GISBORNE landed the first major upset of the 2018 BFNL season with an all-the-way win over fourth-placed Golden Square on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Gardiner Reserve Dogs hardly missed a shot on goal all afternoon and by the last change had landed 14.2 for a 29-point lead.
On their home deck Gisborne continued to outpace and out-tackle a strangely subdued Square side, which managed a meagre nine goals for the match.
Playing coach Clinton Young was an inspiring leader for his young side roaming from the backline to deep in the front half as Gisborne roared home 15.5 (95) to Square’s 9.12 (66).
With the win leaving Gisborne just percentage outside the top five Young said he was pleased with the overall team effort.
And he was delighted with the accuracy of his forwards and midfielders, ending up with just five behinds from 20 scoring shots.
The first term was the most tightly fought of the day. Golden Square key forward Jayden Burke had booted his two goals for the day by the first change, but at the pavilion end Jaidyn Owen, Nick Doolan and Ollie Clough responded for Gisborne.
Then the Gardiner Reserve Dogs turned on a clinic in the second term.
Adding six goals straight without a blemish pacy winger Ross Celano finished off a chain of handballs with a clever major, while Owen, Riley Patterson and Mick Steinbach also landed goals for the home side.
They led by 33 points halfway through the second stanza before Square landed two late majors to slash the half-time gap to 27 points.
But only Adam Baird and skipper Jack Geary among the midfielders were firing for the Square. Gisborne had Celano, Young, Matt Goodyear and Nick Doolan constantly working the ball into attack and Gisborne again outscored Golden Square in the third term.
They added four goals to three, although Square’s Jake Thrum finally managed to break Liam Rodgers’ tag on him to boot a much-needed Square goal.
Baird marked on a lead and had he kicked accurately the margin would have been slashed to 12 points, but instead after his minor score the scoreboard read 74-57 in Gisborne’s favour.
Gisborne added two more goals close to siren time to ease out to a 29-point advantage at the last change.
Gisborne added 1.3 in the final quarter – their most inaccurate quarter of the day – although it was an identical tally to Square’s.
Jack Reaper was a key player all match in the Graveyard Dogs’ defence, along with swingmen Pat Trotta and Doolan.
Golden Square coach Bernie Haberman said despite Gisborne’s ultra straight kicking Square had opportunities in the third quarter to get back within striking distance, but three shots had been missed “which were gettable”.
“When you’re behind by four goals you don’t have that luxury of missing,” Haberman said.
“So to their credit Gisborne built on that buffer through their own good footy.’’