AN 11-goal second half helped Cohuna secure their 13th win of the season by 59 points, despite Nyah-Nyah West United giving them an almighty early scare.
The Demons were clearly buoyed by the news of senior coach Corey Daniels’ reappointment for next season, surprising the premiership contenders in the opening quarter with six straight goals and setting up an 11-point lead at the first break. It didn’t take long for the Kangas to click into gear, however, with the visitors holding NNW United scoreless in the second term while adding a couple of goals of their own to grab the lead by the main break.
From then on it was all Cohuna, with Neil Bradley’s men running over the top of the tiring Demons in the second half to complete a 17.7.109 to 8.2.50 victory.
While they may not have finished the job, Bradley was full of praise for NNW United in the post-match wash-up – while less than impressed with his own side’s first half.
“They were pretty impressive today – we’ve had three soft games in a row leading up to today and I said to our guys pre- game that you need to respect these guys, because they’ve set themselves for us,” Bradley said.
“They stuck to their task for a majority of the game, but I think in the end they just ran out of legs after half-time. They’re on the right track, though, with how they went about it today.
“Our first half was pretty ordinary, to be fair – we just missed a lot of tackles and overused the footy at times.
“But then we got the game back on terms a little bit better after half-time and focused on winning the stoppages and gaining territory and not mucking around with the footy. Once we started getting it in quick to our forward line, we started to get on top.”
Dylan Johnstone and Joel Helman led the way up front for the Kangas with four goals each, while Dan Paterson and Jarrod Findlay were dominant through the midfield, along with Ben Archard in the ruck.
The one negative for the Kangas was a hamstring problem to Tom Metherell, who was injured early in the first quarter and took no further part in the match.
Brady Davidson did a solid job tagging Helman and, although he didn’t shut the Kangas’ prime mover out of the match completely, he nullified his usually dominant influence. Dean Harrop continued his good form with a best-afield performance for the Demons, while Adrian Knee, Jaydyn Stirling, Jarrod Skinner, Blake Larkings and youngster Charlie Boulton were also influential for the home side.
The Kangas’ win sets up a mouth-watering top-three clash with Woorinen this weekend, while NNW United will travel to Greenham Park to take on Balranald in what may well be their last winnable game for 2022.
VOTES
3 Votes Dan Paterson (Cohuna Kangas)
2 Votes Ben Archard (Cohuna Kangas)
1 Votes Dean Harrop (NNW United)
MATCH RESULTS
NNW UNITED 6.0 6.0 7.1 8.2.50
COHUNA KANGAS 4.1 6.3 13.6 17.7.109
GOALS – NNW UNITED – Brent Arho 3, Campbell Everitt 2, Zachary Caccaviello, Brady Davidson, Tim O’Brien 1.
COHUNA KANGAS – Joel Helman, Dylan Johnstone 4, Jarrod Findlay, Tyson Findlay, Rhys Free 2, Jake Hammond, Daniel Coates, Angus Donat 1.
BEST – NNW UNITED – Dean Harrop, Adrian Knee, Jaydyn Stirling, Jarrod Skinner, Charli Boulton, Blake Larkings.
COHUNA KANAGS – Daniel Paterson, Jarrod Findlay, Ben Archard, Dylan Johnstone, Joel Helman, Mason Fehring.
