ROUND 10
Sharks sharpen teeth on unlucky Demons
Tarwin 9-15-69 to Boolarra 10-8-68
Round 10, Boolarra Rec Reserve
Two clubs that have shown patches of very good football sprinkled with some disappointing performances, met at the home of the Demons, with the result to have a major impact on their chances or otherwise of playing a part in the quickly approaching finals. Prior to the start of play, Tarwin sat fifth and Boolarra seventh, with only percentage separating the two, at the end of the day it was a nail biting finish that fell the way of the Sharks.
Brendan Mason, Boolarra coach, called it “a heartbreaking one point loss with a shot for goal right on the siren falling agonisingly short. In a finish that will be spoken about for many a year the two sets of supporters may never agree on whether or not the ball crossed the line or not with Bailey Flanagan's shot from outside 50 having plenty riding on it with the margin 1 point and the siren ringing out while the ball was mid air. The man in lime green however, after a quick conference with his companions, declared no score and to the winner goes the spoils.
Tarwin jumped us early and had their nine scoring shots been more accurate they could’ve had the game wrapped up very early. To our boys' credit though we fought back well over the next two quarters to take a 15 point lead into the final change. With our bench reduced to one due to injury it was always going to be a battle of attrition over the last term. To Tarwin's credit they managed to find the front and hold on for the last few minutes and walk away winners with the narrowest of margins. Joel Mason was excellent all day with his brother Brendan hitting the scoreboard too. Simon Noy was excellent in his return from injury as was Matt Dyer who played his first game for the season."
Lachie Jones, Tarwin coach, labelled the final quarter, “the definition of stealing a win. We looked done but surged late to hit the front and then just held on. Like so many times this year we have been in a tough spot late but the message at the three quarter time break was let’s take out chances and don’t dwell on any mistakes.We hung tough and were able to play a really strong last 15 minutes and when we hit the front we put Jordan Staley behind the ball and he iced the game with three strong pack marks. Earlier in the game, it was free flowing from both sides with a few momentum shifts and Boolarra had their chip and mark game going well.
We had an u/18’s player in Indie Cameron (son of club legend Travis) make his senior debut and that gave us a really big boost. He played a great game too and didn’t look out of place for a 17 year old. It puts us in a strong spot and next week we have a bye to refresh and reset before we take on Yinnar at home.”
Mirboo North fail to quell MDU
MDU 21-8-134 to Mirboo North 9-7-61.
Round 10, Mirboo North Rec Reserve
The somewhat surprise loss of the Mirboo North side to Morwell East in round nine, had meant the Tigers needed to steal one back to have their season back on track. But the task of taking on the Demons, even on their home deck, was never going to be an easy one and in the end it proved to be too big a task.
Rhett Kelly, MDU’s coach said it “was another fantastic day for football! Facing a young team, you're never quite sure what to expect, and Mirboo certainly started strong, putting us on the back foot early. However, we were able to regroup at quarter time and get the game back on our terms. I'm super proud of the boys for their work rate around the ball and their ability to spread and move the football forward, creating plenty of opportunities for us.”
Damian Turner, Mirboo North’s coach gave “full credit to MDU, they showed their class across the majority of the game. We started strongly and had some great moments, and while we couldn’t maintain it, the effort and attitude never wavered. Injuries continue to challenge us, but the boys showed real resilience and a willingness to adapt, which is super impressive. Another U18 debuted this week, which is a great sign for the future and valuable experience for our young brigade.”
The Tigers best days may well be in the future, while for the Demons, right here right now is the moment they must seize. A fortnight of losses aside, MDU have performed extraordinarily well and with a top six six position seemingly locked away it’s now all about improvement within the group.
Tigers maul Lions
Foster 15-11-101 to Stony Creek 6-5-41.
Round 10, Stony Creek Racecourse
Opposition clubs appear to be paying the price for Foster's recent one kick loss to Fish Creek. The Tigers did a number on Toora in round nine and in round ten it was Stony Creek's turn to feel the wrath of the highly credentialed Tigers team. Foster have had many admirers for most of the season and their weekend performance has done nothing to dampen opinion that they may well be the next big thing of the MGFNL.
Sam Davies, Foster’s coach called it a “solid four quarter performance from us with a couple of really good moments. Stony definitely had strong patches, especially for the first 10 minutes of each quarter and really tried to play a high contest game.”
The ten goal margin indicates a one way affair. In reality however, the Lions had moments every bit as impressive as their opposition, it’s just that Foster did what good sides do and seized even the smallest of opportunities.
Troy Shepardson, Stony Creek’s coach said, “we took on a ladder leading Foster on the weekend who proved why they're on top. With a great run and spread game, the score board didn't reflect how close the game was, with our boys well in the contest.”
