WTN STORM 5.4 (34)

NORTH Launceston came to play, bouncing out of the blocks with an eight-goal to one behind opening quarter and were never threatened as they handed cross-town rivals Western Storm a 71-point defeat in their State League clash at Aurora Stadium on Saturday.

North led by 48 points at the first change, extended it to 59 at half-time and 72 at three-quarter time before running out winners 17.3 (105) to 5.4 (34).

Zach Burt and Josh Holland were outstanding in the opening quarter with Burt kicking three goals and Holland winning plenty of the ball and kicking two for the term.

The Northern Bombers dominated the contest with their run and spread and rebound from defence in the first half as they produced their best brand of offensive footy.

They had plenty of contributors booting 12 goals to two to half-time in a well-drilled performance with multiple options to goal - something the Storm lacked all day as they fell down inside 50 and struggled to kick goals.

The Storm finally got some reward for effort when Brodie Palfreyman kicked their first goal of the game at the 22-minute mark of the second quarter and Corry Goodluck followed up shortly after with their second just before the half-time siren.

Despite the big gap on the scoreboard the Storm maintained their effort and matched North in the third quarter until two goals late in the quarter to Ryan Choveaux and Allan O’Sign allowed the Bombers to extend their lead further at three-quarter time.

The game degenerated in the final quarter into a scrappy and congested affair with only one behind kicked and numbers pushed back defensively.

Burt finished with five goals for North and Choveax, who played well on debut, finished with three and two each to Holland and O’Sign - all among the Bombers better players.

Jack Avent did well to curtail Zane Brown’s influence and Jay Foon did a good job running with Jay Blackberry.

‘‘I thought we played pretty well for the whole game - in the second half they put a lot of numbers around the footy and behind the footy and we found it tough to penetrate inside 50 and find some scoring options ,’’ North coach Zane Littlejohn said.

‘‘We were on top really early and started the game the way we wanted to start which was pleasing but to their credit they fought pretty hard and our boys just stuck to our guns but we got choked a bit by numbers around the footy.’’

Thane Bardenhagen kicked two goals to be the Storm’s only multiple goalkicker with Jobi Harper, Clinton Drake, Bardenhagen and Brodie Palfreyman battling hard all day.

‘‘They really came to play and outclassed us in the first half and it was put on our boys at half-time to respond and get some pride out of their performance,’’ Storm coach Mitch Hills said.

‘‘I was really happy with the second half and we were able to bottle up the game a little bit and get it back to an even keel and competitive game which we got but obviously we have a lot of work to do to catch those top teams at the moment.’’