Bulls find annihilating form

By Paul Pickering
NOBLE Park returned to its intimidating best in a 93-point win over Croydon at the Bullring on Saturday.
The Bulls played irresistible football in the first half, exploding to 12-goal halftime lead before easing off to win in a canter.
The odds were stacked heavily against a Croydon side that was without spearhead Luke Barker (ankle), and the Bulls did exactly what they were expected to do.
(Given Noble’s recent track record against Division One strugglers, that was an achievement in itself.)
After suffering shock defeats at the hands of East Burwood and Norwood this month, Noble was determined not to give the eighth-placed Blues any early encouragement.
They honoured that pact by piling on 8.5 to Croydon’s two behinds in a frightening first-quarter display.
Coach Kris Barlow could not have asked for a better start.
“We had a focus to do everything with a bit of purpose today, especially early on, and I thought we really achieved that in the first quarter,” he said.
“We let them know what we were about from the start.”
The experienced on-ball trio of Craig Anderson, Robbie Ferraro and Peter O’Brien (three goals) set the tone in close, but it was Noble’s defence that ensured it would be one-way traffic from the outset.
Stand-in full-back Tim Davison, centre-half-back Adrian Little and sweeping defender Daniel Rigg combined with devastating effect in the first half, while tenacious stopper Nick Williams provided a regular springboard into attack.
Croydon’s backline was under siege early on.
The Bulls had an embarrassment of riches up forward, with Matt Skehan (four) and Barlow (two) playing deep, Dave Velardo (three) and Dean Kelly (two) lurking dangerously and Heath Black providing the hit-up option at centre-half-forward.
The onslaught continued after halftime and the Bulls had extended their lead to well over 100 points midway through the third term.
Stewart Kemperman was running rampant alongside Anderson and O’Brien in the midfield, so it was only a baffling series of easy misses from the home side spared the Blues some embarrassment approaching the last break.
With the game in their keeping, the Bulls could be forgiven for some shabby play that saw them concede five goals in the final quarter.
“You expect that when you’re coming off a game against Vermont where it was really hard and tough and in close,” Barlow reflected after the match.
“So you have to give the boys a bit of leeway. I probably would’ve liked to have finished in better fashion, but overall I’m pretty happy.”
The challenge now is for the Bulls to continue beating sides below them on the ladder, namely Scoresby, East Ringwood, Donvale and Knox over the next month.
After Balwyn’s commanding 55-point win over Vermont on Saturday, the Tigers are now two games clear of the Eagles and Bulls.
East Ringwood and Scoresby are a game further back.
The Bulls will travel to Scoresby Recreation Reserve to face the Pies on Saturday.