AN understrength Balranald have returned to form with a dominant 80-point win over Koondrook-Barham at Greenham Park on Saturday.
The Roos conceded just one goal for the match, with the River Raiders going goalless for the first half before Jordan McKinnon scored his team’s only major in the third term.
Despite missing several key players, including Matthew and Jydon Neagle and Colin Andrews, Balranald simply had too much class and depth around the ball in the 13.11 (89) to 1.3 (9) victory.
It was a win that was very much needed for last year’s grand finalists, who’s form has fluctuated over the past month, with Roos co-coach Tom Lister pleased with his team’s defensive focus.
“We got back to some resemblance of the way we’d like to play, which was good after our past couple of weeks,” Lister said.
“We played the way we want to play which is with a more defensive focus, when we play like that the attack tends to take care of itself.
“We were pretty good on the defensive side of the game, as evidenced by them only having four scoring shots for the day.
“It was a good even spread of contributors and back to what we normally do best.
“We normally move the ball pretty quick and like to get some speed on it, our tackle count was through the roof, even though we won a lot of the footy, so we had pressure on them everywhere and I think it was just weight of numbers in the end, we just kept going forward and were able to lock it into our front half.”
While the Roos had winners all over the field, it was the performance of Jaxon Neagle that earned special praise from Lister, with the defender stepping into the middle and showing his value on the ball.
“(Neagle) spent a fair bit of time in the midfield and had a fair bit of the ball, we thought we’d try him in there with Matthew (Neagle), Jydon (Neagle) and Col Andrews out of the side and it worked pretty well,” Lister said.
“He was one of the better players and Jack Jones was pretty good too, he had a big job on Kye Attwell and kept him scoreless.
“He also gave us plenty of drive out of the backline and pretty well beat him (Attwell), which is no easy task because he is a quality player.”
Along with Neagle and Jones, the Roos were also well served by Drew and Kobe Lloyd, with the brothers continuing their good form, while midfielders Harrison Soraggi and Rory Fitzgerald, half back Mason Fitzgerald and wingman Lachlan Lellmann were also among Balranald’s better players.
Jack Shannon was again named the best for Koondrook-Barham, with the midfielder continuing with his career best form, while Scott Wood provided a strong marking target at both ends of the ground, with Chester Gardner, Reagan Hamilton, Tom Amor and Cambell Davison also among the River Raiders better players.
Balranald will take on Tyntynder in a must-win game for the Roos in order to keep their finals hopes alive this weekend, while Koondrook-Barham will host Lake Boga in what could be their best chance to secure a win in 2024.
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| Balranald | 1.4 | 5.9 | 7.9 | 13.11 | 89 |
| Koondrook-Barham | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 9 |
VOTES
3 – Jaxon Neagle (Balranald)
2 – Drew Lloyd (Balranald)
1 – Jack Jones (Balranald)
