Collie Eagles league coach Seth White believes his team is ‘not far off’ ending its seven-game losing streak that has seen it drop to the bottom of the South West Football League ladder.
The Eagles showed much-improved ball movement from previous weeks but they were unable to stop Bunbury from claiming a seven-point come-from-behind-win in a thriller on Sunday afternoon.
“We were in a good position at three quarter time but they got a run on [in the final quarter] and we couldn’t stop it,” White said.
“The last four weeks, we’ve been in positions to win every game and we’re still extremely undermanned.
“We’re not far off [winning].”
Coming up against reigning premier Bunbury was always going to be a tough task for the Eagles and ten minutes into the first quarter, it looked like Collie was headed for a heavy defeat.
The Eagles showed little resistance as the Bulldogs pushed the ball forward and kicked the first four goals with ease, through Jesse Gribble, Mark Longbottom, Brett Peake and Zane Rigby.
However, the Eagles worked their way into the game late in the quarter with the team’s leading goal kicker Blair Malatesta snapping a nice goal before Teke Vernon made it two for the Eagles minutes later.
Longbottom added his second goal in the dying minutes as the Eagles went into the first break trailling by 21 points.
Kicking with the wind, the Eagles needed to create more chances to score in the second quarter and they did so with Adam Bignell and Kaleb Michalak kicking long-range goals early in the quarter to bring the Eagles back within a goal.
Gribble broke the Eagles’ run with his second of the day, before Jayce Fontana took a strong mark in front of goal and put the ball straight over the umpire’s hat to bring the margin back to six points.
With fluid ball movement, it was only a matter of time before Collie hit the front. Joel Leeson and Malatesta both kicked goals late in the quarter to give the Eagles a four point lead at half time.
The Eagles looked to have all the momentum and energy as the game restarted as Fontana kicked the opening goal.
After a string of behinds from set shots, Braiden McMullen was finally able to soccer through a goal to bring Bunbury back to one point down.
But it was short lived as Leeson and Jason Roney kicked goals to extend the margin before Fontana kicked his third with a set shot from the boundary after the siren to give the Eagles a 19-point lead.
Fourth quarters had been the Eagles weak point over the last month and it proved true again as Bunbury got a roll.
The Eagles were helpless as they watched Bunbury retake the lead with four goals – from Gribble, Peake, Travis Gray and Longbottom – with less than ten minutes left to play.
McMullen had a great opportunity to push the lead out to 11 points but his soccer kick hit the post, which allowed Malatesta’s third goal minutes later to level up the scores.
It was a frantic final five minutes, but ultimately Dylan Heasman was able to kick the sealer for the Bulldogs as they claimed the 12.6 (78) to 12.13 (85) win.
White said he ‘couldn’t fault’ the way the Eagles played, but that the last quarter was ‘disappointing’.
“We went away from we were doing,” he said.
“We started zoning off instead of playing man-on-man and a few 50-50s didn’t go our way but that happens in footy and we have to be big enough to get over that.”
White said he was especially pleased with the defensive work of Mat Michael – who took many strong contested marks in the defensive half – and Talan Michael, who had the job on ex-AFL player Brett Peake.
For the Bulldogs, two-time Hayward medallist Jesse Gribble was the most influential man on the field. Gribble was involved in everything the Bulldogs did and ended up with three goals to his name.
The win saw Bunbury jump to second position on the ladder – a game behind leader Donnybrook – ahead of its clash with Eaton next week.
The Eagles remain in last place – behind Harvey on percentage – and host Augusta Margaret River on Sunday.
