The Dolphin’s are on the board!
A clinical Frankston have demolished North Melbourne by 50-points on their home deck in front of a massive crowd at Skybus Stadium.
Fittingly, it was skipper Josh Newman who busted through the half forward stoppage to break the 399-day winning drought and seal the 16.14 (110) to 8.12 (60) victory.
Corey Rich got on the end of a short pass from Alfie Jarnestrom to open Frankston’s account in the opening minutes and the Dolphin’s didn’t look back.
Lachie Williams was handed a 50m penalty at half-forward following a clever mark to give the Dolphins their second and a handy buffer at quarter-time.
But it was a second term blitz that ultimately lead to the defeat of North Melbourne.
The defenders were Herculean, the midfielders were stylish and the forwards opened their trick bag as Frankston ran away with the game in the second quarter.
Max Williams won the ball at high half-forward and delivered to Yilber Zijai who got the avalanche of goals tumbling for the Dolphin’s.
From the very next stoppage Goy Lok emerged and weighted the ball to Corey Rich for his second of the match.
Mitch McCarthy took the ball from the ruck and penetrated it forward over the back of the pack, it looked to be trickling out of bounds before Corey Rich handballed blind over his head to Josh Newman in the goal square for another.
The majors continued to add up as Zijai kicked his third for the term and was shortly followed by Rich who kicked his third for match after his brutal tackle inside 50 was rewarded.
The Dolphin’s have previously had issues converting when inside 50 and has cost them momentum in the past. However, after twenty-minutes of dazzling football, the Dolphin’s added six majors without a behind.
North Melbourne surged late in attempt to mount a comeback, with two unanswered goals the Dolphin’s needed to respond. Jason Kingsbury was the man to do so, with a crafty crumbing goal from the goal square.
Nathan Freeman and Will Fordham were monumental in the centre of the ground, respectively having 17 disposals at the half. Whilst Angus Styles had laid six tackles.
The Dolphin’s went into the main break with a lead of 35, their biggest of the season to date. Coach Danny Ryan was pleased with the effort in the opening half but wasn’t willing to praise his side yet, convincing to his side it wasn’t won yet.
The third term was going to be the clincher and when North kicked the first major of the second half then continued to add repeat inside 50s, the Kangaroo’s threatened to snatch the un-winnable.
But the Frankston side was composed in defence and knew when it was there time to pounce. Needing a settler, Goy Lok went long and direct to debutant Bailey Schmidt who juggled the mark and more importantly put it through.
Following the Schmidt major, the Dolphin’s clicked back into gear and begun to play the damaging brand of football that was on display in the opening half.
After some slick ball movement from half-back, local boy Jason Kingsbury arched his back, took on the tackler and slammed it over the umpire’s head, putting the Dolphin’s up by 43-points and sending the Frankston crowd into a frenzy.
At three-quarter time Ryan demanded his Dolphin’s to play 25 more minutes of hungry football to ensure they finish the game the same way they have played throughout the day.
North Melbourne pressed once more in the opening stages of the final term but the Frankston back six were tremendous. Gordon and Mullane defensively outstanding.
But it was Chris Diggle as he had done all day, setting up goals from half-back and protecting the defensive 50 as if his life depended on it.
With 23 minutes gone in the final term, the crowd, the players and the coaches knew it was over but it was time for the icing on the cake, that’s when skipper Josh Newman strolled through the stoppage with panache and sent through Frankston’s final goal in what was a clinical afternoon of football.
After several games where Frankston should have come away victors, Danny Ryan says that there wasn’t a big difference in the brand of football played against North Melbourne in comparison to other clubs, it was just sustained for longer.
“Not a lot, but the difference is today we were able to do it for longer.
“There has been a lot of that capability that you would’ve seen today, today we played well for 100/120 minutes and previously we have delivered that style of football in only five minute, ten minute bursts in quarters.
“Last week in the second quarter against Port Melbourne, we were probably even more dominant than we were today and that was against the number two team,” Ryan said.
Throughout the whole day, the leaders were magnificent, Freeman, Newman, Fordham were destructive in the middle, whilst Ferreira and Mullane were brilliant in defence.
“I think they have been outstanding in the past three or four weeks, having them all play together around the midfield and even with Ferreira going back and Mullane in the backline, that’s two leaders in the backline.
“The supporting cast of other leaders have actually really grown legs, guys like Liam Hiscock and Dylan Gordon, they’re all leaders as well so for them to step up and start leading as such gives a weight of numbers to leadership.
“Hopefully that can share the load a bit but I thought Newman was good, Fordham is in an outstanding patch of form and Freeman was back to his best today, so our leaders are really getting the job done,” Ryan said.
In recent weeks the Dolphin’s have suffered losses that don’t often reflect the contest, but this week it was them who got to inflict the belting, Ryan believes learning how to thrash sides is another factor that helps his group grow.
“I think it invents belief in what we have been doing, we have been playing good football but not for long enough.
“Until you get the win, the belief that it’s true is only me saying it, so for them to actually feel it is a different thing because I can sense it and see it but for them to actually experience it and feel it is a totally different believe and hopefully it can fuel there desire to do it repeatedly.
“That’s what good teams do, they grow off the belief that they’re good enough and start to display their capability for longer,” He said.
The Dolphin’s will shrug off their first win of the year and head down to Geelong next Saturday following a six day break in attempt to make it back to back wins.
SCORE
Frankston 16.14.110 DEFEATS North Melbourne 8.12.60
GOALS
Rich 3, Zijai 3, Kingsbury 2, Newman 2, Schmidt 2, Harnett 1, Jarnestrom 1, Lok 1, Williams 1.
DISPOSALS
Freeman 34, Fordham 29, Newman 20.
BEST:
Diggle, Fordham, Ferreira, Freeman, Harnett, Styles.
By Tyler Lewis
Dolphins Digital Media Team
