Pretty it was not, but North Beach came away from the long trek to Maddington with four precious premiership points from the round three WA Amateur Football League clash last Saturday .
The Beach had to contend with a spirited effort from Maddington, who drew within a straight kick in the middle stages of the final term, before the class of the Tigers midfield prevailed and found a way to propel their team to victory.
Beau Witheridge was outstanding throughout and in the final term he found valuable allies in Josh Bollen, Kyle Riemann and Ryan Underwood as the Beach staved off the challenge to fight their way to a 20-point victory.
That margin was blown out to some extent when Ben Wilson marked strongly on the bell and slotted it through from 30 metres to put the cream on the cake.
Ruckman Alex Hack and defenders Anthony “Chooka” Ingham, Jamie Sajich and Reece Cunningham also did some good things to ensure the Beach, who took the lead in the middle of the first quarter, never relinquished that hold.
The reserves scored a solid victory on the back of a brilliant performance from ruckman Simon Pearce.
There were winners all over the ground, although it took a half to shrug off the Bulls challenge. Marc Welsh and Jackson Harwood always looked dangerous up forward while the result was never really under threat.
A disciplined performance resulted in 67-point margin, which would have been a lot greater in not for the inaccurate kicking in front of goal, missing a number of easy shots.
Harwood put in a terrific performance in the forward line presenting all day, capitalising on the work of Simon Pearce who was dominating in the ruck and also when resting deep in attack. Alex Billi showed his class down back providing many counter attacks and run from deep in defence.
The Phil Scott Colts started the day on the right foot, claiming their first win of the season courtesy of an 84 point triumph.
With the Bulls having just 14 players at the start of the game, that created an interested prospect, with the Beach having to play with equal numbers. It took a strong mindset to remain focused on the task and also made it difficult for players to get involved in the contest with so many players being rotated off the bench.
The midfield, led by Simon Moore, Josh Houghton-French and Michael Hutchings were outstanding, while Tom Begley and Sam Waymouth finished off the good work with five goals each.
The Brett Jones colts scored a magnificent and convincing come-from-behind victory against Collegians.
Down by 20 points at half-time and at risk of fading out of the contest, the Beach were terrific, especially small forward Terry O’Brien who produced his best game for the club.
O’Brien kicked eight second-half goals to pilot his team to an emphatic 35-point victory, which was also built around the defensive effort of Jacob Fitzroy, wingman Gus Davis and midfielder Mitch Clark while half-back Reece Messenger was also in the thick of the action.
The D-Grade team was dominant against Collegians, particularly in the second half. Already 20 points up at the long break, the Beach held Collegians scoreless after the break, while rattling on nine goals of their own.
Jacob Griffiths kicked five goals, while Dan Wheeler generated plenty of opportunities through his midfield work, along with ruckmen Ben DeRosa and Liam Vardy as well as defender Tim Langsford, who is on the comeback trail after a serious knee injury.
The only blemish came when the D1-Reserves failed to make the most of opportunities, falling to a three-point loss to Collegians.
The Beach failed to make the most of opportunities, kicking a wasteful 5.11 to their opponents’ 7.2.
Jarrad Venus, Michael Bramley and Scott Cheatam were among the four-quarter performers for the Tigers.
Match Details:
A-Grade
North Beach 5.4 6.6 11.9 13.13 91
Maddington 3.1 5.3 7.3 11.5 71
Goals – North Beach: Underwood 3; Casey, Holden, Riemann 2; Potts, Witheridge, J Pearce,Wilson 1.
Best – North Beach: Witheridge, Underwood, Dwyer, Bollen, Nunan, Casey.
A-Reserves
North Beach 2.6 5.8 9.17 13.19 97
Maddington 1.1 3.4 3.5 4.5 29
Goals – North Beach: Hackett 3, Welsh, Lang 2; Hall, Harwood, Mead, Pearce, Sitters, Smith 1.
Best – North Beach: S Pearce, M Welsh, Harwood, Billi.
D1-Grade
North Beach 4.3 6.5 9.8 15.10 100
Collegians 2.0 3.2 3.2 3.2 20
Goals – North Beach: Griffiths 5; Binks, Campbell, Ewen 2; Collins, Burns, Foreman, Piggott 1.
Best – North Beach: Wheeler, Griffiths, Vardy, DeRosa, T Langsford.
D1-Reserves
Collegians 2.1 4.2 6.2 7.2 44
North Beach 1.1 1.5 3.7 5.11 41
Goals – North Beach: Bramley, Christie, Misikos, Smith. D Wilson 1.
Best – North Beach: Venus, Bramley, Cheatam.
Phil Scott Colts
North Beach 5.2 6.3 11.7 16.9 105
Maddington 1.2 1.4 1.6 2.9 21
Goals – North Beach: Begley, Waymouth 5; Moore 3; Hutchings 2; Hackett 1.
Best – North Beach: Moore, Houghton-French, Hutchings, Waymouth, Begley, Hackett.
Brett Jones Colts
North Beach 1.2 2.3 5.8 11.11 77
Collegians 0.3 5.2 5.2 6.6 42
Goals – North Beach: O’Brien 8; Schultz, Davis, Tincknell 1.
Best – North Beach: O’Brien, Fitzroy, Davis.
