ON A very cold afternoon, Garfield warmed up for their elimination final clash against Neerim Neerim South this week with a convincing away from home 35-point victory over Catani on Saturday.

The Stars controlled the tempo of the game from the opening minutes and while they have struggled on wet and heavy grounds this season they never looked in any serious danger of losing from the opening minute.

At the five minute mark, Garfield fired the opening salvo when youngster Dylan Collis goaled after being left unmarked. It turned out to be the only goal of the quarter.

Thereafter, both teams were at sixes and sevens, having difficulty trying to adjust to the very heavy ground from one end of the central corridor to the other.

Kicks often fell short and players were often caught playing from behind.

The Stars dominated the opening term but persisted to attack via the drier and less muddy ground from wide in the ‘dead pocket’ in front of the Catani pavilion, which, in tandem with a fluky wind, made kicking goals very hard.

Ben Jostlear, Nick Marsh and Phil Burns all offered plenty of drive for the visitors in the first quarter while Catani did not score and failed to make any meaningful ventures into its forward 50 metre zone.

Fortunately, sturdy defence by Barry Parsons, Tom Grant and Shane Fitzpatrick kept the Blues in the contest and only eight points in arrears at the change of ends.

In the second quarter, Garfield’s repeated forward thrusts were rewarded and with two goals by Shaun Pickering and majors by Luke Bee Hugo and Ben Jostlear, the Stars scooted to a 25 point lead at the main break.

Catani only managed one goal during the quarter, which came from Andrew Morozoff with a kick off the ground.

At half time their prospects looked dim because they could not knit together three or four clean possessions.

A goal by Blues centreman Matt Campbell, helped by a 50 metre penalty, added a bit of tonic to the game at the mid point of the third quarter but it did not take too long before a reply by the lively Luke Bee Hugo who capitalised on some poor defence.

Bee Hugo’s six pointer was soon followed by another, late in the term to the busy Jim Bow, after a top mark to give the Stars a match winning 33 point advantage.

Robust forward Nick Rogers took two strong marks during the term but missed his shots on goal, which would have put the result beyond doubt a lot earlier.

In the last quarter the numbers on the jumpers were barely recognisable, the players tired, many kicks failed to travel 20 metres and little happened to enthuse spectators.

There was no goals scored and Garfield ran out deserved winners by 35 points.

Across the forward line, Shaun Pickering, one of the few Stars familiar with the Catani ground, having played with the Blues last season, was terrific and unlike most players consistently found space all game.

Nick and Ben Marsh bored into the packs all game, Ben Jostlear and Luke Bee Hugo provided plenty of momentum, while Nick Pollock and Andrew Fyffe put their bodies in and did more than their bit.

James Bow presented well across the forward line, set up a number of shots on goal and proved a real handful for the Blues defence.

“Good to win on a heavy track. It was really good old fashioned type football today where you had to get in and win the hard ball and just pump it forward,” said combative Garfield coach Brent Eastwell.

Catani defenders Tom Grant and Luke McFarlane were, by far, the most effective players for the Blues. Maslan Braun lent both tremendous support, especially in the first half and Cam Miller did well to take at least a dozen marks on a day that did not suit the talls.

Midfielders Matt Campbell, Antonio Benevenuto and Aaron Alger all laboured hard but too often were forced to drop back to support their under pressure defenders rather than hurt the Stars offensively with their natural attacking flair.

Barry Parsons and Shane Fitzpatrick appeared to suffer leg injuries and did not appear after half time, which must be a big concern with a cut-throat elimination final against Neerim Neerim South this week.

“They were pretty good when the game was there to be won,” said Catani coach Paul Alger after the game.

“We haven’t beaten any one above us this season, which is a concern.”