AARON DEGREEF

IT was a fantastic winter’s day in Tanunda as the Magpies hosted Gawler Central in round three of the Barossa Light & Gawler A-grade competition.
Tanunda’s Benjamin Biagi opened the account with a longrange snap that was aided by the wind, and was consolidated by a high, arching kick by Riley McFarlane, who curved it through for the
home side’s second.
However, the Tigers quickly returned the favour with Andrew Wright slotting a major on the run.
This commenced a lengthy struggle across the midfield, eventually leading to a Shane Moss set-shot, where he made no mistake.
The Tigers began to pounce on multiple opportunities, with Daniel Stanley and Bradley Mercer snagging a goal apiece. Mercer then took another mark, played on, sold candy
to three defenders and snapped his second.
Tanunda, not going down without a fight, managed to end the first period on a high note with a penetrating goal from McFarlane.
Centrals’ damaging scoring continued well into the second term with Dylan Pilkington snapping an early goal, and Stanley also dribbling the footy through. Tanunda eventually found a chink in the
armor with Joshua Trembath positioning himself well and snagging a set shot, but Moss retaliated with his own major from 50 out to enter half-time in style.
After the break, the flood gates were broken wide open by Mercer, who jabbed one through early on, before going on to quickly kick three more for himself, each time manhandling and outmaneuvering his defender. Dean Terlich managed to stop some Tiger momentum with an accurate set-shot, and was aided by
Benjamin Schiller who positioned himself well to sneak a crafty crumbing goal. Tiger ruckman Joe Bottin got in on the fun before
three-quarter time, finding some space to kick his first and extend the margin to 66 points.
The onslaught raged through the final term, with Pilkington scoring a goal quickly off the mark, before he had a floater sail between the big sticks. Trembath stepped up with two goals of his own, managing to temporarily close the gap in a last-minute act of defiance.
Outrunning the Tigers appeared near impossible, as Moss was served up two more goals on a silver platter, and Stanley put the final nails in the coffin with a couple snaps to make the final score 24.12 (156) to 8.5 (53).