Carey Park returned to the top of the table on Sunday after they claimed a hefty victory over the Augusta-Margaret River Hawks.
Despite some good movement through the middle of the ground and some solid patches of play, the Hawks could not stop the Panthers from cruising to a 17.10.112 to 10.9.69 win.
AMR opened the scoring for the match after a goal was gifted to Mitch Gerrans following a 50 meter penalty against Carey Park’s Matt Cavedon.
But some classy movement from best on ground Graham Jetta saw Carey Park hit back with two consecutive majors to Matt Martin, who finished with a whopping nine for the day.
Temperatures reached a high point early in the first quarter when Matt Cavedon was red carded for a late bump on AMR’s Mitch Payne.
But being down in the rotations did not hurt the Panthers who cruised to an 18 point lead at the first change.
With Loki Lawrence and Kieran King moving well around the ground Carey Park piled on four goals to none in the second.
Ben Gerrans and Beau Morgan were battling for AMR but the Panthers still managed to gain a 43 point advantage at the main break.
Jetta’s dominance continued in the second half as Carey Park showed off some forward line weapons.
Martin remained the main target for the Panthers going forward, but Trent Murdoch and Dylan Garlett were also hard to tame for the Hawks.
Murdoch was taking strong marks while Garlett kicked a silky goal from a smooth pick up.
Carey Park’s backline was also playing well as they had the better of AMR’s forwards.
With Cavedon on the bench, Andrew Rake and Fabian Hart both played good games in the backline.
Trailing by 49 points at the final change, AMR booted the first two goals of the final quarter to breathe some life into the team.
But any spark they might have had was soon wiped out with four consecutive goals to Carey Park.
Murdoch hit the scoreboard while Martin booted his eighth and ninth goals in the last.
Brandon Jetta also booted a major for the home side.
To their credit, the Hawks kept fighting through the fourth quarter and booted the last three goals of the game.
The Hawks will take on the Eaton Boomers next week while Carey Park faces Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault.
