Boomers engine room powers away with dominating display

A Jarrod Humphries-inspired Eaton Boomers comfortably defeated Carey Park by 97 points on Sunday at Glen Huon Reserve.

Humphries continued his sensational South West Football League form – following his 10 goal haul the week before – with a bag of five.

The Panthers put one over reigning premiers Donnybrook the week before, but on Sunday their form turned as they crashed to one of their biggest beltings in recent history.

The match started with a shock goal in the first few seconds, with Brendan Page bursting through from a centre bounce stoppage to run in and put the Boomers on the board after 18 seconds.

This goal was followed a few minutes later by a Jake Greenwell, who kicked truly from a 50m penalty.

After a tough opening, the visitors clawed their way back from the horror start to briefly lead midway during the term via a Brendan Shand dribbler, a run and stun Cody Garlett major and some classy moves from Riese Wilkey – before the home side recovered to lead 5.3 (33) to 3.2 (20) at the first change.

That gritty first quarter was the beginning of the end for the Panthers, who managed just one more goal in the remaining three quarters of the match – courtesy of Garlett, who posted a third term consolation.

The Boomers hit cruise control, with half forward Mitch Kings and towering ruckman Jamon Gale complementing excellent work spearheaded by Josh Bowe, Brandon Jetta and Steve Jas.

Those men swarmed into Panthers territory frequently to bag four unanswered majors and open up a solid lead at half time.

The scarlet boots of Humphries slotted four third term majors as the Boomers continued the attack in the second half, with Brandon Jetta also impressing.

For the Panthers, Zane Verhaaf battled hard while Jeffrey Carter again did some good things.