By Bruno Visentini
Coburg’s hunt for an elusive first victory this season will continue next week after the GWS Giants left Piranha Park 46-point winners on Saturday.
It looked as though rain could blemish the contest, but the weather cleared up for the entirety of the match giving both sides the blessing of good footy conditions. The Giants won the toss and chose to kick to the Bell Street end of the ground, but as the game started Coburg began to make the Giants regret that decision with Sam Mason and Will Bella each kicking a goal in the opening minutes to get Coburg out to a 13-0 lead. This lead would unfortunately be the biggest the Lions would get out to in the match as the Giants rounded out the first term with 4 goals and 5 behinds to take a 16-point lead at the first change.
With GWS entering their forward line so often, Coburg’s defenders did well to apply pressure and prevent more scoring from happening. At the other end of the ground Coburg were struggling to get the ball any further than half forward to add to the two goals scored in the first few minutes and reward the strong defensive efforts of the quarter.
The second quarter saw the Giants continue their early momentum by adding two more goals via Wade Derksen who proved troublesome for Coburg’s defenders as he’d end up with 5 goals for the game. The Lions would break their goal drought 12 minutes into the second term when they blitzed the Giants and Aaron Clarke got on the end of some quick play to kick his first goal. As the Giants scored another goal, Coburg would come back harder with Sam Mason converting a set shot for his second and Ben Cameron booting his first goal on debut by shrugging three tackles on his way to goal which had Coburg players and fans alike up and about as the margin was down to 14 points. Cameron and Nic Quigg were new additions to the Lions line up and they were influential in their VFL debuts.
The 14-point deficit was short lived however as the Giants added 3 more goals and Coburg could only muster one more for the half, Sam Mason’s team-high third of the game. However even though the margin at half time was 25 points, there were far more positives to take out of Coburg’s second quarter. There was a vast improvement on the offensive side as the Lions found it easier to penetrate the forward line and impact the scoreboard. Braedyn Gillard and Flynn Gentile led the home side with their 11 disposals for the half and Luke Nelson had 4 tackles in a half that saw a lower than usual number of tackles for both sides.
After the main break, the Giants came out a cut above the Lions scoring 4 goals for the quarter, but crucially for them also keeping Coburg goalless to stifle the momentum the Lions could have carried into the second half. Four behinds were all that Coburg added to their tally in the third quarter and the Giants’ lead of 54 points was comfortable enough to sit on for the remainder of the game.
The Giants appeared to ease off the pedal in the final quarter and Coburg capitalised on this to dominate in the early stages of the final term to kick the first three goals, an accurate set shot for Hugo McGlashan’s first, Ben Cameron kicking his second after getting on the end of a chain of handballs and Aaron Clarke kicking his second to reward Mitch Podhajski’s hanger before the assist. The Giants would go on to kick two more goals to push the final margin to 46 points and bring the 4 points home from their trip to Melbourne.
Coburg’s next hitout will be against fellow standalone side Williamstown at DSV Stadium on Saturday the 15th of April. We look forward to seeing as many Lions faithful as possible in enemy territory. Go Lions!
GOALKICKERS:
(3) S. Mason, (2) A. Clarke, B. Cameron, (1) H. McGlashan, W. Bella
BEST PLAYERS:
L.Nelson, S.Mason, B.Cameron, W.Bella, F.Gentile and B.Andrews
FINAL SCORE:
Coburg: 2.1 (13) | 6.5 (41) | 6.9 (45) | 9.13 (67)
GWS Giants: 4.5 (29) | 10.6 (66) | 15.9 (99) | 17.11 (113)
#WeAreCoburg
