Altona’s David Barnaby in action against North Footscray on Saturday. 81619 Picture: DAMIAN VISENTINI
By ADEM SARICAOGLU
EVERYTHING went according to script at Grant Reserve on Saturday as the Altona Vikings cruised to an easy victory over the winless North Footscray Devils.
Altona bounced back from its loss to Spotswood a week earlier to comprehensively dispose of the Devils, 22.14 (146) to 4.6 (30).
Vikings coach Anthony Eames said adjustments were made and successfully implemented on Saturday.
“We put a few things in place that we thought were missing from the Spotswood game, so I thought they worked really well,” Eames said.
“In particular our run and use of the whole ground, we switched the ball well and ran them off their feet a bit, so it was good.”
Despite the final margin suggesting a major blowout, the first half looked respectable on the scoreboard for North Footscray.
The Vikings established a 24-point buffer at quarter time, which by halftime was extended to 34.
Altona then outscored the Devils by six goals to one in third term and by three-quarter time were out to a 69-point lead.
Another seven goals were added in the final quarter while the goal-umpire at the other end was left untroubled.
Despite winning by 116 points Eames said the Vikings still have things to work on before they make an assault on the finals.
“Our form hasn’t actually been all that consistent, and that’s something we’ve addressed internally as a group,” he said.
“We feel that we’ve been playing really good quarters or halves, and not necessarily a full four-quarters.
“Even though we finished the game strongly, we were still inconsistent in patches throughout the day, so we’re still searching for that four-quarter, consistent attack.”
North Footscray coach Jason Clarke struggled to take many positives out of the result.
“There wasn’t really many positives to be honest, a couple of the young guys performed OK, but it’s probably our most disappointing performance of the year,” Clarke said.
“I thought we were OK for two and a half quarters and obviously Altona are a super-fit side and our fitness isn’t where it should be.
“The bigger ground probably hurt us but our attack on the ball wasn’t where it should have been, our skills dropped off and it was just disappointing the way we played that last quarter and a half with no fight really.”
Travis Lunardi slotted five majors for the Vikings, while Bradley Comeadow and Samuel Mason got four and three respectively.
Lunardi, Reece Miles and Lee Spiteri were named Altona’s best players.
