BY GARY STOCKS
There was a time during the halcyon years through the 2000s that a North Beach showdown with North Fremantle was a showcase event.
While that is currently not the case with the relative ladder positions of the two clubs – North Beach is sitting in second place and the Maggies are on the floor of the table, winless and facing almost certain relegation – beating them remains satisfying.
The respect for the club remains strong so the O’Rourke Realty A-Grade team was content with its performance at Charles Riley last Saturday.
The Beach a statement early with a six-goal opening term and they never surrendered that advantage on the way to a 58-point romp.
The standard was set by the game splitting pace of Sam Lamont in his second game back from injury and in conjunction with the midfield influence of Nic Bowe, Jack Beverley and Brayden Lawler the Beach dictated terms.
That ensured a stream of opportunities where James Garcia, Shannon Lucassen and Ben Johnson shared the spoils.
Defensively Christian Bottechia provided strong rebound and combined with Ned Halley and Luke Symonds North Fremantle found it difficult to penetrate the forward arc, kicking just four goals for the game.
It was a similar situation for the Lifenet A-Reserves, with the depth of the Beach on show against a club that is currently struggling.
It wasn’t so much about the result, but the method that was impressive in this performance as the Beach, for the second week in succession played cohesive, disciplined team football and were locked into the game plan.
There were ample examples of sacrificial running and unselfish work that combined with good structure saw the Beach carve out 76-point victory.
The playing group have made a commitment to work on their skills with extra time at training and that is clearly starting to pay off.
In a solid team performance Jordan Webster was outstanding, finding the right spots and timing to get to the fall of the ball and was rewarded with five goals from half forward.
Jackson Martino continued his improvement off half back and was damaging on turnovers, while Liam Catalfamo had another impressive game on the wing and is pushing for senior selection.
Cory Morris played his first game with the A-Reserves and showed his class while Kade McKenzie and Alex Thompson were also strong through the midfield.
The Plasterwise Phil Scott Colts produced a business-like 53-point dissection of North Fremantle to get the ball rolling on what was a highly successful day for the club.
The objective is always to start strong and throw doubt into the collective mind of the opposition and the Beach boys did that with an irresistible six-goal first quarter, which was even more impressive given the prevailing wintry conditions.
They built on the back of that fast opening and were always in control. Their ball movement was slick despite the weather and an even performance across the lines would have been satisfying for coach John Burton.
Kobi Martin and Justin Prior helped to establish and maintain midfield dominance while Jared Thompson and Ben Perkin were resolute down back and Peter Coles and Finn Nichols were dangerous up forward.
O’Rourke Realty A-Grade
North Beach 6.0 7.2 11.5 13.8 86
North Frem 2.1 2.3 3.3 4.4 28
Goals – North Beach: Lamont, Garcia, Lucassen, Johnson 2; Lawler, Scurria, Beverley, Hooper, Saunders.
Best – North Beach: Lamont, Beverley, Lawler, Bowe, Garcia, Bottechia.
Lifenet A-Reserves
North Beach 2.4 5.8 8.10 13.11 89
North Frem 0.0 0.1 0.1 2.1 13
Goals – North Beach: Webster 5; Adler 2; Edwards, Catalfamo, Martino, Hinkley, Canty, McKenzie.
Best – North Beach: Webster, Martino, Catlfamo, Morris, McKenzie, Thompson.
Plasterwise Phil Scott Colts
North Beach 6.0 9.3 10.6 11.10 76
North Frem 0.1 1.2 3.3 3.5 23
Goals – North Beach: Coles 3; Nichols 2; O’Shea, R Sparks, Martin, Connell, Rocke.
NB Endures At Gil Fraser
The lower grades of the Perth Football League can present myriad challenges; some left field, some easily anticipated.
When playing North Fremantle there is an expectation of a tough physical encounter and when their senior teams are out of contention it is reasonable to assume some talent from the higher grades will filter down.
