A NINE-goal to four second half has seen Tooleybuc-Manangatang keep their finals hopes alive with a strong 44-point win over a gallant Kerang on the weekend.
After trailing the Blues by four points at the first break, the Saints took control of the match in the second term and extended their lead at every change.
The 16.19 (115) to 10.11 (71) result sees Tooleybuc-Manangatang close to within one win of fifth placed Koondrook-Barham, with the two clubs’ round 17 match set to decide which of the two teams claims the final spot in the top five.
With Josh Williams and Josh Grant both late withdrawals, it left the Saints stretched in defence, with Tooleybuc-Manangatang coach Brad Morris pleased with his team’s performance in their absence.
“Losing your full back and centre half back is never ideal, but Ben Arentz stood up and did a great job,” Morris said.
“Ryder (Morris) with his drive off the back line was also really good, but when you lose your two key defenders your opposition can often work their way through to goal a bit easier, so to hold them up as we did I felt was pretty good really.
“They (Kerang) just hung around with us all day and we didn’t help with our kicking either at times, but we got there in the end.
“I think we’d probably set ourselves to try and work them over towards the end of the game and we sort of came through in the end, but they’re (Kerang) a good young running team, so it was never going to be easy to beat them on their home deck.”
Ethan Johnstone was the standout for the Saints and finished with five goals in a best afield performance, while ruckman Connor Mcdonald also continued his strong form to be among Tooleybuc-Manangatang’s better players.
Onballer Elliot Chalmers found plenty of the ball around the stoppages while Kallum Hazlett and Jesse Wilson were also named in Tooleybuc-Manangatang’s better players after they managed to nullify the influence of veteran Kerang midfielder Marty Kelly.
While the Saints were strong around the contest, it was in their forward half of the ground where they really took control according to Morris.
“It was probably the way we capitalised up forward, especially late in the game, that was probably the difference in the end,” Morris said.
“When we went forward we were good, although we were a bit erratic and probably the cleanliness of it all probably hurt us a little bit early in the game.
“We probably didn’t make the most of the momentum at times early in that we’d get in good spots and then we’d kick three points in a row instead of three or four goals.
“To their (Kerang) credit, the pressure was there and that’s probably why we were missing and we were a bit erratic.
“But overall our forwards were really good.
“EJ (Johnstone) was great, ‘Nuts’ (Connor Nutting) was great, (Josh) Koster again was strong, those boys were all really good.”
Although the two teams are on different trajectories in terms of their 2025 seasons, there were still some positives for Kerang coach Paul Grayling to take from the loss, with the Blues’ first half further evidence that his young side are able to compete with the Central Murray’s more accomplished teams.
“We applied a consistent amount of pressure in the first half, but with a lack of rotations we struggled to maintain that for four quarters,” Grayling said.
“We managed to get through the game without any injuries, which is a positive, and we have got another solid hit out into our young core group.”
Leigham Mcalpin and Jonah McKnight are among that core young group who performed well on Saturday, while Scott Pay, Tom Hetherington and full forward Zak Bozanich, who finished with four goals, were also among Kerang’s better players.
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| Kerang | 3.5 | 6.7 | 10.8 | 10.11 | 71 |
| Tooleybuc-Manangatang | 2.7 | 7.11 | 13.14 | 16.19 | 115 |
VOTES
3 – Ethan Johnstone (Tooleybuc-Manangatang)
2 – Rydar Morris (Tooleybuc-Manangatang)
1 – Connor Mcdonald (Tooleybuc-Manangatang)
