COHUNA responded to last rounds disappointing loss to Woorinen in the strongest possible way with a resounding 78-point win over Koondrook-Barham.
The 20.11 (131) to 7.11 (53) result ensures the Kangas remain locked in the top three, with NNW United still a game behind in fourth.
Cohuna led at every change and extended their lead quarter by quarter in an emphatic display that highlighted their midfield depth and class.
Joel Helman returned and was among the Kangas’ best with four goals, while fellow onballers Ricky Monti (four goals), Tom Toma (two goals) and Sam McGlone were also dominant out of the centre square.
It was the response from their defeat to Woorinen that pleased Jack Geary the most however, with the Cohuna coach happy with his team’s improvement in several key areas post-match.
“We spoke about it before the game and we wanted improved effort, pressure and ball use, pretty much all the areas of the game we were poor at last week (against Woorinen),” Geary said.
“They (Koondrook-Barham) obviously weren’t the same calibre of opposition, but at the same time I thought it was quite a danger game for us with the outs we had and their ladder position.
“Certainly if it was the other way around we would have been pushing that it was a winnable game and a great opportunity, so for us to respond like that was very pleasing.
“We were a couple of guys down at half time and we knew it would be tough to go on with it with limited rotations in the second half, but the way we gritted our teeth and got through it was one of the most pleasing things.
“They kicked a couple late in the last, but we might have had it out to 90 points by then so it was a really good response.”
The Kangas lost key defender William Lee with due to a reoccurring back injury in the first half, with midfielder Jarrod Findlay also injuring a calf prior to half time to leave the home side with just two rotations for the remainder of the match.
Cohuna were already without several key players including Geary and ruckman Chris Anderson, with Geary praising the performance of Sam Leitch who replaced Anderson in the key role.
“Sam Leitch was massive all day, we’d been playing him at centre half back but after Saturday he’s probably consolidated himself as a secondary ruckman,” Geary said.
“I thought our pressure was good; we got our hands on the ball a lot and we put the emphasis on retaining possession, moving the ball and using the size of our ground to our advantage.
“I think our accuracy in front of goals played into it also.
“We had 19 scoring shots and they had 14 at three-quarter time, but on the scoreboard it looked like we dominated play.
“We were probably getting better looks at goal, but we also made the most of our chances.
“To kick 15 goals, four behinds at three quarter time we were really happy with, because that’s been another area of ours that needs to improve, even against the lesser sides we just want to get better looks at goal.”
Monti was enormous all afternoon and showed why he came into the Central Murray with massive wraps on him at the start of this season, with his ability to win the ball at the contest and then hurt the Raiders on the outside a key factor in the Kangas’ big win.
Toma and McGlone were also strong out of the centre square and were among the home side’s better players, along with Helman and Brady Walerys.
Lee Dale and Roy George battled hard for the Raiders out of the middle but lacked support, with Koondrook-Barham coach Marcus Demaria lamenting his team’s inability to stop Cohuna’s spread from the contest.
“As we suspected after their defeat last week, they were going to come out with a point to prove and that they did,” Demaria said.
“We were well beaten in all facets of the game, they went from inside to outside in a flash and we were unable to defend it.
“In saying that, defensively I thought we set up well behind the footy and often created turnovers, but we just didn’t get reward for effort, particularly in the second quarter when we kicked one goal, six behinds.”
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| Cohuna Kangas | 5.2 | 9.4 | 15.4 | 20.11 | 131 |
| Koondorok-Barham | 2.2 | 3.7 | 4.10 | 7.11 | 53 |
VOTES
3 – Ricky Monti (Cohuna)
2 – Sam McGlone (Cohuna)
1 – Tom Toma (Cohuna)
