Bulls coach fuming over first-quarter demolition

Mt Barker coach Brad Hook was scathing of his side’s leadership group after Railways blitzed the Bulls with a 10-goal opening term, which effectively ended the contest at Tigerland on Saturday.

Railways marched to their sixth straight win, with the impressive opening quarter resulting in a 62-point advantage, which ended with a 65-point triumph on a bleak day, 17.5 (107) to 5.12 (42).

The rampant Tigers feasted on the centre-square dominance as the Bulls continued to struggle without injured captain Peter Taylor, who is expected to return after the bye along with defender Adam Tissott and spearhead Kym Monteath.

While the Bulls could not make the distance from their two shots on goal only 35m out, the goals sailed through at the other end aided by a four-goal wind which proved more fruitful as Jack Steel slotted three himself.

The Tigers 10th goal to Kleemann medallist Joel Want came from their 16th inside 50 of the term as the home side made the Bulls pay for their inability to defensively halt the threat.

Playing assistant coach Tyson Sujdovic launched a scathing assessment as soon as the quarter-time siren sounded but the Bulls could not convert their early chances in the second term to bring the margin within reach.

The margin remained beyond the Bulls’ reach at 52 points at the major break after Liam Park was disallowed a goal after the siren after the umpire deemed he ran off the mark.

The Bulls booted five goals from quarter-time while the Tigers could not keep up their pace, converting only seven more in the final three quarters as the visitors found some added endeavour.

On a day which turned bleak after half-time, Bulls coach Brad Hook said the response from his players after an inept first 20 minutes was “reasonable”.

“That was the game done and dusted there. I don’t think we were switched on at all and we were a bit disappointed in the leadership group that when they did get a run on, nobody actually stood up and put a stop to it,” Hook said. “We didn’t play the way we wanted to. There was a strong breeze and we wanted to slow the ball down and create stoppages, hold firm and keep possession of the footy.

“They blew us out of the water in the centre clearances and they just converted to goals.”

An even spread of contributors would have again pleased the Tigers coaches, with midfielder Kane Shephard awarded the match ball in Talk to a Mate Round. Want and captain Bodhi Stubber were also strong in another 10-goal win for the Tigers.

Ruckman Daniel Henderson toiled hard in the air and at ground level for the Bulls while young defender Brent Parsons and veteran Sam Lehmann battled on in the loss, which saw the Bulls drop to fifth on the ladder.

Tigers coach Troy Leo said his side’s second term in keeping the Bulls to only two majors ensured another impressive win.

“I think we did well in the first term — obviously the wind was very strong but I reckon our second was where we won it, holding them and under a fair bit of pressure the boys played well,” he said.

“We were probably flat for the first couple of minutes but then we got a run on and a sniff, we used the ball well and kicked straight.”