Sport / Football
NOBs debut Indigenous jumper with big win over Cobras
Brunswick NOBs 16.14 (110) defeated Old Yarra Cobras 4.7 (31) at Gillon Oval
Tim Purdey
On an eventful day at Gillon Oval, Brunswick ended an arduous 12 straight weeks of footy by comfortably accounting for bottom-of-the-ladder Old Yarra Cobras to the tune of 79 points to keep their faint finals hopes alive.
With the NOBs set to run out in their newly designed Indigenous jumpers for the first time – having earlier participated in a smoking ceremony alongside the Brunswick Renegades – there was late drama as a complaint was made by the visiting captain about puddles in the centre of the oval, which required the umpires to determine whether the ground was fit for play. After a short delay, thankfully, the decision was made to proceed with the game.
When the match got underway, it was like an action replay from the week before, as Jackson Davis kicked a banana goal on-the-run in the opening minute. Liam Allman opened his account soon after, then followed it up with a banana of his own for a second.
Playing clean football in still conditions, Davis hit Tyla Adamson on the chest directly in front of the sticks to make it 25-0, before the Cobras sprung to life, with two majors in a minute.
Brunswick then spent the last ten minutes of the quarter peppering the goals, but couldn’t hit the target, until Zephyr Hooke slotted one after the siren to make it a 23-point lead at the first change.
The second term was a scrappy affair, as the NOBs dominated play but tended to overuse handball as the Cobras applied more pressure.
In the fifteenth minute, Dom Oswald broke the shackles with a classy set shot from the croquet club pocket, before Allman snared his third a minute later with a soccer goal in the square. The Cobras responded, but a typical Darcy Heenan long bomb late on re-established a six-goal margin at half time.
Any thoughts of an unlikely upset were quickly extinguished in the opening minutes of the third quarter, as a Davis snap and Heenan set shot broke the game apart. Davis followed up soon after with his third goal over the back of the pack, then Allman kicked his fourth courtesy of a free and 50 metre penalty, and at three-quarter time the lead was out to 59 points.
For the third time on the day, Davis kicked the opener inside a couple of minutes, this time from a set shot, before the visitors kicked their only major of the second half.
The quality of play was beginning to deteriorate as players from both teams tired, before Oswald got on the end of some good team play to kick his second, then there was a late highlight as fan favourite Lewis McKenzie – playing in his 100th club game – made a rare foray forward and calmly slotted a major. Hooke then put an exclamation mark on the game by snagging his second right on the final siren.
The busy and skilful Angus Ross was again best for Brunswick, while his skipper Ben Wilson was also dominant in the midfield. Liam Allman and Jackson Davis’ four goals apiece were full of class, while Marcus Foti was prolific on the half-back flank and Will Kempt was also very good in defence.
A well-earned break beckons for the NOBs, before they travel across town to Ferndale Park looking to make amends for their heartbreaking loss to St Mary’s Salesian earlier in the season.
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