Harvey Brunswick Leschenault won their round thirteen encounter over the Collie Eagles by 38 points, but that doesn’t reflect the closeness of the contest between two teams at opposite ends of the ladder.
The Lions who are third, and the Eagles who are at the bottom, played an exciting brand of football in the opening term in sunny, yet windy conditions at the Collie Recreation Ground.
The match was bookend by two bits of brilliance, with a great rovers goal by Kayden Panetta at the six minute mark to open the scoring, and a brilliant mark by Blake Offer with 23 seconds remaining in the match.
In between time, the match was relatively tight, with the Lions leading by 12 points at quarter time and twenty points at half time. The Eagles had plenty of the ball in the third term but weren’t able to convert opportunities, but did narrow the margin to 16 points at the final change. The Eagles would kick the opening goal of the final term to get within ten points of the Lions, but four late goals in the final six minutes of the match, including a goal to Blake Offer after taking the mark of the day, had the final margin at 38 points, which didn’t really reflect the closeness of the contest.
Ty Anderson continued his brilliant season with another excellent game, while Offer kicked three goals. The Eagles were well served by Jack Davidson and Jarrod Cameron, while the home side had seven individual goals scorers. In a small ray of sunshine for the Eagles, the scoreline has again got them off the bottom of the ladder on percentage, dropping Eaton to last, who play Dunsborough in Dunsborough on Sunday. As a result of Augusta Margaret Rivers loss to South Bunbury, the Lions are third, eight points clear of the fourth placed team on the ladder. The Lions will face the Bulls in round fourteen, while Collie will travel to Eaton.
Match Centre
Harv Bruns Lesch 4.0.24 6.2.38 7.5.47 13.5.83
Collie Eagles 2.0.12 3.0.18 5.1.31 7.3.45
Goals: Harvey Brunswick Leschenault – Blake Offer 3, Billy Boucher 2, Kayden Panetta 2, Hamish Ward 2, Ty Anderson 1, Pierce Ferguson 1, Zac Piper 1, Blake Soulos 1. Collie Eagles – Adam Bignell 1, Jarrod Cameron 1, Deegan Cummings 1, Cameron Davidson 1, Jayce Fontana 1, Hayden Mears 1, Jye Smith 1.
Best: Harvey Brunswick Leschenault – Ty Anderson, Connor Carbone, Jack Fletcher, Jonathan Fenwick, Zachariah Piper, Thomas Heenan. Collie Eagles – Jack Davidson, Joshua Elliott, Jayce Fontana, Jarrod Cameron, Zac Pilatti, Adam Bignell.
Ground: Collie Recreation Ground
Umpires: Michael Hearne, Paul Davey
Reports: Nil
Crowd: 571
Photo courtesy of Faye Golding.