GSFL 2023: Railways’ dominant second-half gives them the platform for sixth win of season

Railways claimed a sixth win of the Great Southern Football League season with a crushing 85-point win 20.14 (134) to 7.7 (49) over Mt Barker at Tigerland on Saturday The Bulls hung on during the first half but a dominant six goal to one third term helped guide the reigning premiers to a third-straight win. The Tigers had three big inclusions in Ray Daniels, Lachy Mouritz and Henrick Alforque and they ran out big winners in the end. “The first half was really good, we were still pretty well in control by half-time I thought,” Tigers coach Mark Bayliss said. “Our blokes were good, our best were probably through the midfield, Logan (Stubber) and Beau (Ewen) stood out. “We’re happy with how things are going so far this season, I think we’re on track.” Kane Shephard bagged six goals playing predominantly as a forward while Mouritz, Hayden Sproxton and Joel Want also joined the party with three apiece. With Beau Ewen and Logan Stubber getting busy in the middle and Bodhi Stubber once again a pillar of reliability in the back half, the Bulls were well beaten in the end. The Tigers were off to a positive start charging to a 27-point lead at half-time with Want, Shephard and Daniels booting two goals each in the first half. The visitors weren’t out of the contest but two early third-term goals to Shephard and Sproxton pushed the home side’s lead to 40. David Stone stemmed the flow for the visitors with a simple set shot from 35m out, but goals to Mouritz, Shephard and Sproxton extended the Tigers’ buffer to 63 points at the last change. The Bulls were afforded little respite as the Tigers piled on more misery towards the end of the contest. Mouritz, tucked about against the boundary, put through a spectacular goal early in the last quarter and the Tigers added five more before the final siren. The Bulls snagged three of their own, with forward James Gray finding the big sticks late in the quarter to give his side some joy, but they slumped to a fourth defeat of the year. Darcy Wallinger and Lee Pavlovich were instrumental for the Bulls defensively, while Zach Jackson was their only multiple goal kicker with two. Bulls coach Brad Hook said his young side held up well against an experienced Tigers outfit. “We probably started off slow again, we let them have a four or five goal jump,” he said. “The second quarter we more than stayed with them but they just came out the second half a lot better. Their run and carry was really good and they just used the ball a lot better than us, put us under the pump and we couldn’t stay with them unfortunately. “It was a bit of a learning curve, we had about six colts guys in the team so it was good for them. “Now that we’re almost halfway through the season, it’s been pretty positive really, the two games we’ve played against Railways we’ve been well beaten. “We’ve been pretty much competitive every other game so we’re happy with how we’re sitting for the year.”