Jacana has let slip the perfect opportunity to move to the top of the Essendon District Football League division 2 ladder.
Come off two really good wins, including knocking off the previously unbeaten Coburg Districts, the Jaguars went in confident against East Sunbury.
When the Jaguars kicked the first two goals of the game, including one to star forward Cameron Cloke, it looked as if that confidence was well justified.
But the Thunder players quickly got into the game, looking like they wanted the ball more and dominating the second quarter to take a 26-point lead into half-time.
The margin got out to 47 points midway through the third quarter, before the Jaguars rallied by kicking the last three goals of the third quarter to reduce the margin to 28 points.
At that point, there were a few nervous Thunder supporters around the ground.
Not for the first time this season, the Jaguars controlled the last quarter early on and had a shot on goal to reduce the margin to less than three goals.
The shot missed and the Thunder responded by running away with the game for a 23.9 (147)-16.8 (104) win.
Jaguars coach Robert Fletcher was full of praise for the young Thunder side.
“We were terrible today,” he said.
“They’re the best football side we’ve played and their foot skills and movement of the ball were fantastic.
“You could see, from their warm-up to the end of the game, that they had come to play.”
Fletcher, like many, thought his players would respond in the second half. They did, but not for long enough.
“We’ve won every last quarter, so we thought we were a chance to come back and get it,” he said.
“We had a few injuries, but no excuses. They were fantastic. We had no forward pressure. We’ll punish them at training and improve.”
Cloke was the standout for the Jaguars, kicking nine goals. Zachary Racovolis, Aaron Austin and Chris Davies provided what little support he got.
Fletcher said they had been missing about nine players from their best line-up and that five players would probably come back next week.
But he said that was no excuse for their performance.
“I think the scoreboard flattered us a bit,” he said. “Even with those players in the side, I think we would have struggled to beat them.”
He said the most disappointing thing was the loss had put them back in the pack on the ladder.
“We needed to go hunting as we were going for top spot,” he said. “That was the disappointing thing – we win, we get top spot.
“We’re still in second spot but back with the bunch of Northern Saints and Moonee Valley. We have Northern Saints next week, so it’s a massive game.”
It was a bad day for the Jaguars, with their reserves losing their first match of the season.
