SWFL men’s: South Bunbury’s phenomenal start to 2024 season continues with 68-point win over Busselton

Busselton became the latest casualties of South Bunbury’s brilliant beginning to the 2024 South West Football League season at Hands Oval on Saturday, with the Tigers beating the Magpies by 68 points. The visitors battled all afternoon but could not match the overall quality of their hosts, who used an eight-goal to two second half run to fuel a strong 15.13 (103) to 5.5 (35) victory. In a sign of how dominant their start to the season has been, the percentage of the ladder leaders degraded slightly to 317.13 as a result of the win, while the result leaves the reigning premiers sitting in seventh with a 2-3 win-loss record. Some key personnel including co-captain Mitchell Fraser are still on the sidelines for Busselton but the loss — their second comprehensive defeat from their two trips to Bunbury this season — suggests they have much ground to make up on the competition’s top sides. Midfielders Mitch Tenardi and Jozef Parkinson continued standout seasons to ensure the visitors held their own around the ball but played something of a lone hand, which was highlighted by several Tigers producing excellent efforts. For the winners, Richard Bourne made a huge impact both up front and through spurts in the midfield, captain Kevin Chitty and lively forward Aaron Jarvis combined for seven goals and another brilliant defensive performance was led by Tom Gorter and Tom Galloway. Jay Crossman’s day ended early for the Tigers due to a quad issue in the opening stages of the contest but they still started fast on their own turf, kicking the first three goals of the afternoon. Beau Chinnery got the visitors on the board but the response from the hosts was quick, with Aaron Jarvis applying the finishing touch on a rapid end-to-end transition as they took a 17-point lead into the first break. The second quarter opened with Jarvis again hitting the scoreboard, taking a strong one-on-one mark and snapping truly from a tight angle, but the visitors just about held their own in a tighter tussle, heading into half-time trailing by 25 points. Busselton’s resistance began to break in the third term, with the Tigers kicking the the first five goals of the quarter to put the result beyond doubt. The visitors never stopped battling but the fourth quarter saw everything go South Bunbury’s way — a set shot from the boot of Jack Gallagher viciously swung late to find the major opening and send the Cahill Pavilion into raptures before Jarvis reeled in a hanger in the goal square and booted his third.