A second straight 12-goal performance from spearhead Jason Eagle helped Tyntynder record their sixth straight win and guarantee themselves a top five finish.
Tyntynder set up the 92-point win over arch-rivals Swan Hill with a 10 goal to four first half, before completely overrunning the dispirited Swans in the second half to record a 23.10.148 to 8.8.56 victory.
The story of the day belonged to Eagle, however, as he rocketed up the goalkicking table to now sit at 59 goals for the season. Eagle’s marking ability was unmatched as he sent a warning sign to the rest of the competition that Tyntynder could yet be a genuine premiership threat come September.
“He’s (Eagle) flying at the moment, we moved the ball really well and Swan Hill didn’t really have an answer for him in the end,” Dogs coach Josh Stone said.
“He had plenty of the ball and his hands are so good that there’s just no way to play him when he’s in that sort of form – he’s starting to clunk everything and he’s starting to get dangerous for us at the right time of year.
“We’ve also had Josh Dwyer back in the side from injury the last two weeks, which has really given us another avenue into our forward 50.
“He was really pivotal on Saturday – it just frees Eagle up a bit because opposition teams can’t drop that extra big bodied player back on him because they have to go to Josh (Dwyer) now.”
Stone was not only happy with his forward structure following Saturday’s win, but also his side’s performance after the main break – with Tyntynder putting the Swans to the sword after the main break with eight unanswered goals in the third term.
“We played some pretty good footy for the majority of the day really, but to come out and kicked eight goals to none in the third quarter was really pleasing because we’ve struggled a little bit in second halves with putting teams away so far this season,” Stone said.
“We spoke about it during the break and went out and got it done, which was pleasing.”
Marcus Wattie was his usual energetic self in the middle, along with Ben Derbas and Elia Ware – while Tom Bull was sent to Swans coach Matthew Wade in an effort to curb the influence of the dual Jack Betts Medallist. Wade was still among his team’s more influential players, which was probably more of a reflection of the overall performance by Swan Hill, who were missing a number of players through injury and illness.
Jackson Morris, Isaiah Bull and Solomon McKay, who rotated off half back and through the middle, were also impactful players for the visitors, in what was a high class performance from Tyntynder.
Along with Wade, the Swans were well served by Kallen Heslop who started the game with four goals and was dangerous early until the Bulldogs swung Isaiah Bull into defence – while Toby Thoolen, Darby Meney, Jared Halligan and Sam Coffey also tried hard.
VOTES
3 – Jason Eagle (Tyntynder)
2 – Marcus Wattie (Tyntynder)
1 – Solomon McKay (Tyntynder)
MATCH RESULTS
SWAN HILL 2.1 4.3 4.4 8.8.56
TYNTYNDER 5.3 10.6 18.8 23.10.148
GOALS – SWAN HILL – Kallen Heslop 4, Matthew Wade 2, Tom Holdstock, Angus Monk 1.
TYNTYNDER – Jason Eagle 12, Josh Dwyer 2, Elia Ware 2, Marcus Wattie 2, Brodie Bennett, Patrick Blake, Cayden Crowe, Ben Derbas, Solomon McKay 1.
BEST – SWAN HILL – Matthew Wade, Kallen Heslop, Tobias Thoolen, Darby Meney, Jared Halligan, Sam Coffey
TYNTYNDER – Jason Eagle, Marcus Wattie, Thomas Bull, Solomon McKay, Jackson Morris, Elia Ware
