Gold Coast 5.2 8.3 12.7 16.9 (105)
Fremantle 3.0 9.5 10.6 12.9 (81)
Goals: Gold Coast – Day 4 Lynch 4 Wright 3 Grant 2 Matera Sexton Martin. Fremantle: Walters 4 Yarran 2 Taberner Langdon Pearce Langdon Neale Griffin
Best: Gold Coast: May Day Miller Lynch Sexton Wright. Fremantle: Neale Walters Mundy Pearce Collins Dawson
Injuries: Gold Coast: Rosa (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Tape. Fremantle: Nil. Umpires: Stephens Edwards Jeffery. Crowd: 8933 at Metricon Stadium.
This game between two of the league's poorer teams this season illustrated one of the oldest truisms about Australian Rules football; the one about big men not getting any shorter the longer a game goes on. With both the Suns' and the Dockers' midfields denuded by injuries, the big men ruled the roost.
At three-quarter time between the two sides at Metricon Stadium, the Suns held a narrow 13-point advantage, with neither side having been able to fully stamp their authority on the game at any time for any extended period. It took two quick goals from Lynch, who slowly worked over Zac Dawson, to open a decisive break.
One thing seems certain: if the Suns can find a way to keep their midfielders on the park, they have the keys to cause headaches for any opposition. In defence, they are a better side when Rory Thompson is there, not the most attacking player, but never fazed. Suns acting captain Steven May was near-impassable at full back.
It's up forward, though, where the Suns have enviable firepower. Lynch is already a star; Peter Wright, in his second year, well on his way. Sam Day is developing more slowly and very much the third wheel, but played perhaps his best game for the Suns, and the big three split the Dockers' defence apart, with 11 goals between them.
Four of those goals came in the first quarter to open up an early break on the visitors, but the opportunities dried up in the second quarter, as the Fremantle midfield – missing Nat Fyfe and Michael Barlow, with David Mundy playing in defence – began to assert greater dominance over the Suns' own second-string division.
Lachie Neale had brought his own ball, with 23 disposals to half-time. Neale continues to be a shining light in a dismal Dockers season, and was close to best on ground. While not always clean, his raw statistics were impressive: 43 disposals (23 contested), 10 clearances and a goal.
The Suns, for their part, were relying on Touk Miller and Alex Sexton to get some drive out of the middle in the absence of Gary Ablett, Dion Prestia and Aaron Hall, as well as long-standing absentees Jaeger O'Meara and David Swallow. They acquitted themselves admirably, with Miller especially committed.
There was a class difference when the ball was in the hands of the Dockers' best players, best emphasised late in the second quarter, when Michael Walters hit Neale with a bullet-like pass from 45 metres later in the quarter, then followed up by kicking his third goal after the half-time siren to give the visitors an eight-point lead.
The third quarter was a reminder that this was a battle between 15th and 16th on the ladder: at times it seemed the most reliable way to find a possession was directly from the opposition, as both sides sprayed good chances to score. The worst offender was Brandon Matera, who blazed away ineffectively with a furious Lynch all on his own.
Matera, whose career is on very thin ice, is a serial offender at that sort of thing. Luckily for him Lynch kicked the next one – crashing over the top of Sam Collins, then springing to his feet, running back 30 metres and taking a contested mark for his second goal. Wright and Day had also added to their tallies.
Credit where due, it was a clever flick back by Matera to Lynch in the goal square to let the big man in for his third goal, his fourth following a minute later to finish the contest.
VOTES
L Neale (F) 8
S May (GCS) 8
S Day (GCS) 7
T Lynch (GCS) 7
T Miller (GCS) 7
0 comments
New User? Sign up