Devils trip up in the Burra

TODD WHELAN

Sebastopol has staked an early claim as genuine flag contenders with a morale boosting 22 point win over the Devils at Marty Busch Reserve.

Fans witnessed one of the best games of the season as both coaches made reference to a ‘finals like’ performance in the aftermath.

The Burra kicked with the aid of a three or four goal breeze in the first term and took advantage of a rarely rattled and ‘unaccountable’ Darley defence piling on six goals to set up a handy 23 point lead.

The two occasions this year the Devils have conceded six goals in a quarter have ended in a loss.

Forget the breeze for a second, the Devils starts have been a concern for coach Dan Jordan since the season opener and was the first to concede “catch up” footy is not ideal in the current climate.

This contest however was more about the Burra than the mortality of the reigning Premiers.

Burras coach Tony Lockyer would be loving the freedoms and versatility a healthy list can provide after a previous run of bad luck in his time in charge.

Familiar names such as Luke Kiel, the Hutt brothers (Toby, Ben), Lachlan Cassidy, Bailey Medwell and Lockyer himself led the charge and showed enough character to fight back after surrendering the lead.

When Nick Hind put the Devils up by 16 points in the last quarter it became a line in the sand moment for the Lockyer stable.

Sink or swim.

The response was emphatic as the hosts ran out the game all guns blazing with six unanswered goals to earn the points and the mounting belief that comes with it.

As many as ten of the Burra hit the scoreboard with Tony Hutt and Adam Forbes ending the major contributors with three goals apiece.

The Devils were brave after quarter time to work their way back into the game having trailed by four or five goals early to win back the lead at the final change.

Jayven Tanner (four goals), Nick Hind, Brett Bewley, Mikey Edwards, Lachie George and the Cadman brothers (Joel, Duncan) led the resistance but collectively the broader group were found wanting late as momentum swung back in favour of the blue and gold.

The Burra have another blockbuster ahead of them at home against North Ballarat while the Devils will look to shrugg the intent and pressure of a young Lions brigade keen to

pinch a scalp.

Despite Sebastopol and Darley losing no admirers at the weekend what was realised is the once all conquering Devils are very gettable.

Look for a mounting response after the break from Jordan’s army while it’s fair to concede the Burra are back!

What the coaches said:

Sebastopol – Tony Lockyer

Cracking contest and great game of Ballarat footy. We have a huge amount of respect for Darley and our games are always played in great spirit. Wish DJ and the boys all the best going forward.

Very pleased to get the result on the rebound from last week. We wanted to bring intensity we knew we were capable of and we did that early.

Darley then showed their class and started to take the game away from us.

Very happy our boys responded to the challenge in the last quarter and dug deep to get it done. Huge win for our Sebas community.

Looking forward to the recharge/reset this week ahead of North after the bye.

Darley – Dan Jordan

Ripper game of footy – resembled finals like intensity.

Tony’s boys were super, we always knew they were going to bring the heat.

We were disappointing early but managed to correct our ways after quarter time into a winning position.

Unfortunately we finished on the wrong end of the result today but we regroup and go again aware our best is good enough in a very even competition.

Backs:

All over the place early – unaccountable is probably the right word.

Our young defenders were challenged against the bigger bodies of Sebastopol. Our turnovers and decision making let us down early before we saw a correction after quarter time.

We will get back to work.

Mids:

Classic battle.

Even contest for the most part but they were able to get on top late

Their depth of quality options through their rotations may have had an impact over the long haul but our boys toiled manfully.

Forwards:

Very young. Tough ask for (Will) Johnson and Tanner (Jayven) to generate enough score out of the front half group in isolation.

We will continue the search for the ideal combination that works for us. Was clear we missed Harley Inglis and Rhys Younger today.

Final scores:

Sebastopol; 6.3-39, 8.6-54. 9.10-64, 15.13-102 def Darley ; 2.4-16, 6.7-43, 11.8-74, 12.8-80

Sebastopol (Goals): T.Hutt 3, A.Forbes 3, J.Fletcher 2, A.Munari, B.Hutt, C.Littlehales, T.Lockyer, J.Bambury, J.McDonald., L.Mason.

Darley (Goals): J.Tanner 4, K.Watkins 2, N.Hind, W.Johnson, J.Cadman, B.Myers, G.Hatcher, L.Steegstra.

Sebastopol (Best): L.Kiel, T.Hutt

Darley (Best): J.Tanner, N.Hind, B.Bewley,