Parkside Magpies swoop on second spot with a thumping 50-point win over West Footscray Roosters in top-four WRFL clash

CLINICAL is the only way to describe Parkside’s demolition of West Footscray in Western Region Football League Division 2 on Saturday.

CLINICAL is the only way to describe Parkside’s demolition of West Footscray in Western Region Football League Division 2 on Saturday.

On paper, the top-four clash shaped as a classic, but the game was anything but, with the 50-point victory underlining the Magpies class.

At quarter-time, the Roosters were scoreless, with the Magpies putting 4.3 on the scoreboard.

The margin was stretched to 37 at half-time, putting the writing on the wall for a runaway victory.

West Footscray put the game on their terms in the third quarter, reducing the margin back to 17 points at the final break.

But a 7.6 to 2.0 gave Parskide an emphatic 15.13 (103) to 7.8 (50) victory.

Parkside coach Nathan Juegan spoke about the importance of the game prematch.

“I did touch on starting well,” Juegan said.

“We didn’t make the most of our opportunities in the first quarter, but everything I asked the boys to do, they did. To our boys credit, all the KPIs were well up.”

Luke Buttigieg racked up 48 possessions, while skipper Chris Muratore collected 40 himself. Aaron McHutchinson and Dylan Davies were also vital.

McHutchinson kept Roosters’ forward Damien Yze to one goal, while Davies “was huge” in the ruck, replacing No.1 big man Alex Lockart who injured his knee last week.

Eleven individual goalscorers also pleased the coach.

“It’s something we touched on, having 12-14 goalkickers,” Juegan said.

“Brent Kelly keeps popping up every week with three or four, and we rotate our mids very heavily through the forward line.

“It’s deserving we won by 50 points. We were on top all day.”

The win all but guarantees a top-four spot for Parkside before the division split after Round 13.

“At the start of the year, I’d take that. We dropped one against Glen Orden that we shouldn’t have, but in hindsight, maybe it was better for us. When we play a good brand of footy, we can beat anyone,” Juegan said.

Elsewhere, Braybrook fell three goals short of Sanctuary Lakes, while North Footscray suffered an 80-point loss to Manor Lakes. In Division 1, Spotswood recorded a thumping 236-point win over Port Melbourne Colts, while Sunshine beat Yarraville-Seddon by 91 points.