Cobras bounce back, Animals feast

Lachlan Chapman

Canterbury have bounced back hard from their Round 1 defeat to Aquinas by winning on the road against Richmond Central by 15 points. It was a tight struggle early doors with both teams failing to make an impact on the scoreboard with inaccurate kicking, but a six-goal to three third quarter set up the win for the Cobras. The home side launched a strong fightback in the last quarter with four goals to one, however the final siren come to soon with Canterbury finishing in front. It was a tough loss for the Snakes, who also went down to Parkside by a narrow margin in Round 1. Darby Desmond kicked four majors for the victors and teammate Gavin Pears was best on, while Tom Foott and Jake King were standouts for the home side. Canterbury jump up to 5^th spot on the ladder following this win, while Richmond Central are 7^th but still have a reasonably healthy percentage of 91.45.

After a relatively even first quarter, Manningham turned on the jets in the second outscoring Westbourne Grammarians by 49 points to none and went on to win by an impressive 76 points. Although the Warriors were much more competitive in the second half, notching six goals, the lead created by the Cobras in the opening half proved too much for the visitors to overcome. Kane Maghamez was back to his exceptional 2018 form, which saw him finish on 10 votes in the P Hutchinson Medal count and top the leading goalkickers in Division 3 thanks to his 56 majors for the year, and he has made an early statement to the rest of the competition in the Cobras first match after booting five in a best on ground performance. Not to be outdone, Ali Eqbal contributed more than half of Westbourne’s score with five majors himself. After Round 2, Manningham are one of four undefeated teams and sit 3^rd on the table, while 2018 finalists Westbourne Grammarians have slipped to 8^th position following two disappointing losses to kick of their 2019 campaign.

The Parkside v Emmaus St Leos Round 2 encounter was always going to be an interesting match-up considering both teams are new to the section, moving from Division 4 and Division 2, respectively, but it was the Animals who led at every change to run out with a comprehensive 55-point win. Emmaus St Leos, who had five debutants feature in their senior side, put in a solid four quarter effort as they eventually wore down a gallant Red Devils line-up who had key forward, Jack Hamilton, go down in the third quarter after a heavy collision. Jack Hunt was incredibly dangerous up forward for the Animals, booting four majors. Returning 2017 Best & Fairest winner, Brent Simons, debutant Hugh Schaeche and 2018 Division 2 Team of the Year member Baxter Newbegin were some of the Emmaus’ best. Adam Wells (2018 Division 4 Team of the Year player) and Marco Creek (2018 O J Meehan Medal recipient) fought hard all day around the contest for Parkside. With the bye in Round 1 counting as four points, the Animals climb to the top of the ladder while Parkside drop down to 6^th.