Hick stars as Hawks claim their first home win | Photos
The Augusta Margaret River Hawks had a big day at home in Round 5 of the South West Football League competition, claiming a healthy victory over the Bunbury Bulldogs on Saturday evening.
Both teams donned black armbands in recognition of the victims of the Osmington tragedy, as they took 30 seconds of silence to note the leagues Belt Up seatbelt awareness round.
Despite the visitors making the first dent on the scoreboard with a point early in the first term, it did not take long for a tenacious Hawks squad to pull back the lead and hold it for the rest of the game.
Consistent delivery of the ball by the perennial Mitch Lynn – playing his 50th league game for the club – to the likes of Jack Hick and Matt Jukes had the home side picking up momentum while Bunburys Brett Peake worked hard to create opportunities for his teammates.
A quality passage of play from James Price and Mitch Payne saw the latter claim a clean goal before Bunbury replied, Codey Hay stealing the ball from close to the centre and running it essentially on his own before a gentle nudge through the goals.
In the second quarter the Hawks came out firing, stamping their authority on what was looking to be a relatively evenly matched game.
Both sides were hungry and a few mistakes – including the giving away of a number of easy free kicks – threatened to derail the home team before they found their feet and focused on moving the ball away from the threats of Peake, Mark Longbottom and Jordan Falco.
A frustrating free to Bunburys Jesse Gribble at the hands of Jacob Payne was lucky to not be converted while a pass from Jake Rodgers to Mitch Payne had another Hawk goal over the line.
Jack Hick seemed everywhere at once, and alongside leading goalkicker Matt Jukes had the Bunbury back line exhausted, climbing on shoulders to take some of the best marks of the season so far.
For Bunbury, Hay and Peake were the hardest working men on ground, valiantly trying to tie up the Hawks as they continued to run away with the ball.
Harry Morgan claimed his first and only goal of the day before a booming kick from Peake made the distance to claw back some of the space made by the dangerous combination of the Paynes, Hick and Rodgers.
Augusta Margaret River continued to reach their target first, flooding the field with green and gold and securing a great mark from Mitch Ellis to provide a chance for Danny Wolfenden to collect a major, the Hawks stretching their lead to 26 points by the half time siren.
A screamer from Hick in the third quarter had even the visiting Bunbury contingent talking, and while the ball spent a whole lot of time in Bunburys scoring zone a hardworking Hawks defence had the visitors failing to capitalise.
Lincoln Adams and Jack McMahon doubled down on the Bulldogs frustration, stealing possession in some of Bunburys more promising plays to take the wind from their sails as the clock wore down.
Proving it really is a game of four quarters the Hawks managed to hold off a concerted effort in the final quarter from the Bunbury team who did a decent job of refusing to roll over.
With a goal late in the fourth the Bunbury sides never-say-die attitude received a sound send off thanks to a classy mark by Hick in front of the home goal just a minute later.
Jukes and Adams both appeared to come off second best after a couple of heavy tackles, the latter limping out of a number of contests.
Final Score Hawks 11.11-77 Bulldogs 7.10-52
Augusta Margaret River will travel to Glen Huon Reserve to face the Eaton Boomers this weekend while the Bulldogs will play Donnybrook at Mitchell Park.
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Margaret River Mail
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