Donald “Bunts” Charlton for Four Points

Donald’s Royal Blues have won the second of the now annual Bill “Bunter” Baird Cup match over traditional rivals Charlton in round 7 of North Central Football. 

Played in memory of the  300-plus game Charlton player and Donald publican, committee man and selector, players from both teams threw themselves into the contest in front of a large crowd and Bill’s family, wife Julie, and sons Clinton, Travis and Adam who were all in attendance, brother Kelvin taking his usual position between the big sticks, Charlton’s long serving senior goal umpire.

With a reasonably strong southerly blowing, the visiting Donald side had first use of the breeze at Charlton Park on the first Saturday of winter. Charlton would have welcomed seeing the Donald side run out without regular taunter Ross Young. Last year’s winner of the Baird family’s best on ground award, Young seemingly takes his own football to games against Charlton.  In his absence, Donald would be looking to Jesse Wallin, Dale Kerr and Ryan Hards to do the heavy lifting in the midfield, pitted against Charlton’s Jesse Taylor, Rhyen Woods, and Deek Roberts, into the side for the first time in a number of years, back at Charlton this year to help out brother Ben, who is coaching the reserves team. Despite kicking into the breeze, Charlton was matching its more fancied opponent at the coal face, ruck-man Tyler Fehsler giving away a fair bit in height and reach to the Royal Blues’ Andrew Browne, but breaking even and giving his on-ballers a chance at the stoppages.

Donald able to get on the board, slotting the first major score of the contest, capitalizing on Charlton turnovers, which were far too frequent for a side wanting to improve and be competitive, the Navies their own worst enemy, working hard to win the footy only to make fundamental skill errors and give it back all too easily.  In spite of this, Charlton was able to scrimmage the ball forward, but scrappy ball movement led to rush shots at goal, and minor scores were the result.  Without clean, crisp ball movement to the Charlton forwards, Donald’s defenders were able to mop up, Ryley Barrack taking over from the missing Young, winning the ball at will, the lad mustn’t shower often – no Charlton player wanted to go near him, leaving him to provide a continuous rebound and link between defence and attack, utilizing his deadly boot with the breeze to pump the ball forward.  While both sides would manage seven scoring shots for the quarter, it was Donald with the only two goals on the board come the quarter-time siren, to take a hard fought 10-point lead into the first break.  Supporters from both sides probably a little surprised by the evenness of the contest to this point, many expected the visitors to be running over the top of the Navies.

Starting the second quarter with the wind now at their backs, Charlton’s forwards suddenly looked more dangerous, Chris Gavaghan taking a forward 50 mark and going back to kick truly, a welcome relief to the Navy supporters who finally had something to blast their car horns for – Charlton within a kick early in the second.  Barrack for Donald moved on to a wing and continued to provide the link to keep the Royal Blues in front, Trent Grant waging a tremendous battle with Charlton’s Pat Soulsby from the Donald goal square, while brother Blake was a constant threat to the Charlton back six.  Charlton’s defence, though, through captain Jed Thompson and the ever-reliable Sam Woods – whose intercept marking was a feature throughout the game – hung tough throughout the day, Donald’s forward undoubtedly getting the better service from those further up the ground as Charlton continued to butcher the ball.  Much like last week, when Charlton chose the shorter, simpler option, its ball movement was sleek for the most part, breaking down the Donald defensive structure and at times, making the Royal Blues look slow and disorganized.  A much more productive quarter for both teams, despite the wind advantage, Donald matched Charlton’s three goals, three behinds for the quarter to maintain its 10-point advantage at the long break.

First year Donald coach, Josh Potter, clearly not happy with his team’s approach, came to the bench near the end of the second term to “sort” a few things out with his support team.  While no noticeable changing of the magnets had occurred, Donald appeared after the break with a renewed focus, Andrew Browne lifting his workrate, and Jesse Wallin coming into his own, while Dale Kerr and Ryan Hards continued to be at the bottom of everything for the visitors.  Once again though, the underdog Navies kept themselves in the hunt, scrapping to give themselves a chance at causing an upset and getting their hands on Bunter’s Cup for the first time.  Unfortunately, finesse and finding targets inside forward 50 have not often been the case for Mitch Collins’s team this year, “dirty” ball inside 50 the order of the day, and minor scores or turnovers too often the result of Donald’s venture forward.  

For the third straight quarter, both teams would have the same number of scoring shots, Donald though slightly more accurate in front of the big sticks, their two goals two, enough to stretch the lead to 15 points at the final change, as Charlton could only find the middle once from its four shots on goal.  Charlton lucky not to be further down, saved by a savage shank by a
Donald forward who would rather stay unnamed.

Kicking with the breeze in the last, Charlton should have been a chance to snatch the game, but as the old adage goes, big men don’t get any smaller the longer the game goes, and Donald’s 6 foot 8 inch giant Browne certainly did not, holding a number of telling marks to break down Charlton forward forays, hindering any advances made.  Donald finally breaking the shackles from a desperate Charlton side, battling hard, a battle made harder after losing running machine Harry Taylor to a lower leg injury towards the end of the first half.  Trent Grant finding his kicking boots in the last, put the result beyond doubt with his second of the quarter and fifth for the match, blowing the result out to a 31-point win – probably flattering the visitors a little. Charlton left to wonder “what if?” after a wayward first term.

Final result: Donald 11.14 (80) to Charlton 6.13 (49).

Best for Donald: Ryley Barrack, Andrew Browne, Dale Kerr, Ryan Hards, Trent Grant, Tom Heuston.

For Charlton: Sam Woods, Jed Thompson, Mitch Collins, Bailey Kemp, Deek Roberts, Pat Soulsby.