Wanderers show fitness as they pull away from Palmerston at Cazalys Arena

A CLASSY performance from Simon Bates – who scored a personal record of five goals – lifted Wanderers to a handy 18.14 (122) to 11.8 (74) win over Palmerston at Cazalys Arena

Simon Bates managed a personal record of five goals in his best on ground performance against Palmerston. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

A CLASSY performance from Simon Bates – who scored a personal record of five goals – lifted Wanderers to a handy 18.14 (122) to 11.8 (74) win over Palmerston at Cazalys Arena.

Brett Eddy – who also scored a bag of seven goals – opened the scoring to edge his side in front but Palmerston were quick to reply through a goal from player-coach Alwyn Davey.

Captain Matt Dennis worked hard for his Magpies outfit all night as expected from the big man while Ryan Warfe accounted well for himself.

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However, come the end of the second quarter Wanderers managed to pull away from what had become a back and forth contest to stake their claim on their game.

The combination of Shaun Mannagh and Dane McFarlane in the Muk Muks midfield fed the forward line with plenty of ball which was quickly pounced on by either Eddy or Bates.

Youngster Ronald Fejo also enjoyed plenty of time on the ball for the Eagles.

“We wanted to put them away by a fair bit and show that we could be ruthless with the side we have at the moment,” Bates told the NT News.

“Everything has been about our attitude this year and today that word ruthless was used. We want to be ruthless about our wins instead of just scrapping through.

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“Our fitness pulled through. We knew they were running with us early on while we made mistakes but our fitness near the back end of games has been a big focus so we didn’t panic knowing it would show.

“That haul of five was the most I’ve ever kicked. I’ve kicked four once or twice so (against Palmerston) I pushed myself to get a couple more and I’m pretty happy with that.

“There’s a good feeling around the group at the moment and with our confidence up we can be really dangerous. We’re believing in ourselves but we know every week is a different challenge.”

That dominance continued through the third quarter and though Davey picked up a couple more in the final period it was not enough to ease the deficit.

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Wanderers 2.3 9.9 14.11 18.14 (122)

Palmerston 2.1 6.2 7.6 11.8 (74)

Goals

Wanderers: B Eddy 7 S Bates 5 Joshua Cubillo Joel Cubillo S Mannagh D McFarlane B Hodgson M Mummery

Palmerston: A Davey 3 J Harvey 3 M Sutton M Rankine N Lockyer Jr J Berry E Kelly

Best

Wanderers: S Bates B Eddy S Mannagh D McFarlane R Fejo

Palmerston: M Dennis R Warfe E Guthrie A Davey T Lui