Four-quarter performance sets up big Dragon win

 

 

For the first quarter final of the Coates Talent League, it was the Sandringham Dragons battling with the Calder Cannons for a place in the final four.

 

ETU Stadium in Port Melbourne was the venue for both the finals with this game being the first of a double header on an overcast day.

 

No surprises for the opening bounce with Brodie Findlay in the ruck, accompanied by Levi Ashcroft, Murphy Reid, and Sam Marshall.

 

The first clearance of the game went to Ashcroft, who was prominent early.

 

And it led to a McKenzie goal in the opening minute, a left-foot snap on the run. To give him his 20th goal of the season.

 

A holding-the-ball tackle from Aaron Taylor was a highlight of the term.

 

Lennox Hofmann drove the ball deep into the forward half where Nathaniel Sulzberger used some quick-thinking to goal.

 

Energetic off half-back as usual, Sam Linder generated a ton of metres from the back half, and was intercepting as well. Eight of his sixteen disposals on the day were in the first quarter.

 

It was a fast start by the Dragons as Reid made it three goals in the opening ten minutes. A quick right-foot checkside from a forward-fifty stoppage.

 

The Cannons responded through an impressive finish near the boundary, and added another shortly after to steady things.

 

Marshall (26 disposals, five marks) was busy all over the ground, and found Benjamin Seers open in the goal square after some overlap run generated from the defensive half.

 

Both teams had the play on their own terms, however it was Sandringham who held an eleven-point lead at the first break.

 

In the second quarter, the Dragons broke open the game by kicking five goals to one, with a little help from a slight breeze favouring the southern end.

 

It started with Harry Armstrong who got on the end of a wayward throw-in, in the fifth minute.

 

Calder got the reply through one of their forwards.

 

Ashcroft then cut off a kick from a Calder player, strolled in and converted for his first major of the match.

 

The Brisbane father-son prospect had 19 disposals in the first half.

 

Wingman Jack Dalton (15 disposals, eight marks) was involved everywhere in this term.

 

The time of possession and territory battle belonged to Sandringham, and as a result, were peppering the Cannons’ defence. Although were inaccurate, registering an array of behinds and an out-on-the-full.

 

Versatile tall Lachlan Voss (19 disposals, six marks), like most weeks, was solid.

 

Reid was running rampant in the midfield, with fifteen disposals nearing half time.

 

Armstrong banged home one from a set shot for his second. Before Marshall capitalised on a turnover from the Cannons inside their back half to stretch the margin out to thirty-five points.

 

From the next clearance, bottom-ager Archie Ludowyke received a free kick in front of goal, went back and slotted it on the siren.

 

The reigning champions held a comfortable lead after two quarters of play.

 

It was a relatively even third term with both teams kicking multiple majors.

 

Calder had a promising start, booting the first of the quarter and looking to cut into the Dragons’ lead with more scoring shots.

 

Although, some uncontested mark build-up saw McKenzie goal in the eighth minute.

 

Cannons’ gun Patrick Said finishing neatly on the run to give his side back some momentum.

 

Marshall continued to be influential as a big-bodied midfielder while the co-captain Brodie Findlay got going in this term.

 

The Vic Metro MVP, Reid (25 disposals, six marks), showcased more of his brilliance, saluting inside-fifty.

 

Jack Surkitt was lively in the front half, and had an important chase down tackle.

 

Armstrong’s third major of the game was his easiest, marking out the back and quicking finishing in the twentieth minute.

 

Calder hit back shortly after for their sixth.

 

Set up by Armstrong, Ashcroft’s twenty-sixth disposal was his second goal, a dribbler from close range. The two-time All-Australian recently confirmed what the football world has known for a while now, nominating the Lions as the team he would like to be selected by.

 

That goal made it forty-five points the margin.

 

The Dragons’ led in all major stat categories at three-quarter-time.

 

Sandringham continued to press in the last term, kicking the first four goals.

 

Using the wind to his advantage, Reid launched one from outside fifty to snag his third.

 

Behinds to Ashcroft and Ludowyke before dashing defender Mitch Kirkwood-Scott banged home a goal from long range.

 

That made the margin an even ten goals as the Dragons’ entered cruise control.

 

A brilliant smother by Harrison Oliver was a pinnacle moment in the quarter.

 

Ricky Theodoropoulas got in on the action by kicking the Dragons’ sixteenth.

 

Dalton found Armstrong on the lead to give him his fourth. Before a duo of majors from Calder saw the game end.

 

Sandringham ran out 17.14 (116) to 8.8 (56) winners to advance to the preliminary finals next Sunday, where they will take on the Dandenong Stingrays at RSEA Park.

 

A mouth-watering contest.

 

GOALS: Armstrong 4, Reid 3, Ashcroft, McKenzie 2, Ludowyke, Seers, Sulzberger, Theodoropoulas, Kirkwood-Scott, Marshall

BEST: Ashcroft, Reid, Armstrong, Sulzberger, Linder, Voss