By Trent Kniese
A Will Fordham masterclass has provided enough of a spark to get Frankston on the board for 2022.
The Dolphins played their first away game in Round 3 against the Essendon Bombers at The Hangar on Sunday afternoon.
The Dolphins found themselves down early with Essendon’s Sam Conforti kicking the first of the game inside a minute. Josh Begley answered back kicking a beautiful check side snap goal within two minutes.
Essendon led the Dolphins 7.3.45 to 4.5.29 at quarter time.
From there Frankston went on a roll. A six-goal second quarter saw the Dolphins storm back in charge of the game.
Liam Reidy, Jackson Voss and Connor Riley opened the second quarter in style kicking the first three goals.
Will Fordham took a huge intercept mark inside Frankston’s 50 before going back and slotting a set shot from 45 meters to open his big day on the scoreboard.
The Dolphins dominated the disposal count winning by 71 touches (375-304). Frankston also averages 49 inside 50s for the year but had 65 against the Dons.
Will Fordham kicked his second four minutes into the third, where Essendon started to show some resistance to Frankston’s huge momentum-swinging second quarter.
Josh Stern and Josh Begley ended the third quarter perfectly, with both kicking goals in the final moments of the quarter.
The final quarter was all Frankston. Fordham kicked his third and fourth goals early in the quarter which included an amazing dash from 50 metres out, running into an open goal. Mynott and Newman kicked their second goals during the final term, as well. The Dolphins ran away to be 30-point winners.
Final Score:
Essendon 16.12.108
Frankston 20.18.138
KEY STATISTICS:
- Will Fordham had 38 disposals, 14 clearances, and four goals.
- Trent Mynott had 33 disposals and two goals.
- Josh Newman had 30 disposals and two goals.
- Bill Mackay had 27 disposals and eight clearances marks.
- Austin Bradtke had 15 hit outs and four tackles.
GOALS:
- Will Fordham- 4
- Josh Begley- 2
- Tom Murphy- 2
- Trent Mynott- 2
- Josh Newman- 2
- Angus Grant- 1
- Liam Reidy- 1
- Ned Shannon- 1
- Josh Stern- 1
- Jackson Voss- 1
- Will Walker- 1
- Max Williams- 1
- Connor Riley- 1
For those who couldn’t make it to the game on Sunday, a complete replay of the game may be viewed online here.
Frankston has a bye in Round 4 and will play North Melbourne in Round 5 at 7.05pm on Sunday, April 24th at SkyBus Stadium.
