THE Leeton-Whitton Crows were back to full flight with a stunning 104-point victory over Ganmain Grong Grong Matong at the Leeton Showground on Saturday.
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With laser precision from the first kick, the Crows were deadly accurate on Saturday.
Struggles from earlier in the season were quickly forgotten as Leeton-Whitton pulled together and skillfully worked the ball down the field for repeated goals.
The Lions were powerless to slow their assault.
Age and experience had set the teams apart and the Crows set a pace that would easily push them beyond GGGM.
The horn sang out at the end of the first quarter and the Crows were up 5.4 (34) to 0.3 (3).
The team had improved and were working like a well oiled machine.
Warmed up and ready to go, the Crows tore into the Lions in the second quarter.
We stuck to our structures and it was fantastic.
- Crows coach Jade Hodge
The Crows were able to place themselves strategicly down field and improved their ability to claim marks.
While GGGM pushed back and slowed the Crows’ pace, Leeton-Whitton held them scoreless in the second quarter to finish at 7.8 (50) to 0.3 (3).
“I told the boys that it wasn’t the scoreboard that I was looking at, it was their consistency throughout the game,” said Leeton coach Jade Hodge.
“We stuck to our structures and it was fantastic.”
The third quarter was where Leeton-Whitton hit their stride.
Their accuracy and teamwork continued to give them the advantage and the Crows had a massive 41 point quarter and led GGGM by 68 points.
Always looking to improve, Leeton-Whitton pushed on and in spite of playing over 60 minutes of footy, they appeared as though they were playing their first quarter of the day.
GGGM however were exhausted and fought over every possession with infrequent success of adding points to the score.
Where the Lions managed to kick two goals in the fourth quarter the Crows kicked eight.
Dissecting the victory, Hodge felt it was the end result of a number of factors.
Moving Luke Potter into the wing gave him the room to run, keeping the kicks short and accurate prevented GGGM from getting numbers under the ball and keeping the kicks accurate and not squandering the opportunity to kick goals.
Still early in the Riverina Football League season, Hodge knows the Crows have a long road to go between the 104 point win over the Lions and a premiership at the end of the season.