Tigers Hosie down the Bloods

By ZAC MILBANK

It might not be your night but it can be your moment.

And it’s fair to say Glenelg’s livewire forward Lachie Hosie lived this theme to full extent as the Bays produced a stirring 16-point win against West Adelaide at City Mazda Stadium on Wednesday night.

Hosie’s personal game was a microcosm of his team’s as he threatened to break the contest open in the third before helping burst the dam open in a rampant final quarter which yielded six goals for the visitors while keeping West to just one.

With outstanding captain Chris Curran and his deputy Max Proud keeping the Tigers in the game with their stunning defence and intercept marking, Hosie was set to rue a string of three consecutive behinds as his team tried to claw back into the contest.

In the space of three minutes during the third term, Hosie – pictured above – missed from 10m at the top of the goal square and twice from kickable angles inside 50m as the Bays limped to 4.11 at the final change.

But everything changed as Mark Stone’s men produced a final quarter flurry and it was the Tigers’ No.20 right in the thick of it.

Marlon Motlop – who worked incredibly hard both ways for the Bays to collect a team high 25 disposals – snapped truly from 20m to cut the margin to eight points.

Then, within 120 seconds, Hosie put his side in front as he got on the end of two pieces of neat team play to run into two open goals.

The first was a deep ball inside 50m which he won the race for ahead of fellow forward Luke Reynolds, who also booted two final term majors to help seal the deal.

The second came from an outstanding handpass from Geelong recruit Cory Gregson, who cleared the congestion to put Hosie into a position of advantage.

By the time Darcy Bailey threw the ball into his boot in traffic to put Glenelg in front by 9 points nearing time-on, the game’s complexion had completed changed.

The Tigers put another on the board from Reynolds before controlling the clock as Westies tried valiantly to put themselves back in front.

West’s midfield, led by Will Snelling with 27 touches, had been winning the arm wrestle for the majority of the night.

But ultimately, those like captain Tom Keough who battled hard for 21 disposals and eight clearances, former skipper Chris Schmidt and star on-baller Kaine Stevens, faded in the final term after previously doing the bulk of the grunt work for the hosts.

It will be a tough result to swallow for the Bloods given they produced their best football of the season in eclipsing the Eagles by 37 points just five days earlier at the same venue.

Suddenly, instead of keeping in touch with the top five at 2-3, the Bloods now remain ninth with a 1-4 win-loss count ahead of a Round 6 engagement with South Adelaide at Flinders University Stadium.

In contrast, Glenelg now sits with a 3-1-1 win-loss-draw record ahead of its next clash in Round 6 against the Eagles at ACH Group Stadium.

GLENELG  1.2  2.6  4.11  10.14 (74)

WEST  4.2  5.4  7.7  8.10 (58)

LEADING DISPOSALS – Glenelg: Motlop 25, Curran 24, Proud 19, Nicholson 18, Scharenberg 17, Partington, Snook 16.

West: Snelling 27, Schmidt 22, Keough 21, K. Stevens 20, Johnson, Noble 19, Waite, Willsmore 18.

GOALS – Glenelg: Reynolds, Hosie 3, Gregson 2, Bailey, Motlop.

West: Beech, Middleton, G. Turner 2, Noble, Waite.