The Sandringham Dragons remain the only undefeated side the TAC Cup after accounting for the Queensland Scorpions by nine goals on Saturday as Adem Saricaoglu reports.
The Dragons piled on 10 goals to three in the second and third quarters in perfect football weather at Visy Park.
Matthew Kreymborg and Michael Barnes both nailed four majors and were the stars in what was a comfortable win after quarter time.
The Dragons started sluggishly and struggled to break Queensland’s defensive zones in the first quarter but managed to scrape three goals and a five-point lead at quarter time.
The Scorpions continually had numbers across half back and their ball-use was careful, which pleased coach David Ashkar at the first change, who said the effort was good considering it was the first time this group had played together.
However Queensland couldn’t produce the same intensity in the second quarter as the Dragons kicked clear early.
Goals to Barnes and Alex Woodward swung the momentum completely into the Dragons favour by half way through the second quarter to deflate Queensland’s flow for the rest of the game.
When Queensland could move the ball forward, they struggled to finish on the scoreboard, and the ball came out of the forward line too easily.
The margin blew out to 21 points by half time but Queensland seemed to look further behind than the scoreboard indicated.
They needed something special to stay in the game after the main break, and gun midfielder Clay Cameron provided in the first minute.
Queensland won the centre clearance with Cameron streaming forward to kick a lovely running goal, one of three goals he scored for the day.
Cameron then gathered a spill inside 50 and slotted his second goal five minutes later.
However the next five goals of the quarter went to the Dragons.
They managed to kick clear as a result of Queensland’s increasing fatigue, which opened up the game for Sandringham, allowing them fluency going forward.
Barnes turned it on inside 50 after a quiet first half, kicking back-to-back goals and consistently pressuring Queensland’s back line when the ball was coming out.
His efforts seemed to lift his team mates during the third quarter.
They stretched the lead to 46 points by three-quarter time and had Queensland on its knees.
Sandringham coach Dale Tapping was pleased with his side’s third quarter effort, after asking for more intensity going forward at half time.
The sting was taken out of the game by three-quarter time and it showed in the last quarter with Queensland’s structures completely breaking down in defence.
Both Dylan Gabron-Uhe and Matthew Kreymborg goaled after being spotted up loose inside 50 within a minute as Sandringham tried to boost its percentage.
However Queensland refused to lie down and fought hard at every contest, but couldn’t match the better-conditioned Dragons with good execution.
Clay Cameron provided a late highlight by taking a spectacular contested mark in the goal-square, but his efforts couldn’t be match by enough of his team mates throughout the game.
Cameron, Tom Davidson and Adam Oxley were great for the Scorpions while Kreymborg, Edwards and Jack Williams all had great games for the Dragons.
Round five sees Sandringham take on the Bendigo Pioneers at Box Hill while Queensland face the Dandenong Stingrays at Shepley Oval, both on Saturday.
Last Modified on 03/05/2011 18:18