STRATHFIELDSAYE bolstered an already impressive percentage by 32.4 after thumping an enthusiastic, but poorly skilled, Castlemaine by 149 points on Saturday.
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After an even first term the Storm added 28 majors to four in the concluding three quarters, with 16 individual players ending up on the goalkicking list.
Lachlan Sharp headed the Strathfieldsaye goal tally with seven, although he’d managed just a pair in the opening half.
Then the floodgates burst open after the long break. The visitors slammed home 20 goals to the Maine’s three on the way to a 30.11 (191) to 6.6 (42) victory and top spot on the BFNL ladder.
The Magpies had only one reliable goalkicker. Simon Seddon nailed four of Castlemaine’s six goals, despite receiving treatment early on from his trainers for a back strain.
The Maine’s best players were in the back half where the football spent long periods.
Adam Robinson and Rhys Jenkins were the pick of the bunch.
Storm coach Darryl Wilson used dynamic tall Harry Conway as an on-baller and Conway relished his switch with two goals and a swag of possessions.
He was alongside centreman Trent Donnan and back-half sweeper Jamieson Sheahan as the Storm just kept pumping the ball goalwards.
Returning Storm player Matt Smith tore through centrefield unopposed to land a second stanza major, and not long afterwards speedy Josh Formosa chased down a rolling ball flipped out from the middle of the Camp Reserve to nail another.
Fergus Payne had a picnic as he nailed three goals in the second term, his third 49 seconds from siren time as he strolled into the goal square with not an opponent in sight.
And although kicking against the breeze to the pavilion end in the third quarter Strathfieldsaye added 11.5.
Playing his first game in the hoops Brad Rohde laid the tackle of the day and drilled his second of three goals from the resultant free kick.
Brad Stringer bent back a spectacular shot from deep in the functions room pocket, while Sharp landed a banana kick from the wrong side for a left-footer.
Seddon was the only forward who could score for the Magpies as he drilled the home side’s only two final quarter goals.
Meanwhile, the Storm added another nine majors, with Rohde taking his goal tally to three from a set shot, while Sharp took his personal total to seven as everyone waited for the final siren to sound.
“We ran the game out well after a bit of a scratchy start in the first quarter,” Storm coach Darryl Wilson said.
“We didn’t follow some basic instructions and let Castlemaine get a couple of early goals, which opened the game up.
“Our pressure around the stoppages and our pressure when Castlemaine had the ball enabled us to get some loose turnovers.”
