STEPHEN O’LOUGHLIN
IN a one-sided contest, South
Gawler dominated Freeling on
Saturday to win its A-grade
Barossa, Light & Gawler Football
Association clash by a mammoth
220 points.
The Lions did as they pleased,
particularly after half-time, to establish
the massive outcome at home,
with an even performance from all
players that satisfied coach Gavin
Chaplin.
“We shared and carried the ball
pretty well – that was our focus for
the game,” he said.
“We shared the goal-kicking
around which was really good, and
had a good contribution across the
whole board, which I was really
pleased with.”
Despite the control South Gawler
had on the game, the Redlegs
stayed committed to the task and
even had the upper hand with centre
clearances, mainly in the first
half, as big man Adam Cockshell
continuously fed his smaller brigade,
including Caleb Lloyd and
Scott Dutschke, through his aerial
supremacy.
However, it was the disposal
into the forward line that let Freeling
down, and the ball was easily
cleared by the Lions’ defence on
a regular basis, especially Patrick
White, who swept up countless opposition
attacks.
The home side then had little
trouble running the ball forward
itself and finishing its efforts on
the scoreboard, though several
movements were cut off by
Freeling as well, with Travis Muster
seeing plenty of the ball down his
end.
South Gawler took a commanding
86-point advantage into the
main break and, upon its return, remained
ruthless to the end.
The Lions completed two 10-goal
quarters without the visitors having
much of an impact, and the margin
could have even been greater had
the Lions’ forwards been more accurate
with some of their easier opportunities
in front of goal.
The accuracy is something Chaplin
said had been an issue in each of
his side’s four games this year.
“We go in (to attack) a lot, but I’d
just like to be cleaner and get some
easy shots on goal,” he said.
However, they still achieved a
good spread of goal-kickers overall,
including six goals apiece from
Dean Cutting and Steve Burton,
Joshua Wittwer polishing off five
goals and Daniel Goulding snaring
four.
Matthew Naumann raked in numerous
possessions around the
ground, also managing three goals
himself, while captain Jackson Dare
ventured forward from his halfback
role to hit the scoresheet with
three as well.
When the siren went, the final
score read 34.25 (229) to 1.3 (9),
and while it was a statement about
where Freeling is as a club following
a year in the wilderness, it was
more about the way the Lions deconstructed
their opposition and
showed that they would be a major
contender at the business end of the
season.
“We could just execute what
we’re about,” Chaplin said.
“We’re making some progress…
there are still a lot of things I’d
like to be doing better, but we’re
improving.”