Sandy Maskell-Knight.
Cootamundra continued their return to form on Saturday as they comfortably accounted for the Murrumbateman Eagles. With the Eagles still maintaining a sliver of hope of squeezing into a finals spot, the Blues showed no mercy, controlling the action from start to finish to cruise home 17.14.116 to 4.6.30 winners. Despite being away from home, Cootamundra went straight to work, establishing a 17 point lead at the first break. Showing no remorse for an Eagles outfit struggling with a massive injury toll, the Blues continually drove the ball forward to create scoring opportunities. With the midfield unit asserting themselves early, the Blues forwards all had a turn with Sandy Maskell-Knight, Brad Slater, Luke Gaynor and Phil Bird all kicking truly in the opening stanza. The quartet would all enjoy a share of the spoils during the game with each player splitting the big sticks on more than one occasion, with Slater ultimately claiming bragging rights, bagging a game high four goals for the Blues.
After missing last weekend’s game, Bird showed no signs of rust, providing a constant marking threat up forward while using his elite work rate to set his side up for countless scoring opportunities throughout the afternoon. While the Blues had winners all across the park, Ollie Speldewinde was the star of the show, making the most of the wide deck and crafting together a best on ground performance. Despite only returning to the Blues lineup a few weeks ago, the talented wingman has quickly worked his way into form and cemented himself as an important piece as the Blues look towards their upcoming finals series.
Jacob Tiernan was once again hugely influential in the middle of the ground. Tiernan has been on an impressive run of form in recent weeks and Saturdays performance was yet another dominant showing in what’s been an outstanding season so far. The Blues would continue to pile on the pressure, running away with the contest and extending their lead to 47 at the main break. With their opponents tiring, the Blues would remain ruthless, going up a gear and goaling four times in the opening 12 minutes of the second half to well and truly put the game to bed.
Even with limited football coming his way, key defender Blake Basham found ways to ensure he’d still contribute to a winning result, standing tall in defence each time the Blues back six were tested. Starting on the back flank but rotating through a number of key roles as he has all season, James Ross won a mountain of football in what was a superb performance from the Blues Mr Fix It. After struggling with injury this season, Luke Webb had his best game since returning to the club, repeatedly winning the football in dangerous scoring positions while providing valuable leadership to his younger teammates.
Goals: Slater 4, Maskell-Knight 3, Webb 2, Gaynor 2, Holt 2, Bird 2, Merritt 1, Pearson 1. PK’s best: Speldewinde, Tiernan, Bird, Basham, Pearson, Ross. The win sees the Blues cement a spot in the top two and a first final matchup with the Yass Roos. However, Cootamundra still have a huge task ahead of them as they head into this weekend’s penultimate regular season game against the Goulburn Swans. The Swans have firmly placed themselves amongst the premiership contenders this season and sit just behind the Blues on the ladder.
During the previous meeting between the sides, Cootamundra turned in one of their best performances of the season to run out 66 point winners. Despite the convincing win, the Swans will be a different side on their home deck with Goulburn being anything but a happy hunting ground for the Blues over the past decade. The Blues selectors will be hoping to name a very similar side this week with only Aaiden Benn confirmed as unavailable for the game. Cootamundra will be hoping regain their gun rookie defender Ethan Birks who missed the Eagles game, as well as running machine Angus Malmo who was a late scratch from Saturday’s win.
First bounce at Goodhew Park is scheduled for 2pm.
