By OSCAR PERRI
Rovers have continued their winning streak, remaining undefeated for this season by blowing West Alice out of the water by over 100 points on Saturday afternoon.
Both teams were missing players from their usual line up, with West coach Shaun Cusack (at right in the picture) being forced to the extreme measure of putting his own name on the whiteboard against the top of the ladder senior side.
A goal went each way early in the first quarter, and a tight contest in the middle of the ground saw an even start to the term.
Deon Sortino was good in the ruck early on, providing his team with a rare advantage. But it wasn’t to last, as his size was shortly required in the backline which was unable to interfere with the Rover’s marking inside 50.
Gun Rovers forward Tyson Woods was showing signs of what was to come with a flashy goal, and his side brought a 24 point lead into the first break, only tempered by a goal to West’s Liam Jurrah just before the siren.
The game was all on Rover’s terms after the break, putting on seven unanswered goals, with West unable to make a dent in their defence, who were excellent at intercepting the ball at half back and turn it right back round, switching across the ground and tearing open their opponents moving forwards from there.
Jonathon Webb worked hard, and was the only West player to manage a goal in the second quarter, and the lead dragged out to 68 points by half time.
Fabian Dickson and Woods worked together exceptionally well as a forward combination for Rovers, constantly testing, and regularly beating their opponents close to goal.
After half time the Rovers hit their strides and had almost complete control of the game scoring the first five goals of the half two of which off the boot of Dickson.
Aaron Sharpe and Webb were admirable in their use of their bigger bodies to win the ball for West, but when they were able to take possession and move it forward the Rover’s half back line were able to intercept and spring back into attack cleanly.
As they asserted their dominance over the game, the Rovers players settled into a style of maintaining possession of the ball with neat kicking and strong marking.
Denzel Anderson really got off the chain in the second half for the Rovers, using his formidable speed to break through the middle of the ground, while skilful kicking and good leading from his team mates allowed effective switching of the ball as it came out of the backline, opening up plenty of space to move and expose the West defence and create numerous scoring opportunities.
Goals continued to pile on without much resistance, and the Rovers went on to win 25.11.161 to 8.8.56.