ZEBRAS LAMENT

by Barry from Beach Road

The Zebras started as firm favourites to prevail over rival club Frankston in Sunday's bayside derby at the Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval. They had the optimum number of 12 Melbourne Football Club affiliated players and a number of others with experience at the elite level giving them a combined tally of several hundred AFL games under their belt. On the other hand, the Dolphins were hit by injury, missing a key ruckman in Eames and dangerous forward Limbach and cobbled together an inexperienced side that included three first gamers at VFL level. It seemed that Sandy had only to turn up to claim the four premiership points on offer.

Unfortunately, while the script ran that way early in the game, Frankston took the game right up to Sandringham and overpowered the home side to score an upset 12 point victory and leave the home team lamenting after their strong all round team performance.

The Zebras were off to a good start as they raced away to a 26 point lead approaching the quarter time siren with Stefan Martin controlling the rucks, Simon Buckley kicking two booming long goals and 17 year old Addam Maric causing Frankston problems both around the ground and near the goals. The lead was pegged back to 20 points with a Dolphin goal on the siren but Sandringham looked well in control.

Things changed in the second term as the visitors got their act together and began playing as a team, running in twos and threes to move the ball quickly forward. Sandringham lost the dominance of Martin to injury and this left young Jake Spencer to virtually play a lone hand on the ball against Frankston's rucks. Coach Andy Lovell was forced to move Nick Sautner and Michael Newton (neither was playing well anyway) to act as back ups to Spencer. With Rod Crowe out, the Zebras were struggling in the key forward positions where they are normally a strength.

Sandringham maintained its lead into the major interval but now led by a narrow margin of five points although it did have the advantage of what seemed to be the scoring end going into the third term. However, Frankston's confidence was high and it now controlled the centre clearances with Sandy's normally steady midfielder like Peter Summers and Shane Valenti well down on their usual form. As a consequence, the normally solid defence wilted under pressure and the Dolphins took over the running. They snatched the lead halfway through the third quarter and never looked back from there although, to their credit, the Zebras made a number of spirited attempts to get back into the game.

Andy Biddlecombe who had fought well in defence was summoned up forward for a while but was unable to repeat the heroics of the grand final from a couple of years ago and Sautner and Newton continued to be well held. Sautner remained goalless for the day and Newton managed just one goal - albeit a ripper from 55 metres.

Maric finished with five goals in a sparkling performance and first gamer Shane Tregear was lively and kicked a nice goal when the chips were down. Brent Moloney and Colin Garland were good in patches.

All in all, it was a disappointing performance that sees the Zebras in negative territory in terms of games won and lost which is a rarity for the club in recent years. They face a tough task at City Oval Box Hill on Sunday in an effort square the ledger at two all.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Jace Bode - started well in defence and provided a bit of early run before fading out of the game.

Simon Buckley - was dominant in the first term when he stood out with his pace, preparedness to run through the lines and kick the ball long into attack to score two brilliant goals. He was hot and cold after that but may well have done enough to earn promotion.

James Frawley - showed some real hope for the future with a display of his fine talent and athleticism . Frawley is developing well at Sandringham and should get AFL game time during the season.

Colin Garland - plugged away all day, took a few telling marks and worked hard whether in defence or going forward.

Stefan Martin - was doing well in the ruck until injured late in the first term.

Addam Maric - a standout game from the youngster who turns 18 on Friday. He was not only deadly around the big sticks with five goals but also worked hard when further afield and he definitely merits promotion given Melbourne's ordinary form.

Brent Moloney - started like a house on fire and, despite a few quiet moments, has most likely earned a return to the Melbourne team.

Michael Newton - a poor game from Newton who seems to have lost the spark he was showing twelve months ago.

Jake Spencer - called into the side to take the relief ruck role but when Stef Martin was injured early, had to play virtually a lone hand against two inexperienced big men from Frankston. Held his own but has a long, long way to go.

Shane Valenti - heavily tagged out of the game and had no influence whatsoever.

Matthew Warnock - one of the few triers in the team but didn' do enough to earn consideration for a berth in the AFL next week.

Adem Yze -a better effort this week although still well below his best. Lifted in the final quarter but it wasn't enough to get his team across the line.

The reserves featured five Demons including Matthew Bate who starred and Isaac Weetra who had his moments. Kyle Cheney looked strong and impressed with his persistance and determination.

Sandringham 5.4.34 7.5.47 9.8.62 13.12.90

Frankston 2.2.14 6.6.42 10.9.69 15.12.102

Goals

Sandringham Maric 5 Buckley 2 Liddell Newton Spencer Summers Tregear Yze

Frankston Murray 3 Clark Dickson Proctor 2 Barker Berry Conroy Gabriel Magner

Best

Sandringham Biddlecombe Lamb Garland Warnock Tregear. Maric

Frankston Pollard Marigliani Proctor Conroy Magner P Whelan

RESERVES RUN RIOT

It took a full quarter for the Zebra reserves to throw off the cobwebs but after that they ran riot over the Dolphins in the curtain raiser to win by 82 points.

Sandringham booted seven goals straight with the wind in the second quarter and bettered that with nine in the last in a pleasing team performance.

The Zebras were led by a strong performance from the experienced Guy Martin and Jarrod Plymin from Port Melbourne and Demon Matthew Bate, recovering from a pre season hamstring injury was also in devastating form with 32 touches, 14 of them in the opening stanza.

Sandringham 2.3.15 9.3.57 14.7.91 22.13.145

Frankston 1.3.9 3.8.26 7.14.56 8.15.63

Goals

Sandringham Dean Martyn Summons 4 Lockwood Waller 3 Cleeve Gilchrist Lyall Vickers

Frankston Lourey 4 Krakouer Morris Potts Rebeschini

Best

Sandringham Martyn Plymin Bate Lockwood Dean Curcio

Frankston Barry Bosward Degenhardt Krakouer Lourey Lombardozzi