Bill Duckworth…in a familiar position

By Gary Stocks

North Beach has opened a six-point buffer at the top of the WAAFL premiership table following a convincing 46-point victory over Mt Lawley last weekend.

The Tigers dominated the round 11 fixture, best illustrated by the number of scoring shots – 28 to 12, with Mt Lawley missing just one shot on goal.

The Beach again rebounded strongly out of defence, had reliable goal-scoring avenues through Beau Witheridge, Kyle Reiman and Shane Paap and again controlled the midfield courtesy of Mitch Dwyer and Matt O’Donnell.

Rhys Cunningham continued his good form in defence while “Dingo” Nunan continues to impress as one of the star recruits of the season.

The Beach will be looking to consolidate that position when they tackle Stirling at Charles Riley on Saturday afternoon with a full day of quality football assured, starting with the colts at 10.45am.      

A-Grade
North Beach       3.3          9.5          12.8        17.11     113
Mt Lawley           3.0          5.1            8.1        11.1       67
Goals – North Beach: Witheridge 4; Papp, Rieman 3; Turner, Perkin 2.
Best – North Beach: O’Donnell, Dwyer, Paap, Cunningham, A Nunan.

The A-reserves also consolidated a top three position and with places in the A-Grade side becoming highly competitive will only improve on the back of another resounding victory – accounting for Mt Lawley by 41 points.

Cale Potts was terrific at centre half-back, with Ben Heap and Andrew  Langsford also in outstanding touch. The Beach controlled the game throughout and 10 goals to four after quarter-time ensured an important victory.

A-Reserves
North Beach       4.0          8.3          10.5        14.5        89
Mt Lawley           3.1          4.3          6.4           7.6        48
Goals – North Beach: Wattleworth 3; Jaffa, Chapman, Fishlock Wilson 2; Thomas, McGinnity, Gooch 1.
Best – North Beach: Potts, Heap, A Langsford, Wattleworth.

The E-Grade and E-Reserves dominated every facet of their matches against a disappointing West Coast Cowan, kicking a combined total of 48 goals and conceding just one in the two games.

The E-Grade team bounded away after an relatively competitive first half to win by 158 points. Lloyd Quinlan, Luke Speering, Brett Rice, Trevor Lang and Michael Italiano were among the many players to be under notice throughout.

E-Grade
North Beach 25.16 (166) defeated West Coast Cowan 1.2 (8)
Best – North Beach: Quinlan, Speering, Rice, Lang, Italiano.

The E-Reserves was a similar story, with West Coast scoring their solitary point in the closing minutes when a valiant effort from Sam Harrision failed to prevent the opposition’s first score.

Nathaniel Gregoire and Adam Styles kicked nine goals between them while Jarrad Dye, Brett Anthony and Tom Scantlebury were under notice throughout.

E-Reserves
North Beach 23.20 (148) defeated West Coast Cowan 0.1 (1)
Goals – North Beach: Gregoire 5; Styles 4; Dye 3; Gaunt 2.
Best – North Beach: Scantlebury, Gregoire, Styles, Anthony, Dye.

The G-Grade paid a heavy price for goal-front inaccuracy, slipping to an eight point defeat despite having three more scoring shots than High Wycombe.

G-Grade
High Wycombe 8.2 (50) defeated North Beach 6.7 (42)

The Phil Scott Colts scored an important and emphatic 41-point win over Mt Lawley to establish a hold ion fifth position.

With Josh Barber deadly in front of goal with seven majors and good service from the likes of Josh Stott, Keegan Knott, Ryan Antonelli and Chris Mead, the Beach took control in the second half after an early scare.

Phil Scott Colts
North Beach  14.7 (91) defeated Mt Lawley 8.2 (50)
Goals – North Beach: Barber 7; Knott 3.
Best – North Beach: Barber, Knott, Antonelli, Mead, Stott.

The Brett Jones colts slipped to an agonising defeat when a Collegians forward bounced through a goal with the last kick of the day from deep in the pocket.

The Beach failed to convert a number of “easy” opportunities in front of goal, which came back to haunt them. They hit the front in the last 30 seconds, but did not clear the ball out of the middle and opened the door for their opponents with some poor defensive work.

Jordan Kickett and Mitch McPhee worked hard through the midfield, Jarrad McMorran was a tower of strength in the ruck and Aaron Wilkinson did a great opposed to one of Collegians’ most threatening players.

The boys are starting to understand what it means to play team football and with a disciplined approach will win more often in the future.

Brett Jones Colts
Collegians            3.1          8.4          9.5          12.7        79
North Beach       3.3          5.7          8.13        10.16     76
Goals – North Beach: DeRooster, Kickett, McMorran 2; Keating, Perris, McPhee, Preiato 1.
Best – North Beach: Kickett, Wilkinson, McMorran, Perry, McPhee.