With a full list of 22 starting players making the trip, the EMUs were well prepared to take on the Crocs in their natural habitat.
Minutes before the game, captain Damien Hammond had the EMUs boys fired up without the ball being bounced following a rousing pep-talk.
Winning the toss and kicking with the wind, the intensity showed immediately on the players as from the opening bounce the EMUs looked switched on.
Starting ruck Adam Richter got the first tap down to playing coach Lucas Walker, who was quick to take advantage of the short ground with burst running and kicking truly from 50m out.
This led to a flurry of first quarter EMU goals who didn’t waste their opportunities with the wind.
Goalkickers were Jeff Abela, Ash Mozza and David Chapman, the latter dobbing a beautiful set-shot banana goal after marking in the pocket.
The Crocs were reeling by quarter-time, though the EMUs midfield lost Chris Hagan for the day with a hamstring injury.
The Crocs steadied somewhat in the second quarter as they gained the wind advantage.
Several attacks were repelled by dominant EMU defenders Hammond, Clint Jurey and Pete Spencer.
Francis O’Brien was also superb in defence, where he spent most of the game clearing the ball out of the backline like an officer clearing riff-raff from High Street during Southern 80 weekend.
The EMUs stood firm under the second-quarter pressure from the Crocs’ on-ballers, with Aaron Prewett providing run and dash on one wing, and eventual best-on-ground performer Michael O’Connor marking everything on the other to help set up forward-50 entries.
The Crocs had reduced the EMUs’ lead by half-time, but could’ve been in front if it weren’t for some great efforts from Ashley Smidge and first-gamer Brad McKeller to score goals just before half-time.
In the third quarter, the EMUs regained the wind advantage and quickly converted that to scoreboard advantage.
A great tackle by Abela in the forward pocket saw him rewarded with a free and he kicked truly.
The EMUs midfield machine continued to feed the ball to their forwards on a platter, with James Walshe extracting just about everything from clearances and Brian Homes and Troy Arlow providing some outside run and polish with the ball.
EMU debutante Johnny Beach provided a great passage of play when he took the ball down the wing, handballed over an opponent, ran on to reclaim his own ball and then send it to the forward line.
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Further goals in the third term to ruck/forward David Keillor, full-forward Lyndon Nevill, veteran Kevin Pascoe and O’Connor provided a healthy buffer for the EMUs on the scoreboard, setting up a five-goal lead going into the last.
With the wind at the Crocs’ end for the last term, coach Walker sent the stalwart Bruce McCahon into the backline as an extra defender and, in an unfamiliar role, lined up big Justin Voss at full-back.
This turned out to the be the final master stroke as both defenders took control of just about everything that entered the defensive 50 in the last quarter and sending it back.
At one stage in the final term it looked like the Crocs - after several attacks and a goal – could possibly overrun the EMUs and ruin their day, until defender Kevin Dunque made a desperate save in the last line of defence to stop an otherwise certain goal.
The Crocs did not kick truly after this point, and the EMUs scored against the flow with a great mark and kick from Richter 40 metres out, sealing a five-goal away win for the mighty EMUs.
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