ZEBRAS IN TOWN

by Barry from Beach Road

A well rested Sandringham returned from the week's bye and raced out of the blocks to demolish Williamstown with fifteen minutes of brilliance in the opening term at Burbank Oval on Sunday. That's how long it took for the Zebras to amass the first six unanswered goals and effectively end the contest between two of the VFL's best credentialed teams.

As it has been for most of the year, Sandy's midfield dominance was clear from the beginning. This time it was Nick Smith opening in the ruck, a possible pointer to a change in tack by the Zebras' senior partner, and dominating to give his onballers first use of the footy. Phil Read, Guy Rigoni, Peter Summers and youngster Shane Valenti invariably took the ball out of the middle and delivered it superbly to key forwards Nick Sautner and Lynden Dunn. Dunn was in superb form booting three goals in the opening term with Sautner booting two. By the first break it was virtually a foregone conclusion with the visitors 38 points ahead.

Williamstown tried hard to bridge the gap in the second term but the Zebra defence, solid as usual, held firm. Biddlecombe, Ferguson and Chris Johnson formed a brilliant attacking half back line while deeper in defence, the likes of Chris Lamb, Matthew Warnock and Alistair Nicholson mopped up what little of the ball they allowed through. Later in the quarter, Clint Bizzell made his return to senior football after a long lay off with injury and a couple of ill fated attempts to return through the reserves. Bizzell was almost his old self and that can only be good news for Sandy, if not for the Melbourne Football Club. By the main break, the Zebs had increased their lead to 41 points.

With a handy leady, Zebra coach Mark Williams moved his players around the ground and we saw Brad Miller run into some form with a couple of nice goals and Rod Crowe working hard to set up scoring opportunities. Late in the game Bizzell celebrated his return with a goal while utility Ezra Poyas was dominant in a good all round performance as Sandringham coasted to an easy 56 point victory.

Special kudos go to skipper Chad Liddell, with his courage and long left foot kicking as Sandringham wrapped up a top four position in a classy performance on what was once difficult and hostile territory. As the coach put it so aptly:

"A 10-goal win down there (at Burbank Oval) is worth its weight in gold."

This weekend the team plays its last game at home for the season against Geelong. The Cats have moved up to third place in place of Williamstown and Williams and his players will be highly motivated to win this one given that they were well beaten earlier in the season when the teams met at Skilled Stadium.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Our guest analyst this week is Deefan:-

Clint Bizzell - started on the bench and would have played about three quarters. Worked his way into the game well and got a bit of pill as the game went on. Looking like he's getting a bit of touch back. Will be interesting to see where he goes from here with both Wheatley and Bell putting in ordinary performances on Saturday.

Lynden Dunn – ended up with five goals. Was very good and was rested/taken off/saved for next week(?) for most of the last quarter. Kicked very well, covered lots of ground and now just look a class or two above this level. Played most of the game on Anthony of Collingwood who has plenty of raps on him. Just an excellent game.

Ryan Ferguson - would have been close to BOG for mine. Just another really good game and I'm confident that he could adequately replace Rivers as the zoning back. Not fast enough for the leading forward, not strong enough for the gorilla, but plays really well.

Chris Johnson - didn't dominate but showed his class in what he did and was a solid contributor. I really like him so maybe I'm not critical enough. He's developed a toughness at the ball that I like. I was still "out" on this issue at the beginning of the season but I'm not now.

Brad Miller - a serviceable game without dominating. Kicked a couple of goals and seemed to be playing closer to goal that he usually does which surprised me as Willy's ground is wide and I would have though I'd have seen the hard leading dish it off player of past years. His kicking for goal has definitely improved.

Shannon Motlop- kicked a brilliant long goal and was involved in some very smart bits of play. A class act in small doses. He's a player that needs to get it 20 times a game. He's not doing it.

Shane Neaves – another good development game. Played against Fanning and Richards who have both had AFL exposure and he held his own. Is not getting as much of the ball around the ground as he did earlier in the season but he's developing nicely. Would be mauled if thrown into AFL rucks at the moment but will definitely be retained for the future.

Alistair Nicholson - played your typical Nicho game. Rotated off the bench a bit as Sandy have so many talls. Looked a bit rusty but he'd do the job on a gorilla if it came up and Holland wasn't available.

Phil Read - got it a million times, used it a lot less than that. But an excellent game at this level. He just has this habit of getting the ball and dancing on the spot trying to find an option. And the frustration is that he will have already rejected a couple. Perhaps he thinks he's TJ, but he's not. He turned it over a few times but he got it so often that's going to happen. Can't warm to him really.

Nick Smith - was good. Played as the first ruckman and did OK in that role but I was very impressed with his clean hands and his ability to get involved in the play around the ground. The shame is we don't want him to do this, we want him to be a key forward. He didn't get a chance to do that given all the talls all over the ground. Thank heavens it wasn't a wet day! I don't believe he could ruck at AFL level. Interesting issue for the club come end of season.

Matthew Warnock - not all that noticeable but didn't make any mistakes. Good athlete and very good kick. Where does he fit in? I don't know but I'd keep him around as I don't think he's finished developing yet and he's got some good attributes.

Sandringham 8.3.51 12.3.75 15.6.96 18.6.114

Williamstown 2.1.13 5.4.34 8.6.54 8.10.58

Goals Dunn 5 Sautner 3 Miller Motlop 2 Bizzell Crowe Poyas Read Rigoni Valenti

Best Biddlecombe Read Ferguson Gallagher Dunn Smith

The Reserves put in their best performance of the year against the unbeaten Williamstown at Williamstown and nearly caused the upset of the season after leading in the last quarter. However, the Seagulls' strength prevailed but it was a close call with only two goals separating the teams at the final bell – a far cry from the 146 point thrashing sufferer by Sandy at home earlier in the season.

Tom Paterakis took a midfield role and was Sandy’s best while Michael Newton was solid up forward with four goals. Daniel Hughes and Daniel Corp were strong in attack while Ewan McKenzie put in another excellent performance in ruck. The midfield is improving as a unit with every passing week and Mark Johnston, Leigh Fletcher and Guy Martyn all continue to impress. Mark Gibb and Jace Bode were the pick of the defenders.

The team has a make or break game against Werribee this week.

Sandringham 3.1.19 7.4.46 12.7.79 16.12.108

Williamstown 5.1.31 9.4.58 13.11.89 18.12.120

Goals Newton 4 Fletcher 3 Johnston Paule Turcarelli 2 Corp Martyn Paterakis

Best Paterakis Bode Gibb Hughes McKenzie Martyn