Match result: North Ballarat 19.11.125 def Frankston 3.4.22
Venue: Eureka Stadium
Conditions: Strong breeze across ground, extremely cold
In action:
- Aaron Black (11 disposals, 8 marks, 4 goals)
- Trent Dumont (23 disposals, 6 inside 50’s, 7 tackles, 2 goals)
- Brad McKenzie (26 disposals, 5 clearances, 7 inside 50’s, 7 tackles)
- Robin Nahas (12 disposals, 4 goals)
- Braydon Preuss (10 disposals, 28 hit-outs)
- Joel Tippett (15 disposals, 6 marks)
- Max Warren (17 disposals)
NMFC.com.au's best:
Trent Dumont, Brad McKenzie
Story of the game:
With the two bottom of the table sides facing off, there was plenty of motivation to gain respect.
It turned out to be a dominant performance from the home team for much of the day though, as the Roosters grabbed an early lead and never looked back.
With 137 disposals and 27 more inside 50’s than Frankston, North Ballarat was never challenged in a convincing 103-point victory.
Points of interest:
1. Trent Dumont impressed through the middle, staking his claim for a senior recall with some impressive defensive work in particular.
“He was really strong with his tackles. He forced a number of secondary stoppages by just holding them up and getting a restart,” Development Manager Ben Dyer said.
“Since he’s come back to the VFL it’s been his best game from a tackle point-of-view.”
Dumont also found plenty of the ball going the other way.
“He was also really adept at hanging onto the ball, drawing a tackler and putting a player in space on the outside. Sometimes the game just looks a bit easier for guys like that … like they’ve got a fair bit of time.
“He would have liked a bit more on the outside and he finished with 2.2 so could have impacted the scoreboard a little bit better, but he was really solid.”
2. Brad McKenzie continued his recent good run of form with another strong performance.
“What he’s done in recent weeks is just upped his possession count a little bit more. He’s such a good user of the ball and the more often you have it in his hands the better it is for the team,” Dyer said.
“He’s been doing a lot of practice during the week with his bodywork and positioning at stoppages. He’s doing that better and it’s starting to translate into clearances.
“He’s just looking a bit more dynamic in there (midfield) as well.”
3. Aaron Black and Robin Nahas were both influential around the goals, kicking four majors each.
“He was a bit slow start to start … a bit fumbly early on in the game,” Dyer said of Black’s performance.
“Then he started working high up onto the wing and found a bit of footy that way.
“His second half was better than the first. The opposition wasn’t great but he found enough of the ball which is good coming back (from the AFL).”
Nahas kept the pressure on the selectors with another positive outing.
“He was pretty good Robbie. He made the most of the opportunities he had and just looked like he had a bit of a class edge whenever the ball went forward,” Dyer added.
“He kicked a good goal from the boundary where he stepped around them and slotted it.
“He just really challenged their defence and was strong at the fall of the ball. He was a good contributor.”
Most likely call-up: Trent Dumont, Robin Nahas
Next week: Sunday, August 2 v Northern Blues, Eureka Stadium at 1.30pm
