Patrick Wiggins kicked three goals and was among Sunshine’s best players on Saturday. 81911 Picture: DAMIAN VISENTINI
By ADEM SARICAOGLU
SUNSHINE battled hard but couldn’t get the job done against Hoppers Crossing on Saturday, going down in their WRFL division one clash by 26 points at Kinder Smith Reserve.
Down by five goals at half-time, the Kangaroos fought back to get within a point at the final change but could only manage one goal to the Warriors’ five in the final term to lose 15.15 (105) to 19.17(131).
Momentum swung both ways throughout the day as both sides looked keen to produce scoreboard pressure.
Eleven goals were kicked in the opening term but it was the Warriors who found themselves five points up at quarter-time.
Missing skipper Macauley Goring with a minor knee injury, the Kangaroos’ back line struggled to contain Luke Wilson and Kade Carey, who kicked six and four goals respectively.
Carey already had his four goals on the board by the early stages of the second term while Wilson continued to cause havoc around the stoppages.
Despite that Sunshine came out firing after the main break and kicked the first three goals of the third quarter to get themselves back into the contest.
Ben McInnerley had the home crowd up and about when he goaled on the three-quarter time siren before Kieran Murphy put the Kangaroos in front four minutes into the final term.
However Hoppers Crossing, with a fierce David Mitchell three-quarter time rev-up still ringing in their ears, managed to kick the last five goals to close the game out.
After the game Sunshine coach Brett Jacobs was visibly disappointed with his side’s efforts, and was blunt with his assessment.
“Not good enough, simple,” Jacobs said.
“I just think they worked harder than we did, simple as that. We didn’t work hard enough, we were lazy and we turned the ball over far too much.
“At three-quarter time (the message) was just to keep working, put pressure on them and generate our momentum. We got the first goal, but I thought we should have mounted a better challenge from there on in but we just fell away, the effort just wasn’t good enough.”
Sunshine remains fifth on the ladder more tough games coming up against the Port Melbourne Colts and Altona before the finals series kicks off.
