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Report from Demonland -
THE BIG MEN FALL
by Barry from Beach Road
Sandringham put on an impressive display to defy those experts who were predicting doom and gloom for the club in 2004 by overrunning the Coburg Tigers by 44 points in the opening match of the season at the Trevor Barker Oval on Sunday.
Before the game, the buzz around the VFL traps was that the Zebras were in for an ordinary season. The experts were saying that the Sandy list has been depleted of experienced players after the departure of premiership coach Graeme Yeats. Only one of four experts tipped Sandringham to make the final eight in Inside Football's pre season wrap and there was plenty of smart money on the Coburg Tigers to win the season opener. With Mark Jamar missing though a hamstring strain, his 2003 stand-in Chris Bryan off to Frankston and Bryan's replacement, SA ruckman Aaron Bishop also out, the Tigers firmed as favourites to win the match.
But someone didn't tell that to new Zebra coach Mark Williams. He was not fussed when confronted with Coburg's bevy of dinosaur-like ruckmen led by former Bomber Ryan O'Connor and ex-Crow Ben Marsh. He simply gave the gig to Old Xaverians recruit Andy Biddlecombe and his 187 cm. defender turned "ruckman" proceeded to win the bulk of the centre contests and the boundary throw ins and generally ran the visiting big men off their feet.
Of course, Williams had the material to get the job done. With only four Melbourne listed players unavailable for selection (including suspended Daniel Ward), the Zebras went in with a record 15 Demons in the senior team. They were joined by newcomers Biddlecombe, Andy Mills (Richmond), Sean O'Keeffe (Carlton) and returning full forward Nick Sautner. This left skipper for the day Mitch Grant, ruck rover David Gallagher and Josh Radford as the only Sandringham players from last year in the side.
Coburg won the toss and kicked towards the city end that was favoured by a stiff breeze but the Tigers failed to use it in a low scoring opening term and held a slim six-point lead at the first break. Sandringham, with Steven Armstrong and Guy Rigoni winning plenty of the ball out of the midfield and Demon rookie Paul Newman on fire up forward, then made the most of its opportunities and kicked seven goals in the second quarter to open up a 22 point lead at half time.
The Zebras held firm in the third quarter kicking the opening goal of the term and then bottled up the visitors containing them to just two goals, heading off any hope of a revival. Chris Lamb went into the ruck at this stage taking a firm grip on the Tiger big man brigade and, at one stage both O'Connor and Marsh looked very thankful to be consigned to the bench. The final quarter was an easy run home for the Zebras who won convincingly 14.14.98 to 7.12.54.
Five time leading goal-kicker Sauter managed just two goals for the game off a limited pre season preparation and will be better off for the run. Sandringham had many winners around the ground and in particular, Sean O'Keefe and Biddlecombe proved that they would be valuable acquisitions for the club in 2004. Armstrong and Rigoni were hard at it all day and amassed plenty of the ball in a strong midfield while Newman and Sautner showed that opposition defences will have plenty of headaches when confronting the Zebras this year.
Next week, Sandringham is away to the Tassie Devils on the Apple Isle in what will be a danger game as the Tasmanians are always hard to beat at home.
