Looma overcome blustery conditions in Broome to defeat Saints, stay in touch with Kimberley footy leaders

Looma Eagles scrapped hard against the Saints to claim a 46-point win and stay in touch with the West Kimberley Football League ladder leaders on Saturday morning. Playing with a strong cross-breeze the entire game and with Claremont Tigers representatives watching on the Saints looked composed early as they soaked up midfield possession. It was Looma who hit the scoreboard early, however, first with a point and moments later with a set-shot goal to Deromitt Wilson. Wilson doubled his tally soon after when he used the wind to bend a snap through the middle posts. In what would become a feature of the match, Saints kept pressing forward with vigour but could not find targets in front of goal. With Jordan Skinner a reliable defensive intercept for Looma, the Saints were forced wide time and time again. Darren Kirkman and Lattrell Sibosado looked dangerous but couldn’t convert the half-chances they created for Saints. As the first half wore on the game became a scrappy affair. Neither side was willing to kick long due to the breeze and the ground-ball game played almost entirely on the upwind side of the field created too much congestion for Looma to play into their dangerous running game. By half time the score read a dour 3.5 (23) to 0.3 (3) in favour of Looma. The Saints again came off the bench strong in the third and, with repeated inside-50s, looked to gain some momentum. It took a kick-pass combination under immense pressure between Matt Bamford and Bruce Greatwich to set the Saints up for their first goal. Any hope of the Saints clawing their way back into the game was quickly dashed, however, as Looma lifted to regain the ascendency. The Eagles piled on three goals late in the third term through Sanjay Bilgin, Tyrese Skeen and Joezack Killer to stretch the lead out to 34 points. The Saints kept coming, but were consistently thwarted by the likes of Dhantory Pindan when trying to connect with targets in front of goal. Scoreboard aside, the game up until this point had been a fairly even affair — both teams had plenty of possession and field position, but Looma took greater advantage of their forward entries. The final quarter was a different game: the Saints looked tired and Looma pounced, locking themselves deep in attack for much of the final term. Even the kicks — until this point wayward due to the strong breeze — started finding their marks with ease. When Saints did get into attack they lacked numbers in support, resulting in a spate of midfield turnovers to put Looma back on the front foot. The game finished 8.12 (60) to 1.8 (14) in favour of Looma, with Wilson the sole player to boot multiple majors. It keeps Looma in touch with Derby and Cable Beach at the top of the table, while Saints remain on two wins for the season anchored in the bottom three.