Southern Districts get on the winners board after feasting on a young Palmerston side

SOUTHERN Districts were all class in what became a one-sided affair against a brave, young Palmerston side at Fred’s Pass

Ed Barlow found plenty of the football in his 2019-20 debut for Southern Districts against Palmerston.

SOUTHERN Districts were all class in what became a one-sided affair against a brave, young Palmerston side at Fred’s Pass, the Crocodiles triumphing 21.18 (144) to 7.9 (51).

Palmerston managed to keep it close in the first quarter, but it was an early missed goal for a behind from Dominic Marshall that summed up the rest of the side’s evening.

The floodgates opened in the second quarter with Districts scoring seven goal to none through the likes of former AFL star Ed Barlow and Jayden Clarke, who both had standout performances.

It was this second-quarter performance that set the tone and impressed Crocs coach Shannon Rusca the most.

“The players really focused on what they needed to do, and they all executed superbly,” Rusca told the Sunday Territorian.

“There were some really good contributors out and some really brilliant individual efforts.”

Palmerston returned to the scoring in the third with goals to Dylan Gordon and Broderick Church.

But Districts continued to score with Sam Barnett, who had missed a couple, booting six majors.

Clarke also bagged six for the evening, pushing the margin close to 100.

That differential gave Palmerston something to fight against for team pride, and they managed four goals in the last quarter to beat the ton, however playing-coach Alwyn Davey came off with a knee injury.

“Disappointed with the loss but we’re looking forward to next week,” Davey said.

“The list that we have our rather young, the majority of them are 25 or under so they’re still developing.

“Jack Berry played his first game for us and he was outstanding, we just didn’t utilise him enough.

“We were competitive in the second half and still played hard when we were pretty much down and out.”