AARON DEGREEF
NURIOOTPA outclassed
Barossa District with a
62-point win in Saturday’s
Barossa, Light & Gawler
Football Association
A-grade battle, holding the
Bulldogs to just 15 points in
wet conditions.
At the first bounce, Nuriootpa
wrestled the football
quickly out of the centre and
a penetrating kick delivered
the footy to James Bentley,
who promptly stabbed
through a goal as a sign of
things to come.
This process was repeated
immediately, but this time
it was brother Scott Bentley
acquiring the ball, dodging
his defender and accurately
snapping another major.
Barossa pushed hard in response
with some good run
through midfield resulting in
some quality inside-50s, but
the Nuri defence held up to
head into quarter time leading
4.3 (27) to 0.1 (1).
In the second term, the
Tigers relentlessly applied
pressure to the flustered Bulldogs,
forcing the visitors into
mistakes. James Bentley was
the beneficiary after finding a
pocket of space following a
turnover for his second of the
four goals he would kick on
the day.
This again prompted a
burst of speed from Barossa,
particularly when Trae Gant
sprinted into the forward
lines after a centre clearance,
scooped up the footy and
steadily guided it through to
finally get the Bulldogs off
the mark.
From this point on, the effort
from both teams rose to
a higher level, with manic
tackling pressure proving an
entertaining spectacle on its
own as the Tigers took a 7.6
(43) to 1.1 (7) lead into halftime.
In the third stanza, Nuriootpa
continued to punish
Barossa on the scoreboard.
A long penetrating kick allowed
Mason Graetz to bomb
through a set-shot, before
Bradley Bryksy got in on the
act with a handball over the
top to run into an open goal.
Samuel Falland did the
same, somehow managing to
slip away from his defender
to wait in the goal square for
an easy handball and goal as
Barossa’s intensity fell off
and the Tigers were able to
open up a 11.11 (77) to 2.3
(15) winning margin.
Nuriootpa coach Kyle Jenner
said there were plenty
of positives to take from the
contest.
“The best aspect of our
game would have been
that we were hard to play
against,” he said.
“That was our focus this
week, to win the contests and
defend well, and by only allowing
five scoring shots for the
game, I felt we achieved that.
“For this week’s game, we
will need to improve our skill
errors – we still made some
basic skill errors that put us
under pressure and gave them
chances to score.
“Angaston this week will
be very tough – they obviously
have the best ruckman
in the game in Borholm and
a great midfield with Summerton,
Shannon and Carnelly,
so we will have to
try and win the contests at
stoppages.”