Square too good for Gisborne

Gisborne's Ryan Bourke breaks away.

Golden Square came to Gardiner Reserve on Saturday intent collecting four points, and proved too powerful despite the best efforts of the local Bulldogs.


The final margin was 40 points after the visitors rammed home 6.3 to a solitary goal in the last quarter.


An analysis of the match shows Gisborne only managed one scoring shot in the first and last quarters – and in between matched their opponents on the scoreboard.


Gisborne’s accuracy kept them within 19 points at three-quarter-time, and overall Golden Square had 26 scoring shots to the home side’s 1l.


Second on the Bendigo League ladder behind Sandhurst, Golden Square must be rated a strong premiership prospect having won 11 matches in a row.


Gisborne may be the reigning premiers, but with six wins and nine defeats, it is not what was anticipated at the start of the season.


Tempers became frayed at times at Gardiner Reserve with several on-field scuffles, with the end result a 14.12 (96) to 9.2 (56) victory.


Once again quality ruckman Braidon Blake turned in an excellent performance, with Matt Weber, Liam Spear, Jack Reaper, Zach Vescovi and Harry Luxmoore (three goals) also prominent at times.


For Golden Square, centreman Ricky Monti was a stand-out with plentiful possessions.

The Bulldogs head to the Queen Elizabeth Oval to play ladder-leader Sandhurst, a winner by 161 points against an outclassed Maryborough on Saturday.

Tom Wood boots away.
Matthew Merrett races his Golden Square opponent for the ball.

UNDER 18s ON TOP

On a brighter note, Gisborne Reserves and Under 18s both ended up winning low scoring contests.


The Under 18s replaced Golden Square on top of the ladder, winning 6.8 (44) to 4.13 (37).


This puts Gisborne on top of the Under 18s ladder, enhancing premiership prospects.


In the Reserves, Gisborne remain in fourth place after a 5.6 (36) to 4.4 (28) victory, and are likely to be even stronger come finals time.