THE Central Rivers interleague squads kicked off the representative football season in perfect fashion at the weekend, when the under-16 and under-18 teams secured wins.
On Friday night at Robinvale, the under-16s were made to work in their match against Sunraysia but ultimately snatched a two-point win in the dying minutes, 9.6 (60) to 8.10 (58).
A day later, the under-18s had a more comfortable 25-point victory over Heathcote District at the Swan Hill Recreation Reserve.
The wins now pave the way for their senior counterparts’ return to interleague football for the first time since 2019, when they play the Sunraysia league in Mildura on Saturday, July 6.
After what proved a physical game, under-18s coach Scott Wishart was delighted with his team’s performance, the Central Rivers squad having stepped up against the bigger bodies of their opposition.
“It was a tough game and really very physical, the ground was pretty wet to start the day and it was a bit scrappy in the first quarter while the ball was a bit slippery with both teams cracking in pretty hard,” Wishart said.
“We just kept our nose ahead all day and although we were a bit inaccurate in front of goal, other than that we played pretty well.
“Our strength was our leg speed and our ball use, we had a lot of guys in the team who are quick and can use the footy really well, so we tried to lean into that a little bit and play a fast game plan.
“We rolled off every chance we got and made sure we used our runners and linked up with handball and we were able to just run away from them at times, once we got the ball out into space we worked pretty well.
“The boys played really well, most of the boys in that team are playing regular senior football at their clubs, so they were able to step up to the speed of the game pretty easily.”
Lake Boga’s Xavier Sherlock was named the team’s best player, with the midfielder-forward among a host of dominant players for the Central Rivers squad.
“(Sherlock) set us up early, he kicked the first two goals of the game and was really good around stoppage and got us moving around the contest,” Wishart said.
“Koben Ryan was another who dominated up forward, he kicked 5.6, so he had 11 shots on goal, which is pretty good for a small forward, and gave (Heathcote District) lots of headaches in our forward half.
“Ethan Curran was another one who played really well, both on ball and then when we put him across half-back in the third quarter to help strengthen us up in defence in the second half and Xavier Wishart at centre half-back played really well as our big defender, he controlled the ball coming into our defensive half.”
In the under-16s, another Lake Boga junior in Bryce Anderson was named as the best player.
Central Rivers Junior Interleague Results
Under 16
Central Rivers 9.6 (60)
Sunraysia 8.10 (58)
Central Rivers best on ground: Bryce Anderson (Lake Boga)
Under 18
Central Rivers 12.17 (89)
Heathcote District 10.4 (64)
Central Rivers best on ground: Xavier Sherlock (Lake Boga)
