COLLINGULLIE-Glenfield Park officially proved they deserve to be the second seed in the Riverina League pecking order with a 12.7 (79) to 7.9 (51) win over Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes at Crossroads Oval on Saturday.
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On a day where a number of Demons premiership teams converged for reunions, the current crop added to the celebrations by setting up their fifth win in six games with a strong start.
The Goannas welcome back a handful of key players from injury, but the basic kicking skills were diabolical in the first quarter and the Demons made them pay by kicking five goals to two.
The game was fairly even from there, with the hosts booting three goals to two in a dour second half, but MCUE's lack of forward options gave them no hope of launching a comeback.
After kicking 11 last week against Narrandera, Goannas forward Trent Castles was restricted to just two goals by younger James Pope.
Midfielder Matt Klemke was superb for the Demons in the first half when the victory was set up, while Sam Stening (five goals) and Josh Conlan (three) did the job up forward.
"We built this one up as a big game, especially with the reunion," Demons co-coach Nick Perryman said.
"I was real pleased with the start especially as they got a couple of quality players back.
"Our back six is young but it's improving and Popey did an unreal job keeping a bloke who kicked 11 last week to two.
"Apart from the Ganmain game (19 point loss to unbeaten GGGM two weeks ago) this is our second big one for the year, and the response was pretty good.
Although they gave up a 19 point last quarter lead to the Lions, Perryman said he was pleased with their opening six weeks.
"I just think our young guys are really standing up. We've got a couple of guys who have come in the last couple of weeks we really like," he said.
Sixteen-year-old forward Noah Harper made his senior debut. He enjoyed a memorable couple of minutes in the first quarter, where he backed up a strong mark and goal by setting up one of Conlan's soon after.
"For is first game it was a super effort. He gives us another tall so we can grab a mismatch, and he has a good engine to get down the ground as well," Perryman said.
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MCUE coach Jeremy Rowe said their sloppy first quarter hurt them badly.
"Throughout the first quarter we kept turning the ball over on those 25 metre kicks where we just didn't prepare properly. They were one-step kicks and we didn't do enough to fix what was an easy problem to solve," Rowe said.
"Even though we stopped turning the ball over short, I thought we used the ball terribly today. They put numbers back onto Trent (Castles) really well, and we know they'll do that every week.
"We can't just be a forward line that hopes Trent will kick a bag every week. He'll do it more games than not, but when he doesn't that shouldn't mean we can't win.
"We need guys around him to work harder and present harder. It's something we have to fix with some real urgency."
COLLINGULLIE-GLENFIELD PARK 5.1 9.2 10.4 12.7 (79) def MANGOPLAH-COOKARDINIA UNITED-EASTLAKES 2.0 4.3 4.5 7.9 (51)
Goals: CGP - Sam Stening 5, Josh Conlan 3, Steve Jolliffe, Noah Harper, Matt Klemke, Ed Perryman; MCUE - Trent Castles 2, Padric Griffin, Ryan Turnbull, Ethan Schiller, Jonathan Male, Doug Arthur
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