By Michael Esposito
SUNSHINE’S finals aspirations were dealt a huge blow after the Kangaroos went down by 21 points to Hoppers Crossing on Saturday.
In a season-defining game for both sides, the Warriors weathered a six-goal blitz by Sunshine in the second quarter to run out deserving winners and keep in touch with the top five.
For Sunshine, touted as premiership contenders before the season, season 2011 is fast slipping away with the Kangaroos sitting seventh on the ladder and eight points away from the top five.
Ben Foley and Jess McInneny fought hard up forward, but the Kangaroos were clearly missing Patrick Wiggins.
The Kangaroos squandered the chance to put early scoreboard pressure on the Warriors, who were kicking with a 2-3 goal breeze.
Fifteen minutes of dominance in the first quarter yielded just one goal, while the Warriors, against the flow of play, got their first goal through Jason Butty, which kick-started a run of four goals straight.
All of a sudden the Kangaroos went in to their shell and let Hoppers Crossing control the tempo. Their forward entries were unimaginative and the Warriors consistently chopped the ball off at half-back.
Sunshine coach Brett Jacobs implored his players to stop the cute footy and focus on getting the fundamentals right, and that’s precisely what they did after Butty kicked the first goal of the second quarter to give Hoppers a five-goal lead.
Sunshine kicked the next six goals, including two to Foley, to hit the front and be four points up at half time.
Jake Trevaskis was the architect of several of Sunshine’s forward thrusts in the second quarter, and kicked the first goal of the third to give Sunshine some breathing space.
But Hoppers Crossing dug deep, and it was again Butty who delivered at the crucial time, kicking a goal to level the scores at 53 apiece.
Butty finished the game with six goals and has arguably been the league’s most in-form forward, having booted 33 goals in his past five games.
Hoppers Crossing kicked four goals straight to regain command of the match, and it was second-string players such as Jarryd Ramsay, Lachlan Liddicoat and Jason Gianni who really stood up for the Warriors.
In a battle of attrition, Hoppers Crossing was able to quash Sunshine’s hopes early in the last quarter. In Geelong-esque fashion, Matt Ryan, from half-back, pin-pointed a long-range pass to Tyren Montebruno who delivered it straight to Butty’s chest.
It was the cleanest passage of play all game and seemed to suggest a Warriors team with a new-found confidence in its ability.
Sunshine had one last dip to get into the game, but three gettable shots all registered behinds before Sunshine’s best player on the day Jake Allen snapped truly.
But when Hoppers Crossing captain David Mitchell soccered the ball through from point blank, the game was well and truly beyond Sunshine’s grasp.
A finals berth now seems unlikely for the Kangaroos, who have only three wins to their name, but if they win their next four games (against Port Melbourne, Altona, St Albans and Glen Orden), there will still be some hope of snagging a top five spot.
