DESPITE a seemingly devastating scoreline, Lake Boga should hold their heads high after a home ground hit out against the premiership contending Cohuna Kangas.
Missing several key players and fielding a young team, the Magpies were not left wanting for effort against a more experienced and polished opposition.
In the third term the Pies kept the Kangas – who were kicking with a wind that dictated much of the game – to just two goals.
Relentless pressure and chase from the likes of Charlie Bryan, Bodi Clune and Braden Padmore forced more than one uncharacteristic skill error from the Kangas, as the side came out of the halftime break with a steely determination to play as if the game was on the line.
However, it was ultimately the Kangas who split back down the Murray Valley Highway with a resounding 110-point win, and a final scorecard that read 3.5 (23) to 19.19 (133).
Cohuna’s head coach, Jack Geary, praised the opposition efforts after the game.
“That youth and enthusiasm goes a long way, and we sort of knew that; I said to the boys they’ll hang around if we allow them to,” Geary said.
“We had a comfortable lead, but we saw in that third quarter when we had the wind we weren’t able to score. They brought the pressure, and we just weren’t using the ball very well.
“But I challenged the boys at three quarter time and said we can go in and win by 10 goals, or we can knuckle down and win by 15.”
Indeed, the Kangas were well and truly off the chain in the last quarter, piling on 8.3 (51) to 0.1 in the final term, led by the efforts of Cohuna star Joel Helman, who moved from the midfield to a position deep in the forward line.
The valiant efforts of Pies tagger Kadek Irvan kept Helman unusually quiet for the middle two quarters of the game, but not even a move to reposition Irvan back onto the damaging Kanga in the last term could nullify Helman’s strong leads, powerful body work and masterful forward craft.
“They get that sort of attention every week,” Geary said of Helman and reigning Jack Betts medallist Thomas Toma.
“It comes part and parcel, but I think they enjoy the challenge. You’re a brave man to try and tag or stop either of those two; you might stop them for a quarter of a half, but very rarely can anyone get on top of them and limit their impact for a whole game.”
Helman finished the game with six goals, while dominant tapwork from towering Cohuna ruckman Chris Anderson consistently put the ball in Toma’s lap at centre clearances and stoppages.
The Kangas themselves were undermanned, with Will Lee a late out due to sickness and a number of players also out due to soft tissue injuries.
Geary said coming off the back of two wins, the side was feeling good going into next week’s match against Tooleybuc.
“We’ll go in confident obviously, as they will, and we’ll just see what happens,” Geary said.
“We will hopefully get a couple of blokes back from injury and sickness, a couple of the boys with soft tissue injuries might be right – but then it’s a question of do you also give them next week so they’ve got the bye after that as well?
“We’ll weigh that up and go off the medical advice we get.”
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| Lake Boga | 1.0 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 23 |
| Cohuna Kangas | 5.9 | 9.11 | 11.16 | 19.19 | 133 |
VOTES
3 Thomas Toma
2 Kadek Irvan
1 Charlie Bryan
