IN a wake-up call for the whole South West District Football League competition Coleraine has opened the premiership race with a win against the previously undefeated Dartmoor at Silvester Oval on Saturday, 12.4 (76) to Dartmoor’s 9.8 (62).
Coleraine was coming off a defeat at the hands of Tyrendarra the previous game and without key forward Will Slattery expectations would have been for Dartmoor to continue their unbeaten run.
However, Coleraine’s coach Adam Ward said internally they had higher expectations.
“We put quite a bit of planning into this one, we decided to mix things up a little and give some of our key players unfamiliar roles,” he said.
“Sometimes having a key player like Will out creates opportunities for us to try different things.
“We moved Harry Armstrong from his usual running defender role into the forward line, he played well and kicked two goals.
“We also gave some of our normal midfield opportunities to spend time up forward which proved successful.
“As we have come to expect from Dartmoor it was a physical game, we were able to absorb the physical pressure and maintain our running game.
“To the players credit they stayed composed and made the most of their possessions.”
After Dartmoor came within four points at three quarter time Coleraine were able to settle and use their possessions in the last quarter with a three goal to one final surge to come out ahead when it matters most.
While the league’s leading goalkickers in Damian Monaghan was kept quiet for Dartmoor his forward line partner Jordan Murphy stepped up kicking five goals to keep the Giants in the hunt.

Physical encounter
The scoreboard may indicate a one-sided affair however a large crowd at Tyrendarra was thoroughly entertained in the round nine clash between close rivals Tyrendarra and Heywood in a night match.
In the end it was Tyrendarra prevailing, 19.12 (126) to Heywood’s 12.5 (77).
Both sides were primed for a physical contest and kept the field umpires on their toes.
While the physical clashes were largely within the rules the umpires were required to give multiple fifty metre penalties to both sides to keep the match under control.
It was an aspect of the game that pleased the coach of Tyrendarra Sam Anson in his post-match address to his players.
“We were challenged physically today, but the way you bounced straight back up and into the next contest was outstanding,” Anson said.
“Some of our key players were challenged physically but you stood up.”
To Heywood’s credit they had clear plans in place to negate Tyrendarra’s strengths, taking Josh Atwell deep into his defensive goal square to reduce his impact as an intercept marker.
Jordi Withers was double teamed on multiple occasions making his night more challenging than usual.
However, others stood tall with Tom Antony a constant marking threat in the forward line alongside quality veteran Hayden Dyke, both finished the game with three goals.
Playing coach Anson was again outstanding, relishing the physical nature of the contest, not only coaching and playing, but helping fix the lights at half time in his role as an electrician.
Heywood are on the improve, with further development from their younger players one could still see them creating headaches for all sides in September.
Jesse Ryan continued to impress with another three goals alongside ruckman/forward Nathan Hardingham who also contributed three goals.
Dane Handreck kicked three goals for the visitors while keeping Atwell on the move, not allowing him to settle.
Assistant coach Leigh Malseed said he hopes the side will settle further in the coming weeks.
“It has been a challenging start to the season, in terms of getting our sides settled, most weeks we have had six to seven changes. Hopefully getting closer to finals this will change,” he said.

Progress continues
Westerns are still well in the hunt for a top three finish with a clinical performance against Branxholme-Wallacedale, coming out ahead with a 19.10 (94) to 3.9 (27) victory at Alexandra Park.
To highlight the progress made in the space of one season this is a 64-point improvement on the scoreboard compared to their last encounter, where Westerns only won by three points in round two.
While shrewd recruiting has contributed to the rise, even more positive for Westerns is that they are now seeing a greater spread of players stepping up.
Where earlier in the season one would have viewed the same names amongst their best players, a much wider spread is now being seen.
The depth of talent is improving alongside a broader understanding by more players of the expectations around performance.
James Corbett, Jack Stuchbery and Jedd Hamill are examples of players who stood up on Saturday that may not have been mentioned externally earlier in the season.
Goalkicking and connection within the forward line is still a work in progress this is slowly, yet consistently improving, with Saturday’s 14.10 an example of goals starting to overtake the behinds tally.

Ominous warning
After a series of close games where they have had to drag themselves over the line in a last quarter rush, Cavendish were comprehensive winners with a clinical performance against Heathmere on Saturday, winning 28.14 (182) to 1.2 (8).
While their key targets performed in front of goal in Brodhi Carracher (five goals), and Travis Graham (seven goals) stood out it was the evergreen Ross McNaughton contributing four goals that would have had the Cavendish faithful engaged in the contest.
McNaughton’s contribution may cause selection headaches for Cavendish coming into the finals. Heathmere battled hard all day staying positive and upbeat alongside their ‘glass half full’ coach Nick Guthridge.
Hopefully in the coming weeks some top end talent can arrive at Heathmere Recreation Reserve to support the young Meres side in the second half of the season.