A BOLD late move, initially an unpopular one, led to the Western Jets heart-stopping two-point win over Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup at Burbank Oval on Saturday.
Coach Steven Kretiuk was frowned upon when he ordered the attacking 50 to be cleared out for medium-sized forward Josh Bench to play one-out on his opponent. It was a last-roll-of-the-dice move that had to be strictly adhered to for it to work, but Kretiuk says it almost came unstuck when some of Bench’s teammates drifted into the area.
Kretiuk reiterated his plans and finally freed up the front third of the ground, leaving the in-form Bench and his opposite number alone while play continued at the other end of the ground.
The ball was eventually extracted by the Jets and delivered directly to the one-on-one battle, and Bench did not let his coach down. He read the flight of the ball, nudged his opponent ever-so-slightly in the contest and swooped on the loose ball to run into an open goal to seal victory for his side.
It was a master stroke – an all or nothing move. It also showed the all-round talents of Bench, who only last week was being praised for his work both inside and outside of the contest.
“I was confident when the ball came in that he was going to get it,” Kretiuk said.
“He’s a hard match-up because he’s strong, quick and agile. But I had to clear a few players out of the area because some of them have that see ball, want ball approach.”
The Jets made an inauspicious start to trail by 19 points at quarter-time. The same lax defending and stand-
offish work at the stoppages that plagued the Jets a week earlier reared again. To make matters worse, the Jets lost Leigh Sobotnicki and Matt Sutherland to knee injuries early in the piece, only to be compounded when Ajdin Elkasovic limped off with a similar injury later in the game.
The remaining players adopted a no-excuses approach, tackling their way – almost 90 of the bone rattlers – to a famous win. It was the first time we’ve lost the contested possessions but won the game.
It was also the first time in a long time that every player had a tackle in our side. Defensively, we worked a lot harder.”
Ashlin Brown produced an inspiration skipper’s performance, four quarters of midfield toil yielding 31 disposals, six clearances and eight tackles.
Daniel Burton was like the gatekeeper at the back for the Jet, the centre half-back refusing to let the Bushrangers into his area.
Scott Greenhough was again superb in the ruck, Jack Walker energised the team after half-time and Anthony Piva and Spencer White snared two goals apiece on difficult afternoon for forwards.
The ninth-placed Jets will get their state representatives back for a crucial encounter with Gippsland Power at the Morwell on Saturday.
Western Jets 8.14 (62) d Murray Bushrangers 9.6 (60). Western Jets: Goals: A Piva, S White 2, A Elkasovic, B Said, J Bench, H Walshe. Best: A Brown, S Greenhough, J Bench, D Burton, J Walker, M Aneet.
