By Michael Esposito
ALBION put together its most convincing performance yet to defeat Port Melbourne by 61 points on Saturday.
The win came without the services of injured full back John Haldane, elite midfielder Marcus Smith (injured) and full forward Shaydon Bloomfield, who was on a one-week suspension.
In Bloomfield’s absence, excitement machine Romain Grenville kicked seven goals and embraced the opportunity to be his side’s main avenue to goal.
The Cats’ ability to win well without some of its top-line player showed the depth in the squad. Coach Marcus Barclay used the absence of some of Albion’s walk-up starts to spur his side on.
“I just put a little bit of pressure on the guys on Thursday night, just considering that we’ve got a fair few players still out of the side. I just want to make sure that the ones that are in the side put their best foot forward and just put the pressure on others coming in,” he said.
Barclay said the last quarter was the best footy Albion had played so far this season. Albion managed to break away from Port Melbourne in the final term, kicking nine goals to two.
The rest of the match was an arm-wrestle. Albion shot out to a four-goal lead in the first quarter, but had Port Melbourne converted easy opportunities, the complexion of the game would have been different.
Barclay said his side’s form varied from quarter to quarter.
“They gave us a hiding in the second quarter. Everything we did in the first quarter we didn’t do in the second. We just kept running forward of the footy,” he said.
Barclay praised the backline, particularly captain Aaron Tymms, Matt Davis and Blake Richards, for standing up when the pressure was on.
“We were really stretched in the middle in the second and third quarter but I think our backline really stood up. In that second quarter when they came back, the forwards got on top of our back six and our back six really lifted to another level.”
Barclay said the ability of the back six to repel Port Melbourne’s forward entries was the catalyst for Albion’s dominant last term.
Young dynamo Todd Finco ran into some form and caused constant headaches for his opponents with his dashing run and silly skills. He kicked three goals.
But Grenville was the star up forward, and relished being given the open forward line to run his markers ragged.
“Not only is he going to be a hard match up for opposition teams, he’s really good on the ground and really strong,” Barclay said.
