A rare day, with all teams representing North Beach on Saturday claiming the points, provided cause for celebration after round 12.
That might sound a little better than reality, given the E2-Grade had a bye and the two colts teams were recipients of forfeits, but the four teams representing the club managed to secure victories giving the Beach a clean sheet.
The drive towards a top three finish for the O’Rourke Realty North Beach team continued to build momentum with a comprehensive 65-point victory over Maddington at Charles Riley Reserve on Saturday.
With Mt Lawley upsetting Collegians, only one game separates second placed University and the fourth-placed Beach – creating an intriguing match next Saturday when the Scholars host the Tigers.
North Beach has won six of the last seven matches and after a poor second quarter carried too much class and skill for Maddington, who will battle for the rest of the season to avoid relegation.
The Bulls kicked the first two goals of the match before the Beach responded with some slick ball movement and looked dangerous at all times, dominating through the midfield and consistently pumping the ball forward.
Josh Pearce was ubiquitous inside attacking 50 and finished with four goals, while Steve Bandy, Josh Bollen, Mitch Dwyer and Kyle Riemann all generating plenty of ball through the middle.
Thanks largely to their accuracy in front of goal, where they kicked 7.0 in the first half, the Beach enjoyed a seven point advantage at the main break. Nine unanswered goals in the second half underpinned the amount of control the Beach enjoyed from that moment forward.
When Maddington did venture forward of centre, they were generally thwarted by Ryan Underwood and Aaron Jarvis.
The Credent Financial services A-Reserves enjoyed absolute supremacy against the Bulls, winning by a mammoth 181 points.
With a scoreline of that nature few of the North Beach players did not win their position and their work was finished off brilliantly by key forward Christian Bottechia, who kicked a remarkable 10.0 – eight of them from set shots, generally earned from his polished aerial skills.
Wingman Josh Stott was also among the goals with six majors while Jason Hall, Jon Turner, Alex Billi and Ned Melvin were also outstanding in a relentless team performance.
The Townley Group D1-Grade confronted an opposition with a defensive mindset and took some time to break free of the shackles before a dominant final quarter saw them stride to an emphatic 69-point victory.
The Scholars seemed intent on minimising the damage rather than striving for victory, but the Beach had all the answers. Jarrad Venus was outstanding through the midfield, Kent Traeger led the defence well, while Nick Morling and Jordan Kickett were always dangerous up forward.
After being competitive in most games without finding the line, the Clipstar D1-Reserves finally were rewarded for effort with a 72-point demolition of Collegians.
Dean Wilson was outstanding while a couple of colts players, accepted an invitation to play, and also enjoyed a good day, particularly Shaheed Duke and Riley Carter.
Tim van Der Kraats and ruckman Ronald O’Neil were also instrumental in the triumph.
The Nuchange Phil Scott Colts were disappointed when Maddington fronted with only 10 players while the Tuck Plumbing Brett Jones Colts were similarly left without a contest when Collegians could not field a team.
The four points attained in both grades, however, gives both colts teams some chance of pushing into finals contention.
A-Grade
North Beach 5.0 7.0 10.4 16.8 104
Maddington 2.3 5.5 5.7 5.9 39
Goals – North Beach: J Pearce 4; Witheridge, Riemann, Palm 2; Dwyer, Bollen, S Pearce, Bandy, Underwood 1.
Best – North Beach: J Pearce, Bandy, Dwyer, Wilson,Riemann, Bollen, Underwood, Jarvis.
A-Reserves
North Beach 7.3 16.5 24.5 31.8 194
Maddington 0.1 1.1 2.1 2.1 13
Goals – North Beach: Bottechia 10; Stott 6; Foreman 4; Hall 3; Golisano, Billi 2; Turner, Griffiths 1.
Best – North Beach: Bottechia, Stott, Billi, Hall, Foreman, Turner.
D1-Grade
North Beach 2.4 3.5 6.13 13.16 94
Collegians 1.1 3.1 4.1 4.1 25
Goals – North Beach: Kickett 3; J Bubnich, Cosgrove. Traeger 2; Burns, Duff, Morling, Venus 1.
Best – North Beach: Venus, Traeger, Morling, Burns, Miotti, Cheetham.
D1-Reserves
North Beach 4.1 6.4 9.8 12.9 81
Collegians 0.0 1.2 1.3 1.3 9
Goals – North Beach: Keeley 6; Duke 2; Wilson, Mahoney, Luck, Christie 1.
Best – North Beach: Wilson, van Der Kraats, O’Neil, Duke, R Carter.