When the Hybrid Linings C4-Grade confronted the Maggies at Gil Fraser Reserve on Saturday, they did so knowing that the club is almost certainly facing relegation and a third grade team that was already competitive would be more so this time around.
The anticipation of a bruising battle was spot on and at three-quarter time just one goal separated the two proud clubs.
But the Beach broke the game open in the last quarter and pulled away with better structures and superior pace and fitness proving insurmountable for North Fremantle. Even being down to just 20 players after half time failed to hobble the visitors.
Again a pleasing aspect of the performance that prominent in the best player list were a handful of players 22 years and younger.
Jamie Bennett and Marc Crisp were terrific through the midfield, Mason Rollo outstanding up forward with four goals and Isaac Seidner was very creative in the forward 50. Down back, Cam Emery shut down the most dangerous forward and Matt Seaton was again leading his team from the front.
The Beast Carpet Cleaning C4-Reserves recovered from a stuttering start to eventually dominate and beat North Fremantle 13.12 (90) to 3.2 (20). After conceding the first three games, the Maggies were unable to again penetrate the scoring zone in any meaningful way.
It was a mixture of the Maggies being “on” early and the Beach kicking into a howling breeze while not quite in the zone, but it changed dramatically after quarter-time.
The victory came at cost with players succumbing to injuries and likely to miss a number of games.
Michael Bramley and Levi Cooper were brilliant up forward, whilst Michael Duckworth had his best game for the year in defence. Jayden Hunt continued his terrific start to the season in the midfield and was ably assisted by Zane Persichitti and Conor Brown.
As would happen in the ensuing fourth grade match, the Indian Ocean Hotel Brett Jones Colts made a sluggish start as they adjusted to the conditions but got rolling eventually and won 12.7 (79) to 3.3 (21).
A slow first half from the Beach kept the Magpies in the game but top gear was reached in the third quarter and another hugely physical game was completed with once again North Beach on top.
Peter Jolley and Zach Farrell were unstoppable up forward bagging five each while the brotherly duo of PJ and Ronan Rose ran the Pies off their feet with great gut running and skill through the midfield.
While Sam Halley’s bruising presence and James Logan’s flawless intercepting meant that the opposition got nowhere near their goals. And a first goal on debut for Chris Conduit was the highlight on another fruitful day for the C Colts.
The Beyond Tools E1-Grade had an absorbing battle with Collegians before going down by 17 points while the GJ Osplumb E4-Grade chiselled out another impressive victory against Carlisle.
Hybrid Linings C4-Grade
North Beach 2.2 6.8 9.8 14.9 93
North Frem 4.2 4.3 8.8 10.8 68
Goals – North Beach: Rollo 4; Brooks, M Cameron 3; Rose 2; Seidner, O’Gorman.
Best – North Beach: Bennett, Rollo, Seidner, Crisp, Emery, Seaton.
Beast Carpet Cleaning C4-Reserves
North Beach 3.2 7.4 9.7 13.12 90
North Frem 3.0 3.0 3.2 3.2 20
Goals – North Beach: Bramley 3; Cooper, Lewis, Lloyd 2; Sisarich, Steffensen, Craig, Stevens.
Best – North Beach: Bramley, J Hunt, M Duckworth, Persichitti, Brown, Cooper.
Indian Ocean Hotel Brett Jones Colts
North Beach 2.4 4.6 8.6 12.7 79
North Frem 0.2 2.2 2.3 3.3 21
Goals – North Beach: Farrell, Jolley 5; Conduit, Castiglioni.
Best – North Beach: P Rose, R Rose, M Caiacob, Dobson, Halley, Farrell.
Beyond Tools E1-Grade
Collegians 10.10 (70) def North Beach 8.5 (53)
GJ Osplumb E4-Grade
North Beach 8.16 (64) def Carlisle 6.6 (42)
A-Grade Win Storm Home
Dirty conditions, a tough breeze gusting across the ground and a little bit of surface water.
