SWFL: Eagles swoop past Hawks to book prelim final date

The Collie Eagles’ push for premiership redemption gathered momentum on Sunday after a dominant 27-point victory over Augusta-Margaret River in the first semi-final at Kelly Park.

The Eagles went into the do-or-die contest with a near full-strength lineup – they were minus Dave Cowan – while the Hawks were missing prime movers Jeremy Humm and Dan Atkinson.

Kicking against a stiff breeze, the Eagles did well early to get on the board through Matt Michael and Alex Tweedie.

They kept the Hawks goalless until the 19-minute mark of the opening term, but AMR’s Will Young and Aaron Baker goaled late to hand their side the lead at quarter time.

The Eagles set their victory up with a dominant second term in which they kicked six-goals-to-none with the wind at their backs.

Young Hawk Asher Samelko was having a great duel in the ruck with Paul Lindsey and Paul Rinder, but the Eagles’ duo had a lot more support around the ground.

Shane Earl ran hard while forwards Matt Michael, Blair Malatesta and Alex Tweedie always looked dangerous.

Michael hurt the Hawks with three goals for the term and with Malatesta, Jon D’Sylva and Liam Ryan all adding majors the Eagles were on top.

Pat Travers and Ben Noakes were gathering plenty of touches for AMR, while Cody Miller also had a major impact.

But they were battling into the breeze and strong defensive efforts from Eagles Matt Blackford, Michael Roney and Shannon Cox – who was having an entertaining duel with Tim Noakes – nullified the Hawks.

AMR hit back after the long break.

Tim Noakes got away from Cox to boot three third quarter majors but every time the Hawks got within range the Eagles manufactured a crucial steadier.

First it was Tweedie who stalled the Hawks and then Malatesta burst across the 50m arc, took several bounces and dished off to a teammate in the square who gave it back to the nippy goalsneak to slam it home from point-blank range.

Despite the Hawks’ efforts, the Eagles led by 21 points at three-quarter time.

A chance went begging for the Hawks in the last quarter when Josh Morgan missed a set shot from the top of the goal square but Gerrans made amends midway through the term when he kicked truly to reduce the deficit to 14 points.

Collie still looked in control and when Rinder slotted a set shot from outside 50, close to the boundary at left half-forward, the result was sealed.

In the final minutes Corey Griggs and the talented 16-year-old Liam Ryan both goaled to add an exclamation point to the Eagles’ win.

Scoreboard

1ST SEMI-FINAL

Collie Eagles 2.1 8.3 11.4 14.6 90 def Aug-Marg River 2.3 2.4 7.7 9.9 63

Goals:

COLLIE EAGLES – M. Michael 4, B. Malatesta 3, A. Tweedie, L. Ryan 2, C. Griggs, P. Rinder, J. D’Sylva.

AMR – T. Noakes 3, M. Gerrans, J. Simmonds 2, W. Young, A. Baker.

Best:

COLLIE EAGLES – M. Michael, S. Cox, S. Earl, P. Lindsay, P. Rinder, L. Motion, A. Tweedie.

AMR – P.Travers, C. Miller, B. Franz, M. Semini, A. Samelko, T. Noakes, M. Gerrans.