Football: Sharks on the turn

Albany Sharks marked a turning point in their 2011 season after recording their maiden colts-grade victory with a 53-point drubbing of Denmark-Walpole at Tigerland on Sunday.

Picture by Laurie Benson

The massive win came just three weeks after the Magpies defeated the Sharks by almost 11 goals at McLean Park.

Sharks were able to field one of their strongest on-field line-ups for some time, with the core group of senior players in Hamish Fuller, Stratton Jones, McKenna Gerovich and George Liddiard leading by example throughout the match.

Holding a marginal three-point lead at the long break, Sharks cranked up a gear in the second half, with skipper Jones dominating play while colts debutant Josh Alison proved a handy addition on the wing booting two majors for the game.

Sharks coach Jeremy Sutherland said his side’s performance reflected hard work on the training track and an effort to attract more numbers to the club.

“The main thing was if they want to go towards playing finals they have to be more consistent,” he said.

In contrast, Denmark-Walpole could only manage to muster 15 players for the match, a turnout which disappointed coach Nathan Thompson.

“The lack of numbers put them in a negative frame of mind,” he said. “The boys that did turn up got a little ahead of themselves and were a bit too confident going into the game.

“I think we’re pretty evenly matched to the Sharks so to win against them we’ve got to have the numbers and be on top of our game, but obviously on Sunday we weren’t.”

Full forward Ethan Connor was the only multiple goal scorer for the Magpies, while ruckman Dylan Murphy and speedsters Jason Sykes and Jordan Rolt were all strong contributors.

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