COHUNA are through to their first grand final in nine years after beating Kerang by 21 points in Saturday’s qualifying final.
The Kangas, who are yet to win a senior premiership in their 25 years in the Central Murray league, will go into the grand final as favourites after the 8.10.58 to 4.13.37 victory.
After a tight opening three quarters, Cohuna broke clear with a four goal to one last term, leaving Kerang to face reigning premiers Woorinen in the preliminary final on Saturday.
Cohuna captain Tom Toma was enormous for the Kangas, with his run and creative play all over the ground instrumental in the win.
The other key factor was the performance of ruckman Ben Archard, who took advantage of the absence of injured Kerang big man Troy Davis to dominate the hit outs and around the ground. Davis missed with a calf injury, leaving youngster Samuel Nitschke to battle against both Archard and Christopher Anderson in the ruck – a task too great for the developing Blue.
Kerang started positively enough, with Cohuna struggling to find any fluency with their ball movement going into their attacking half. The Blues were having no such issues, as they dominated possession for the first quarter with Ryan Gillingham, Marty Kelly and Josh Nitschke all having a big say.
The Blues, however, wasted their opportunities in front of the sticks, kicking just one goal from their six scoring shots in the opening quarter. It was a theme that would continue for the afternoon, with the Blues kicking themselves out of the game with a wasteful 4.13.
Cohuna’s precise short kicking game came to the fore after quarter time, with the Kangas half backs continually finding uncontested targets to pick their way through the Kerang press.
While both backlines won their respective battles on the day, Dylan Johnstone provided a strong marking target for the Kangas from the second quarter onwards. The tall Cohuna forwards looked most dangerous when their midfield moved the ball forward, with Rhys Free booting a game high three goals as a result.
While Free kicked three goals, he didn’t have his usually high impact on the match, with Michael Dalrymple taking the points in their hard-fought match-up. Dalrymple was helped out by Josh Hann, Lachlan Ross and Jesse Clark, who both won plenty of ball in the Blues defensive half of the ground – that was until Clark was taken from the field early in the last quarter with concussion.
Clark, who was playing his first game back from a facial injury, must now be in some doubt for Saturday’s must-win game with Woorinen – along with Caleb Nitschke, who didn’t return after suffering what appeared to be a serious arm injury in the third quarter.
Cohuna’s Jake Hammond again proved impassable at centre half back, while Mason Fehring, Dan Paterson and Tom Metherell all played big roles in the back six for the Kangas. Fehring was given the task of keeping reigning Jack Betts Medallist Bryce Curnow quiet and did a superb job – keeping the Blues full-forward goalless and not allowing him to have any impact.
Oscar Cooke was another major contributor for Cohuna in the midfield, along with Jarrod Findlay and Jack Donat, while the Kerang midfield of Gillingham, Nitschke, Kelly and Nicholas Stagg also performed well.
MATCH RESULTS
KERANG 1.5 2.8 3.12 4.13.37
COHUNA KANGAS 1.1 3.3 4.8 8.10.58
GOALS – KERANG – Sean Hunter, Josh Nitschke, Rylee Smith, Nicholas Stagg 1.
COHUNA KANGAS – Rhys Free 3, Thomas Toma 2, Jack Donat, Patrick Doyle, Dylan Johnstone 1.
BEST – KERANG – Michael Dalrymple, Lachlan Ross, Ryan Gillingham, Josh Nitschke, Martin Kelly, Nicholas Stagg
COHUNA KANGAS – Thomas Toma, Oscar Cooke, Ben Archard, Jake Hammond, Daniel Paterson, Mason Fehring
