Gembrook-Cockatoo Football Club
WANDIN showed premiership form in an effortless 144 point win over Gembrook-Cockatoo at Wandin on Saturday.
The Brookers went into the game without midfielders Clark and Daniel Feild, while Andrew Feild was also missing.
Marcus Wybrott came in for his first senior game for the club after some consistent form in the reserves, and Liam Henzen returned to the side.
Gembrook started quite competitively with Martin and Wilson working well in defence, and Liam Henzen getting himself involved in plenty of contests. Williams had the first scoring chance of the game but missed from long range. The Bulldogs quickly began to get on top when Bayliss, Myers and Hills started to link up through the middle.
Smith kicked two easy goals and then missed a third shot.
Most of Gembrook’s attention was focused on Fowkes, who began the day on 91 goals.
Leversha played Fowkes very well in the first term but the dominance of the Wandin onballers meant that the full forward was inevitably going to win plenty of the ball.
After a succession of behinds, Bayliss put through Wandin’s third.
Fowkes was on the board shortly afterwards and Smith and Handley added further goals before Fowkes managed a second major.
Wandin led 7.5 to 0.1 at quarter time, and Gembrook’s task looked a forlorn one.
Despite the scoreline, the backline had held up quite well.
The damage was being done in the centre of the ground.
When the Brookers did go forward, the forwards were absent or outnumbered.
Wandin continued to pepper the goals in the second term.
Hills was in excellent form on the half forward line and kicked two quick majors. Leversha’s great battle with Fowkes ended when the Gembrook man went off with a shoulder injury.
Wybrott was often in the play for Gembrook and showed enough on debut to suggest that he could play regular senior football.
Martin and Wilson were still linking up well in defence, while Williams was one of the few winners around the ground.
The Brookers finally got on the board when Williams converted late in the second quarter.
Wandin led by 77 points at half time.
Fowkes turned the third quarter into a circus as he kicked five goals and ran rings around the Gembrook defence.
Although Martin tried valiantly, Fowkes was getting great delivery from further upfield and was now deadly accurate in the strong cross-breeze.
If the ball did hit the ground, Fowkes was usually there with superior recovery skills.
Gembrook supporters were treated to the sad sight of their team becoming a whipping boy as the margin grew to triple figures.
Richardson and Williams did manage to kick goals during this quarter but the Brookers were being completely outclassed.
Starting the last quarter on 99 goals, Fowkes soon marked and put through his 100th, leading to a ground invasion from a crowd of enthusiastic Wandin supporters.
Wilson has been Gembrook’s great success story this season, coming on in leaps and bounds from last year.
Unfortunately, Wilson’s day ended early when he was pinned in a tackle and thrown with unnecessary force head-first into the ground.
A few minutes later, John Ladner of Wandin was helped off the ground after what appeared to be the square-up.
The Bulldogs had 16 shots to two in the last quarter and equalled their greatest ever winning margin against Gembrook.
Wandin 25.28 (178) d Gembrook-Cockatoo 5.4 (34)
