What fans did turn up to Hands Memorial Oval remained inside, as South Bunbury defeated Dunsborough in round twelve of the Dale Alcock Homes South West, South West Football League season.
With almost 5000 seats to choose from, the main grandstand was also almost empty as the temperature attempted to reach twelve degrees with a strong southerly wind blowing down the ground.
South Bunbury kicked four goals with the strong breeze in the opening term, the first two of which were kicked by Ethan Nordahl. Jye Clark used the breeze to his advantage, kicked a goal from inside the centre square, while Blaine Johnson kicked the Tigers fourth, on the run deep in the pocket.
The Sharks never scored in the opening term, and onlookers were keen to see how they would handle the wind in the second quarter. Nordahl answered that when he kicked his third, giving the home side a 34 point lead. John Ward gave the Sharks their opening goal after marking at the top of the goal square, but that would be their only goal for the term.
Conditions didn’t really improve in the second half with the bulk of the play on the outer side, and the match reached no great heights with marking and at times kicking difficult. The player of the match was Ethan Nordahl who finished with six goals, half of the Tigers tally.
Late in the match, Dunsborough still hadn’t surpassed their lowest ever score of 1.4.10, but a goal to Jeremy Rolfe saved that record from tumbling as the Tigers ran out winners by 68 points.
The Tigers have the bye in round thirteen, while Dunsborough will head to VC Mitchell Park to face Donnybrook who were big winners also on Saturday.
SCOREBOARD
South Bunbury 4.4.28 5.5.35 8.8.56 12.12.84
Dunsborough 0.0.0 1.1.7 1.1.7 2.4.16
Goals: South Bunbury – Ethan Nordahl 6, Blaine Johnson 2, Jye Clark 1, Shaun Crane 1, Rhys Crawford 1, Kade Wallrodt 1. Dunsborough – Jeremy Rolfe 1, John Ward 1.
Best: South Bunbury – Ethan Nordahl, Jye Clark, Thomas Gorter, Rocco Versace, Ben Horsman. Dunsborough – Simon Moore, Rory Calhoun, Jake Green, Paris Murdock, Mitchell Fairclough, Ben Scott.
Ground: Hands Memorial Oval
Umpires: Kevin Hutchins, Spencer Drummond, Cameron Valenti
Crowd: 573
