COHUNA will go into this Saturday’s grand final rematch full of confidence after a second-half demolition of Lake Boga gave them a 46-point win.
The Kangas piled on 11 goals to four after half-time to obliterate the Magpies, with Rhys Free returning to form for the home side with a seven-goal haul.
The victory places Cohuna in the top five for the first time this season and sets up a mouth-watering clash with reigning premiers Kerang, with Kangas coach Tyson Findlay looks forward to testing how far his team have come over the off-season against the Blues.
“We’ve played some good patches of footy over our first two games of the season, but I felt our intensity and work rate in the second half really lifted which helped us get the four points on Saturday,” Findlay said.
“They’re good signs because our job going forward won’t get any easier playing Kerang at Kerang.
“We’re slowly building, we’re certainly not the finished product, but we’re chomping at the bit to get a crack at (Kerang) and see where we’re at.”
While the first half was an arm wrestle, Lake Boga had opened up a three-goal advantage midway through the second quarter and appeared destined to cause an upset away from home.
But Cohuna had other ideas, tightening the game up on the inside and pressuring the Magpies into turning the ball over.
Without Jacob Simpson in the ruck for Lake Boga, Cohuna’s Christopher Anderson had a field day, and his strong second half helped bring teammates Joel Helman, Jarrod Findlay and Luke Conca into the action in the midfield.
The beneficiary of this was Free, who also played as the lone key forward at times, with Dylan Johnstone playing in defence on Magpies big man David Gourdis, who managed just one goal for the afternoon.
The smaller forward line worked just as effectively, if not more so, for the Kangas, with Conca (three goals), Daniel Coates (two) and Jack Donat (two) getting among the action when Free wasn’t clunking marks.
To no avail, Jake Warren worked hard after half-time to try to stem the flow of goals, as did Lochie Laing and Matthew Payne through the midfield. The latter was clearly hampered for much of the afternoon by a hamstring injury that quelled his influence.
Securing the much-needed four points did come at a price for the Magpies, with Pat Contin injuring his calf, placing him in significant doubt for Saturday’s big match against Kerang.
FINAL SIREN
| COHUNA | 3.1 | 6.3 | 11.6 | 17.7 | 109 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAKE BOGA | 2.1 | 5.7 | 6.8 | 9.9 | 63 |
VOTES
3 – Joel Helman (Cohuna Kangas)
2 – Christopher Anderson (Cohuna Kangas)
1 – Rhys Free (Cohuna Kangas)
