WAHGUNYAH overcame a serious case of the goal-kicking yips to defeat Billabong Crows by 41 points in its Coreen and District league clash at Oaklands on Saturday.
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While the Tigers peppered the goals with 33 scoring shots, it took them until the final quarter to put away the opposition thanks to the dominance of key forwards Ray Robins and Hayden Lanyon.
They drilled 13 goals between them to counter the brilliance of Crows recruit Troy Legudi at the other end of the ground.
Robins was relieved to come away with the points with him expecting the Billabong Crows to feature in finals action this season.
“We had plenty of shots and need to work on our goal-kicking, but I rate them fairly highly,” Robins said.
“They have a handy side with plenty of kids, good talls and blokes like Pat Beattie and Phil Jones are running around in the reserves.
“It was good to come away with the win and it’s going to be another real test against Coleambally this weekend.
“It’s always handy to start this way.”
Despite being linked to Hume league club Holbrook due to work commitments, Lanyon is yet to decide whether he will remain with Wahgunyah or sign with the Brookers.
Wahgunyah, who had 47 at training on Thursday night, boasts plenty of depth with Steve Johnson, David Coppolino, Steve Grantham and Danny Dinan expected to press for selection in coming weeks.
Matt Rogers, Andrew Ryland, Matthew Duryea and captain Dane Tobias were effective for the Tigers, coming to the fore each time the Crows’ presented a challenge through Ben Kerr, Legudi, Tyson Moloney, Damian Doyle, Ben Robb and Tyral Dalitz.
Coleambally caused the boilover of the round by defeating reigning premier CDHBU by 28 points at Coleambally.
Despite the Saints having a solid preseason, they made all the running with Andrew McGown, Mitchell Barry, Graham O’Connell, Shane Pound and Matthew Bull finding touch.
CDHBU coach Jarrod Hanrahan tried to lift his charges with some solid work through the midfield, but Mark House, Shay Rhodes and Brad Talbot were among the few to respond.
They will be strengthened by the return of key forwards Troy Habermann and Paul Lavis in coming weeks.
Jerilderie stormed home to defeat Rennie by 58 points.
With nine points between the teams at the last change, the Demons kicked 10 goals to two with Ben Nash, Luke and Thomas Bryce, Greg Lawton and Bowden Hamilton in the thick of the action.
Full-forward Stuart Way kicked five goals and showed he will be a handful for any opposition defence with a decent supply from his teammates.
Rennie’s best were Craig Rhodes, Joshua Lewis, Joshua Bozzola and Brent Taylor.
