Brumbies fall short

Baldivis Brumbies 11.8 (74) missed out on making it three wins on the bounce last Saturday when they were narrowly defeated by high-flyers Pinjarra 12.8 (80) at Sir Ross McClarty Oval.

A young Baldivis side growing in confidence travelled to the second-placed Tigers, knowing a tough battle lay ahead, with the home side living up to expectations as they led at quarter-time.

In an entertaining second term, the Brumbies kicked five goals of their own to narrow the gap to two points at the main break, with the visitors’ impressive intensity spurring them in front in the third term.

The Brumbies appeared to be headed for an important victory as they found themselves three goals up in the final term, but Pinjarra capitalised on some vital mistakes to punish them.

Baldivis coach Craig Hamersley said the loss was a tough one to swallow. “Our intensity was up and it was probably the first time we’ve displayed that sort of fight this year, which was a positive for us to take away from the game,” he said.

“I feel like we handed the game over with a few little mistakes that we made.

“There were points in the last quarter where we were in a really comfortable position three goals up and just squandered our lead.”

Hamersley praised the performances of Chase Strange, Kyle Westwood, Hayden Lynn, Aden Field and midfielder Edward Dann, who booted four goals.

“We had five or six outs from the week before,” he said.

“We also had two debutants who really brought a level of intensity we weren’t expecting from them and that went a long way to helping the rest of the group.”

Baldivis now turn their attention to a massive home clash against top-of-the-ladder Centrals.

The first bounce is at 2.30pm at Baldivis Oval on Sunday.