By ADEM SARICAOGLU
ANDREW Browne again proved his worth to Keilor with a dominant six-goal haul that helped the Blues to a season-defining 16-point Good Friday win over Strathmore.
Browne was the clear best-on-ground yet again as the Blues rocketed their way to the top of the Essendon District Football League’s Premier Division ladder against a fellow undefeated and more-fancied Strathmore outfit.
Five of Browne’s six goals came in the second and third quarters with Dean Putt taking most of the rucking duties while the former Richmond big man parked himself in the goal square and ran riot inside the forward 50, kicking all of his goals from set shots.
“It was a bit of a roll of the dice to put Browne in the full forward position for all that second and third quarter but it certainly paid dividends so from where we sit we just thought we had a great chance to win the game because of that,” Keilor coach Mick McGuane said in the aftermath.
“He’s a good player and that’s what good players do.”
In what turned out to be the EDFL’s game of the year to date in front of a packed house at the newly redeveloped Joe Brown Oval, the visiting Mores had the better of the first half to go into the main break 15 points up.
However, an eight-goal burst helped largely by Brown’s forward presence handed Keilor all the momentum during the third quarter and a 21-point buffer by the final change.
Strathmore came home hard in the final term and had its chances to snatch back the lead but the Blues held their nerve and never gave up their advantage, going on to score their third straight win to start the season.
“It was a good win. We had to hold them at bay, they were certainly challenging and they kicked 3.7 in the last quarter (and) we had to hold our nerve probably in that third quarter where we were dominating play,” McGuane said.
“For us to kick eight goals in the third quarter was quite pleasing, but we had a lot of contributors in that third quarter.
“I thought our midfield group of (Nick) Davidson, (Kane) Barbuto, (Darren) Tanti, (Dylan) Joyce (and Jamie) Papalia with Putt was really outstanding so we just felt that we were getting on top of the game and we certainly ran the game out particularly well, as much as they did.
“But they probably wasted opportunities in that last quarter.”
