West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Monday 11 June 1934, page 10


A MERITORIOUS VICTORY.

Victoria Park's Great First Half.

Playing with greater pace and faithfully following out the plan of campaign, Victoria Park decisively defeated West Perth at Leederville Oval on Saturday, and had

Kood reason to feel selr-satisned as a result of that searching test. Victoria Park's play, especially in the first 'half, emphasised weaknesses in the West Perth side ind made the latter- appear ill-balanced in' comparison. In key positions Victoria Park was dominant, and it worked system ind combination around, those points. To itart with, the brilliant markings and speed of Gook gave Benton a worrying ;ime. Then Shepherd, vigorous and bustling, effectively subdued Anderson, the. half-forward; Brown minimised the ictivities of Tyson, the goal-sneak*; and EL Grigg's speed at the centre gave Victoria Park an advantage. ' In the ruck, West Perth should, at least, have won, but there, too, was a falling off. noticeable. Even when West Perth's followers did knock the ball out, , usually one of Victoria Park's small men drove it away. Fairly and squarely Victoria Park, beat West Perth and its football in the first half Bras worth watching. -From - end to end the players marked with surprising: sureness,' they kicked accurately and cleverly, had a sound conception of .the new style and its advantages, and what is most important, they: assisted each' other in every way.. Following were the teams:'— ' 'WEST PERTH. — Backs: - Ford, Benton, MeBuckin. Half-backs: O*Keefe,'P. Walsh, Tetley. Centres: Drew, Morgan,. .O'Connor. Halfforwards: H. Green, Anderson, L. Walah. ? Forr wards: N. HcDiarmid, Tyson, Kenna. Ruck: Martoko. Gregg, Rainoldi (rover). Nineteenth man: Dalziell (did not play). .VICTORIA PARK. — Backs: Crooks, Brown,JVonnald. Half-backs: P. .Fitzgerald,' Shepherd, ETungerford. Centres: H. Davey, H. Griggr, Baniota. Half -forwards: O'Callaghan, Johnston, J. Warner. Forwards: Robson, Gpok, A. Grigg. Suck: G. Davey, Dewar, Lucas (rover). Nineteenth man: Robinson (did not play). UMPIRE. — CV. Gannon. . 'H. Grigg began well and he was chiefly, responsible for Victoria Park's behind. There : was some/- excellent, marking, and then Anderson's quick punch, McDiarmid's Shepherding for Green.. Tyson's brilliant mark and perfect kick led to. West Perth's first goal. . The wind was forcing the ball into a ..pocket, but after five minutes Johnston goaled, and Gook followed with another. - l)rew was playing well on the wing and Green,; withwa long drop-kick, ?cored West Perth's second goal. To that stage the, play had been evenly: fought, but Victoria .Park ? then took charge. Gook was marking nicely against. Benton and the Victoria. Park ' backs -were . veryv solid. Just before, the .bell Gook . kicked his fourth goal, giving his side a lead of 7.5 to 2.1. ,' A systematic move by West Perth had. deserved more. than a behind. '-:;Twice.West Perth1 had to save spectacularly and then'each side scored a point. Tyson was working well, but like most of hi* team'1 mates;' was kicking poorly; There camera time when Victoria' Park' seemed in ' danger of lapsing -into . 'useless; short passing, but the players soon realised the value of-rlong-kickipg.,, Almost invariably Victoria Park secured the ball from knocks out or missed marks, and despite the fine play, of P. Walsh in defence, -it forged ahead. Brown, Shepherd and Hungerf ord badly ' beat the- opposing ' forwards, who were chiefly, too slow off the 'mark, and West Perth-could not make-concerted progress. Marinko improved somewhat, but the sjde could add only behinds during the last four minutes of the quarter,: making the' scores 9.6 to 2.8. . : If the first half had been very fast,, the second -was necessarily .slow in ,the.' heavy going, but there were; some willing passages of play when West Perth made determined efforts' to. break through. Long kicking, when the' rain? ceased temporarily, speeded up the play. Anderson was now goal-sneak, with McDiarmid at centre-half and Tyson in a pocket. After six minutes Tyson scored a goal with a screw .kick, and Gook scored two goals, one with' a long kick and the other off the ground. He. had placed Victoria Park 46 points ahead, and A. Grigg, who was playing well, snapped another goal. When; West Perth attacked the crowding and lack of cohesion among the forwards proved disastrous. With Morgan improving at the 'centre, however, the pressure^ was kept up, and Rainoldi goaled. The quarter ended in a blinding storm and Ford ? goaled for West Perth, making the scores 12.7 to 5.10 in Victoria Park g favour. . ? Play was. resumed in a heavy shower.. In less than xhree minutes Tyson marked and scored a goal' with a shot from an angle. It was a scramble now, and Robson goaled for Victoria Park. /'After seor; ing a point Anderson ticked a goal, bringing the. West Perth score to 7.11. The ground, usually so .dry, was coyered' with pools, and (he players' gave up trying to pick up the ball, all except Warner, who handled it with nncanny ^kill. Combined play was out of the question and the game ended with the scores :— VICTORIA PARK .. 15.10 (1 00 pts.). WEST. PERTH .... 9.1 1 (65 pts.). Goalkickers.— Victoria Park: Gook (7), A. Grigg (2), O'Callaghan (2), Lucas (2), Kobson and Johnston. West Perth: Tyson (5), Green, Anderson, Rainoldi and Ford. I It is difficult to name Victoria. Parks best players because the team maintained such a high standard. ' A surprisingly good game was played at half-forward and in the ruck by J. Warner,, who revealed great pace and marking ability, kicked well with both feet and handled the greasy ball skilfully. Brown, Hungerford and Shepherd were the strongest links of a fine defence and H. Grigg was outstanding of the centre line. Gook was brilliant at full forward and, the best of the others were A. Grigg, Dewar, Johnston. Lucas arid O'Callaghan. m - For West Perth, Tetley und P. Wa sh were probably the best players. P. Walsh Was brilliant in the first half ! and Tetley, on his left, was very solid. Ford, Gregg, Green, and Drew (first half) were the best of the remainder. Morgan improved in the second half. Rainoldi handled the ball a great deal, but kicked poorly, and Marinko showed flashes of good form.