The Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault Lions have claimed a comfortable five goal win over the Harvey Bulls in round 11 of the South West Football League.
Fans donned their beanies and scarves and braved the cold weather on Saturday night to watch the derby that was slow to get started.
Harvey won the ruck with Adam Boone working hard for the Bulls in the opening minutes, but the Lions were the first to score with three straight behinds.
It was a game of back-and-forth action between the Lions and the Bulls for much of the first quarter before Dylan Heasman put the first goal on the scoreboard for HBL.
Harvey’s Brendon Jones was integral in the backline to stop the Lions doing any more damage in the opening term with the score standing at 1.3.9 to 0.0.0 at quarter time.
Having kept the Bulls scoreless, Harvey coach Paul Fimmano addressed the troubles he noticed his side was having in the first quarter.
“You can’t give away stupid free kicks,” Fimmano said.
“But the talk has been quite good and that was a good start.
“You know why? Because they peppered us and peppered us and we held our ground and they couldn’t do much damage.”
The Bulls picked up the pace under the advice of their coach with a rushed behind and more inside 50 entries to open the second term.
It was more than halfway through the quarter before HBL scored a major thanks to Ty Anderson. Harvey were quick to return the goal with an impressive snap over the shoulder from Mark Cherubino.
The Bulls’ tackles were fierce and their midfield worked hard through the wet and cold conditions but it wasn’t enough to stop a run on from the Lions with three goals in a row from Tyson Wood, Zachariah Piper and Ty Armitage.
A final point from Harvey saw the scoreboard stand at 5.3.33 – 1.2.8, extending their lead into halftime.
Temperatures reached as low as seven degrees as the sun set over Brunswick Oval, with the Bulls coming out fighting again in the third with a goal from Rodney Shemeld within seconds of the siren sounding.
Players struggled to stay on their feet on the slippery oval with sling tackles straight into the muddy ground the special of the night.
It was a quick return goal from Anderson before the Bulls took the game into their own hands for a few minutes with impressive midfield marks and a goal from Shemeld.
But despite working hard to keep themselves in the game, HBL were off on the front foot and had sealed Harvey’s fate from the beginning.
Armitage and Heasman sealed goals before the siren, the score 8.5.53 – 3.4.22 to the Lions at three quarter time.
The fourth quarter was quieter than the others with only one goal each from Harvey’s Shemeld and HBL’s Heasman.
The siren blew on a frosty and fiesty derby, the final score 9.7.61 – 4.7.31.
WATCH: Hear what HBL coach Derek Hall had to say about the win on Saturday night.
HBL remain atop the SWFL ladder with the five goal win and hold on to bragging rights a little longer with the derby victory over the Bulls.
The Lions now look to next week’s clash against Carey Park while the Bulls will host Busselton on Sunday.
