By JARROD POTTER
NORWOOD was blown to all corners by a faster, harder and hungrier Noble Park outfit by 59 points – not the welcome back to Moodemere St dual-premiership coach Denis Knight would’ve expected from his Norsemen charges.
Former team mates at Springvale, Knight and Noble Park coach Mick Fogarty locked horns in a crucial battle for bragging rights at the peak of the ladder with the Bulls emerging strongest across all lines.
Norwood was knocked about six goals to one in the opening term as Brett Dore (five goals) fired up.
The Noble Park forward clunked anything within arm’s reach as the Norsemen struggled to contain him.
Part of the tripartite tall forward line at the Bullring – Dore, Shayne Allen (two goals) and Matt Dunne (two) ran riot over Norwood – taking too many lead-out marks for the competition to handle.
Vergim Faik starred as the ruck anchor – giving first touch to midfielders Sammy Monaghan, Tim Harper and Andrew McConnell virtually at will.
A five-goal third-quarter set up the win for the Bulls, cantering home with the 15.20 (110) to 7.9 (51) victory.
Fogarty said his team’s effort in the first half was the best its played since the premiership days and chalked it up to intense pressure throughout the field.
“The first half was as good a footy as we’ve played in a year,” Fogarty said. “Our ball movement, ball efficiency and our ability to stop their run and carry and our pressure around the footy was outstanding.”
Finally snaring his recruit this season after four years asking, Fogarty has been thrilled so far with Dore’s achievements.
“He has been a real asset for us this year,” Fogarty said. “Been trying to get him here for four years with my relationship with Frankston … he has a real presence about him and we’re rapt about the way he’s going so far.”
Also making the most of opportunity was Vergim Faik – who flourished with number one ruck after new recruit Dean Cleven sustained an eight-to-10-week ankle injury.
“We were pretty impressed with our ruckman – who came across from Berwick – Vergim Faik joined us to have a crack at Division One football and he was outstanding for us considering big Dean Cleven went down with an ankle injury and is out for a while.”
Noble Park improves its record to 5-2, snatching second place from Norwood and hopes to improve its standing against ninth-placed South Croydon this weekend.
