By Tim Doutré
LAST week Spotswood playing coach Ben Kelly described his side’s final two games of the home and away season as “tough”; if that is the case the Western Region Football League can be thankful they do not have any easy games left.
On Saturday the Division One reigning premier destroyed the St Albans Saints on their home turf to the tune of 70 points, the final score 19.12.126 to 8.8.56.
Kelly said last week it was going to be a tough task to take on the Saints at Kings Park but the impressive Woodsmen were able to jump out of the gate early, kicking 5.3 to 2.1 to take an early lead.
The second term was more of the same with the Woodsmen piling on another five majors to the Saints’ two.
It all came down to one thing for Saints coach Steve Kolyniuk – work rate.
“They just out worked us, they are just a very well drilled side,” he said. “They just showed our boys that you have to work really hard and work as a team and that’s something that they did and did well. They came off half-time hands on hips exhausted and our boys jogged off, so it just showed me that they are working a lot harder.”
The home side struggled in the third term, registering a solitary minor score while the Woodsmen were inaccurate with 2.7 for the term.
With the game virtually in the bag, Spotswood coach Ben Kelly made a few moves as he allowed his mind to cast forward to the finals in two weeks’ time.
“We controlled the game fairly early rather than scrap it out for a little bit and then take control,” he said. “We had it on our terms then we were able to try a few different things with our structure – just with our midfield, we tried some different things, throwing some different guys through there trying to keep them fresh.
“These are the games when you can try these sort of things because come finals time it’s more cut-throat, you have got to have a lot of trust in the guys you are putting in those areas.”
Both sides lifted in the final stanza with the Woodsmen booting seven majors and the Saints slotting four but the damage was well and truly done.
For the Woodsmen it was another quality performance as they march towards the unthinkable triple premiership.
The versatile Lachlan McGhie was named best on ground for the second consecutive week while forward stalwart Luke Molan was not far off with eight majors.
Kelly said the second position finish should see them face off against Hoppers Crossing in two weeks time with their final match of the home and away season at Altona to provide a good test run.
“We finished second, we have probably known it for three or four weeks now, so it probably looks likes Hoppers so we just got to prepare for that. We play Altona at home this week and then play the first final at Altona too so it will give us a good look at the ground and the guys a bit of knowledge.”
For the Saints it was another tough loss in what has been a long season. Michael Agius was named best on ground for the home side while sharpshooter Michael Spooner was held to two goals for the match.
“It’s hard to get any positives when you lose by that much,” Kolyniuk said.
“Just the same three or four guys that put in every week that did the same again but other than that I didn’t really take away any positives.”
In other results, Hoppers Crossing took third spot with a win against Sunshine Heights, Port Melbourne held on to top spot with a strong win against Albion, Sunshine kept its double finals chance hopes alive with a win against West Footscray putting them in fourth spot behind the Warriors on percentage while Altona beat Glen Orden by 39 points.
In the final Division Two round of the season, the lowly Wyndham Vale Falcons played havoc with the top five after beating Yarraville-Seddon by a point to deny them a spot in the post season action.
The Falcons win kept Laverton in the five despite them getting thumped by Deer Park, Braybrook was too strong for Coburg, Parkside beat North Footscray in the top two clash to keep their undefeated season in tact and Albanvale thumped North Sunshine.
North Footscray will take on Albanvale and Deer Park will play Laverton in the first round of the finals.
