THE Coota Blues have finished on top of the Canberra Division 3 ladder for season 2014 thanks to a hard-fought 42 point win over the Yass Kangaroos at Yass last Saturday.
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The win relegated the Kangaroos to second place on the ladder setting up a first semi final encounter with the Goulburn Swans next weekend and the winner of that game to take on the Blues the following week.
In front of a large and vocal crowd, including a large proportion of Blues supporters, at Joe O’Conner Park in Yass Coota kicked five first-term goals to the Roos’ three but in the process lost star forward Andrew Lieschke to a knee injury in the 13th minute of the match.
Lieschke had been on fire kicking two of the Blues’ first two majors and his loss had a marked impact on the remainder of the match.
Things tightened up in the second term and despite the Blues kicking three goals to one, Yass looked to be taking control of the midfield battle and cutting off the Blues’ supply up forward to the dangerous Chris Drum and Sandy Maskell-Knight.
Luke Webb, Dylan McDermott and Phil Bird were staging a titanic struggle with the Yass midfield in what was developing into a real armwrestle that promised to decide the fate of the two teams.
Things began to fall apart for the Blues in the all important third quarter as Yass began to get on top all over the ground.
The Blues struggled to win any contested ball and played panic football as Yass bulked up their numbers in defence and attacked relentlessly kicking four goals for the term with only a late goal to Chris Drum shoring things up for the Blues.
Despite the constant barrage, the Blues backline led by a defiant Liam Frilay in the back pocket and fullback Joel Pearson’s long clearing kicks kept their side in the match with the Blues hanging on grimly to a five point lead at three quarter time.
The final break gave Webb the much needed opportunity to rally his troops with instructions to calm things down, use handball to clear congestion and start playing team football.
The Blues responded in fine fashion quickly grabbing the initiative, banging on six unanswered goals and slamming the door shut for the Roos.
Chris Drum was the matchwinner up forward with four final term goals but it was the work of Bird, Webb, Steve Chant and big Luke Salter around the centre clearances that eventually swayed the match in the Blues favour.
Despite being one of the smallest players on the field, Dylan McDermott showed amazing toughness dominating the final term despite being smashed to the ground after every disposal with his pace, class and maturity for one so young impressing all present and capping off a brilliant individual match.
Despite the obvious heroics of McDermott, Webb, Bird and Chris Drum the Blues had some fine four quarter contributors, none better than unsung duo Luke Johnston and Liam Frilay.
Frilay shut his immediate opponent totally out of the match and set up plenty of attacking raids and Johnston won consistent contested ball giving the Blues great drive with long, penetrating left foot kicks from his wing position.
The Blues didn’t have a passenger in a fine team performance with Ryan Miller a standout along with the dangerous Sandy Maskell-Knight up forward and Mick Knagge and Jarryd Cook strong contributors across the half back line.
The Blues will enjoy the first week off in the finals and will prepare for the second semi-final in two weeks time.
Goals: C Drum 7, S Maskell-Knight 2, A Leischke 2, M Knagge, L Webb, P Bird and D McDermott 1 each.
Best: D McDermott, L Webb, P Bird, C Drum, L Johnston, L Frilay, J Pearson and R Miller.
