Waratah dominate St Mary’s scoring nine unanswered first half goals

Reigning premiers St Mary’s entered Gardens Oval with hopes of replicating their grand final win, but Waratah held their nerve and delivered a bruising defeat. WATCH THE REPLAY

NINE unanswered first half goals and a rock solid backline allowed Waratah to both beat reigning premiers St Mary’s and send a message to the rest of the NTFL.

The reigning premiers came to Gardens Oval with the hopes of repeating their grand final win, but Tahs held their nerve and incredibly crushed their foes 21.12 (138) to 5.7 (37).

Waratah brought the pressure and intensity first shunting Saints off the ball and depriving any scoring chance in the opening half.

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Dylan Collis and Daniel O’Dwyer led the defensive effort covering last year’s Dennis Dunn leading goal scorer Jackson Calder at every opportunity.

The pressure and quick turnovers made it easier for Tahs to move forward playing the ball effectively up the ground and beat their opposition in the midfield.

A handy kick through from Darcy Hope found the hands of Tahs recruit Tom Banuelos who booted the opener.

Saints tried to respond with captain Nate Paredes working hard, but a missed snap goal for a behind from usual ace Dylan Landt set the tone for the Saints’ night.

Waratah’s Brodie Carroll captained his side to victory in the opening round against St Mary’s. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Tahs kept it simple early on taking their opportunities when they came and by half time were nine unanswered goals ahead thanks to Banuelos, Jayden Magro and cameos from the likes of Jake McCreery and Kurtley Silver.

Saints found some bite in the third quarter having up to then relied on the defence of Kieran Parnell and Grant Gallus to keep the score from spiraling out of control.

Landt found more time on the ball as the game opened up and eventually found Joseph Salmon up front for the side’s first genuine scoring chance.

Salmon, who the team were wearing black armbands for following the death of his father during the week, slotted the goal and finally Saints had a real score.

Jayden Magro was busy for Waratah all night. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Usual back Gallus also scored a popular goal, his first in a Saints jumper, after making the move forward and Calder bagged himself a couple as well.

However, normal proceedings returned in the final quarter as Waratah hammered home their advantage.

Former Banks man Eddie Morris was the big benefactor in the final term scoring three goals to secure his side’s dream start to the season.

“It’s pretty good to win this. One thing we really wanted to do from last year was keep the majority of our list and we did that adding some high end talent,” Collis said.

“We wanted to get a win like this over the line now, because we don’t play them again until the second last round, so this gives us a chance to set up for the rest of the year.

“As a back line we wanted to get on the ball so as soon as we turned the ball over we were moving it forward. It’s just so hard to defend so the quicker the turnover the better.

“We want to play an exciting brand of footy, take the game on and just make it really hard to defend against us.”

Score:

Waratah: 3.1 9.5 11.10 21.12 (138)

St Mary’s: 0.2 0.2 3.6 5.7 (37)

Goals:

Waratah:

Tom Banuelos 4

Jayden Magro 3,

Eddie Morris 3,

Darcy Hope 2,

Marcus Wattie 2,

Jake McCreery,

Adam Gulden,

Kurtley Silver,

Robbie Turnbull,

Brodie Carroll,

Jack Cattanach,

Thomas Cree

St Mary’s:

Jackson Calder 2,

Joseph Salmon,

Grant Gallus,

Dylan Landt

Best:

Waratah:

Dylan Collis,

Daniel O’Dwyer,

Tom Banuelos,

Jayden Magro

Jake Bowd

St Mary’s:

Kieran Parnell,

Nathaniel Paredes,

Grant Gallus,

Nick Yarran,

Joseph Salmon