LAKE Boga continued their late season resurgence with a 24-point win over a lacklustre Tyntynder in the first semi-final on Sunday.
A lot of the pre-game talk centred around who would have the bigger impact — Jason Eagle or Angus Monfries?And the battle of the star forwards proved decisive as former AFL player Monfries kicked a bag of five second half goals to lead the Pies to victory, while Eagle’s ankle injury sustained the previous week badly impeded his impact.
The wounded Eagle was kept goalless, but wasn’t helped by the wayward and haphazard forward entries from his Bulldogs team mates, as Lake Boga’s defence continually peeled off to help out Matt Taverna in the against the high balls.
Patrick Crowe had the task of restricting Monfries, with the Tyntynder defender keeping the Lake Boga joint coach goalless for the first half. But the former Essendon and Port forward got off the chain after the break, kicking three goals in a 15-minute period in the third quarter just when Tyntynder were threatening to get back into the contest.
The Bulldogs started the match well enough with the aid of a slight breeze at Nyah Recreation Reserve.
Despite the dominance of big Magpie Jacob Simpson in the ruck, Tyntynder broke even in the clearances and through the midfield during a heavily contested and error riddled first quarter.
Goals to Josh Dwyer, Tom Sala and Brock Storer – with the last coming from a kick after the siren – saw Tyntynder take a 10-point lead into the first change.
But the Magpie midfield ran rampant from that point forward, upping their pressure rating around the contest and forcing their opposition into basic skill errors. Lake Boga piled on five unanswered goals from the start of the second quarter to hold a 24-point lead – before Tyntynder’s Marcus Wattie reduced the margin to 19 points in the shadows of the half-time siren.
Tyle Williams was dominant through the midfield for the Magpies, as was Josh Cruse-Filo, Matthew Filo, Nathaniel Holmes-Brown and John Harvey, while Taverna, Lincoln Frost and Brady Hogan were all having a significant impact down back. Jayden Lonergan was playing an almost lone hand up forward at times for Lake Boga in the first half and although he directly contributed only one goal on the scoreboard, he had a hand in setting up many others in the half.
The Bulldogs’ hierarchy swung Josh Dwyer into the ruck for periods of play to try and curb the influence of Simpson, with the veteran big man helping to keep his side in the contest. Dwyer was clearly Tyntynder’s best player on the day, whether it was through the ruck or playing at centre half forward, where he kicked two goals.
Ben Hallam and Ben Derbas tried their best to get Tyntynder’s running game going, along with Wattie and Tom Sala, although their team’s constant poor disposal into their forward half was costly.
The Bulldogs shuffled the magnets in the second half, with Brock Storer moving forward along with Brodie Bennett, while Elia Ware started to get dangerous around the ground. The moves made a difference for the opening 10 minutes, with quick goals to both Ware and Dwyer reducing the margin to just six points.
Enter Monfries. His three goal stretch pushed the Magpies lead out to 24 before Lonergan rubbed further salt into the Bulldogs’ wounds with a goal after the three quarter-tiem siren to extend the lead to 30 points.
Tyntyndeb threw everything at Lake Boga early in the last term, with Ben Hallam getting the ball rolling in the second minute to breathe life into the contest.
Monfries’ quick reply a minute later failed to dampen the Tyntynder enthusiasm, as the Dogs pressed against a tiring Magpies outfit.
Goals to Wattie, Storer and Darcy Bibby had the Tyntynder faithful dreaming of an unlikely comeback, with Bibby’s 50 metre bomb bringing the margin back to just 11-points only twelve minutes into the term. Sensing the urgency, Lake Boga once again lifted their work rate and maintained their composure with the ball, with Lonergan kicking his third and Monfries his fifth after both players read the ball off the back of the pack to snuff out any hope the Doggies had of a comeback.
Williams played a key role for Lake Boga, with the big bodied midfielder providing his team with the strong midfield presence required to succeed under the intensity of finals. Harvey, Holmes-Brown and Ryan Fox were also significant contributors, along with Cruse-Filo who had plenty of the ball across all four quarters.
The real heroes for the Magpies were their defensive six, who not only shut down Eagle, but also provided run and drive from their back half. Taverna was sensational in both aspects, as was Frost and Daniel Dzufer. The only negative in the end for Lake Boga was a dislocated shoulder to Andrew Clark early in the last quarter, with the Magpies utility heading straight down to the rooms and not reappearing – while Cruse-Filo also appeared hampered by a lower leg injury in the final term, although he continued to play out the game.
Tyntynder were well served by Dwyer, who couldn’t have done any more, while Sala, Hallam and Wattie all tried hard through the midfield – as did Patrick Crowe, Cayden Crowe and Tate Hulland in defence.
While the black and white army will be well pleased that they live to fight another day, they would also be well aware of the need for improvement ahead of what will be a notable rise in class against Woorinen.
MATCH RESULTS
TYNTYNDER 4.1 5.2 7.5 12.8.80
LAKE BOGA 2.3 7.9 11.11 15.14.104
GOALS – TYNTYNDER – Joshua Dwyer 2, Thomas Sala 2, Brock Storer 2, Darcy Bibby, Benjamin Hallam, Josh Stone, Elia Ware, Marcus Wattie 1.
LAKE BOGA – Angus Monfries 5, Jayden Lonergan 3, Dustin Burns 2, Andrew Clark, Joshua Cruse-Filo, Daniel Dzufer, John Harvey, Darby Hayes 1.
BEST – TYNTYNDER – Joshua Dwyer, Brock Storer, Thomas Sala, Tate Hulland, Marcus Wattie
LAKE BOGA – Matt Taverna, Tyle Williams, Jacob Simpson, John Harvey, Jayden Lonergan, Nathaniel Holmes-Brown
