ULTIMA have announced themselves as premiership favourites with a routing of the previously-unbeaten Moulamein by 62 points.
Having spent the past two seasons as wooden spooners, Ultima have turned their fortunes around, sitting on top of the ladder as the only unbeaten team remaining in the Golden Rivers league.
After opening up a 25-point lead by the main break, the Roos went on with the job in the second half, booting nine of the last 13 goals to run away with a comfortable 16.16 (112) to 7.8 (50) victory.
Ultima coach Kyle Symons was full of admiration for the way his players attacked the highly-anticipated contest, impressed with his onballers and their ability to limit the Swans’ main weapon.
“We’re really happy after Saturday’s performance, it was one of those days where everything we planned for worked and it all went our way,” Symons said.
“We spoke about the midfield before the game and how important that area of the ground would be for us and I felt as though we at least broke even through there, which is what we were hoping for at a minimum.
“I wouldn’t say we beat them out of the middle, they certainly had their moments were they got on top of us, but we wanted to match it with them in there and I think we were certainly able to do that.”
Mitch Seton-Stewart and Tom Bull played a big role in reducing the impact of the Swans’ outside runners, despite Amos Farrell, Corey Farrell and Daniel Aarsman still being named among Moulamein’s better players.
“We didn’t allow them to get their outside run going, which helped slow them up a bit reduce the effectiveness of their forward line,” Symons said.
“We had more control of the ball and they were trying to move it forward with speed – once we got the footy we tried to slow the game down a bit and keep possession and move the ball forward that way.”
The Roos were well served by attacking half backs Caillum Brady and Mitch Makepeace, while Jamie Nicholas was given the task of quelling the dangerous Andy Silva and performed it well, keeping the Swans barometer to just two goals for the game.
With both teams missing their key forward targets, it was the home team’s makeshift forward line that proved the most effective, with nine individual goal kickers compared to the Swans’ four.
The result set up and intriguing return battle for Ultima against Wandella this Saturday, with the Bombers in freefall following their eight-point home loss to Hay.
After trailing at every change and despite their inaccuracy in front of goals, the Lions turned it on in the last quarter, turning the tables on the one-time premiership favourites to come away with a hard-fought 7.14 (56) to 7.6 (48) victory.
The win gave Hay breathing space inside the top four, while leaving Wandella searching for answers on how to arrest their slide and break back into top four, after Macorna’s 85-point win over Murrabit gave them a four-point buffer inside the top four.
The Tigers’ second win of the season was set up by seven unanswered second-quarter goals, with Lachlan Ritchie and Josh Walters both contributing five goals for home side in their 18.14 (122) to 6.1 (37) win.
Jack Featherby produced perhaps his best performance in the yellow and black, while Nick Ingleton and Chris Wilson were also among the Tigers’ better players. Top Copland, Dustin Blake and Rhys Carmichael were the main contributors for the Blues.
