The Rockingham Rams clutched to their second-place spot on the ladder after an emphatic second half led them to a sizable win over Halls Head at Anniversary Park on Saturday.
Halls Head took it up to the in-form Rams for the first two quarters, but Rockingham responded by keeping their guests goalless in the second half on their way to a 17.22 (124) to 9.7 (61) win.
Strong efforts from Lightning midfielders Mitch Royal and Michael Beeton saw the visitors down just three points at half time, but Rockingham put the jets on in the back half of the game with eight goals to Halls Head’s zip.
It was a five-goal third quarter that saw the Rams break away, with Chris Oliver hitting the scoreboard twice while Jake Willis, Luke Dowling and Mitch Curnow bagged goals.
From there the Rams added a further three in the final term, pulling away for the 63-point victory, their fifth on the year.
Willis was a force all day for Rockingham, earning top best-on-ground votes while Jaxsen Shinners and Ethan Poole both contributed greatly.
Luke Dowling led the way in front of the goals with four, while Fraser Millar ended his day with three next to his name.
Lightning duo Mathew Allen and Beeton notched three goals apiece, while Tyson Phillips also impressed.
Halls Head coach Adam Boone said his side wouldn’t be dwelling on their second half, and would instead look to reinforce what made them so competitive across the opening two quarters.
“The way I see it, we took it up to the in-form side of the competition for two quarters, so if we can implement that across four quarters we’ll be hard to beat,” he said.
“We’re not making any excuses, we know we’ve got to be better than what we were in the second half, but overall there are plenty of things we can take away from that game.
“I thought our attack on the footy was pretty strong across the four quarters, so things like that are what we’ll take out of the game.”
Halls Head are now the only team to have faced off against every other outfit in the Peel Football and Netball League, and they will have the chance to see how far they’ve come since round one when they clash with South Mandurah again this weekend.
The two sides last met in their season openers, with the Lightning holding one for a narrow victory at home.
Now they will clash just down the road in front of the Falcons’ home crowd on Sunday, 2.30pm.
Justin Rake
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
