Hawks bury Demons in second half onslaught as Railways record emphatic win

A second grand final rematch produce an even more lopsided result as for the second time Brigades smashed the Demons in their clash on Saturday afternoon.

In front of a raucous home crowd, the Hawks kicked 11 goals to three in the second half of the match to run away 15.14 (104) to 4.12 (36) winners and move to the top of the ladder.

The Demons were without several players including captain Farren Parfitt while the Brigades had all their big pieces on the park including Dale Williamson playing just his third game of the season and first since round five.

Both teams had early sighters on goal before Jack Deschamp got the first for the Hawks.

But it was an even contest with Josh Simpson starting strongly for the Demons across half-forward and getting his first with an effort from around 50m.

It was a high-pressure game with those with the ball not given much breathing space to get the run and carry going but the Dees cost themselves with some ill-discipline.

Dwayne Neville gave away 50m which allowed Fraser Ismail to convert after he was awarded a free kick for a high tackle.

The Hawks would add a fourth as the Rovers struggled to find any targets going up forward with Stuart Egan being well beaten in the first quarter by defender Joel Pattrick who recorded multiple intercepts.

The Rovers should’ve scored the opening goal of the second as Dylan Curley failed to convert a simple set shot once again set up by Simpson but outside of that the quarter was an arm-wrestle.

Only behinds were added as neither side managed to chain possessions together for threatening entries with both sides once again applying tremendous pressure.

At the start of the third quarter, it looked like the Demons made a decisive move as Curley scored straight out of the centre bounce after being hit up by Simpson before Edward Curley added a second this time set up by Scott and got the margin down to one goal.

But just as it looked as if the Rovers were surging disaster struck as Scott dislocated his elbow in a contest out the middle and would sit out the rest of the match.

It’s hard to blame what came next solely on that incident but it destabilised the Demons enough that the Hawks swooped kicking the next seven straight goals.

Williamson took a strong grab while Jamie Ryder had the goal of the day with his impression of Eddie Bett’s nailing one through after being forced into the left forward pocket.

By the time Paholski sunk his second with a bomb from 50m, the margin was out to 50 points with the Rovers unable to stop the bleeding.

Beau Simpson was a shining light for the Rovers down back standing tall with multiple intercepts but there was little to else to write home about.

In the final quarter Jayden Schofield fired up after breaking through the middle and nailing a great goal on the run and certainly expressed his joy to the Rover bench.

But it was brother Kim who was awarded best on the ground finishing with a goal of his own and dominating through the midfield and half forward particularly after Scott went down.

Out at Chapman Valley the Blues may have all but ended the Royals’ hopes of finals footy this season with a massive 21.13 (139) to 4.6 (30) victory.

The Blues were coming off back-to-back smashings at home but Jack Cocking playing his first game this year in a return from WAFL duties was a shot in the arm with the young forward booting seven goals.

Captain Jesse Adamini was right behind him with six as the Royals didn’t kick a major until the third quarter.

Former Hawk Chance Bateman hurt his shoulder early on in a disappointing day with the Royals now two games and a hefty percentage outside the eight with just five games left to play.

At Mullewa the struggling Towns had something to cheer about as they got their first win of the season 14.7 (91) to 8.11 (59) over the Saints.

The game was the Bulldog’s best and probably last chance to avoid a winless season and despite a dominant first quarter Mullewa were wasteful in front of goal allowing Twons to run away with the match after halftime.

Matthew Russell and James Simmons both finished with three goals with Callum Marquis, Timothy George, Max Lawson and Rohan Farris also impressing.