BRIDGENORTH’S season is over and Scottsdale lives to fight another week.
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The Magpies applied unrelenting pressure to bring down last year’s runners-up in their elimination final clash at Longford on Sunday.
Scottsdale booted six first-quarter goals with a strong favourable breeze and never looked back – winning 13.6 (84) to 4.14 (38).
Jesse Holbein started the onslaught with two early goals before James McIndoe booted Bridgenorth’s only goal for the term.
The red-hot Pies added a further three goals to lead by 32 points after just 30 minutes.
The Parrots managed to stem the flow, but inaccurate kicking proved costly – kicking 2.5 to 1.0 in the second stanza.
They were unable to take full advantage of the wind’s assistance as Scottsdale’s defence held firm.
It took about 15 minutes before the first goal of quarter was converted off Brady Gee’s boot, sparking a mini fightback from Bridgenorth.
Jack Seabourne added his name to the scoresheet, quickly followed by Nick McElwee to reduce the Parrots’ deficit to 21 points at the main change.
In a somewhat scrappy and contested 30 minutes, Scottsdale again used the wind to their benefit and managed to keep the Parrots to just five behinds during the third quarter.
The Magpies piled on a further 4.2 to lead 11.4 (70) to 3.10 (28) with a term to play.
Gee booted his third from long range and Joe Robinson (two) snapped one from the boundary line as Tom McWatters and Joseph Krushka (two) also joined in.
The party continued long into the last hurrah with cleaner disposal and decision as McWatters finished with three majors.
Magpies coach Geoff Mohr said his charges’ pressure, defence and midfield dominance was exemplary.
“I have said it throughout the year, it’s our pressure that sets us apart from everyone else,” he said.
“We haven’t got a team of superstars.”
“It’s just 22 blokes that are willing to put pressure on the opposition and that came out today.
“It is always good to start with the wind to create a bit of scoreboard pressure early on. You can’t just blaze away with the wind, you still have to lower your eyes and I thought we did that pretty well.”
Bryton Mullins, Sam Cairns and Ryan Glover were excellent down back for Scottsdale, keeping Parrots’ key forwards Zach Kilby and Rohan Sergeant to one goal between them.
Bridgenorth coach Patrick Mackrell, who toiled hard all day, told his players post match in the rooms that their inability to convert opportunities cost them dearly.
“It is a problem that we haven’t been able to fix all year and it hurt us,” he said.
“We only had one less scoring shot for the whole match.”
The Magpies now face South Launceston in the first semi-final on Sunday at Invermay Park.
Corey Martin
Having started at The Examiner as a cadet in 2009, I have held various positions telling the stories of Northern Tasmanians in sport and news. I was appointed deputy editor in 2019 and became editor in September 2021.
Having started at The Examiner as a cadet in 2009, I have held various positions telling the stories of Northern Tasmanians in sport and news. I was appointed deputy editor in 2019 and became editor in September 2021.