Combine that with an opponent down the ladder that was committed to having a crack and the Synkro A-Grade Women faced a tough challenge against Coolbellup at Charles Riley Reserve last Saturday.
After a first half battle – with themselves as much as their opponents – the Beach took charge and nailed down another important victory, winning 10.14 (74) to 3.7 (25).
It was a game of two halves with a strong wind sweeping across the ground where North Beach managed to make the most of its quarters with the wind.
It was a physical encounter against much bigger opponents and probably not the best performance against a team lower down the ladder, but the Beach lifted the intensity in the second half and got the job done.
Beth Carey was exceptional in her 50th game (not all for NB) in the PFL while Steph Ball was a prime mover in conjunction with the ultra-consistent Elysia Burvill, Gabby Peacock, Taylah McGorlick and Alice Di Vincenzo.
The C4-Grade Women suffered their first loss of the season against Secret Harbour in a tough, dour contest, losing 1.5 (11) to 10.14 (74).
In what seemed to be the story of the day with many grades, the Beach was slow out of the blocks with Secret Harbour’s physicality and ball movement dictating the way North Beach played against the breeze.
In the second quarter the Tigers could not capitalise on their turn with the wind advantage yet started to be less reactive to the opposition and use their structure better to be two goals down at the half.
The third quarter was fantastic in the way the defence held their system and despite a lucky goal which appeared touched the Tigers kept the game alive and after an early goal from Chella, creating the sense they could run over them with the weather at their backs.
That was not to be as Secret Harbour positioned some of their key players in spots to nullify our attacks and took field position away, which resulted in a four-point defeat.
Synkro A-Grade Women
North Beach 1.3 4.9 6.11 10.14 74
Coolbellup 1.2 1.2 3.6 3.7 25
Goals – North Beach: Jones 3; Ball, DelFante, Kuenen, Holden, Alaga, Lennon, Peacock.
Best – North Beach: Ball, Burvill, Peacock, Carey, McGorlick, Di Vincenzo.
C4-Grade Women
Secret Harbour 3.7 (25) def North Beach 1.5 (11)
Goals – North Beach: Cowling.
Best – North Beach: Uglow, Catterall, Green, Cleary, Elaine, Cowling, Kavanagh.
Big Stage Beckons I-Grade
By Steve Cuzens
A large portion of the Grange Residential I-Grade team warmed up for this Friday night’s feature at Optus Stadium with an outstanding performance against Wembley last week.
Seven players from the North Beach outfit have been chosen in a PFL team to play ahead of the West Coast Eagles-Essendon clash at WA football’s marquee venue.
Nick Hart, Reece McKintyre, Chris Willers, Julian Miller, Mailey Kelly , Ben Morley and Jake Perrotte will all get the chance to strut their stuff in front of the big crowd at headquarters.
They fine-tuned for the big stage with an impressive 10-point win over Wembley last week – 4.12 (36) to 4.2 (26).
Played under lights in very difficult windy conditions at Charles Riley, the side really buckled down to the task and at quarter time held a 13-point lead.
Getting off to a good start would ultimately prove decisive, because whilst the margin narrowed to three points at half time, the Beach kept up the hard work to eventually run out very deserved 10-point winners.
Good players on the day were, the very dangerous forward Julian Miller, pacy midfielder Reece McIntyre, Chris Willers at both ends of the ground, and rock solid defender, Nick Hart.
What was even more pleasing was the number of players who are clearly heeding Pana‘s messages and putting the things learned at training into practice on Saturdays.
If the side continues to produce this team orientated, selfless style of play, there’s no reason we can’t take it right up to the unbeaten High Wycombe this week.
Bouquet – a belated bouquet but much deserved to Mrs Wright for the individual COVID free lolly bags the week before
Brickbat – Stuart Curry late with the board ¾ time
Grange Residential I-Grade
North Beach 4.12 (36) def Wembley 4.2 (26)
Goals – North Beach: Miller 4.
Best – North Beach: Miller, McIntrye, Willers, Hart.
