QUAMBATOOK have farewelled home-and-away football in style with a commanding 89-point victory over Macorna in wet conditions on Saturday afternoon.
Played in at times torrential rain on an already waterlogged ground, the Saints prevailed with a nine-goals-to-three first half setting up the win.
The Tigers – with their finals hopes already dashed by their loss to Murrabit in round 15 – put the cue in the rack in the first half, with Quambatook keeping their opponents scoreless after half-time and piling on six goals of their own in a strong return to form ahead of their second semi-final date with Nullawil in a fortnight’s time.
William Collicoat was a strong target up forward for the Saints in the wet conditions and booted a match-high five goals for the home side, with Martin Angus and Gregor Knight (two goals) the only other multiple goal scorers in the wet weather.
Tobie Cameron was adjudged best afield and was presented with a best-on-ground medal in honour of the late club stalwart Jim Wallis, while Knight followed up his two goals from the midfield to play a crucial role as well. Nick Birthisel in defence, Pras Sayakhot, Tristan Ramadge and Collicoat were also named among the Saints’ better players, while Grady Smith, Lachlan Ritchie, Jacob McIntosh, Joshua Walters, Kieren Shelly and Toby Whinfield did well for Macorna.
MOULAMEIN 15.17.107 defeated WANDELLA 8.3.51
MOULAMEIN will take bragging rights into this Saturday’s Golden Rivers League Elimination Final against Wandella at Hay after defeating the Bombers by 56 points at the weekend.
The Swans’ seniors will play finals for the first time since 2008 against the club they monstered, with an 11-goals-to-five first half helping set up the victory.
While most of the damage was done in the first half, it could have been so much worse for Wandella if the home team had of kicked straight in the last quarter. The Swans wasted their chances to grind their opponents into the ground by kicking 2.5 in the last half an hour, while keeping the Bombers scoreless.
Despite lining up against one of the strongest midfields in the competition, it was Moulamein who dominated the contest out of the centre, with Corey Farrell, Rodney Reeves and Mason Bailey getting first hands to the ball around the contest and teaming perfectly with ruckman Anthony Daw.
Moulamein coach Heath Moloney told The Guardian after the win he was more than pleased with his team’s performance ahead of the rematch with the Bombers in a week’s time.
“It was a great result. What we set out to do was to play good team footy and keep playing the way we’ve been playing over these past few weeks – so to continue our form was really pleasing,” Moloney said.
“Like every game we play, you want to start strong and then hopefully carry that form throughout the day and we were certainly able to do that on Saturday – the challenge now is to be able to replicate that again this weekend.”
The twin towers of Beau Duggan-Hulands (five goals) and Josh Flight (three) again worked well in tandem and should continue to pose a headache next weekend, despite the Bombers missing a number of their key defenders on the weekend.
For Moloney though, he and his side were more than pleased with their preparation and where their team is placed ahead of the first semi-final.
“We’ll probably take away from Saturday the fact that we have our team set up well against them and that we’ve got everyone playing in the right spots,” Moloney said.
“We tried a few different things and they all seemed to work, which gives us that versatility to throw the magnets around if needed – it was a good run for the boys, but finals are always a different game.
“We want to be strong all over the ground and I think we’ve put the work in to get everyone performing and in form – we’ve got Anthony Daw in the ruck and Cody Storm has been great in defence along with Jacob Thorn of late.
“We’d like to think we’re tough to play all over the ground with the team we’ve managed to put together.”
While it was a dirty day for the Bombers, they were able to take some solace from the fact that gun midfielder Russell Rich will hit this Saturday in form. The onballer was named his team’s best players, along with Jack Radcliffe, Darren Rushton, Declan Hogg, ruckman Ricky Cathie and full back Tim Robinson.
HAY 9.10.64 defeated MURRABIT 9.8.62
HAY ended their season on a high with a heart-stopping two-point win over Murrabit.
The Lions managed to work their way out to a 15-point lead by the final change, but the first three quarters developed into an arm wrestle with neither side able to gain any real ascendency in the opening 90 minutes.
In the last 30 minutes of football of the season, both teams threw everything at the contest in the last term, with the Blues attacking the contest with vigour to narrow the margin to just two points in the dying minutes. Unfortunately for Murrabit, that’s as close as they would get, with Hay holding on for their third win of the season.
Kenneth Jubb was sensational out of the middle for the Lions, along with Dean Aylett, as both players sent their team into attack with regularity throughout the match. Nathan Wilson was another of Hay’s key contributors, leading the way up forward with three goals, while Tim Zambon, Lachlan Cohen, Cooper Scott and Daniel Stewart were among the home side’s better players.
Daniel Hovey finished the season with a five-goal haul for the Blues to lead their attack, but was almost a one-man band at times with only three other teammates able to split the big sticks on the day. Marc O’Neill and Cameron Hall could hold their heads high with their efforts in the midfield, while key defender Michael Grant, Nicholas Hein and Matthew Penny were also among Murrabit’s better players in their final game for the season.
NULLAWIL 22.15.147 defeated ULTIMA 6.5.41
NULLAWIL ended their home-and-away season as expected, with a dominant 106-point win over Ultima on Saturday. The loss secured the Roos the wooden spoon for the second straight season.
The premiership favourites were too good for the visitors right from the opening bounce, with Nullawil doing as they pleased for the opening 30 minutes, kicking away to a 44-point lead by quarter-time.
Ultima were able to regather themselves after the break and made more of a fist of the second term, before falling back into old habits after half-time and allowing the home side to boot another seven unanswered goals in the third quarter – before eventually running away with the victory.
Andrew Oberdorfer was the chief destroyer for the Maroons. The powerful full-forward booted a season-high 10 goals for the game, bringing up his half-century for the season in the process, the perfect lead in to Nullawil’s second semi-final against Quambatook in a fortnight’s time.
Oberdorfer wasn’t the only Maroon to hit the scoreboard heavily, with Andrew Casey and Daniel Watts booting four goals apiece, while Jordan Humphreys, Zac Kelly and Billy Forrester were among Nullawil’s better players, along with Oberdorfer, Casey and Watts.
Ultima were well served by Will Nelson, Sean O’Reilly, Billy Delmenico, Jamie Nicholas, Kyle Symons and Jack Delmenico, who also led the way inside the forward 50 with three goals for the Roos.
