Dominant win for Mirboo North

By Rover

MIRBOO North returned to the winner’s list on Saturday with a comprehensive 75-point victory against Toora in endless 12C winter sunshine at Tigerland. The whys and wherefores of Mirboo North’s dominance centred around its midfield prominence and game plan compliance.

Afterwards, the mighty Tigers’ coach, Peter Mongta, praised his talented group of predominantly young athletic footballers for meeting every challenge thrown at them by the generally older, bulkier and more experienced Toora Magpies.

There was action aplenty to start the match, with the visitors replying to Mirboo North’s opening goal with conversions from playing coach Jack Weston and burly key forward, Jonathon Pintus, inside 90 seconds of each other. 

Just five minutes into the contest, a fired-up Toora had booted two goals, after managing a paltry three behinds in 100 minutes of flawed footy against Fish Creek the previous week. 

The highly-skilled Weston, Riley Hewson, Jordan Knox and Chris Gardiner’s presence in and around the packs was significant; they were getting their hands on the Sherrin often enough to present the Tigers with some short-term possession problems. 

However, Mirboo North’s adventurous play soon settled into a tuneful groove and gremlins began to appear in Toora’s midfield structures, where its lack of pace in open spaces was often exposed.

Thereafter, the Tigers literally ran the Magpies off their feet, with swift and clean ball movement that was almost as fast as a TV news reporter chasing a breaking story. 

Accordingly, three unanswered goals by the Tigers saw the locals take a 17-point lead into the first break.

The second quarter belonged to Mirboo North spearhead, Justin Pellicano, who turned the game on its head with four decisive goals, as Toora’s 
defensive structures fell apart and its outside leg speed came into further question.

Neither was the Magpies’ cause helped when Jarrod Vening left the field with a serious-looking left shoulder injury.

Skipper Hudson Kerr and teammates, Jack Couper, Max Woodall, Jesse Chila, Beau Melbourne and Rhys Kratzat were running rings around their slower opponents, as Mirboo North continually sent the Sherrin inside its forward 50.

It was no coincidence the Tigers’ near incessant forward line forays, produced unpleasant ramifications on Toora’s confidence to attack the ball with any assuredness.

Down back, Shannon Kennedy, Julian Blackford , Beau Peters and Jacob Blair’s well-coordinated defensive measures, limited Toora to two second-quarter behinds.

There was excitement on the terraces just before half-time, when 15-year old first gamer, Sam Bradley, marked strongly overhead for the Tigers and sent a 55-metre long-bomb to Pellicano for his fourth major of the term. 

Although some tighter Toora tactics slowed Mirboo North’s momentum during the third quarter, the Tigers still managed to outscore the Magpies 3.4 to 1.1 for a 71-point advantage at the last change.

An at-times fiery final quarter where Toora refused to go down without a fight, saw Mirboo North add three goals to complete a comprehensive 75-point win in front of its yellow and black army of passionate supporters.

Pintus and Nathan Nicholls recorded their second majors for the afternoon, as beneficiaries of respective 50-metre and a 100-metre penalties — following separate Mirboo North indiscretions late in the game.

Mirboo North now has a bye before travelling to Meeniyan, where it meets MDU on Saturday 5 August.