St Mary’s finds attacking mojo in dominant win over Watsonia

A virtuoso performance from Nick Dean helps St Mary’s rediscover its attacking mojo and secure a dominant win over Watsonia.

Jake Dambrauskas in action for St Mary’s. Picture: Andy Brownbill

A dominant offensive outburst delivered St Mary’s its first win of the season on Saturday.

After scoring just 45 and 53 points in the first two NFNL Division 2 games the Burras exploded, hammering Watsonia by 72 points at Binnak Park.

Co-captain Nick Dean slotted eight goals in a virtuoso performance, leading his team to a breakout 23.11 (149) to 11.11 (77) victory.

Already leading by 25 points at quarter-time, St Mary’s all but ended the contest with a 10-goal second term, expanding the margin to 71 points at half-time.

St Mary’s coach Fabian Carelli said it was just one of those days for his team.

Lachlan Read in action for St Mary’s. Picture: Andy Brownbill

“We’d obviously struggled early doors in the first couple of rounds but everything seemed to click for us,” he said.

“The second quarter was as good a footy as I’ve seen a St Mary’s team play since I’ve been at the club.

“We got on top in the stoppages and clearances and used the ball really well and Nick Dean was on fire, he was marking everything.

“It helps when you’ve got Jack Bianchin and Tane Cotter in there winning clearances and Rory Hanlon, after not playing the first two rounds, made a big difference too.”

The Burras advantage was almost 100 points at three-quarter-time before Watsonia kicked six goals in the fourth term to add some respectability to the scoreboard.

Dean was the headline act as the Burras found their attack mojo.

“Nick started in the goalsquare but was taking marks up on centre wing, his work-rate was huge,” Carelli said.

“He caught fire so we directed a lot of ball through him, he was marking everything – clean one grabbers – and nobody could get near him.

St Mary’s Ricky Wait gets a kick. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The delivery was fantastic to him as well.

“It was just one of those days, we kicked straight, a couple of nice goals from the boundary.”

Jack Cicitta played wingman to Dean, kicking five goals, while Mitch Green was dominant in defence for the Burras.

For Watsonia, Austin Sinclair was the Saints’ best in defeat, while Josh Boulton, Harrison Sinclair and Daniel Annetta were strong contributors.

After a 93-point defeat to Eltham last week, the win is a much-needed confidence boost for St Mary’s.

Carelli said his team took some important lessons from the loss and will look to carry the momentum into a clash against Northcote Park.

“We learned a little bit about ourselves (against Eltham) … there were some parts where we were really competitive but we just couldn’t sustain it for long enough,” Carelli said.

“We’ve picked up some pointers from there and took it into the weekend, which helped.

“We’ll get some confidence out of that and take it up to Northcote Park.

“You look at their top six, top eight players are as good as any in the competition – if not the best – so we’ll have a real challenge.

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“They’ve got to come to our ground, which is a little bit unique, that they’ve never played at before so that will be a challenge for them as well.”

Watsonia will look to bounce back when they travel to Main Street to take on Thomastown.

The Bears will also be looking to respond after a 40-point loss to Eltham, while Diamond Creek were too good for Lower Plenty, winning by 94 points.

South Morang continued its unbeaten start in Division 2 with a 94-point hammering of Epping and Northcote Park poured more misery on Panton Hill, claiming a 43-point victory.