Eagles thump inexperienced Carey Park

A dominant Collie Eagles thumped a lacklustre Carey Park by 92 points at the Collie Recreation Ground on Sunday.

It took less than 30 seconds for the Eagles to kick their first goal and right up until the final term they found the contest easy on their way to a 16.12 (108) to 2.4 (16) victory.

The young Panthers did not have the speed or experience to stop the Eagles, who were running all over their opposition.

It was an ambush from the first bounce, with the Eagles booting three goals in the first few minutes of the match.

Eagles forward Joel Houghton kicked the first quickly, but he had little impact for the rest of the match as Jamahl Mulholland played a brave role on the former Fremantle Docker.

But this did not stop the Eagles from scoring, with Jayce Fontana kicking three of his six goals in the opening term.

The Panthers settled not long after this, but struggled to get the ball inside their forward half and were often just desperately trying to hold off the Eagles’ attacks.

Jake Omara and Jake Thurston were doing their best in the midfield to stop Corey Griggs, Travis Cleggett, Teke Vernon and the Shanahan brothers Blake and Kyle, but the sheer weight of numbers out did them on too many occasions.

It was not until deep into the second term that the Panthers kicked a goal, with a light downpour of rain helping to restrict the Eagles’ fluent ball movement.

But after half-time the Eagles came out strongly, with the Panthers taking too long to switch on after the break.

The conditions cleared and the Eagles began to utilise their running game again and put enormous pressure on the Panthers’ defence.

Blair Malatesta kicked two of his five goals in the quarter and he alongside Jed Swallow, Cleggett and Vernon, began to have a significant impact on the match.

A last term scrap was brought on when the rain once again hit and the Panthers managed to keep the Eagles to just the one goal, while Aiden DeCampo converted a long-range set shot to make sure the Panthers did not finish the game with just the solitary goal.

The Panthers were saved from any more punishment by the Eagles’ inaccuracy.

Scoreboard

Collie Eagles 6.3, 9.3, 15.6, 16.12 (108) def Carey Park 0.0, 1.2, 1.2, 2.4 (16)

GOALS: Collie Eagles - J. Fontana 6, B. Malatesta 5, M. Michael, T. Cleggett, B. Kent, T. Vernon, J. Houghton. Carey Park - J. Thurston, A. DeCampo.

BEST: Collie Eagles - Co. Griggs, B. Shanahan, J. Fontana, T. Cleggett, B. Malatesta, A. Bignell. Carey Park - J. Mulholland, J. Omara, J. Thurston, J. Wilson, F. Hart, A. DeCampo.