan Johnstone 4, Riley Hird 3, Daniel Coates, Oscar Cooke, Jarrod Findlay 1.
TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG – Liam Baldwin, James Downing, Sam Morton, Brayden Pitcher 1.
BEST – COHUNA KANGAS – Joel Helman, Ben Archard, Daniel Coates, Dylan Johnstone, Jarrod Findlay, Tom Metherell
TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG – Brayden Pitcher, Ryan Standen, Zac Nichols, Peter Rothacker, Alex Powell, John Wardle
