The depth at defending premiers Marrar was on show at Peter Hastie Oval on Saturday as the Bombers built a convincing 68-point victory against Charles Sturt University, with a handful of key players missing.
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Recruits John Hoey (five goals) and Zac Walgers (three) led the way as Marrar made it back-to-back wins to start the season, claiming a 16.16 (112) to 6.8 (44) victory over the Bushpigs.
With Jack Reynolds, Brad Langtry, Jeremy Rowe and Josh Hagar all out, and Brad Turner yet to play this season, the Bombers still didn’t miss a beat, setting up the win with a five-goals-to-none first quarter.
“It was a good all-round team effort. Everyone chipped in and did their bit,” Marrar coach Shane Lenon said.
“Our pressure when we didn’t have the ball and the way we tackled was good, and our ability to win the ball at the contest.”
With four changes from their round one side, Lenon was rapt in the way his side went about business against the Bushpigs.
The Bombers added five more goals in the second term, to lead by 34 points, despite CSU finding four goals in the quarter, and only having four fewer scoring shots by half-time.
Ruckman-forward Nick Molkentin was another to have a strong game for Marrar, along with midfielder Cal Gardner, while Mitch and Clint Taylor led the way in defence, as the Bushpigs were kept to just 13 points in the second half.
“You’ve got to have a bit of depth – that keeps pressure on for spots, and that’s a positive thing,” Lenon said.
“I’m happy with our start (to the season). We’ve really turned up now for two weeks and had two wins.
“But there’s a long way to go yet. I can’t stress that enough. There’s a long way to go.”
After an opening round bye, the reigning champs were always going to be a tough ask for the Bushpigs first-up, particularly after a host of changes in the off-season and with star signing, forward Joe Stapleton, missing.
Clint Taylor did a good job keeping Vas Seker goal-less. But there were promising signs for CSU.
New faces Brayden Ambler and Louis Miller were very good through the middle, while the consistent Rob Herzfeld and another new arrival, Nick Wright, also had good games.
“They’re going to be a better side than they were last year,” Lenon said. “They were pretty good in general play.”
The Bombers now prepare for Friday night’s annual Anzac Challenge against The Rock-Yerong Creek, with the selection committee facing a few headaches for the Robertson Oval game.
“That’s a good problem to have. It doesn’t make it any easier, but it’s still a good problem to have,” Lenon said.
CSU travel to Temora next Saturday to take on last year’s runners-up in their second game.
