LIAM PHILLIPS
BILLED as arguably the
best local football team in
the state this year, Tanunda
looked on its way to another
big win after leading by
five goals at quarter time of
its Barossa, Light & Gawler
Football Association A1
clash at South Gawler.
Kicking with a two-goal
breeze first up, Tanunda forward
Josh Trembath showed
terrific forward craft to shake
off Darcy Judd-Smith in transition
to provide easy hit-ups
for his midfielders.
It was looking like it might
be a long day for Judd-Smith
back there as he was consistently
the last line of defence
as Tanunda bombed into a
wide-open forward line, but
the Lions found a way to link
up with handballs through
the middle of the ground and
play a decent chunk of the
quarter in their front half.
With the Magpies now
playing into the wind, the
Lion pressure ramped up
and forced a number of turnovers
in and around the South
Gawler attacking 50.
In the space of five minutes,
the South Gawler pressure
directly resulted in two
quick goals.
First, Jackson Press won a
loose ball on the half-forward
flank, danced around a couple
of defenders and lowered
his eyes to hit a leading forward,
eventually resulting in
a Callum Fielke goal.
Next, the Magpies ran out
of handball options deep in
defence, eventually coughing
it up for a walk-in goal for
Steve Burton.
The rest of the quarter was
the Dean Cutting show.
He finished off a set shot
from 45m out on a slight angle,
before converting a much
tougher attempt nearly 50m
out on the boundary, wheeling
onto his preferred left boot.
It could have been bigger
as Cutting missed two more
very gettable chances from
straight in front as South
Gawler pulled back near
level at halftime.
With the wind at its back
once more, Tanunda controlled
the field position battle
in the third term. But the
Lions’ backline stood resolute
as Pat White controlled
the air, while Jackson Dare
and Josh Witter were the
main distributors and cool
heads in the chaos.
Crucially, South Gawler
didn’t allow Tanunda to
build a lead heading into the
last quarter, and with both
the wind and a raucous crowd
behind it, the fourth quarter
was completely dominated
by the hosts.
Cutting took advantage of
a soft free kick to grab his
fourth goal, and then nabbed
his fifth just a couple of minutes
later while sprinting
hard deep into the pocket and
snapping on his wrong foot in
a best-on-ground showing as
his side won 15.12 (102) to
9.14 (68).
South Gawler captain
Jackson Dare said his side
had been hearing all summer
about how strong this Tanunda
outfit would be, but said
the Lions have their sights set
pretty high as well.
“We’ve set our expectations
pretty high this year,”
he said.
“We’ve added four of five
to our team from last year,
including a couple of inside
midfielders which we really
needed, and they brought us
back into the game after we
went down early.
“Honestly, it never really
felt like we were five goals
down because we were competing
well in the inside-50s,
but they were just so efficient
in that first quarter.
“It was a bit of an arm-wrestle,
but we’re really confident
with our fitness and our runand-
carry, and it feels like
when we’ve got that working,
we’re really difficult to stop.”
Dare also gave a shout-out to
Cutting, who he said is off to
a ripping start to the year.
“(Cutting) was actually
disappointed last week after
he kicked one goal and five
behinds, so to come out and
kick 5.3 against one of the
best teams in the competition
is massive for us, because he
is our main target down there
this year,” he said.
“He’s got a huge amount of
X-factor for us, and to be performing
like that at 37 years
of age is just ridiculous.”