Ruthless Bulls pile on pain

Mt Barker has moved into top spot in the Great Southern Football League standings after a comprehensive 186-point victory against Albany at Centennial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Bulls had the edge from the opening bounce and were merciless as they finished with a 30.18 (198) to 2.0 (12) result.

Bulls coach Shane Thompson moved Daniel Dalby to the half forward line and was rewarded with seven goals.

“As a coaching group we experimented with a few different options and we think we’ve got a few things we can use going forward,” he said.

“Obviously Dalby kicked seven and we swung (Jack) Horrocks to centre half-back and he was solid down there so that was pleasing.

“We locked it in our forward 50 really well so we walk away with some confidence in playing the sort of footy that I want us to play.”

The Bulls dominated from the outset, kicking seven goals in the first quarter, 10 in the second and another seven in the third before the Sharks registered their first goal early in the fourth quarter.

The Sharks have typically shown strong signs in the early stages of matches; however, this wasn’t the case on Saturday as a stacked Bulls side outclassed them across the ground in their heaviest defeat since round 14, 2015.

Sharks coach Scott Sedgwick said his side was beaten in the midfield.

“It wasn’t pretty,” he said.

“They dominated in the midfield; they got first use in the middle and we just couldn’t stop it.”

Fraser Eaton was a shining light for the Sharks as a colts age player. Eaton took several strong marks and used the ball well all day.

Key forward Daniel Parker finished with eight goals while Corey Byrne and Nic Chidgzey were highly influential for the Bulls in the midfield.

Meanwhile, Sharks’ midfielder Nathan Woods had his six-game suspension for a late elbow to Royals’ Arana O’Byrne in round 6 reduced to four matches following a successful appeal by the Sharks last week.