Aaron Degreef

GAWLER CENTRAL strengthened its top position on the ladder with a 93-point home win over Barossa District in round four of the Barossa Light & Gawler A-grade competition.
Straight out of the rooms, the ferocity of the midfields on both sides was top notch, with each player keeping their opponent under lock-and-key.
After a very evenly matched arm wrestle, league-leading goal kicker Bradley Mercer snatched the footy for himself and banged it through, opening the bank for the Tigers.
Kyle Wurst made another deposit with a major of his own, and although the Dogs managed to pick up the pace, Dylan Pilkington was too fast – selling the candy and slotting another one through as the Tigers began to pull away.
During the second term, Barossa lifted with Tristen Geehman snapping through the first Dogs goal. This was followed up by a nice pack mark from Jarrad Combe, who went on to boot an accurate set-shot.
However, the Tigers managed to wrestle back their dominance with Jason Blakemore scoring a quick goal whilst under pressure, and Sean Baker then showed considerable skill with a set-shot from a tight-angle.
Despite the Barossa backline holding up quite well, Wurst, Daniel Stanley and Shane Moss managed to slip between the cracks and light up the scoreboard. The Tigers entered the main break looking very strong, but Barossa was still hot in the contest.
After the main break, the Tigers gained even more momentum with Nicholas Hooker tumbling an early one through. Pilkington further extended the lead – bombing the footy between the big sticks.
Barossa’s Joshua Banks stepped up for the visitors and finished accurately, but Mercer got a quick one back after wrestling a mark from his defender and kicking one dead in front.
Banks continued the back and forth with his second goal, again snapping it in from close range after collecting the crumbs – but, again, Mercer hit back – this time putting through a shot from 50 out.
The Tigers had managed to stretch the margin to a 69-point lead at three-quarter time.
Entering the final stanza, Gawler Central continued showing its dominance with potential league-medal favourite Charlie Molyneux kicking through a banana after crumbing the pack.
Molyneux quickly followed this up with a set-shot from mid-range for his second of the day, and sixth for the year, putting the midfielder into the top-10 goal kickers in the grade.
After a last minute burst of pressure from Barossa, with a bit of push and shove down the midfield, Thomas Phelps kicked a lazy goal from 20 out, while Mercer quickly grabbed the footy, zigzagged through his defenders and punted the ball through for his fourth, and as a final show of strength for the Tigers as it won comfortably by a score of 21.10 (136) to 6.7 (43).