HE was public enemy number one with the rival fans throughout, but Matt Hamblin had the last laugh after his career-best six goals piloted Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong to a 16.11 (107) to 5.6 (36) win Collingullie-Glenfield Park on Saturday.
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Looking for their first win at Crossroads Oval in eight years, the Lions led by just three points at half-time after a sloppy second term where the hosts kicked three goals to one, but a 12-goals-to-one second half saw GGGM improve to 3-0.
Hamblin got plenty of ball all day and kicked four of his goals in the last quarter. He kicked a goal in the third quarter after Demon Dustin Rogers was yellow carded and reported for striking him, and a 50-metre penalty after another scuffle in the last term also led to a goal.
With Jacob Olsson (knee) making his return the Lions were able to rotate him and Daniel Foley between the ruck and forward, where they played with three key forwards alongside Riley Corbett and George Alexander.
Alexander presented well all day and finished with three goals, while Corbett delivered two class finishes late in the third term when the game was still to be won, which gave the Lions a 29-point lead.
Lions coach Sam Martyn said he had put the onus on Hamblin to try and take his game to the next level.
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"I put it on Matty a bit this year just to try and play above that level and that standard, he's certainly shown that today. He's got a really good mindset at the moment he's taking into games," he said.
"To his credit he had the crowd geeing him on but he likes that attention and it probably motivates him even more to perform."
Martyn said the forward line will improve even further once the key forwards get used to each other's patterns, and the likes of Hamblin and Kai Watts took advantage once it went to ground.
"You see what happens when Foles (Foley) goes forward too, he's super dangerous," Martyn said.
"We needed that extra ruckman and to have Olsson in the mix is great, it presents problems for opposition defences.
"We have to take a selfless approach to it because someone is going to get the mismatch, and they'll all get a lick of the ice cream eventually.
"They defended Riley pretty well, but when the game was there to be won he stepped up with a couple of big goals."
Demons coach Brett Somerville said the second half was disappointing, but admitted the Lions' options up forward and ability to rotate plenty of players through the midfield presented match-up issues.
"We didn't have the talls to go with them. They started getting better ball out of the midfield (in the second half) and they limited our ability to move it down our end," he said.
GGGM 3.5 4.8 9.9 16.11 (107) def Collingullie-Glenfield Park 1.2 4.5 5.5 5.6 (36)
GOALS: GGGM - Matthew Hamblin 6, George Alexander 3, Riley Corbett 2, Kai Watts 2, Jacob Olsson, Daniel Foley, Tom Anderson; Collingullie GP - James Kennedy 2, Nicholas Kennedy, Declan Carroll, Jackson Sanbrook.
BEST: GGGM - Matthew Hamblin, Thomas Anderson, Jesse Lander, Kai Watts, Aaron Proctor, George Alexander; Collingullie GP - Jayden Klemke, Edward Perryman, Luke Murray, Harry Radley, Jackson Sanbrook, Nicholas Perryman
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