RULING THE ROOST

by Barry from Beach Road

Sandringham overcame a sluggish start at Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval yesterday when it overran second placed North Ballarat in the second half to record a convincing 47-point win. The Zebras were able to grab top spot on the VFL ladder in the process after the surprise loss of the Northern Bullants in their game at Casey Fields.

The slowness of the start could have been due to the greasy conditions which led to some scrappy football, to Sandy's overuse of the ball or simply to the fact that North Ballarat were on song and on target. Perhaps it might even have been due to the controversial circumstances of the preceding week in which the VFL announced an investigation into the game played against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Zebra defender Andy Biddlecombe had been left with a broken jaw after an incident behind the play and a Tassie player was suspended for four weeks as a result. Star full forward Nick Sautner also appeared to be carrying some evidence of the close attention he received from his opposition defenders. Whatever the case, it was the Roosters who were first out of the blocks to hold a handy 17 point lead at the first break.

However, as conditions cleared, things improved for the home side and it gradually pegged back the North Ballarat lead, hitting the front in time on and eventually taking an 8 point lead into the main break. Sandy then consolidated that lead in the third term before Sautner put on a show to personally boot six goals in the final quarter which netted the team 8 goals 5 behinds. But for the Roosters' amazing accuracy in front of goal, the final margin would have been far, far greater. North Ballarat's first behind for the day was scored half way through the third quarter and remembering that Tassie kicked 9 straight in the final quarter last week, it was a long time in between kick outs at full back.

The Zebra defence was well on top for most of the day. Sav Rocca who managed double figures when he last played against Sandringham in mid 2005 for Port Melbourne was contained to just four goals, two of them late in the game after having been thrown on the ball. Chris Johnson played a fine defensive game on Rooster Nathan Saunders beating him all ends up and running off him to set up countless attacks.

Rod Crowe and David Gallagher were winners all day and young midfielder Shane Valenti belied his inexperience and caused a great deal of damage around the ground and in front of goals. Ezra Poyas was in everything after half time and constantly mopped up in defence and Daniel Ward ran through the lines with strength and vigour. On that front Phil Read was his usual self and proved to be a real pest while young ruckman Shane Neaves continued to show improvement on the ball and around the ground.

Sautner's eight goal effort against a strong and experienced opponent in Moloney was a testament to the fitness he has gained since the end of last season. He leads the VFL goal kicking table by seven goals and should hold that lead through next week's bye. The reigning premiers have deserved the rest with their only glitch to the season so far coming in shocking conditions a few weeks ago at the hands of Frankston.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Clint Bizzell, recovering from a calf injury, was originally selected on the extended interchange bench but ended up playing in the reserves. I haven't as yet received any reports on the Demons who took part in the reserves game (Jace Bode, Andre Gianfagna and Heath Neville as well as the Bizz). Ben Holland was selected at centre half forward but failed to take his place in the side. The Zebra seniors had a fine balance of 11 AFL and 11 VFL listed players. Here is Fan's assessment of how the Demons fared:-

Simon Buckley - had little impact on the day and spent a fair bit of time on the bench.

Danny Hughes - was good early with some strong marking but faded out. Moves well and kicks nicely but is not as clean below his knees as he needs to be.

Chris Johnson - CJ has been knocking on the door for sometime but in this game, he stopped knocking, got out the barge pole and knocked the whole door down. He was really, really good. He played full back on a much bigger opponent in Saunders and beat him pointless. CJ was able to stop him marking with good body work, was far superior in reading of the play and then just run off him. It was rather fun watching him running up the ground with his opponent watching. In the last quarter, he played further up the ground and was very good with clean ball handling, precise long kicking and good use of options. What else he can do to get a senior berth?

Nathan Jones - was very quiet in the first half and had no more than a half dozen touches to halftime which included some bench time. His second half was much improved and he worked his way into the play and kicked a class goal in the last quarter. Clean hands and took some good options during play.

Shannon Motlop - did some nice things but if he wants a spot in the seniors he needs to do a heap more.

Shane Neaves - played pretty well in the ruck where he worked hard and won a lot of taps. He found the ball around the ground a bit and dished it off well. He's a very good size and I liked what I saw.

Michael Newton - played cameos of probably about 10 minutes a quarter. Took the mark of the day (it was really good, a hanger running back) and at one stage from a free for deliberate out tried to get round an opponent who just got him but not before he dished off a 25 metre bullet like pass with his left foot onto the chest of a leading Sandy forward. I reckon it would be the source of extreme frustration to the Melbourne footy department that he is not getting more time to develop. This kid has it and is worth persevering with. He may not make it, or it may take five years, but if he does he has a touch of something pretty special.

Phil Read - a good solid game from Read. His problem is that he doesn't really stand out and at this stage can only be looked at as a good backup in the case of injury.

Nick Smith - played mainly forward and spent a small amount of time in the ruck. I was hoping to see more of his good recent form but it was not to be on Sunday.

Daniel Ward - a class above VFL level with his pace and good ball handling at this level. Not a game where he dominated but solid. Kicked a wonderful goal in the second on the run. However, with the current situation at Melbourne it's hard to see where he fits in other than depth.

Matthew Warnock - played on a good player in Watt and did well. He didn't get all that much of it but stopped Watt from being any sort of player for North Ballarat.

Sandringham 2.1.13 7.2.44 11.8.74 19.13.127

North Ballarat 4.0.24 6.0.36 8.2.50 13.2.80

Goals Sautner 8 Crowe Motlop Valenti 2 Jones Liddell Smith Summers Ward

Best Gallagher Sautner Johnson Crowe Summers Valenti

The Zebra reserves had a big half time lead against the Roosters who, unlike their senior counterparts, were shockingly inaccurate allowing the home side to record a 14-point victory which was enough to grab a spot in the top five.

Sandringham 5.2.32 10.3.63 12.5.77 13.7.85

North Ballarat 1.4.10 4.7.31 6.17.53 9.21.75

Goals Mentiplay 3 Heywood McGettigan Paule 2 Gianfagna Marsden Semmel Turcarelli

Best Ott McGettigan Johnston Turcarelli Fletcher Gibb

For photographs from the game go to -

http://www.sandringhamfc.com.au/default.as...play&aid=106563