Normal service resumed for Marrar on Saturday as the Bombers bounced back from their first loss of the season in style, with a 38-point win against the Northern Jets.
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Returning home to Langtry Oval, they set the tone early – with four goals in just over 12 minutes – on the way to a convincing 12.11 (83) to 7.3 (45) win.
While last week's loss to North Wagga was far from the end of the world for Marrar, coach Shane Lenon enjoyed seeing the response from his players.
“A sign of a good player is a player who doesn’t have two bad games in a row,” Lenon said.
“Last week wasn’t so bad… but footy’s a team game and you need that contribution from everyone. And last week we did have some blokes who were down.
“They responded the right way. The first quarter was probably the most pleasing part of the win – our ball use and the way we moved the ball in the first quarter was how we want to play.”
That resulted in those four straight goals to start the game (including two to Brad Turner), before the Jets hit back with a double to Alex Rogers in a straight-shooting start to the game.
But the 12-point margin didn’t last long, as the Bombers took a 25-point lead to quarter-time.
The teams kicked a goal each in the second quarter but five behinds didn’t help the Bombers, although that was at least in part due to the Jets’ pressure.
“They upped the ante a bit and we got pushed a little bit wider so our shots on goal were from a bit wider,” Lenon said.
But another string of four unanswered goals after half-time put paid to that concern.
The Bombers got out by as much as 52 points as Turner took his tally to four and offsider Rory Block nabbed three.
But it was teammate Jason Reid causing a lot of the havoc, with an outstanding game on a forward flank.
Ruckman Nick Molkentin also had a big game while Josh Suckling made a promising return and debutant Adam Whyte impressed.
“He didn’t look out of place and played well,” Lenon said. “And there’s a couple of other blokes in the 17s we’ll try and blood in coming weeks.”
If that wasn’t depth enough, Jesse Cunningham returned from injury in reserve grade.
Sam Fisher, Mitch Haddrill and schoolboy Jeromy Lucas were the pick of the Jets. The loss sees them drop out of the five, with a trip to East Wagga to come next week.
