It was hardly the greatest of lead-ups, and it probably reflected in their sluggish opening - nonetheless, the Northern Bullants should have been ready for what was the first hit-out with North Ballarat since the 2009 VFL Grand Final.

With the earlier game running overtime and a subsequent hold-up in the unfurling of the premiership pennant, pre-game preparations were somewhat thrown out of kilter. Nonetheless you front up ready to play and as Carlton Development and Academy Manager Darren Harris declared: “’Teaguey’ (Coach David Teague) was a little bit disappointed we didn’t have that real aggressive approach early in the match”.

“We fumbled a bit, we didn’t hit the body hard as the Bullants often do, and the signs were a bit worrying early,” Harris said.

“But once Teaguey got to them at quarter time there was a definite change. We kicked four or five goals in the first ten minutes and actually hit the front - and to do that definitely showed that the attitude early was just off a little bit.”

Of obvious interest were the performances of both Bret Thornton and Jarrad Waite, who’d been given a spell in the wake of the senior team’s insipid showing against Essendon. Thornton opened up at full-forward, with Waite fulfilling the more customary duty as the rebounding half-back, and both players fronted in the right frame of mind.

In retrospect Thornton probably should have opened up in defence to get some early touch, but as Harris observed, “‘T-Bird’ finished strongly and ‘Waitey’ really got us into the game with his run in the second quarter”.

In the end, the disciplined Roosters again prevailed - 13. 10 (88) to the Bullants’ 10.10 (70) - in windswept conditions at Eureka Stadium.

Amongst the better contributors were the hardened competitor Richard Hadley, together with Sam Jacobs, a clearly dominant force as a goalkicking ruckman, “whose consistency of performance has been fantastic” as Harris observed.

“The other bloke who’s really stepping up at the moment is Chris Johnson. His physicality over the past two games has been fantastic, his skills are back on, he’s given us that really good run and he’ll be one putting pressure on [for senior selection] if he keeps that form up.”

Northern Bullants
Best Players: Spiteri, Johnson, Iacobucci, Jacobs, Arrowsmith
Goalkickers: Arrowsmith 4, Hadley 2, Jacobs, Wiggins, Casboult, Ellard