Benalla broken open by a rampaging first quarter from Shepparton United

A blustery beginning provided the host with literal wind in its sails, with seven first-quarter majors proving enough for United to tack on towards a 15.14 (104) to 9.10 (64) victory.

Benalla playing coach Jarrad Waite, who did not feature on the day, lamented his outfit’s slow emergence from the blocks going against the gust.

“Coming into today, we were really focused on our first quarter; I think we were 47 points down at quarter-time — we had a couple of opportunities on goal and we missed them,” he said.

“Three or four of their goals were just from decision making errors from us and it puts them in the lead.

“Especially in conditions like this and playing away, we sort of fought back, but you can’t give away a 47-point lead to anyone these days.

“We just didn’t show up and they did and that was basically it in a nutshell.

“I’m happy with their effort in the second half, but still not happy with the way we were in the first quarter.”

United got things under way with a long bomb, smartly using the conditions to their advantage.

Jesse Cucinotta launched one off his lime green boot from 50 to kick off the day — but a bombshell of a different variety soon arrived after.

Kyle Clarke went careening into the boards behind the goals, eliciting a nasty shudder upon impact from which the Demon was forced from the park and eventually taken to hospital with a sickening head wound.

After a minor break, it was back to business for United.

Wind played a heavy factor as the home side wreaked havoc on Benalla, forcing errors as the Saints struggled to break out of their defensive 50 for the first 10 minutes.

Jack McCartney and Liam Serra were doing work for the Demons up forward and, soon, United was up by almost 50 at the first change of ends following a mammoth 35 minute quarter.

In the second term, Serra got the train rolling again after a dormant first five and despite a pair of Benalla goals, the muffled celebrations indicated the state of affairs.

United’s shortened kicking game against the wind stifled Benalla’s potential run on, and up the other end the Saints were missing some usually gettable kicks.

However, Patrick Warner was able to provide some late joy and added his second near the half-time siren.

United took the reins again throughout the early stages of the third term, surging ahead with a trio of goals, but it seemed the game’s ebb and flow had come to a grinding halt with little noise left from the lines.

Cue Benalla, which brought the boom right back in the last.

Will O’Donoghue and Tyler McGregor kicked truly within a minute of each other, and another from Wade King had the travelling fans chirping for good reason.

But the best was yet to come.

Aaron Blackburn went knee over shoulders for the Saints, taking a highlight reel-worthy mark and converting with style to inject more confidence into Benalla.

However, Kaedyn Napier booted one back down the other end to curtail the Saints’ resurgence, all but sealing an almost perfect day at the office for United.

Waite spoke about the promising last quarter effort from his side, saying that kind of effort across four quarters will be required against Mansfield this coming weekend.

“We played the way we have for the second half of the year, we cracked in, defended really well and then when we got the ball we used the free and went forward,” he said.

“Sometimes people overcomplicate footy, but it just shows in that first quarter when you’re not putting pressure on the opposition and not winning the ball yourself, it’s a very hard game.

“With we’re at, we need to be on from the start, it’s really important for us. We’ll go back this week and really work on that.

“We play Mansfield next week who are going pretty well, they absolutely touched us up last time so we understand that if we’re not on, it turns into a pretty solid defeat.”

Against United, Christopher Welsh headlined the Saints’ best and Warner also finished the day with three majors.