Minyip-Murtoa came away from Anzac Park with what ended up a comfortable win against Warrack Eagles on Saturday
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The final score of 15.12 (102) to 12.7 (79) did little to show how tough the win was.
Burras’ coach Damian Cameron was pleased to get the four points.
“Warrack are aiming to be a side that goes a fair way in the finals, so to win one of them early on is great,” he said. “You are either a team that wins those tough games or loses them. So far, we have managed to win them.”
The Eagles showed it had come to play as it burst out of the blocks to kick the first two goals of the game. Minyip-Murtoa made a similarly sluggish start against Nhill in round one.
“I don’t think we have been doing too much wrong,” Cameron said. “It has mainly been the clearances that we haven’t got early on.”
Warrack Eagles coach Ryan McKenzie said it was the best his side had started in some time.
“We probably could have put even more scoring pressure on,” he said.
The side would have added a third from the goal square if it was not for a reverse free-kick paid against the returning McKenzie.
By the end of the first quarter things had tightened back and Minyip-Murtoa had stolen a six-point lead despite three goals from Josh Bibby.
A more open brand of footy was played in the second quarter. Both sides created turnovers but found it hard to capitalise. It was the final delivery into the forward line that let the Burras down.
“Our forward line worked better than the first game,” Cameron said. “It was our skills that needed to be cleaned up getting it in there.”
By half-time, Minyip-Murtoa had extended its lead to 10 points as the scoreboard read 6.8 (44) to 5.4 (34).
An early Burras goal set into motion the trend for the quarter. The side controlled the ball in its forward half and held onto a 23-point lead at the last break. Early goals for the Burras saw the margin extend to 46 points.
McKenzie said it was those lapses that needed work.
“We didn’t start the third quarter well but did enough to keep ourselves in striking distance,” he said. “Then in the last quarter we started poorly again.”
The Eagles fought the game out to kick three goals in the final four minutes of the game before Minyip-Murtoa added another after the siren. Cameron said his side showed glimpses of what it had been working on during pre-season.
“We just aren’t doing it for a long period of time,” he said. “You saw in the last quarter when we play the way we want to play, we are going to be hard to stop.”