South Bunbury beat rival in opening round
South Bunbury overcame a slow start to kick six second half goals in a round one victory over traditional rivals Carey Park in the Dale Alcock Homes South West Football League season opener at Hands Oval on Saturday night.
Brynn Francis and Guy Piggott kicked three goals each to lead the Tigers to the 9.13 (67) to 7.11 (53) victory over the Panthers.
Carey Park coach John Baggetta pulled the first surprise of the year with two time premiership-winning Claremont ruckman Mitchell Andrews lining up for the visitors on a permit but the late addition was not enough to turn the game in the Panthers favour.
Also on Saturday night, an emphatic eight-goal opening quarter afforded Busselton a comfortable14.14 (98) to 6.6 (42) win over the Harvey Bulls at Sir Stewart Bovell Park.
Busselton bounced out of the blocks with Jordan Eastwell and Jackson Arbon leading the charge providing a hard running game that the Bulls struggled to match.
Nathan Bradbury snared the first goal by intercepting an errant kick in by the Bulls and eventually finished with two for the game while Aidan was the chief destroyer with four.
On Sunday, Bunbury put the rest of the competition on notice with a 21.17 (143) to 4.7. (31) trouncing of Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault at Payne Park.
After falling behind in the first quarter, former Subiaco trio Marc Re (nine), Aidan Parker (six) and Jordan Adamson-Holmes (two) combined for 17 of the Bulldogs 21 goals in a dominant performance.
Hampered Donnybrook utility Curtis Guglielmana kicked five goals to lead the Dons to a 12.11 (83) to 5.6 (36) round one victory over Augusta-Margaret River at VC Mitchell Park on Sunday.
Playing with a sore ankle Guglielmana spent the majority of the game in the forward pocket where he proved deadly, booting a major in each quarter of the game.
Augusta-Margaret River was well served by defenders Jack Hick, Mitch Ellis and Richard Devitt who prevented the score line from swinging even further in Donnybrook’s favour.
There was little sign of a premiership hangover on Sunday at Glen Huon Reserve as reigning champions Eaton made light work of last season’s runners-up Collie in a 69- point victory.
Just under seven months after the Boomers beat the Eagles by 24 points on grand final day, it was the same result but in much more emphatic fashion.
The win, 14.10 (94) to 3.7 (25), was first-year coach Richard Barnard’s first at the helm of the Boomers as they showed no signs of slipping from last season’s maiden premiership.
See tomorrow’s Bunbury Herald for full match reports on each of the weekend’s games.
