A FOUR-goal to one first quarter has helped Koondrook-Barham move two games clear inside the top five with the Raiders defeating Tyntynder by 29 points on Saturday afternoon.
The 11.12 (78) to 7.7 (49) victory puts the Raiders in the box seat to claim the all-important fifth spot with five games remaining, with winnable games against Kerang, Lake Boga and Swan Hill to come.
The game could have been put to bed before quarter time if not for Koondrook-Barham’s inaccuracy in front of goals, with the Raiders wasting their dominance to kick 4.6 in the opening term while holding the Bulldogs to just one goal, two behinds.
That gave the Raiders a 22-point lead at quarter time and a margin that they were able to maintain for much of the afternoon, which pleased Koondrook-Barham coach Marcus Demaria.
“I guess for us, the equation is pretty simple in that we just need to continue winning games,” Demaria said.
“We started off really well in the first quarter and some of our ball movement was exceptional given the conditions, but the game turned scrappy mid-way through the second and the rest of the game played out like that.
“To Tyntynder’s credit they worked well to take the corridor away from us after the quarter time.
“We want to play through the corridor but they sort of took that away from us and forced us to kick shallow and kick down the line top contest and it was just a scrap from that point on.”
The other highlight for the afternoon was the performance of Roy George, with the former Tyntynder now Koondrook-Barham midfielder lighting up the Barham Rec Reserve against his former side.
George, who last played for the Bulldogs in their King’s Birthday clash against Swan Hill last month, showed why he is considered one of the Central Murray’s most damaging players, with his class and ball use on full display.
“He played well and was such a strong performer, especially where we needed someone to stand up in tight with his ability to maintain his feet,” Demaria said.
“His ability to win the ball inside and then just some free up some space or get himself out of trouble with his dancing feet is second to none.
“There were so many times where it looked like they were about to tackle him and then all of a sudden, he’s danced out of it and he’s away.”
Also among the Raiders’ better players were Isaac Corvo, who won plenty of ball across half back and through the centre, while Benji Neal returned for his first game from injury to also be a key contributor for the home side.
Tyntynder’s Josh Potter took the points in his duel with Jacob Barrington while Bailey Reeves was also efficient with ball in hand for the Bulldogs, with Elia Ware, Sam Tozer, Harry Simpson and Mick Dedini, in senior game 401, also among the Bulldogs’ better players.
Although disappointed with the final result, it was a much-improved display seven days on from their heavy defeat to Tooleybuc-Manangatang for the Bulldogs, with co-coach Darcy Bibby also praising his team’s younger brigade for standing up in the contest.
“We were very disappointed with our performance last week (against Tooleybuc-Manangatang) and I thought we went really well on the weekend,” Bibby said.
“The first quarter they kicked away a bit with the breeze, but after that we made some adjustments and the boys responded extremely well and the game was very even for the remainder, which was reflected on the scoreboard.
“We had our chances in the third quarter but couldn’t quite capitalise.
“The usual suspects played well however it was our younger players who lifted their competitiveness and aggression around the contest with tackling pressure, which allowed us to nullify their game to more on our terms.
“I think we walked off the field obviously disappointed with losing but very proud of our team effort to go against competition of that standard.”
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| Koondrook-Barham | 4.6 | 6.8 | 8.9 | 11.12 | 78 |
| Tyntynder | 1.2 | 4.3 | 5.5 | 7.7 | 49 |
VOTES
3 – Roy George (Koondrook-Barham)
2 – Isaac Corvo (Koondrook-Barham)
1 – Bailey Reeves (Tyntynder)
