Hot Pies hammer lacklustre Eagles

Busselton oozed class and confidence during last Saturday’s impressive 75-point victory over Collie Eagles at the Collie Recreation Ground.

The visitors, who bolted clear from the opening bounce, punctuated their victory with sweeping runs off the half-back line — often outnumbering the Eagles three to one in contests around the ground.

Reegan Mrsich (three goals) set the tone early for the Magpies by presenting superbly across the half-forward line and leaving the Eagles’ defenders chasing non-existent shadows throughout the gloomy afternoon.

Despite the home side dominating the stoppages through excellent tap work from Jared Debenham, the Eagles’ mosquito fleet were often unable to execute under pressure once in possession.

Leading by 23 points at quarter-time, Steve Lester’s men peppered the scoreboard in the second term but only had 2.9 to show for their pressure.

However despite the inaccuracy, the Magpies’ supporters cheered on impressive youngster Tom Kusal, who showed he could have a big future in senior football.

Kusal’s productive afternoon was capped off by two excellent run-and-carry goals in the first half — efforts which drew praise from Lester post-game.

“Tommy is a first-year player out of colts and he had a bit of an interrupted year in 2018,” he said. “He started the colts season really well and then had to go up north for work and missed a big chunk of footy.

“He committed himself to complete a pre-season and it was only his third league game, as he received a concussion in round 1.”

The Eagles were held goalless until the fifth minute of the third term, when Alex Tweedie crafted a clever snap across his body to break the drought for his side.

Unimpressed with the scrappy nature creeping into his side’s display, Lester reinforced fundamentals to his side at the final change — with the Magpies responding with 7.2 in the last quarter.

Jackson Arbon and Mitchell Tenardi were essentially unattended in the Busselton forward line during this onslaught — much to the disbelief of Eagles coach Seth White.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Busselton as they are one of the better teams we have played,” he said.

“The way they set up is as good as I have seen for a while, but in saying that, we were non-existent in effort and our attitude wasn’t right. Obviously we had key personnel missing, but that doesn’t make up for a lack of effort.”