Fitness first Lions swamp Sharks

Royals have moved into top spot in the Great Southern Football League after a 117-point victory against Albany on Sunday afternoon.

The Lions used their superior fitness to overpower the Sharks in the second half to come away with a 22.14 (146) to 4.5 (29) win.

The early stages of the game were evenly poised with the Sharks winning their fair share of the football; however they failed to convert their opportunities and were exposed on the counter attack courtesy of some slick ball movement by the Lions.

The second quarter was much the same with Albany accumulating plenty of possession but couldn’t manufacture dangerous entries into their forward line, up the other end Jayson Ford was having his way and had four goals and a hand in two others by half-time.

After the main break the Lions’ fitness became evident as they overpowered the Sharks across the ground to put the margin well out of reach. The Sharks did manage to create some scoring opportunities in the second half but appeared to lack a genuine key forward which was creating structural issues when entering their forward line.

Royals midfielders Ryan Kinnear and Declan McNamara amassed plenty of the football while Michael McGlade and Henry Hodge were good before both coming off with injuries in the second half. The Sharks were well served by ruckman Rick Wallis, Jack Banks and Callum Dowell.

Royals coach James McRae was satisfied with his team’s ability to wear down the Sharks.

“I thought we fought the game out well and kept running and eventually broke them,” he said

“We’ll back our fitness in against anyone and we’ll go for four quarters, that’s a good trait that we’ve got,”

McRae was impressed by the Sharks’ work around the stoppages.

“They won the stoppages quite convincingly, they had some big bodies and they won the ruck knocks,”

Sharks coach James Eaton said his team didn’t take their opportunities early when the game was up for grabs.

“We didn’t score enough goals when we had it in our forward line early on,” he said

“I think Royals had a bit more run and that really broke that game apart in the last half,”