Eastern Eyre Football League
A Grade
CLEVE v PORTS…Not everybody went to Kevin Krudd's 20/20 summit as there was still a pretty healthy crowd on hand for the Cleve v Ports opening round of 2008 football at Cleve.
Sharon Rodda had been busier than Opes Primes legal eagles in the past couple of weeks, the only difference was Sharon was transferring football flesh instead of stocks & bonds. At Ports it was a bull market - their stocks rising thanks to about 20 trades. For the Bombers, they were weathering a bare(sic) market with many selling their stocks short.
The off season activity had generated plenty of speculation - I think most expected a close contest. For Ports it was crucial the 180 point loss to the Tigers in Round 1, 2007, was not repeated.
It wasn't, although the signs early in the second quarter weren't good, they looked to be in more trouble than Nick D'Arcy and Barry Hall combined, but, Ports rallied when previously they wouldn't have and you would have to say they may well win more than they lose in 2008.
Cleve kicked four un-answered goals to win the first quarter 4.2 (26) to Ports 1.1. (7), after Paddles Ramsey waded in for the first goal of the match.
For Cleve it was their young guns doing the damage, Jake Stutley was busy on the clubroom side of the ground, Elliott "Burger" Claxton was solid in defence and Jess Kenny and Jason Perkins also picked up plenty of possessions around the ground.
The Bombers opened the scoring in the second half with a seven point play. Matt Quinn kicked a point within 10 seconds of the centre bounce then Dylan Jenner goaled when the resultant kick-in was turned over.
Dylan should have made it two in a row but in a Blight like performance missed from two metres. The footage on u-tube had had 12,684 hits when last I looked.
A further two goals to Matt Quinn and another to Jenner and suddenly the Bombers had raced to a healthy 7 goal advantage. Last year that would have been good enough, but it's 2008 and it's a very different Ports outfit.
Their tackling was a feature and they held up the Cleve runners often enough to create attacking opportunities of their own, which they converted on 5 occasions.
Calvey Hartwig soccered an opportunists 6 pointer from inside the goalsquare to kickstart the revival.
Goals followed in quick succession to Justin Clements and Travis Bates (2) and when a Raikiwasa long bomb from inside the centre square eluded all the defenders and bounced through for full points Ports were back to within 16 points at halftime.
Ports began the third quarter from where they left off and should have had the margin back to 10 points in no time flat but Travis Bates' unconventional upside-down inside-out Daicos attempt (and that's being kind) didn't quite work.
He buttered up with a couple of shots that did find the gap between the big sticks and all of a sudden Ports were in front.
A goal to Kane Schubert who was becoming more influential the further the game went stretched the margin and the resolve of the Bomber faithful.
The lead changed hands four or five times in the latter parts of the quarter with goals to Schubert, Raikiwasa and Bates for Ports being countered by goals to an evergreen Paul Bammann, Joel Nield and Kyle Jenner for Cleve. At the final change it was Cleve 11.8 (74) to Ports 11.4 (70)
Ball skills and decision making would decide the outcome. Cleve won by less than 20 points.
For the Bombers Kyle Jenner was creative and won some important touches up forward in the last quarter, Rick Leonard and Jason Perkins were rewarded for their hard running, Joel Nield led by example, Paul Bammann - I doubt he knows how to play a bad game, Ben Shannon and Tyson Kirvan were good from defence and Dylan Jenner finished with five goals.
For Ports, Travis Bates accumulated 8 goals, Chompy Masters (who is longer in the hair than the tooth, but not by much) dominated the centre bounces, Kane Schubert came into the game nicely the longer it went and provided plenty of opportunities for team-mates - he always uses the ball well. Justin Clements, Diesel Whittle, Ed Hunt Jnr and Ben Lienert all showed they will be important contributors in Ports’ 100th year.
Beefy also had his moments although I think he would probably choose a different location (other than directly in front of the Cleve mound) to try and run around the man on the mark next time. Paul Harris' gadget arms move deceptively quickly and he has a vice like grip.
Cleve 18-11 (119) d Ports 15-10 (100)
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