A brilliant seven-goal display from big man Nick Hull capped a strong all-round team performance from East Wagga-Kooringal on Saturday, as the Hawks powered to a 47-point win against The Rock-Yerong Creek at Gumly on Saturday.
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On a warm autumn afternoon, in front of a good crowd for their first home game of the year, EWK ran a little hot and cold in the first half, before burying the Pies in the second, winning 15.14 (104) to 9.3 (57).
Hull finished with seven goals. Three of them came in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter, when he was virtually unstoppable in the forward line, and steered the Hawks into a winning position, four goals in front.
When Hull kicked his fifth in the first minute of the last quarter, the game was gone for TRYC. Fittingly, he kicked the last of the game too, after taking his eighth second-half mark in the forward line.
Coach Matt Hard said being able to send his starting ruckman forward after half-time was a handy option to have, particulary against a Pies side without their own ruckman Josh Meiselbach.
“He is, yeah, and Kyle (North-Flanagan) was doing a good job in the ruck. And they had ‘Meisel’ out so we probably capitalised there as best we could. And it was good for our mids too, I thought, they had to do a bit harder. So it was good.”
Meiselbach (unavailable) was a late withdrawal, along with coach Tom Yates (calf), meaning the Pies were up against it before they started. But Jim Carroll kicked the first and last goals of the first quarter and five minutes into the second quarter, Fraser Yates kicked two in a row to put the teams on even terms.
EWK then dominated play but kicked six behinds in a row, before Luke Cuthbert stopped the rot with a goal and Hull kicked his first.
Astoundingly, the Pies didn’t have an inside 50 for nearly 20 minutes. But they went forward twice in a few minutes before half-time and kicked two goals, to trail by just eight points.
“It was a bit frustrating. The forwards are working hard but were just not finishing off basically, so we changed things around a little bit there and it was a lot better in the third quarter (4.0) than what we kicked in the second quarter (3.8),” Hard said.
“I thought we dominated inside 50s as the game went on but our forward work’s a work in progress… (We) weren’t great at times but they stuck to the task and got the win, so I’m pretty happy.”
The undermanned Magpies, also missing injured backmen Aiden Ridley and Ben Farrell, as well as Tim Sullivan, were up against in the second half. They found just two goals and had Daniel Steele doing the ruck duties.
The Hawks’ ruckmen led them home, while Luke Cuthbert and Tom Pocock were good. They were also without Jarrod Turner (knee) who kicked four last week.
East Wagga-Kooringal welcome North Wagga next week, while the Magpies have to get themselves up for the Anzac Challenge against Marrar at Robertson Oval on Friday night.