The Northern Knights made a successful trip to Bendigo on Saturday where they defeated the Pioneers by five goals. Consistency was the key for the Knights, winning all four quarters and receiving good contributions from so many of their players.
Spending most of his day up forward Captain David Zaharakis fromEltham booted five goals. With his busy schedule including school football for Marcellin College and state commitments with Vic Metro Zaharakis enjoyed the different role. Jake Walsh also gave the Bendigo defence some major headaches by booting four majors.
Coach Paul Satterley was impressed with how his team responded to Bendigo’s challenge in the third quarter. “It was tight all day and we only led by a goal at half time. In the third quarter there were patches where it looked like Bendigo were going to take control, but our boys answered that challenge well.”
The Knights not only repelled any ascendancy that Bendigo were gaining, but started hurting them on the scoreboard by scoring five goals for the term. It was the final term where the Knights ran away with it by piling on another five goals, while the Pioneers could only manage two.
It has been a frustrating season for Satterley, but he couldn’t be happier to get back on the winners list. “It was a very good win. We’d built this game up as a challenge, as a test of character for our playing group. The most pleasing thing was that we had so many contributors. It’s a great situation when after the game you have a hard time working out who to fit in your best six because you know you’ll be leaving some good performances out.
“Witta (Stephen Witkowski) was outstanding. He took ten marks playing in defence and backed himself in. It was a very polished performance from him and he was one of our key defenders who generated plenty of rebound.
“We also had a few boys that didn’t get named in our best players who were great. (Josh) Griffiths
was very good. His ability to hit targets by foot was important. (Brent) Wallace came in and was a good contributor, working hard all day.
“It was one of our few four quarter performances for the year and that shows on the scoreboard. We were on the ball and concentrating from the start. Now we’ve got North Ballarat
next week, who are a good side so the challenge for us is to bring that form into next weeks game and start working our way up the ladder.”
Northern Knights 17.12 (114) def. Bendigo
Pioneers 12.12 (84)
Goals: Zaharakis 5, Walsh 4, Smith-Whiting 3, Lambert, Still, Grimes, Woods, Power
Best: Witkowski, Brunelli, Still, Walsh, Smith-Whiting, Zaharakis
Last Modified on 30/06/2008 15:26
