By Des Rolfe

Everyone expected to witness a typical top-of-the-table clash at the Croc Pit on Saturday.  

It turned out to be anything but.  Third placed Crocs were at home to League ladder leaders The Saints.  Was it a titanic neck and neck struggle to the final siren? 

No, it was not!  

In the Senior match the Saints flooded their back-line in the first half and the Crocs found it difficult to punch holes in the wall of defenders in order to score.  Low scoring, gritty - not pretty - football was the result.

Both teams left the field at the long break on five goals a-piece.

Coach Brad Cooper's half-time address obviously switched on the magic "go" button in each of his players, as a new look squad returned to the fray for the second half.

The Crocs were determined to cause the Saints defensive wall to crumble.

Like Jericho, it all came tumbling down.  

It would be utterly unfair to single out individual players for the Crocs because they won so convincingly due to a 22 man effort.  The skill level notched up from a 3 to a 9; sloppy field kicking was eliminated; turnovers were minimized; team talk, shepherding and hunting in packs became the Crocs modus operandi.  The Saints appeared shell-shocked and wheels fell off everywhere.  The further the game went the more the score-board kicked over in the Crocs' favour. A 13 to 2 goal last quarter says it all .  

It was great to see so many Saints players in the Crocs' clubrooms after the game having a drink and a chat.  Coops' awards went to Dillan Prater, excellent in the mid-field; Antony Sercombe, very valuable up-forward; Josh Lea giving "heaps of drive when it counted" Michael KB dashing in defence; Damien Williams "goal sneak" , Darren Garth - great team player; Kaine Freyling, dashing ground coverage.  On an unfortunate note Scotty Roberts sustained a serious knee injury and his season may be over.  

Like the Senior game the Reserves staged a very even contest for the first quarter with 2 goals apiece at the first siren.

From the beginning of the second quarter though, an undermanned Saints team were overwhelmed and were unable to score for the remainder of the match.  The Crocs dominance was evidenced by their score-line as they rattled on 7 goals in each of the subsequent three quarters.

In an absolutely outstanding display of crumbing, opportunistic football, Ash Davidson finished with 9 goals. Great effort.

At the after-match presentations Reserves coach "Heff" praised his 22 man squad for pressing home their advantage.  Awards went to Jack Lowe who set the field alight; Shaun Ladds who was in every contest; Ash Davidson for a great exhibition of lightning fast football; that generator of team play Andrew MacLeod and Gavin Jacks for persistent forward effort.

Special mention to Ethan McCullough who continued his good form from last week.