Kyneton wins in a landslide

Kyneton's Rhys Magin. Picture Shawn Smits.

Kyneton didn’t have any trouble accounting for Castlemaine in the Bendigo Football League on Saturday.

The clubs are at different stages of their developments, and the Tigers were expected to record an easy win.

A 12-goal second quarter to the Tigers broke the game open, with the margin at nearly 100 points at the main break.

The Tigers continued on their way in the second half, winning 19.14 (188)-9.6 (60).

Tigers’ coach Luke Beattie was happy with the win, saying they had stuck closer to their structures than in the previous round.

“To get an outcome like that was expected,” he said.

“Castlemaine played pretty well in the first quarter, but our ability to maintain the pressure and standard for a longer period of time was the difference.”

Rhys Magin put in one of the most dominant performances Beattie had seen in a long time.

“He had such dominance in the midfield and then to kick eight goals, you don’t see that often.

“He kicked two thirds of those goals while he was up forward resting.”

Jake Ward also kicked eight goals, as the Tigers forward line turned up in full force.

Beattie said the speed they were getting the ball inside 50 would have made it hard for any team.

“Jake could have had 10 goals,” he said.

“Ethan [Foreman] kicked five goals and gave up five goals. Both of those guys, and Josh Govan and Chris Barry, were good up forward.

“That’s the diversity we planned for. You can keep one guy quiet and another two or three pop up.”

Despite the dominant display, Beattie wasn’t 100 per cent happy with how the side played.

Defensively, he was disappointed with how many goals they gave up. He said that was something they would work on.

“We need to reduce the opposition scoring capacity,” he said.

“It was clearly a dominant display from us but we let them score 60 points.

“Against the likes of Sandhurst and Eaglehawk we restricted them to less than 10 goals. With the forward line we have, we back them to kick 10 goals and we will win more than we lose if we do that.”

The Tigers sit third, only two points behind the top two sides. This weekend they meet Golden Square.

Beattie said they hadn’t started a season this well since about 1997.

He said while they had been playing well, the depth within the club is also having an impact.

“It does show the growth of the club, being in this position,” he said.

“The reserves are sitting fifth, so it’s not just the seniors. It’s credit to all the club and the direction the club has taken with the juniors.

“They’re playing at a higher standard and it’s assisted their development.

“Leyton Chisholm, Jackson Conforti and Oscar Power are kids who played well on Saturday.”

Beattie said this week’s match against fourth-placed Golden Square will present a challenge.

Golden Square is coming off a shock loss to Gisborne.

“They will be looking to respond,” he said.

“I think we play their ground really well.”