WAYWARD ZEBRAS WIN WELL

[Demonland 73,140]

by Barry from Beach Road

A huge crowd was on hand at City Oval Coburg on Queens Birthday Monday to witness an inaccurate Sandringham return to the winner's list and regain top place on the VFL ladder with a solid but unspectacular 29 point victory over the Coburg Tigers.

A large number of those in attendance were Tiger fans there to watch the comeback of their injured star Nathan Brown and it was therefore somewhat ironic that the Zebra defence contained Melbourne's own Nathan Brown as well as Matthew Whelan, the player who accidentally collided with Brown when he broke his leg at the Telstra Dome in 2005. All three worked hard and played well in their endeavours to return to the big stage in a fortnight's time when their AFL teams will meet at the MCG.

Conditions at the ground were quite good despite the overnight and early morning rain and it was the Zebras, smarting from last week's defeat at North Ballarat, who started off playing with urgency and real purpose. They were quickly off the mark jumping the home side with goals to David Gallagher and Lynden Dunn. The Sandy forward line was perhaps a bit top heavy and star forward Nick Sautner was being well blanketed by Tiger defender Jarrod Silvester. The task fell on the shoulders of discarded Demon Brad Miller to step into the breach and he did so with some strong marking for a couple of early goals. Coburg fought back late in the quarter restricting Sandy to a four point lead into the first break.

Miller was one of a number of players welcomed into the side. Brown and Whelan were also in along with Chris Lamb returning from suspension and Ezra Poyas from injury. However, brilliant small man Shane Valenti missed for the second week in a row.

The strength and experience of the reigning premiers started to tell early in the second quarter and with Lamb, Biddlecombe and Warnock combining well in defence, the Zebras were able to rebound the ball to advantage. Gallagher was superb all day with his chasing and tackling and he was damaging with his possession particularly when moving the ball forward. Peter Summers, while not his usual classy self was still handy and won lots of tough footy in the midfield. For the quarter the visitors kicked 4.7 to two straight goals to move to a 23 point half time lead.

Honours were pretty much even in the third quarter as the home side refused to give in again a dominant Zebra forward line led by Miller whose excellent marking form continued. He finished the day with a six goal tally which could have been much more but for his inaccuracy in front of goal. He was too strong for Jay Schultz who had to be moved into attack (and ended with three goals). Miller received great assistance from Simon Buckley, Gallagher, Summers and Rod Crowe who moved the ball constantly in his direction. At the other end of the ground Biddlecombe and Warnock repelled countless attacks and they were given outstanding assistance from Jace Bode, Brown and Whelan.

Sandringham steamrolled home in the final quarter but their wayward kicking for goal let Coburg off the hook time and again. Gallagher, who had been excellent all day, kicked a great goal from the boundary and Summers capped the afternoon off with a great mark and goal at the death to see the Zebras home by 15.17.107 to Coburg's more accurate 12.6.78.

After the game, coach Mark Williams was full of praise for Miller's performance which was chock full of some big crunching pack marks.

"He had something like eight contested marks, he was big and strong contesting," Williams said.

While he was quite happy with the team total of twenty-two marks taken inside the attacking 50 metre arc, the coach was disappointed that the Tigers managed six of their own goals from free kicks and will be looking to a more disciplined approach in future games.

The Zebras return to Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval for next week's match against the Box Hill Hawks who always provide a tough contest irrespective of the teams' respective positions on the ladder. A highlight of next week's activities will be the 1997 premiership players 10 year reunion in the Social Club. Enquiries through the club [Phone: 9598 8629, Fax: 9521 0017]

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Jace Bode - had a tagging role on dangerous Coburg player Alistair Neville and kept him quiet all day. His best performance yet with the Zebras.

Nathan Brown - an excellent game from Brown who did a lot of hard work and linked up well.

Simon Buckley - prominent all day and gave a lot of drive from his wing.

Lynden Dunn - kicked an early goal and always looked dangerous but drifted in and out of the game.

Colin Garland - played off the bench, kicked a goal but had little impact.

Chris Johnson - was in everything early and was a solid contributor on the day.

Brad Miller - with Sautner well covered Miller took the mantle of the leading forward and comprehensively beat a handy opponent in Jay Schultz in the air and on the ground. Shultz was moved off him in the last quarter and kicked a three goals for the Tigers.

Michael Newton - prominent early with a goal in each of the opening quarters. Provided some excitement with a spectacular mark and a banana kick goal but was in the wars a bit with what appeared to be a finger injury and then a blow to the head from a Coburg player.

Shane Neaves - won the ruck duels and was handy around the ground.

Byron Pickett - did what he had to do and played his usual no nonsense game. He made a few of characteristic dashes but is still a few weeks away from an acceptable level of fitness for AFL duties.

Matthew Warnock - probably the stand out defender in this game with Biddlecombe, Warnock was impressive with his pace and run out of the backline.

Matthew Whelan - a steady effort in his comeback from injury. Should improve on that next week.

Sandringham 5.1.31 9.8.62 12.10.82 15.17.107

Coburg Tigers 4.3.27 6.3.39 9.5.59 12.6.78

Goals

Sandringham Miller 6 Gallagher 3 Newton 2 Dunn Garland Poyas Summers

Coburg Tigers Schulz 3 Brown Krakouer Riewoldt 2 F Caruso N Caruso Moore

Best

Sandringham Gallagher Miller Brown Warnock Dunn Buckley

Coburg Tigers Horne Shelton Silvester Krakouer Hartigan Caruso

RESERVES STRUGGLE

The reserves were again forced to play one short after changes were forced to the senior side and struggled against a Coburg side that played a more direct and attacking style.

Sam Monaghan, Rennie Gilchrist and Peter McGettigan all continued their fine seasons while Daniel Hayes again proved to be a likely type kicking a goal and was named in the best for the second week in succession.

Sandringham 1.5.11 3.6.24 7.8.50 10.10.70

Coburg Tigers 3.2.20 8.3.51 13.9.81 16.15.111

Goals

Sandringham Gileno Martyn Monaghan 2 Dunne Gilchrist Hayes McKenzie

Coburg Tigers Mullins 4 Currie 4 Robertson 2 Liddle Gazzo Hill Krojs Carrick Dagher

Best

Sandringham Monaghan Gilchrist McGettigan Hayes Neville Turcarelli

Coburg Tigers Dowd Vasilevski Mullins Robertson Hill Clingan