Cobden defeat rivals Camperdown to bank first win of season

Cobden kept Camperdown at an arm's length on Saturday night on its way to a 14.17 (101) to 11.9 (75) victory, its first of the season.

Cobden's Dan Casey, celebrating his first win as coach for the club, said it was a relief to get the monkey off the back.

"It's just exciting, it's rewarding," he said. "The guys had had a big pre-season and a tough start to the season. They had played really well in patches so it was really good to play consistently well over the night and get a result."

Though the match had the ability to be blown open by the Bombers, who missed easy shots at Leura Oval, Casey said he saw positives from their 31 scoring shots to Camperdown's 20.

He said he was pleased by how his team, driven by key leaders, managed to swing momentum back in their favour throughout the clash.

"Grady Rooke was probably our best player, him and Tom Spokes," Casey said. "We had a few little jobs going for the night.

"Camperdown got within striking distance that last quarter, they kicked the first two of the quarter but Paul Pekin put himself in the midfield and won a pretty important clearance and we kicked a goal straight out of that one.

"From a young leader, him, Grady, our vice captain and Charlie Darcy, they took it upon themselves to get us back within that winning buffer."

Cobden defender Josh Worboys and Campderdown spearhead Sam Gordon provided a fun contest in the Magpies' forward 50, Gordon netting four despite Worboys playing well.

Casey also praised the work of Ollie Darcy and Tyler Humphrey who rolled through rucking duties.

"They're really important for us in the ruck because we're a pretty short side," the coach said. "Ollie battles really hard undersized and up forward as well, and when we put Tyler back in there we get back on top."

Camperdown coach Neville Swayn said the Bombers were the better side on the day.

"We always felt we were playing catch up a little bit," Swayn said. "There would be stages where there was momentum shifts but then we made a couple fundamental mistakes and Cobden would respond. We've got to learn from those mistakes that really hurt you."

Swayn believed rolling several young Magpies through its midfield was a constructive learning experience in the absence of key senior players.

"Out of the side from Saturday we've still got five players that were a walk up start so we're getting some important minutes into these younger guys through the midfield, which is important for their development," he said.

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