By Mark Heenan
Ocean Grove failed to ignite a bumper sized Easter home crowd as coastal rival Torquay inflicted a 66-point defeat on 15 April.
The 11-goal win from an impressive Torquay at Ray Menzies Oval at Shell Road meant Ocean Grove fell to sixth spot, with a 1-2 record after three rounds.
Final scores were Torquay 16.13 (109) to Ocean Grove 5.13 (43).
“There were not a lot of positives to come out of it,” Ocean Grove coach Paul Lynch told the Voice.
“We did not have a lot of very good players. We lost by nearly 70 points and we are not going to drag many positives from that.”
Lynch praised the efforts of defender Kaiden Long and youngster Matt Caldow’s ability to switch from defence to attack and kick five goals from his first three outings.
Lynch labelled Torquay as the side to beat alongside Barwon Heads.
He said the Grubbers’ poor skills by foot and Torquay’s ability to win the ball on the turnover was crucial.
“From what I have seen so far I think Torquay are the side to beat,” Lynch said.
“They are pretty strong in every department – they have got three or four good forwards.”
Torquay kept the Grubbers goalless in the second term and appeared set for a percentage-boosting win with a decisive 49-point lead at half-time.
Tiger forward duo Billy Henderson and Paul McMahon booted seven goals between them.
Grubber defender Kaiden Long helped reduce the impact of Torquay power forward Scott Hughes, who kicked two goals after his eight-goal haul against Drysdale in round two.
Key forward Jake Carmody was the only multiple goalkicker with two goals for Ocean Grove, while star midfielders Brent Macleod and James Linton played serviceable games.
In other developments, OGFNC president Tony Potter confirmed there was a fault with the club’s state-of-the-art electronic scoreboard during the Easter weekend clash.
“There was a fault with the scoreboard with several panels not working and some (panels) need to be repaired,” Potter said.
No scoreboard was in use prior to half time of the reserves clash.
Torquay proved too strong for Ocean Grove in their reserves clash with an emphatic 78-point win.
The defeat saw Ocean Grove drop to ninth place, with a 0-3 record after three rounds.
Final scores Torquay 18.10 (118) to Ocean Grove 6.4 (40).
The Tigers blitzed the Grubbers with a nine-goal first half and kept the home side goalless in the first quarter.
Ocean Grove trio Adam Gerdtz, Ryan Baker and Harry Rawlings all kicked two goals.
Torquay pair Matthew Sprigg and Darcy Thornton both snared four goals.
Torquay dominated Ocean Grove in both under-18 grading games at Ray Menzies Oval.
Torquay 1 defeated Ocean Grove 1 by 94 points in the higher grading game, 14.18 (102) to 1.2 (8).
In the other game Torquay 2 thrashed Ocean Grove 2 by 104 points, 16.10 (106) to 0.4 (4).
SENIOR SCOREBOARD
TORQUAY 16.13 (109) d OCEAN GROVE 5.13 (43)
Ocean Grove
Goals: J. Carmody 2, B. Macleod, P. West, M. Caldow.
Best: M. Caldow, A. Jarvis, K. Long, J. Linton, B. Macleod.
