Whitehead strikes purple patch but Panthers steady to grab 12th victory
Kalgoorlie forward Ricky Whitehead turned back the clock on Saturday with four goals, but it was matched in the opposition camp by Kyle Penny who powered Railways’ 16-point victory, 9.10 (64) to 7.6 (48), over their Goldfields Football League rivals.
Used to kicking big bags of goals but in the twilight of his career, Whitehead booted each of his four majors in a third-quarter purple patch that brought the Roos to within 11 points at the change after they trailed at half-time by 36 points.
Camera IconRailways’ Kyle Penny. Credit: Carwyn Monck/Kalgoorlie Miner
Railways’ lead was cut to five points with two minutes left, but Penny kicked the last of his four goals on the three-quarter-time siren.
It was a much-needed steadier for the premiership favourites after the Roos had controlled the term on the back of Jordan Angus’ ruck dominance, complemented by a midfield brigade of Jordan Madden, Bailey Norris and Ryan Macdonald.
In a classic arm wrestle in the last quarter that was played mainly between the arcs, Kalgoorlie added two behinds and Railways iced the win after Chris Yarran’s lone goal off a free kick and subsequent 50m penalty with four minutes left.
Railways coach Rhett Pettit conceded that his group struggled with the tempo when Kalgoorlie surged in the third term.
“We talk about tempo a lot and understanding different game situations and if you’re playing basketball, you ideally get a chance to call a time-out and reassess,” Pettit said.
“But that’s all learning for us, but in the last quarter I thought we understood the game situation a lot better and we controlled the footy by chipping it around.
“That’s something we’ve worked on a fair bit throughout the year, for situations like that.
“I thought it worked and that we finished off quite well, even though it perhaps didn’t look as comfortable as it was.”
Railways rebounded with a 12th win after being dealt their first loss of 2024 a week earlier against Mines Rovers.
“Ricky (Whitehead) is a good footballer and was always a worry for us,” Pettit said.
“And we probably rolled the dice a bit with Jack Kennedy going forward, and then moved him back halfway through the third quarter to try and nullify Ricky.
“After we lost the week before, we had a fair bit to play for and didn’t really need any extra motivation.
“But seeing the (social media) posts about (former AFL player) Sydney Stack being recruited (by Kalgoorlie), we used that as a fair bit of motivation as well throughout the day.”
Kalgoorlie remain in fourth place but are within game of Boulder as the two clubs battle it out for a home final ahead of this Saturday’s clash at Digger Daws Oval.
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