Leading from the front: Kyle Maynard was dominant in the midfield for Avenel at the weekend.
Photo by
Aydin Payne
It was a successful return to Avenel Recreation Reserve for the home-town Swans at the weekend, recording dominant victories in the seniors and reserves to move to 2-0 in both competitions.
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Coming off a scrappy six-point win over arch-rival Nagambie in round one, it was a much-improved performance in the seniors on Saturday afternoon as the Swans dominated from start to finish to come away with a convincing 14.15 (99) to 4.11 (35) win over a new-look Dookie United squad.
Starting off with five unanswered goals in the first term, Avenel got better as the game went on, with its slick ball movement and hardness at the contest particular highlights of the victory.
Swans coach Kasey Duncan said he was proud of the way his team responded.
“We were able to play the footy we wanted to play, which was great after our game against Nagambie which probably wasn’t our best performance,” Duncan said.
“There was a challenge to the midfield group after last week — we needed to do better, and to their credit they responded brilliantly, which was awesome.
“Our overall intensity around the ball was a particular highlight. We were able to cause turnovers and win the ball at the coalface, which really allowed us to play our brand of footy.”
Managing 29 scoring shots to Dookie’s 15, the Swans were on song ahead of the ball, which was another area that really pleased Duncan.
“With the weather being a bit better, we were really able to see our attacking, first give game style come to fruition, which was fantastic,” he said.
“Our rebound out of defence was particularly impressive and we were able to give our forwards good looks and our entries into attacking 50 were much improved from last week, which was great.
“Having not lost at Avenel since 2019 it was fantastic to be back at our fortress, and with the ground in great nick it really helped us get our game style going.”
Happy coach: Avenel mentor Kasey Duncan was very pleased with his team’s performance at the weekend.
Photo by
Aydin Payne
It was a solid all-round team performance by the men in red and white, but there were a host of standout performances across the ground, with a couple of individuals particularly standing out to Duncan.
“We were led brilliantly by captain Kyle Maynard all day. He dominated at stoppages and probably would have ended up with 20-plus clearances, so his work was well noticed,” Duncan said.
“The inclusion of Mitch Tobin was also big for the group and he showed his hard-nosed character around the contest, so he’s going to be a big addition for us through the season.”
In the reserves, Avenel showed its incredible depth, recording a resounding 19.19 (133) to 0.0 (0) win over Dookie United.
Dominating the game from start to finish, the Swans didn’t give the hapless Power an inch, maintaining their intensity from the first bounce until the final siren.
With much of the team enjoying a great day out, Andrew Dowling and Adrian Pendlebury were the standouts for the Swans, while up forward it was Josh Carrafa who carried the load, slotting four goals after enjoying some great supply across the day.
Unfortunately the Swans couldn’t translate their football dominance on to the netball court, falling 61-42 to Dookie in the A-grade contest.
In B-grade, Avenel was able to get up in a tight 35-30 contest, while in the younger divisions the Swans recorded victories in the under-17, under-15 and under 13 encounters.
