Magpies fall to third after being no match for high-flying Lions in penultimate round of the season

Denmark-Walpole slipped to third position after suffering their biggest defeat of the season, with a lowly performance against the red-hot Royals at Centennial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Magpies went into the penultimate round of the Great Southern Football League season in second place but by the finish had dropped to third and could fall to fourth place if results don’t go their way this weekend. The Lions trailed narrowly at quarter-time but asserted their authority with a five-goal second term and they put the Magpies to the sword in the second half to win by 72 points. Kicking against the breeze in the third term, the Lions won the quarter kicking three goals to two as David Parker, who played predominately as a forward, Rivah Bocian and Ryan Kinnear all booted majors. The home side stretched the margin to 34 points by three-quarter-time and the floodgates opened in the final term as they piled on six unanswered goals to coast to their ninth straight win in the shortened 2020 season. Paul Donaldson provided a terrific target at centre half-forward and kicked 3.3 while Bocian, Declan McNamara, Tom Maslen and David Parker were also multiple goal kickers as the Lions careered away to a big win, 15.9 (99) to 4.3 (27). Cameron Allison was the dominant midfielder on the ground with 33 possessions, eight marks and his second-quarter goal. Tom Maslen was terrific at stoppages, McNamara had 25 touches and was very damaging in the opening half while Brayden Parker again had a big influence, setting his team up from behind the ball. Lions assistant coach Adam Cooper said his team had plenty of contributors. “In the second quarter we imposed ourselves,” he said. “It was generated from the midfield and half-back. “For us its about starting to settle our rotations and team make-up and give us confidence heading into finals.” The Lions were still without key personnel Jayson Ford, Michael McGlade and Jordan Heil. The Magpies were left to rue two scoreless quarters and they struggled to cover the absence of key players Ryan Gaerth (back), Shayne Zanetti (ankle), Ash Smith (personal) and Dionne Woods (soreness). The visitors pulled in Hendrix Ropiha to play his first game in the absence of their ruckmen Zanetti and Jarrad Brack. Alec Haskins was the Magpies’ best contributor and he was well supported by David Scriven, Jackson Whooley and Jayden Woods (27 disposals) while Henry Woods booted three goals. “We still wanted to win but we did have next week on our minds a bit,” co-coach Gaerth said. “Their structure held up over a long period and we couldn’t maintain possession at half forward and their slingshot footy got us.”