Noble Park goalsneak Luke McConnell looks for options before driving his side forward.By Paul Pickering
AFTER embarrassing a top-flight East Ringwood side at The Bullring the previous week, Noble Park showed no sign of halting its charge on its way to an 82-point mauling of Blackburn on Saturday.
Coming off a low-scoring draw with Croydon in the previous round, the Burners were all but dismissed in the opening term as Noble Park streaked to a six-goal quarter-time lead.
Despite a third-quarter lapse the result was never in doubt during an ominous display from the Bulls.
There can be no questioning Noble Park’s potency after the players kicked 28 goals from 42 scoring shots – with nine multiple goalkickers.
Most notably, Luke McConnell (four goals) and Daniel Kennedy (three) capitalised on the abundant supply to record their best games of the season.
Bulls coach Shane Burgmann said Kennedy’s best-on-ground performance was vindication of a decision to swing the former defender forward three weeks ago.
Daniel Rigg was impressive in defence, while Rob Ferraro and Stewart Kemperman were again at their best.
“The most pleasing part was that the guys who have been doing the job week-in week-out continued on, and some of the other guys who’ve been on the brink of having a couple of really good performances have also stepped up,” he said.
“We’re starting to get it together I think.”
Only Michael Rainey looked like posing any threat to the stubborn Noble Park defence, while Ryan Carafa and Hamish Leahy provided some resistance to the Bulls’ onslaught.
While his side is gathering valuable momentum in the run towards September, Burgmann was not willing to look that far ahead.
“Realistically, we still need to win three out of our next five to ensure that we make the finals,” he said.
“We’ve got some big games coming up against Lilydale, Balwyn and Vermont, so the pressure’s still on.”
This week the Bulls travel to East Burwood Reserve to sharpen their horns on the Rams.
