Yarrawonga’s Jess Koopman has leapfrogged into fourth spot on the goalkickers list after destroying Corowa-Rutherglen with nine on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Koopman almost doubled his season tally to 19 in the 16.16 (112) to 4.9 (33) win in front of a crowd celebrating Corowa’s 50-year premiership reunion.
“Their intensity was pretty good because they were up for the game, their effort was really good,” Pigeons’ assistant coach and captain Tyler Bonat said.
“They like to put a lot of players behind the ball and in the first quarter we were OK and then we adjusted the way we kicked the ball forward and moved the ball.
“We started to work our way on top and then we had pretty good second and third quarters.”
The visitors booted five goals to nil in the second term to effectively seal the result.
“Jess Koopman is going well, he’s from Finley and he and (former Finley coach Damian Sexton) ‘Secco’ have a pretty good relationship and ‘Secco’s’ been giving him every opportunity,” Bonat said.
“The forward line was good and with ‘Symesy’ (Brandon Symes), they didn’t really have anyone (to match him), he marked really well.”
Symes kicked four goals and the Pigeons had only four goalkickers with teenager Matt Casey (two) and Ronan Pritchard (one) rounding out the 16.
Despite kicking nine, Koopman was only named third best with Mark Whiley doing his Morris Medal chances no harm with another strong display.
As he always does, the former AFL player worked himself to exhaustion as he racked up 30-plus touches.
Mitch Collins-Bye also featured, while Brady Pritchard and Harry Wheeler also played well.
In promising news for the Roos, youngster Tyler Spencer was named his team’s best, while Angus Lingham and Dylan Cook also played well.
After two rounds of the top five playing the bottom five, the league will welcome two teams with top three aspirations meeting on Saturday.
Yarrawonga holds down fourth, on percentage, and it faces a crucial fortnight against Lavington (fifth) and Wodonga Raiders (second).
Lavington sits two points behind Yarrawonga, due to the abandoned drawn match against North Albury earlier this month, and it faces a brutal run against the Pigeons, Albury (first) and Wangaratta (third), which will test its top three hopes.
