BARWON HEADS WIN INAUGURAL BATTLE OF THE BREAKS

Barwon Heads remain undefeated after coming from 13 points behind at three quarter time to overrun Torquay in the final quarter. In front of a vocal home crowd, the Seagulls made 4 changes from their Round 1 victory against Modewarre – both big Tyson and Dizzy were unavailable, Tim McIntyre missed with injury and BJ was dropped to the reserves. Into the side came debutants Tim Chapman and Harrison Mitchell, Max Melzer back after not playing in 2018 and Connor McKinnon.

In perfect conditions the game was a highly contested affair from the start, with debutant Harrison Mitchell snapping the opening goal for Heads. Up back Zac Walter, Kizza and Sammy Evans were under serious heat as Torquay pressed forward. They had opportunities but were wasteful until veteran Torquay forward Paul McMahon kicked 2 goals. Max Melzer, Dogger and Connor were prominent early and Herbi and Ned were busy in the midfield. The second quarter saw Barwon Heads winning plenty of the ball through Braedo, Benny Stephens and Otto but the connecting kick to our forwards often missed its mark. J Mac kicked a great long goal and this was followed by goals to the dangerous Marto and Ryan Harvey. At half time the Seagulls held a slender one point lead.

The third quarter commenced with a much more vigorous Barwon Heads team and we controlled the opening 15 minutes – the relentless attack on the ball resulted with 2 opportunistic goals to Mitch Phelps to open a handy break. The Rock was busy and Sam Evans was controlling the backline. But Torquay was not to be denied and a couple of turnovers resulted in Torquay kicking two quick goals to Callum Currie. Defender Tim Chapman was under the pump up back and when Henderson snapped truly, the Tigers were in front. Currie was now a major threat as he kicked another 2 goals to bring his tally to 4 for the quarter to open up a 13 point lead.

Barwon Heads were coming home with a strengthening breeze and had multiple forward entries but kicked inaccurately until defender, Zac Walter kicked a great goal. Vice captain Strawbs kicked a super running goal and up back Brad Harvey, Wayne Barrett and Michael Philp were defending brilliantly, and soon the floodgates opened with Ben Stephens kicking a snag before Herbi iced the game with a further 2 goals. In the end it was a very satisfying 26 point victory over the Tigers.

Barwon Heads 12.17 (89) defeated Torquay 9.9 (63)

Goalkickers: Phelps 2, Martin 2, Herbison 2, Horbury 1, McLauchlan 1, Walter 1, R.Harvey 1, Stephens 1, Mitchell 1

Best Players : Martin, Philp, R.Harvey, Herbison, Walter, McLauchlan

Reserves Report

Reigning premiers at reserves level Torquay defeated Barwon Heads by 33 points. They were a bit cleaner and efficient in front of goal but certainly a win is not far away for our reserves. On a sour note, very disappointing for Brad Slorach who broke his collarbone – we all wish him well.

Torquay 11.7 (73) defeated Barwon Heads 5.10 (40)

Goalkickers: Gaunt 1, Slorach 1, Wills 1, Stainsby 1, Salmon 1

Best Players : Close, Beckwith, Walker, Pelham, Wills

Next week Barwon Heads hosts Geelong Amateurs on Easter Saturday 20th April at home – will be a huge day, so be sure you come along and support the netballers & footballers.

Special mention to all of our great volunteers today at our first home game – your efforts don’t go unnoticed – canteen and bar staff, coffee machine, BBQ, gate staff, water boys, team managers etc. Great work by the Captains Club, our sponsors, supporters, junior players and their parents and all the campers #goheads

Cheers,

Brendan Curry 🐦

Football Director