by Barry from Beach Road

Sandringham overturned two home and away losses to Geelong and overcame the loss of key players to AFL duties and injury to move into its third successive VFL Preliminary Final with a 21 point Qualifying Final victory over Geelong at TEAC Oval on Sunday.

The Zebras lost running players Nathan Brown and Shannon Motlop (to Adelaide with the Demons) before the game and defender Matthew Warnock was off with ankle injury in the early moments. As the game wore on things didn't get any better on the injury front and by half time skipper Chad Liddell was off with a hamstring. Then, in the final quarter, the club's in form defender Andy Biddlecombe was off with a jarred knee. Despite these tribulations the team's spirit remained undiminished and nothing could prevent it from achieving its aims. Sandy stuck fiercely to its game plan and beat the opposition by sheer power in a crowd pleasing battle of attrition.

Sandringham started with confidence but the Cats came back to take an early three goal lead before some hard, disciplined football from the Zebras allowed them to shut the opposition down and take over the running to go to a narrow 6 point lead at the first break.

Sandy benefited from a dominant midfield led by Phil Read who has been a prolific ball gatherer in recent weeks and capably back up by Peter Summers and teenage sensation, Shane Valenti. Together, they gave lots of good ball supply to their forwards, Nick Sautner in particular, and they were not let down.

Sautner was in great marking form on his way to a seven goal haul while former Tiger and Demon rookie Ezra Poyas and the elusive David Gallagher were in scintillating form as the Zebras stretched their lead to 13 points at half time and then to 19 points at three quarter time. Time and time again, it was Poyas who set up a team goal and his overall output for the game would have been so much better had his own kicking for goal been on target.

Daniel Hughes relished his time on the ground with a hard working performance that was typical of his team and the Zebras lifted in the final term, with forwards Nick Smith and Lynden Dunn getting in on the act and helping to set up a comfortable 21 point win in the end.

Read and Summers headed the team's ball winners with 34 and 31 disposals respectively. They were closely followed by Poyas on 28 and Gallagher 24 while Rod Crowe and Chris Johnson were solid contributors all day. Johnson's long goal was a gem and a team lifter while Hughes was in prolific marking form and his multicoloured hair style lefty nobody wondering as to his identity.

Under the VFL laws, Geelong, which does not have a VFL reserves team, has unlimited access to its AFL listed players and used 18 players from its senior and rookie lists while Sandringham was restricted to 12 AFL players but in reality only four of the Demon listed men available could be said to have played much elite level football over any length of time. That the Zebras triumphed despite this anomaly is testament to the strength of the club and its union with Melbourne and this should hold them in good stead in the weeks to come.

The first upset of the finals came with Williamstown beating the top team Northern Bullants who lost only once during the home and away series. The Bullants now have to face Frankston in the semi final next weekend to decide who plays Sandy in the Preliminary Final in a fortnight's time.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

(with a little help from Fan)

Clint Bizzell - a strangely quiet game from the Bizz. He never really got into it and not really putting his name forward with any force at present.

Jace Bode - an interchange player who just went. Still has another year on the rookie list to make an impact.

Simon Buckley - played a really good game in the end after starting as an interchange. Was on for most of the last half, showed some good decision making and is fast. He got plenty of the ball, particularly in the last quarter and showed that he has a good pair of hands and excellent kicking skills..

Lynden Dunn - a very smart footballer who left his best for last. Would have had at least half a dozen important possessions in the final quarter with some really good vision and fantastic work rate, His influence early however, was not great.

Daniel Hughes - impressed with some strong marking and in the way he worked hard up and down the length of the ground. Set up a number of goals.

Chris Johnson - got better as the game went on. Will be a player in time but has a young body which needs to develop before he will take the next step to consistent AFL level but has all the skills with clean hands and good vision. He showed his class at one stage with a terrific goal from the 50 metre line in the second.

Shane Neaves - beaten early but changed his game and finally got on top of a handy ruckman in Blake. His disposal is good for such a big man so if he can learn to get more involved in play around the ground he has the potential to develop into a valuable player.

Alistair Nicholson - played his usual negating role very well and never let McCarthy or Playfair have a bearing on the game. He was rarely beaten although he made the odd clanger here and there.

Phillip Read - - a prolific ball getter and hard in the packs. A mature AFL player now playing a grade of footy that is not good enough for him. Sadly he doesn't seem to be able to take his VFL form into the AFL but on the strength of an average 35 disposals per game for the last month, he might still get another chance.

Nicholas Smith - a servicable effort. While he never really exerted to much influence on the game, he was competitive and took some strong overhead marks.

Matthew Warnock - was doing well on Kingsley but injured his ankle early and didn't really play much of a role in the game. After he went off Sandy really struggled to cover his loss.

Sandringham 6.4.40 11.7.73 16.10.106 20.16.136

Geelong 5.4.34 9.6.60 13.9.87 17.13.115

Goals Sautner 7 Valenti 3 Smith 2 Corrigan Crowe Dunn Hughes C Johnson Liddell Poyas Read

Best Read Poyas Gallagher Summers Sautner Hughes

The Sandy reserves struggled from the outset against a stronger Box Hill combination in the elimination final but never stopped trying despite their 26 point loss.

The Zebras were well served by Tom Paterakis and Daniel Corp. Andrew Fleming and Marc Johnston capped off excellent seasons and Guy Martyn continued his excellent late season form.

Corp underlined the reasons why he has been selected in the VFL's squad of up and coming youngsters (with Mark Corrigan and Shane Valenti) for a special game in the lead up to the AFL Grand Final.

HOW THE DEMON FARED

Michael Newton - kicked six goals and missed a few very gettable shots. His highlight was a magnificent hanger of a mark but he also took a couple of high marks running flat out on the lead with his opponent right on his hammer with the ball coming in hard and low. Will challenge for a place in the Melbourne team some time next year.

Sandringham 4.2.26 9.8.62 13.11.89 16.13.109

Box Hill Hawks 5.6.36 13.9.87 16.12.108 20.15.135

Goals Newton 6 Turcarelli 3 Corp Fleming Johnston McGettigan Martyn Paule Tsindos

Best Fleming Johnston Corp Turcarelli Paule Martyn

HI BARRY,

it was a awesome win by sandy to get over the top of geelong in some aspects of the game i thought we could have really put more goals on the board but im still glad they got through to the preliminary final they will be playing the northern bullants on saturday 16 th of september at 10 past 1:00pm.

thanks for putting that up barry.

from linc

HI BARRY,

it was a awesome win by sandy to get over the top of geelong in some aspects of the game i thought we could have really put more goals on the board but im still glad they got through to the preliminary final they will be playing the northern bullants on saturday 16 th of september at 10 past 1:00pm.

thanks for putting that up barry.

from linc