MACORNA 15.10.100 lost to QUAMBATOOK 17.14.116
QUAMBATOOK held on for a hard-fought 16-point victory over a gallant Macorna at the weekend, with the Tigers’ finals hopes quickly fading.
The loss left Jaydon Stiles’ men sitting two wins and percentage outside the top four with just seven rounds of the home-and-away season left to play, while the Saints now sit outright second and just one win behind ladder leaders Nullawil.
Quambatook joint coach Tim Free spoke with The Guardian following the win, and while he was pleased to secure the vital four points, he was also cognisant that his team would need to improve.
“It was a tight contest which turned into a bit of a shootout at stages, which wasn’t necessarily the way we wanted the game to be played, but I guess as a neutral supporter you would have found it an entertaining game,” Free said.
“It was of a good standard of footy and there were some really impressive passages of play from both teams, although I’d think both teams would have been a little bit disappointed in how we were able to defend the opposition at times.
“So to come through that and get the points was certainly very pleasing, but we’ll need to play a lot better as the season unfolds.
“Our third quarter in particular was a bit disappointing – we conceded five goals and only kicked one ourselves and we’re probably not quite as disciplined as we needed to be during that phase, so to respond well during that last quarter and rediscover some of our best footy was important.
“We missed a few opportunities in the last quarter to create a bit of comfort in the game, but to run away with the win against a side that were playing an attractive brand of footy, on their home ground and with some momentum, was in the end pleasing to get the result.”
Tobie Cameron was moved into the midfield with Matthew George back in the team. Both were among the Saints’ better players for the afternoon, along with Pras Sayakhot, who went to Macorna prime mover Malcolm Neiwand in the second half in an attempt to negate his influence of the game.
Sayakhot was not only able to curb Neiwand’s dominance, but also collected plenty of the football to give Quambatook the ascendency out of the middle.
Free, however, reserved the highest praise for key forward Ash Murray, who was the game’s leading goalkicker with six majors.
“He was fantastic for us and I felt he was comfortably the best player on the ground in the first half. He kicked all six goals before half-time and then did some really nice things late in the game defensively to ensure we got the result,” Free said.
Lachlan Ritchie continued his good form for the Tigers, as did Neiwand, with both players named as the Tigers’ best , along with Dylan Goulding, Joshua Berryman, Shaun Haffenden and forward Chris Wilson.
WANDELLA 15.14.104 defeated MOULAMEIN 12.5.77
WANDELLA leapfrogged Moulamein into third place on the ladder at the weekend with a hard-fought 27-point win over the Swans.
After a slow start, the Bombers found themselves 13 points down at half-time, but took control after the main break with an 11-goal second half setting up the victory.
Corey Walters led the way for the home side with seven goals in a dominant forward-half display, while Wandella coach Logan Keighran wasn’t to be outdone, contributing four majors.
Dillan Treacy continued his return from his ACL injury with another best-on-ground performance in his second game back, while midfielders Kane Timmins, Russell Rich and Bradley Delamare, along with Tim Robinson in defence, were also among Wandella’s better players.
For Moulamein, key defenders Cody Storm and Callum Harding-Davies were among their better players, along with Jack Jones, Corey Farrell, Zach Prentice, Luke Shannon and Luke Smailes, who bagged four goals for the visitors.
Moulamein will this week host a resurgent Murrabit in a must-win game for the Swans to remain in the hunt for a top- two finish, while Wandella will travel to Nullawil to tackle the ladder leaders.
MURRABIT 24.8.152 defeated HAY 8.2.50
MURRABIT broke their six-game losing streak at the weekend with a 102-point thrashing of Hay at Murrabit.
The Blues had the game sewn up by quarter-time, shocking the visitors with 11 goals to one in an opening term that had the home crowd in raptures.
The Blues weren’t finished, continuing to put their foot down over the next 60 minutes to push their lead beyond the 100-point mark before three-quarter time. The Lions added some respectability to the scoreboard in the last quarter with five goals.
The result was another shock result in a fortnight of upsets, especially coming off the back of Hay’s win over Wandella a fortnight ago.
After missing four of the Blues’ first six games of the season, full-forward Daniel Hovey fulfilled his promise with a commanding 10-goal performance, with his marking – both contested and on the lead – a clear highlight in a game full of memorable moments for the home side.
The Murrabit brains trust will be hoping Hovey’s partnership with Tom Hetherington, who contributed four goals, will continue to flourish as the season progresses, as the two key forwards worked perfectly in tandem deep in attack.
The other big positive was Murrabit midfielder Cameron Hall, who was everywhere in his first game in royal blue. Hall added a touch of class to the Blues’ line-up and will be a very handy inclusion for the remainder of the season alongside Marc O’Neill and Nathan O’Toole.
Dustin Blake, Nathan Henry and Ashton Wood were named among the Blues’ better players on the day, however another 10 players could have easily featured in the votes.
While the result would have been far from Hay’s liking, they were without a number of key players through injury and illness, Hugh Crighton’s absence hurting the most.
Midfielders Kenneth Jubb and Brad Pocock were strong performers for the Lions, along with James Eddy, Isaac Gardiner, Nathan Wilson and Dean Aylett.
ULTIMA 9.4.58 lost to NULLAWIL 21.17.143
NULLAWIL returned to the winners’ list in style with an 85-point win over Ultima at the home of the Roos on Saturday.
The Maroons came out breathing fire following their last-start defeat and opened up a 45-point lead at the first break with seven goals to nothing in the opening quarter.
To their credit, Ultima tightened the game up after the first break, with the Maroons outscoring the Roos by just 40 points for the remaining three quarters, however the damage had already been done.
Mitch Farmer continued his strong form since returning from injury with a dominant nine-goal haul in a best-on-ground performance for Nully.
Farmer played a lone hand up forward for the Maroons. Midfielders Matt Quigley, Andrew Casey and Daniel Watts – along with Cameron Streeter – were the other multiple goal scorers for Nullawil.
Jye Purtill was the major goalkicker for Ultima with four goals, while Sean O’Reilly was Ultima’s best player. O’Reilly has developed into an extremely reliable and consistent contributor for the Roos this season since crossing from NNW United and was again a strong performer in the midfield.
Jamie Nicholas – another former Central Murray product – was also among Ultima’s better players, along with defender Will Nelson, midfielder-forward Jack Delmenico, Purtill and Angus Hinton, who had the unenviable job of tagging reigning E.G. Hunt medallist Quigley.
