Down but not disgraced

MALLEE Football League’s quest to enter the top 10 of the AFL Victoria Country Championships didn’t go to plan on Saturday.

The Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League proved too strong from the start for the Mallee boys, piling on seven goals to one in a dominant opening term.

And while Col Durie’s side hit back in the opening stages of the second term with five goals, Yarra Valley’s ability to respond in junk time before the main change was telling.

“It was a fairly tough ask having to go [to Rosebud] and they fielded one of their strongest sides in a few years,” coach Durie said.

“They were a very good outfit. They were well-drilled and they played a good brand of footy.”

But while MFL fell well short in the 25.12 (162) to 8.7 (55) loss, Durie said he was proud of his side.

“It was a big commitment to go down there and the boys tried hard all day and didn’t give up. We were beaten by a far better side on the day,” he said. 

YVMD full forward Michael Fowkes walked away with a bag of 12 goals, while seven others managed goals for the home side.

Jack Shannahan, Denis Redden and Jayden Lonergan all managed two goals for the visitors.

For more on the weekend’s interleague results, see Wednesday’s edition of The Guardian (May 28, 2014.)