Straight kicking proves the difference as Marrar upset East Wagga-Kooringal

The Bombers proved a week is a long time in football as they bounced back from a bad loss to Northern Jets with a spirited 12-point win over the Hawks at Gumly Oval, 8.0 (48) to 4.12 (36).

Marrar forward Kieran Emery announced his arrival on the Farrer League with a six-goal haul as the Bombers produced a rare blemish-free day in front of goal.

While the Bombers led pretty much throughout, the Hawks had more than enough chances but proved incredibly wasteful in front of goal.

Star recruit Dylan Morton proved the biggest offender, finishing the day with 0.4, including two misses from close range in the third term.

While the Hawks would continue to pepper away, Marrar on a number of occasions worked it to the other end of the ground, where Emery would nail clutch set shots.

After proving horribly inaccurate last week and coughing up a big lead in the loss to Northern Jets, Marrar coach Cal Gardner was thrilled with the response from his team.

"Last week was obviously a hard pill to swallow but when we got around to Tuesday I said to the boys I'm really excited to see how we respond and that was exactly why I was excited," Gardner said.

"Especially on their home deck, it's a good win."

Gardner revealed he sensed an opportunity against the Hawks after they recorded big wins to start the year.

"They obviously had two games early on with two relatively easy wins so I identified we could probably get the jump on them there because they'd had an easy run and we had a tough game last week that we were coming off," he said.

"We identified that was something we could make an impact straight away with and I thought we did that."

It was a low-scoring, hard-fought, contested battle where both teams got numbers behind the ball defensively.

Gardner said they made a point of working on their defence after last week.

"We put a lot more emphasis on our defensive running," he said.

"We outlined a few pattons as to how we want to run defensively and also making sure we create that atmosphere away from home.

"I thought we were pretty flat last week, especially in that third quarter. We needed to create our own atmosphere and in order to do that, there was an emphasis on getting around the boys on everything positive that we do, not just the goals that we kick but all the way from our defensive 50 such as spoils, smothers, delivery into forward 50 and goals obviously, just making sure we're getting around those boys and that lifted us I think."

Marrar had winners at either end of the ground. Emery was influential and ultimately a match-winner with his six goals straight.

At the other end, Marrar teenager Caleb Walker was thrown to full-back and got the job done on Jarrad Boumann, restricting him to one goal.

Marrar captain Nick Molkentin won the ruck battle against Mason Dryburgh, while Zach Walger's first half was elite, and Billy Toy and Lachlan O'Callaghan were also influential.

Jerry Maslin was outstanding in defeat for the Hawks, kicking three goals and winning a lot of the footy throughout the day.

Bryce McPherson showed how valuable he will be with a strong game, while Nathan Scott, Nick Curran and Luke Gerhard were good across half-back.

Gardner praised Walker for his efforts in his first ever game in defence.

"We obviously had a few key backs out so there was a question mark as to who we were going to play on Boumann and looking at Boumann's strength I looked at young Caleb Walker and I thought he's the perfect match up for him and to his credit, he played really well," Gardner said.

"He told me he's never played back in his life on Thursday when I gave him the news but he took on the challenge and I thought he was outstanding.

"I hope he wasn't getting too comfortable down forward because he might be down back now."

And as for Marrar's goalkicking, Gardner said there was nothing extra done during the week in turning things around.

"I'd like to say it's what we did for the week but we didn't really change our goalkicking," he said.

"There's been a bit of a focus on that all week but I think last week was one of those weeks, there's not too much you can do about it.

"I didn't harp on the goalkicking too much because then it becomes a bit of a mental thing so I sort of left it alone and worked on it as we do week in, week out and it turned around this week."

In a heartening sign, injured EWK coach Jake Barrett was in attendance at the footy for the first time since his freak accident in round one.

Full-time

Marrar Bombers 3.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 (48)

EWK Hawks 2.1 2.5 3.8 4.12 (36)

GOALS: Marrar Bombers: K.Emery 6, N.Cawley 1, L.O'Callaghan 1; EWK Hawks: J.Maslin 3, J.Boumann 1

BEST: Marrar Bombers: C.Walker, H.Reynolds, K.Emery, Z.Walgers, B.Toy, L.O'Callaghan; EWK Hawks: D.Morton, J.Maslin, B.McPherson, L.Cuthbert, N.Curran, L.Gerhard