SANDY SLUMPS, PORT SIZZLES

by Barry from Beach Road

Sandringham's form slump deepened on Sunday at Trevor Barker Beach Oval with the team hardly raising a whimper when it took on traditional rival Port Melbourne. The visitors led from start to finish and completely outclassed the Zebras by 67 points.

The Zebras welcomed back some of their important goal kicking power with the return of Nick Sautner, Ezra Poyas and Addam Maric who were all missing last week but it was all to no avail. Sautner finished with four goals but these mostly came when the game was virtually over while Poyas was well below his best and managed only one goal for the day.

The enthusiastic Borough under Garry Ayres played with the aggression and commitment that typified their coach's playing career and proved far too strong and skilful on the day.

Port was untroubled early as it scooted away to a three goal lead by quarter time and then completely dominated the second quarter making Sandy look second rate when it stretched its lead to 10 goals before the home team scored its first for the term just on the bell at half time.

The visitors were winning all over the ground; they hunted in packs and usually took front position in contests. They often would brush aside their opponents with ease as they streamed forward time and again and, though Sandy made a fist of it in the final quarter with five goals to six, it was a dismal lowering of the colours as the team fell another game adrift from a top four position.

Sandy relied heavily on too few players. Its much vaunted defence was in tatters by the main break with only Andy Biddlecombe on hand to save the team from even greater embarrassment. Stefan Martin tried hard but the back line was generally under enormous pressure as it tried to stop the onslaught from a Port midfield that won most of the stoppages and was more direct and purposeful in its forward movement.

The Zebras sorely missed Shane Valenti's hard work in and under the packs and relied heavily on skipper Peter Summers to provide drive in the midfield. Unfortunately, he was left to play what was virtually a lone hand as the team produced one of its poorest games in years.

Sandringham must now work very hard during the coming week in order to regain its confidence and the purpose that it showed earlier this year when it was winning its games by comfortable margins.

A loss to Werribee away this Sunday could even put the team's finals prospects under pressure so coach Andy Lovell will be keen to see his charges regroup this week as it prepare for a solid performance to turn their season around at Bartercard Oval.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Simon Buckley – given a run with role and applied himself well to the task under difficult conditions.

Kyle Cheney - had a real shocker after a couple of promising games. He was often caught out of position and made fundamental errors which can are deadly in defence against a team that has its tails up. Hopefully, he has gained a valuable lesson learn from the experience of this game.

Addam Maric - at times he showed some real glimpses of skill and class. Played in a number of positions on the ground and was always interesting when he had the pill but he really needs to get more of it over a full game and not just play in patches.

Stefan Martin - played a steady game and tried valiantly to hold together a back line that was under fire consistently through the afternoon.

Tom McNamara - the youngest player on any AFL list this year, he showed plenty of run off halfback and took the step up from reserves to seniors without missing a beat. He has a lot of poise and skill that suggests he has the makings of a quality player of the future.

John Meesen - was given a bath early and worked hard to get himself back into the game both in the ruck contests and around the ground but still well beaten on the day.

Cale Morton – a player who finds the ball a lot during a game and, although he made a few errors, he showed that he is all class and will be a long time AFL player of some stature once he fills out that lean body of his and gets more game time under his belt.

Jake Spencer - showed some promise with his enthusiasm around the ground. His tap ruckwork was reasonable.

Adem Yze - like most of his teammates, he put in a patchy effort and his afternoon was not particularly productive.

Sandringham 2.2.14 3.3.21 6.6.42 11.9.75

Port Melbourne 5.2.32 11.10.76 15.13.103 21.16.142

Goals

Sandringham Sautner 4 Morton 2 Buckley Crowe Lamb Poyas Yze

Port Melbourne Nahas 6 Dwyer 3 Bonaddio Pinwill Sutcliffe 2 Baird Brewer Dillon Pitt Thomas Smith

Best

Sandringham Biddlecombe Summers Liddell Buckley Crowe Poyas

Port Melbourne Nahas Cotchett Pleming Sutcliffe McMahon Livingston

Sandringham Reserves started the day off on the wrong foot when they lost to Port Melbourne by the narrowest of margins. It was a disappointing result as the young Zebras beat the same opposition two months ago by 15 goals at North Port. Daniel Gribbin was the team’s stand out player.

Sandringham 1.1.7 4.6.30 8.10.58 10.10.70

Port Melbourne 2.4.16 5.7.37 7.8.50 10.11.71

Goals

Sandringham Martyn Zomer 2 Gilchrist Lockwood Lyall Monaghan Petterd Williams

Port Melbourne Schultz 3 Bonnici Hassett 2 Francis Mullins Siciliano

Best

Sandringham Gribbin Curcio Williams Fleming Petterd Monaghan

Port Melbourne deBruin Wall Schultz Siciliano Sheldon Pearce