YARTAPUULTI couldn’t match the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles after quarter time, falling to an 86-point loss in First Nations Round.

It was all one-way traffic at Woodville Oval on Saturday as Yartapuulti conceded 15 goals after quarter time, with a dominant Eagles outfit winning 20.9 (129) to 6.7 (43).

Yartapuulti embodied both the chaos and the calm early on, being aggressive when defending but methodical when moving the ball up the ground.

Standout performers Jackson Mead and Dante Visentini both kicked majors in the first term, as defender-turned-forward Xavier Walsh converted two ground balls into goals to keep up with the extra-efficient Eagles.

The Eagles smelt blood though and pounced on Yartapuulti’s turnovers, kicking five unanswered goals in the second quarter, continuing to subject the Magpies to a further five goals in the third quarter as well.

Yartapuulti was depleted on the bench again after both Mani Liddy and Nick Moore suffered injuries in the third term, with the class of the Eagles seeing the Magpies eventually succumb to an 86-point loss.

After a rich vein of form recently, head coach Jacob Surjan was extremely disappointed with his side’s performance after a strong start.

“Woodville were outstanding with the way they moved the ball and defended the ground,” Surjan said.

“I thought in the first quarter, we were in the contest… but then after that, we fell away pretty quickly, along with our work rate.”

Surjan lamented his side’s inability to crack Woodville’s defensive structures and penetrate by foot.

“I didn’t think we were calm or composed with the ball at all, which is one thing that we’ve really prided ourselves on recently,” Surjan said.

“I felt like we were a little bit rushed with the ball… [Woodville] put us under pressure and we probably got spooked into playing a bit quicker.”

AFL-listed Visentini (39 hitouts, 21 disposals and two goals) and Mead (35 disposals, five clearances and a goal) attracted best afield praise from their coaches after huge contributions.

“Visentini’s ruck work was outstanding…  he was clearly one of the best on ground all day,” Surjan praised.

“Mead was really good… we’ve still got some green shoots and little wins that we can see. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re progressing that forward.”

Other players to garner praise from their coaches after a challenging outing were Will Brodie (32 disposals) and Walsh (three goals).

Yartapuulti will have another bye before returning on Saturday June 6 to take on Glenelg at Glenelg Oval at 2:10pm.

SCOREBOARD

YAR  4.2  4.3  6.5  6.7  (43)
WWT  5.2  10.3  15.5  20.9  (129)

Goals: Walsh 3, Visentini 2, Mead
Best: Visentini, Mead, Brodie, O’Brien, Weidemann, Walsh