DARTMOOR got the job done on Saturday in round three of the South West District Football League against a building Westerns side, 13.5 (83) to 8.9 (57), at Alexandra Park.

The relative low margin of 26 points and even scoring shots (17 and 18) is a different result to what has been seen in the recent past between these two sides.

Dartmoor opened the game with a strong and efficient first half in front of goals with a particularly damaging six goals to one second quarter. In terms of efficiency Dartmoor were able to score with 50 percent out of their forward entries in the opening two quarters.

Clean ball use, and a well organised team defence was difficult to counter for the Westerns defenders.

According to Westerns coach Winis Imbi there was a need for the players to regroup at the main break.

“In the first half our midfield and defenders found it difficult to counter a well organised Dartmoor defensive structure,” he said.

“Players started to kick chase rather than sticking to the structural things we have put in place. Last year this may have resulted in a large defeat.

“To the players credit they re-grouped at half time, reflected on what was not working and were willing to adapt.

“The third quarter saw a significant turnaround, we started to win the stoppages, we were plus eight in this area, this helped our backline get the breathing space to set up behind the ball.”

While Westerns were able to halt the advance in the second half and have 14 scoring shots to six in this period it was the efficiency and polish of Dartmoor that eventually shone through.

The Giants had clear targets on goal who were able to make the most of their opportunities in Jordan Murphy and Damian Monaghan who each kicked four goals alongside Steven Cameron who kicked three.

Better players for Dartmoor were Joseph Franklin, Luke Bull, Damian Monaghan, Kyle Carlin, Jordan Murphy, and Cody Benson.

Westerns stand outs were Noah Knight, Daniel Lynch, Ash Hill, Nicholas Scott, James Corbett, and Stephen O’Brien.

The clash between the two sides also saw two 200-game milestones celebrated with Dartmoor playing coach Jayden Polaski taking to the field for his 200th while Westerns player Dylan Marlow also notched up the milestone, more details in Friday’s Observer.

Heathmere toil on despite scoreline

While the scoreline pushed out between Heathmere and Tyrendarra in the South West District Football League clash on Saturday, 18.19 (127) to 2.3 (15) the effort from the young Heathmere side kept the spectators engaged in the contest.

Tyrendarra’s overall strength and polish was a highlight throughout and was clearly evident on the scoreboard.

In terms of scoring Jordi Withers led the charge with seven goals, so far seeing his total at 18 goals in three games.

At the end of the day the precision the ball entered the Tyrendarra forward line with made it difficult to for the Heathmere defenders to halt the tsunami of goals. To Heathmere’s credit their midfielders were willing to work deep into the backline to reduce the amount of space that the Tyrendarra forwards had to work in.

But by the end of the day the number of forward entries weighed heavily on the scoreboard.

Talking with the optimistic coach of Heathmere, Nick Guthridge there are clear areas to celebrate and clear areas to improve on.

“We know we lack polish but there is a willingness to work hard at each contest to support each other,” he said.

“Culture wise we have made good inroads; we are clear that we want to improve by taking risks when we have the ball rather than getting caught up in risk free footy.”

For Tyrendarra better players were Patty Haylock, Josh Atwell, Karsen Edwards, Lachie Kirk, Jordi Withers and Greg Hamilton.

Better players for Heathmere were Jed Barclay, Daniel Wright, Billy Lette, Jordan Heinze, Ian Smyth, Ayden Perkins.

Cavendish building steadily

Cavendish has started the season steadily, further enhanced with a strong win at home against Branxholme-Wallacedale, 11.13 (79) to 5.1 (31), on Saturday.

With 24 scoring shots to six the dominance of possession and mid-field polish of Cavendish was difficult to counter by a persistent Branxholme team.

While the dogged perseverance of Sam Lambevski and Tom Scott held Cavendish at bay for prolonged periods of time the sheer number of scoring shots over the game eventually took its toll.

Better players were named as Alec Thomas, Tom McGinley, Bailey Herrman, Harrison Rees, Dylan Praolini and Brodhi Carracher.

Best players for the Saints were named as Tom Scott, Sam Lambevski, Adam Stirling, Liam MacDonald, Wade MacDonald, and Jaydn Walter.

Coleraine back to their best

With some key inclusions from last year’s premiership team, Coleraine took full control in their round three clash with Heywood on Saturday, 22.11 (143) to 7.1 (43).

A seven goal to one first quarter from Coleraine set the scene for what developed into dominate performance across the full four quarters.

It appears in the initial stages of the season that dominate full forwards are back in fashion across the league, including Coleraine forward Will Slattery who was in devastating form, kicking nine of his side’s goals in the defeat of Heywood at Silvester Oval.

Harry Armstrong was again named amongst his sides best with his dash and attack on the footy setting the standard amongst his teammates.

Along with Armstrong and Slattery, Zach Hartley, Liam Kaine, Marcus Rhook and James Povey were named amongst Coleraine’s best.

Heywood’s best were Nathan Hardingham, Jesses Ryan, Billy Bell, Stephen Arthur, Leroy Malseed and Flynn Brough.