Sport
15 July, 2025
Dunolly fly past Navarre into sixth following 12-point win
Navarre’s troubles with playing away from home continued on Saturday when Dunolly defeated the Grasshoppers by 12 points at Deledio Reserve.
The victory took Dunolly to sixth on the ladder to replace the Grasshoppers, who now drop to seventh on percentage.
The first term was hard fought, with Dunolly having the upper hand in the early stages, as the first goal came from a Dylan Burt snapshot.
Shortly after, Daniel Trull missed a likely goal from a set shot.
Navarre’s Riley Bibby also missed an opportunity, but a couple of minutes later, Sam Rickard kicked an amazing goal from tight on the boundary to level the scores at the 12-minute mark.
Play was back and forth for the next eight minutes before Brady Tillig gathered the ball from a marking spillage and snapped truly for the Grasshoppers to lead at the first change by five points.
Navarre had the majority of play for the first half of the second term, with Aaron Slorach booting the first goal of the term at the five-minute mark.
Four more shots on goal were wide of the mark before Slorach marked a beautiful left-foot pass, and the big forward kicked truly for Navarre to lead by 21 points at the 14-minute mark.
Joel Fisher was having a big impact on the game, hitting Lloyd Needs with a bullet pass which resulted in a goal for the Eagles.
Burt then snagged his second goal of the game just before half time to reduce the margin to nine points.
The premiership quarter was where the Eagles took control of the game and set up their victory.
The first four goals of the term through Fisher, Needs and Lachlan Tranter had the Eagles leading by 17 points at the 11-minute mark, and at the final change the home team led by 23 points.
Navarre won the final term on the scoreboard, but they were continually under pressure and the Eagles did enough to starve Navarre’s resurgence to finish as 12-point victors.
Fisher and Adal Zuk played a significant role in the Eagles’ victory, named among the best players alongside Lachlan Watson, Jake Gavriliadis, Dylan and Ryan Burt.
Jayden Fowkes and Bradley Carter played a key role for the Grasshoppers, as did Oliver Notting, John Jok and Shannon Treloar.