Montmorency’s troubles at home has dragged on for another week, with Macleod the latest team to undo the Magpies on their home deck.
The Roos made up for their surprise loss to West Preston-Lakeside last week with a 17-point victory at Montmorency Oval, leaving the black and white army in the lurch following a powerful six-goal third quarter.
While the Montmorency booted seven of their own the last term, the final margin was a flattery to the Magpies, with the Roos content their efforts over three quarters were enough to dispatch their opposition.
Patrick Fitzgerald again starred up forward with five goals – four of which were kicked in the final term – to move into second position on the Division One goalkicking table, while Blake Murphy carried his solid form into Saturday afternoon’s clash.
For the Roos, Hamish Paynter and Ned McKeown were best afield, with the latter producing a superb game off half-back.
Both sides were close to all tied up in the opening term, with the Magpies and Roos putting through three goals apiece to begin proceedings.
Montmorency showed much potential in the early stages of the game, with the run of Murphy and Luke Collins through the centre of the ground highlighting the Magpies’ flair on numerous occasions.
The overlap run proved to be dangerous, with Stephen McCallum, Collins and Connor Dalgleish each converting off the back of rapid ball movement.
McCallum was involved in the action early on Anthony Doherty, with the two at each other for most, if not the entire afternoon, resulting in several fiery fracases throughout the day.
But while their run across the ground was fluent, their exits out of the back half stood in stark
contrast, with the Magpies unable to move the ball cleanly for a significant portion of the term.
With the ball locked in the Roos’ attacking 50, Barden and Joel Kidd converted off the back of Montmorency’s defensive blunders.
Yet the situation could have been far worse, with their 3.6 for the term seeing them lead by just four points at quarter-time.
While it mildly improved for the Magpies at the beginning of the second term, the home side failed to quell their opposition, who booted five goals to three to open up a handy lead.
Montmorency put through the first two goals through Anthony Bernardi and Joel McLellan, with the ruckman looking right at home in his new domain alongside Fitzgerald.
The duo of McLellan and Fitzgerald combined throughout the term several times, with the latter uncharacteristically taking a backseat as his partner in crime slotted two clutch goals.
But they would be the only Magpie majors for the remainder of the quarter, with Doherty and Luke Joyce threading through classy majors to regain the lead, before Barden came to the fore.
The key forward held onto a remarkable one-handed mark and capped it off with a goal, before going back-to-back with a mid-air slice to stretch Macleod’s advantage.
Barden almost made it three in a row, but his unselfish handball to Nick Lynch in the goal square nevertheless made it five straight Roo majors – the latter three of which came directly from winning the centre clearances.
Although the second half of the term petered out scoring-wise, Macleod continued to look
dangerous, while Montmorency were unable to pounce upon the half-chances presented to them.
With 16 points separating the Magpies and Roos at the major change, a big effort was required to put them back on track.
Yet the envisaged big effort from Montmorency was replaced by a colossal one from Macleod, who raced away with an incredible six majors in the third term against the Magpies’ one.
It started off promising for the home side, with the Fitzgerald-McLellan combination re-emerging.
Yet three narrow misses from Fitzgerald in as many minutes opened the door for the Roos, who through Doherty and Brayden Plant extended the margin to 31 points.
While the Magpies managed to stifle the scoring for some time, mainly through the negation of Lucas Hobbs thanks to a Matt Hunt tag, Montmorency seemed on the decline, with their opposition appearing far faster and more cohesive along the wings.
Fitzgerald finally kicked true at the 20-minute mark of the term to peg one back for his side, yet the gruelling term would soon resume, with Hobbs, Kurt Manuel and a pair to Reid Brandt hitting the scoreboard in the space of a few minutes.
As the margin climbed to 47 points at three-quarter time, it soon became a mission of playing for pride rather than the four points for the Magpies.
Their seven-goal final term saved them face, yet by this stage of the game, the Roos had done more than enough to secure the win.
Montmorency’s costly exits out of defence continued to haunt them, with Rourke Turner capitalising off an errant kick-out, before Joyce coolly jagged his second from a tight angle in the pocket.
Fitzgerald’s final quarter efforts turned the ship in the right direction, with his phenomenal closing out of the game seeing him extend his tally from one goal to five within the space of 10 minutes.
As McCallum and Daniel Coghill put through the final majors of the quarter, the Magpies saved themselves from total humiliation, going down by a final 17 points.
Montmorency will have one final chance to secure their first win at home since Round 8, when it faces West Preston-Lakeside next Saturday afternoon.
MONTMORENCY 3.2 6.4 7.7 14.9 (93)
MACLEOD 3.6 8.8 14.12 16.14 (110)
GOALS
Montmorency: P. Fitzgerald 5, S. McCallum 3, J. McLellan 2, A. Bernardi, D. Coghill, L. Collins, C. Dalgleish
Macleod: W. Barden 3, R. Brandt 2, A. Doherty 2, L. Joyce 2, J. Kidd 2, N. Lynch, L. Hobbs, B. Plant, K. Manuel, R. Turner
BEST
Montmorency: P. Fitzgerald, B. Murphy, M. Hunt, B. Kennedy, B. Walton, S. McCallum
Macleod: N. McKeown, H. Paynter, H. Seivers, L. Hobbs, K. Manuel, W. Barden
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