Burra comes through

By Brad Kingsbury
KEYSBOROUGH toughed out a confidence-boosting seven-point win over Cranbourne at the Rowley Allen Reserve on Saturday, defying their fast-finishing rivals in spite of having no interchange bench for the final term.
The effort confirmed the Burra’s claim on third ladder position, and gave coach Greg Siwes a boost on the eve of the finals series.
Cranbourne was behind the eight-ball from the start after losing three key running players in Troy Datson, Ray George and Justin Shields to injury.
The return of Callum Lester to the side was a plus but the Burra looked the more accomplished side from the first bounce and, led by the run of Clinton King and Shaun Daly, kicked away to a 14-point lead at the first change.
Luke McGuinness confirmed his recent return to top form and created a strong-marking target in attack that saw the home side extend their advantage to 21 points at the long break.
On the down side for the Burra, Brett Colbert left the field and was taken to hospital with a serious shoulder injury, while several other players including ruckman Shaun Witherden were struggling with general soreness.
Cranbourne seized on this and staged a fightback in the third term with Lester, Robert Beadel and Ryan Davey leading the charge. Siwes was forced to shift youngster Tyson King from centre-half forward into the ruck, leaving his attack without one of its keys. The Eagles reduced the margin to 17 points at three-quarter time and kept coming in the final term, moving to within a kick of the Burra late in the game.
McGuinness proved the difference and slotted through his eighth goal for the game with only a few minutes to go, giving his side some breathing space and the momentum to hold off Cranbourne’s gallant challenge. Siwes said he thought his was the better side on the day, but acknowledged the persistence of Cranbourne.
“We were in control all day, but they had a bit of a crack at the end,” he said. “Our backline was fantastic, but we had a few sore boys in the last quarter and that reduced our options a lot. The ball was in our forward line in the last five or six minutes, but we just couldn’t get the goals on the board.”
The rigours of a tough season looked to have taken their toll on Cranbourne star Marc Holt, who looked proppy for most of the day and was well held by William Gayfer.
With Holt kept to only one goal, it was left to Matthew Foster and Brad Langley to provide the alternative scoring options and they both stood up, finishing with nine of the Eagles’ 12 goals between them.
Other round 17 results went the way of Pakenham over Beaconsfield by 27 points, Doveton over ROC by 66 points and Hampton Park over Devon Meadows by 39 points.
This week round 18: ROC v Berwick, Pakenham v Devon Meadows, Hampton Park v Keysborough, Tooradin v Doveton, Cranbourne v Narre Warren, Beaconsfield bye.