SWAN Hill returned to the winners’ list in style with an 82-point victory over Tooleybuc-Manangatang at the weekend.
A five-goal, best-on-ground performance from Luke Phelan helped the Swans secure their sixth win of the season to sit outside the top five on percentage following Lake Boga’s loss to NNW United.
Swan Hill, who have the bye this weekend, will be looking to continue their good form against the Mallee Eagles next week, with every game from becoming a must-win, according to senior coach Cal Beasy.
“With us, (NNW) United and Lake Boga all fighting for the last spot in the five, we just need to keep winning – it’s pretty simple really,” Beasy said.
“We just need to play like we did (against Tooleybuc-Manangatang) and hopefully we scrape through, but we’ll just take it one week at a time – hopefully we get the job done against the Eagles and then we’ll just take it from there.”
It was all one-way traffic after the Saints kicked the opening goal of the match, with Swan Hill booting nine of the next 11 first-half goals to open up a handy 39-point lead at the main break.
The visitors didn’t stop there, however, kicking seven goals to one after half-time on their way to a commanding 16.15 (111) to 4.5 (29) win.
“They kicked the first goal of the day, but after that we played some pretty good footy,” Beasy said.
“We were pretty confident that we’d been playing good enough footy in previous weeks that we’d get off to a good start, and we did.
“It was pleasing to start well, which we’d been doing OK at in our previous games but just not finishing off.
“It was a pretty even performance from all our boys, our back line held up well, our midfield won their fair share of it out of the middle and our forwards did their job too.
“We were a bit inaccurate at the start of the last quarter with our goalkicking, but other than that, it was all positive, especially in the way we moved the ball and didn’t turn it over as much as we have been.”
Phelan was a clear standout, with the Swans captain lively in the role of high half-forward, with his ability to work back hard towards goal helping him hit the scoreboard.
Regular performers Xavier Moloney, Matthew Wade, Brenton Houlihan and Jose Miliado also found plenty of the ball, while Brenton Halligan was another key contributor for the visitors in his fifth senior match of the season.
Josh Williams kicked two goals for Tooleybuc-Manangatang, but left the ground with a suspected concussion late in the second quarter and took no further part in the match.
Ethan Goldfinch continued his good season for the Saints, earning himself votes as the Saints’ best, along with Connor McDonald, Tom Carland, Blake Grant, Kallum Hazlett and Richard Wardle.
While Swan Hill will enjoy a weeks’ rest, there will be no such luxury for Tooleybuc-Manangatang, who face the toughest task in the Central Murray – finding a way to beat reigning premiers Kerang at Riverside Park.
FINAL SIREN
| Tooleybuc Managatang | 1.1 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swan Hill | 5.2 | 9.5 | 14.8 | 16.15 | 111 |
VOTES
3 – Luke Phelan (Swan Hill)
2 – Brandon Houlihan (Swan Hill)
1 – Ethan Goldfinch (Tooleybuc-Manangatang)
