By LIAM TWOMEY
SPOTSWOOD handed North Footscray a huge defeat on Saturday, smashing the Devils by a whopping 325 points.
In what had been a tough week for the Devils after the sacking of high profile coach John Barnes, the Woodsmen only piled on the pain during a 13-goal opening quarter.
There was no letting up either with a further 37 goals coming across the next three quarters as the margin exceeded the triple digits barrier and grew.
The final score saw Spotswood 50.28 (328) to North Footscray 0.3 (3).
Jason Cloke was at his dangerous best for the Woodsmen, kicking a bag of seven goals to be the leading forward on the ground.
However, there was plenty of competition for the title with Dylan Callard, Murray Boyd, Christian Elliott and Chris O’Keefe all booting five goals or better.
In total, 16 Spotswood players kicked a goal in the win.
On what was a difficult day for North Footscray, Mojok Aneet was named the club’s best player.
Saturday’s win sees the Woodsmen move into second spot on the WRFL ladder with a 4-1 win/loss record for the season.
A 300-point plus victory has also seen the club’s percentage jump from 149.66 at the conclusion of round four to 257.14 at the end of round five.
That percentage number is more than 50 ahead of its nearest rival and will come in handy when sides are jostling for positions later in the season.
This week, the Woodsmen will take on Yarraville Seddon while the news only gets worse for North Footscray with the Devils set to meet the undefeated Deer Park.
Ross Headley will take over as interim coach at North Footscray as the club begins to search for a full-time replacement.
In a statement on the club’s website, North Footscray president Ashleigh Lewis said the decision to part ways with Barnes was a mutual agreement between both parties.
“At the beginning of the season, the committee locked in set dates throughout the year where it would review the club’s entire operations from onfield through to canteen management,” he said.
“One of the set agenda items involved the coaching staff.
“The first of the reviews occurred after the completion of round three, whereby the committee addressed concerns with the senior coach regarding certain expectations not being met.
“After a frank and open discussion, it was evident that the club’s expectations of the senior coach differed to that of what the senior coach perceived the role to be.”
