News

From Herald Sun
Reported by Geoff Poulter

DESPITE Lance Whitnall's encouraging return, the Northern Bullants were unable to halt rampaging Sandringham at Trevor Barker Oval yesterday.

The Zebras steamed away to win by 62 points to move two games clear on top of the ladder with three rounds remaining.

Carlton captain Whitnall, back after several weeks recovering from a knee injury, was busy and lively.

He looked fit and sharp in collecting 17 possessions and kicked 1.1 in a brief stint in attack.

He was rested before the last quarter.

Bullants coach Barry Mitchell was pleased with Whitnall's performance but unsure whether he would require another hitout in the VFL before returning to the AFL.

"I don't know. That's not my decision," Mitchell said.

"We played him around a little bit at the start and I thought forward he was OK for about 15 minutes in the third quarter.

"That was the only amount of time we were allowed to play him.

"He was only going to play two and a bit quarters.

"He was OK back early. We threw him around a little bit, played him a bit on the ball just to try to keep him in the game."

Veteran spearhead Nick Saunter booted seven of Sandringham's 19 goals to reach 52 for the season and shoot 15 clear of his closest rivals.

Zebras coach Mark Williams will be aiming for a fourth straight flag with a much younger and inexperienced unit after the heavy injury run of AFL affiliate Melbourne.

"We are still very young and some of them are playing very well, and we will need them," Williams said.

"We only have 12 or 13 Melbourne blokes we can play with all the injuries so we are going to need some of the young fellows.

"They know how to play and what to expect."

Newer players such as Rennie Gilchrist, Tom Paterakis, Guy Martyn, Sam Monaghan, Stefan Martin, Tomi Johnson and Jace Bode have all fitted neatly into the Sandy machine and don't look likely to be overwhelmed against more experienced opponents.

"I was very pleased with the performance. A 10-goal win again," Williams said.

"They had numbers back and they tried to use the ball, chip and run a bit. They tied us down a bit for a while."

Frankston yesterday won a cliffhanger at home against Werribee by two points to keep its finals hopes alive.

The Dolphins and Werribee are ninth and 10th, half a game behind eighth-placed Port Melbourne and one game behind the seventh-placed Bullants.

Justin Berry booted six goals for the Dolphins and James Podsiadly three for Werribee in a tight struggle in which only a few points separating the sides throughout.

In Saturday's matches, home team Geelong beat the Coburg Tigers, while North Ballarat, at home against Box Hill, and Casey Scorpions, away to Port, had decisive wins.