A RESILIENT Wyndhamvale has overcome the absences of two key talls
to comfortably beat Sunshine Heights by 49 points in the Western Region
Football League division 2 elimination final at Chirnside Park on
Sunday.
First-choice ruckman Nathan Reschke and the club’s leading
goalkicker Paul O’Shea were out through injury, but the Falcons filled
the voids to amass 30 scoring shots to 11.
The Falcons have a do-or-die semi-final with surprising week-one
finals loser Parkside at Crofts Reserve on Sunday and their fans will
sweating on the fitness of their two important bigs.
“It’s possible,” said Falcons playing football manager Nathan
Evans of the potential for Reschke and/or O’Shea to return to the
line-up. “It will be either this week or maybe next week, depending on
if we win or lose, but that’ll be a call we make late on Friday night.
“We don’t know if they’re going to get up or not, but we’ll give them every chance.
“Obviously, we want them to play, but we can’t go into the game with injured guys – it doesn’t pay off for you in the finals.”
DIVISION 1: Finals form guide
PICTURE GALLERY: Manor Lakes v Parkside
What does pay dividends in finals is hardness around the footy.
The contested ball situation seems to ratchet up when the west’s best head to Werribee in August.
The Falcons’ ferocious attack on the contest was the key to their
advancement, and at the coal face was the tough-as-nails Devan Ellis.
“He’s got a head like a bowling ball, that kid,” Evans said with a chuckle. “He just works really hard for the team.”
With Thomas Westhead and Shane Fletcher taking ownership of ruck
duties, Quentin Suckling was used as the power forward in place of
O’Shea and booted three goals.
Recruited from Deer Park during the summer, veteran Suckling has been used in a variety of positions this season, but did his best work as the centrepiece of a four-strong attack featuring Evans, Westhead and Daniel Bunworth.
“You can swing him in any position – we got him to the club
for that reason – to be that extra presence and add another bit of
height for the opposition to worry about,” Evans said.
Alex Hamilton was best on ground for the Falcons, thanks to to his rebound out of the back half.
The Heights were admirable for a half, but lost their grip on the game after half-time.
Keelan Privitera was their focal point with four goals, while
Damien Farnfield, Nathan Calleja and Daniel Harraca had solid outings.
It went according to script, with the young Heights dead and buried for season 2013, while the Falcons live to fight another day.
