GSFL 2023: North Albany start their season with emphatic win against Denmark-Walpole as Ross kicks eight

North Albany coach Brad Bootsma was delighted with the way his side got their season going with a crushing 104-point win over Denmark-Walpole in round two of the Great Southern Football League at Collingwood Park on Sunday. Kangas forward Graham Ross booted eight goals in the rout as his side notched their first win of 2023 in emphatic fashion. A 12-goal to four first-half helped set up the win for the Kangas and despite a resilient and determined Magpies, they dominated the contest for most of play to prevail 21.15 (141) to 5.7 (37) at the final siren. “The win is the most important thing, to try and stay with that ladder and for us to go anywhere this season, we need to beat sides like this,” Bootsma said. “They (Magpies) are struggling but to their credit they fought it out and big losses to some sides can cause a drop-off but they saw the game right out. “We had a few out from last week and we played with 20 after half-time so it was a good effort all things considered. “Jayden (Bootsma) had a bit of soreness still from last week and Kobi Keen hurt his ankle so he might be out for a couple of weeks. “Jyrin (Woods) was really good in his 50th game as well as (Nick) Barrow, (Jackson) Cosh and there were plenty more ... it’s good to have a big spread of players in a win like this. “They are the players that need to be playing well each week for us to be in with a chance. “We worked on some stuff that we hadn’t been doing really well, so it was good to see some of that come through as well.” The Kangas kicked nine goals without a blemish in the first quarter to the Magpies’ two, skipping out to a 41-point lead at the first break after a rampant opening period. The visitors showed grit to stay in the contest throughout the second quarter as Reagan Hutchinson and Bradley Cochrane snagged clever goals to stay within 50 points at the main break. However, six unanswered goals to the home side in the third quarter compounded the Magpies anguish as the game slipped further out of reach. Despite a late goal to Simon Barker, Ross booted two final-quarter goals along with Jackson Cosh to push the margin out to triple figures as the Magpies fell to a second straight defeat. Ross booted a game-high eight goals and could have had plenty more, finishing with 8.6 in an outstanding display. Cosh (three goals) was damaging on the wing and in the forward line to finish as a multiple goal-kicker along with Lucas Ravenhill (three) and Jyrin Woods (three). Woods was damaging with clearances alongside Nathan Crudeli, while Harrison Smith worked hard to set up his teammates from defence. Jackson Davidson showed class with the ball and co-captain Nick Barrow caused plenty of problems playing primarily as a half-forward. For the Magpies, Josh Thompson was their best contributor, marking well overhead across the ground in all four quarters, while Barry Roberts showed plenty of dash off half-back on a difficult day. The Magpies have lost by a combined 286 points in the first two rounds of the new season. Magpies coach Brad Nisbett said the sustained effort was an improvement from last week. ‘The effort was there all day whereas last week the effort dropped off which was the disappointing bit,” he said. “They kept at it all day but in the end we just lacked polish and they took advantage of that. “We tried hard, I thought Josh Thompson was our best and Cody Kerr at centre half-back and Barry Roberts were both impressive too.”