KERANG cemented themselves as the Central Murray’s powerhouse club, defeating the Cohuna Kangas by 10 points in Saturday’s grand final.
The win gave the Blues their eighth premiership from the past 11 seasons – and their ninth Central Murray senior title overall – leaving the despondent Kangas searching for their first flag since joining the competition in 1997.
The heavily anticipated clash became somewhat of an anti-climax, however, with the windy conditions making it almost impossible for either team to move the ball or score with any consistency.
Very little separated the sides throughout the day, with the Kangas outscoring Kerang in the third quarter despite the Blues kicking to the scoring end, cutting the margin to just three points at the final break.
Kerang wouldn’t be denied, however, with their half-back line standing tall and proving an impassable force for the final 30 minutes to win a 6.11.47 to 5.7.37 victory.
Following the win, Kerang joint coach Troy Coates acknowledged how good Cohuna’s third-quarter performance was – and how it brought out the best in his team in the fourth.
“They were fantastic in that third quarter – I thought ‘Bricky’ (Neil Bradley) coached extremely well in the third in just continuing to put more numbers behind the footy,” Coates said.
“At one point they had eight or nine players down there and kept getting Jake Hammond free.
“He’s an incredible player and just kept chopping everything off, which was pretty frustrating. But at the same time it also gave us belief that we could do the same thing to them.”
Coates’ joint coach Bryce Curnow said the message at the final change was to take the game on and run hard for the final 30 minutes of the season.
“They came at us hard in the third and made it really tough for us to score, but that also meant we needed to attack the game, which is when we play our best,” Curnow said.
“We knew if we kept playing the same way we weren’t going to win – we needed to take the game on and it paid off in the end.”
Knowing they still needed to score to win, Kerang came out and attacked the game, with Josh Nitschke, Martin Kelly and Ryan Gillingham winning plenty of the ball in the midfield. With time ticking away, the Kangas started blazing away going inside 50. Lachlan Ross and Curnow intercepted anything that came their way and Coates was effusive in his praise for the pair after the game.
“We only put one loose in defence at the start of the last because we knew we had to win it,” Coates said.
“It was interesting at the start of the last quarter in that (Cohuna) started with two behind the ball even though they were kicking with wind.
“I think that probably helped us a little bit because we then had ‘Rossy’ and ‘Duck’ (Curnow) behind the ball and they then chopped everything off that came into our defensive 50.
“Having those two back there impacting the game played into our hands because they just helped us stay composed with the ball and wait until things opened up.”
Kicking with the wind in the first term, the Blues were able to open up a 21-point lead at quarter-time, while the Kangas struggled to even penetrate their forward 50.
Kerang didn’t make the most of their opportunities over the opening 30 minutes, with their repeated entries inside 50 often not to their forwards’ favour.
Cohuna were also struggling to hit targets, but by keeping the ball out on the dead side of the ground restricted Kerang’s scoring.
In the second quarter, with the teams swapping ends, Cohuna fell into the same trap, blazing away when going inside 50 and failing to make the most of their opportunities. Kerang ran the ball into the wind, generating a number of shots on goal but failing to split the big sticks.
The Kangas, trailing by eight points, lifted their tackling and intensity around the contest. The increase in pressure had an immediate impact, Dylan Johnstone kicking the first goal at the Pritchard Street end to reduce the margin to just two points two minutes into the second half.
Kerang continued to blaze away going inside their forward half, which played right into the hands of Jake Hammond and the other Kangas. Cohuna employed extra numbers behind the ball in an attempt to limit the Blues’ scoring opportunities with the wind.
Kangas coach Bradley was delighted with his team’s defensive efforts at three-quarter time, but implored his players to keep running in the last quarter.
With the margin just three points at the final break, it appeared as though Cohuna, kicking to the scoring end, may finally break their premiership drought. When Jarrod Findlay marked and goaled in the 11th minute, it all appeared to be going to script, as the Kangas hit the front for the first time in the afternoon.
But that’s as close as they would get, with Kerang’s Rylee Smith giving his side back the lead from the next passage of play.
The Blues never relinquished their lead from that point. Nitschke continued to win the ball and send the Blues forward in a clear best-on-ground performance, while the remaining midfielders Gillingham, Kelly, Sam Heavyside and Nicholas Stagg were also influential.
For the Kangas, Hammond proved why he is one of the premier intercept defenders in the competition, while Joel Helman, Tom Toma, Josh Bird, Oscar Cooke, Jack Donat and Jarrod Findlay could hold their heads high after their contribution.