Fishy continue winning run
Fish Creek 12-13-85 to Thorpdale 8-7-55
Round 10, Thorpodale Rec reserve
Thorpdale were admirable in their loss to Yinnar just a week ago, and again left it all out on the park when they took on league leaders Fish Creek on the weekend. The Blue's honesty and attack on the ball cannot be questioned, but they do appear to be just a few soldiers short to take on the very best, and that's what they faced on the weekend.
Jarrad Walker, Fish Creek coach, called it “a really solid game for us. We had probably our youngest team in for a few years so we stripped the game right back to a few simple KPIs for each group. We were able to tick these off at each 1/4 time break which was a real positive and probably one of our more consistent four quarter games for the year. Thorpdale was good all day, also battling a few injuries but stuck at it right until the end. It was probably only the last 10-15 minutes we were able to kick a couple of goals in a row and end up with a nice lead.”
Daniel Taylor, Thorpdale coach reckoned “we started the game off really well but didn't get any scoreboard pressure which was a little frustrating. After quarter time Fishy took control and were the better team for the rest of the day. Some basic skill errors really hurt us again, we need to clean that up if we want to be able to compete with the best teams."
Toora stands tall against Newborough
Toora 21-14-140 to Newborough 10-7-67
Round 10, Toora Rec Reserve
This clash was always going to be determined by who had the last men standing. Both clubs have been hit hard by far too many injuries and as a result have also spat out some inconsistent performances. With that said, their seasons were far from over, with the winner destined to live to fight another day. In the end, Toora were brilliant all afternoon, with a big seventy three point victory.
Pat Frendo, Newborough coach, reckoned it was a “very tough loss on the weekend against Toora. Started off really well and quickly went away from what got us an early lead. Toora showed they were hungrier and cracked in harder at every opportunity.”
The loss is a bad one for the Bulldogs, not devastating but bad enough to put their season under pressure. The Magpies have now won two from their past three, and seemingly from nowhere they are starting to surge.
Jay Acardi, Toora coach called it a “perfect winter's day for football at Toora and we had a great contest against a young up and coming team in Newborough. They jumped out of the blocks early and kicked two goals before we even touched the ball. To our boys' credit we didn’t panic and got the game on our terms. Really proud of how the boys responded after the previous game.”
ROUND 11
Demons swoop on hapless Hawks
MDU 12-7-79 to Morwell East 7-7-49
Round 11, Meeniyan Rec Reserve
For Morwell East there remained just a glimmer of hope that a steady climb up the ladder was still possible, if only they could regain some of their football of twelve months ago. The problem however, was a strong and steady Demon's team that had the opportunity to kill off the Hawks season. That's exactly what they appear to have done.
Rhett Kelly, MDU’s coach said “it was great to come away with the four points, especially after Morwell East put up such a strong fight in the second half. We started the game really well and absorbed Morwell East's pressure to have a small lead at quarter time. Our pressure in the second quarter was excellent, allowing us to play a lot of forward-half football with repeat entries. While we probably didn't capitalise enough on those entries, I was still extremely happy with our first-half efforts. Credit to Morwell East for coming out strong after halftime and putting the pressure back on us. We were a bit lost structurally after a player was sent off at the start of the third quarter, and they were able to take advantage of that. Morwell East also scored a few goals late in the game, which was a bit disappointing from our end, but as I said, it was great to come away with the four points. We have the bye this week, so we'll use this time to freshen up. It will also be great to see some returning players over the next couple of weeks.”
Paul Henry, Morwell East’s coach, was happy to “compete all day against MDU. We had a lot of forward fifty entries in the first quarter, just didn't capitalise. MDU did. We got out worked in the second quarter. Second half we outscored them by a goal. Got within four goals in the last but MDU was too good in the end. We are playing better footy.”
Kangaroos leap over Hillsmen
Fish Creek 25-17-167 to Hill End 2-2-14.
Round 11, Terrill Park
Bottom of the ladder Hill End strolled into the home of top team Fish Creek, perhaps not with extraordinary confidence, but at least with some belief they could keep in touch, such was their performance just seven days earlier against Yinnar. It soon became obvious however, that the Kangaroos were going to be a very different proposition.
Jarrad Walker, Fish Creek’s coach said it was “a pleasing performance by us yesterday. We started moving the ball a lot better in the second half which helped to create more space in the forward line and get some better looks at goal. It was good to see our forwards continue to work together and share the footy around to have a more even contribution of goal scorers. Darcy Berryman is in a hot run of form and was great to see Jai Stefani get on the end of a couple after working really hard on the track. Hats off to Hill End who made us earn it all day, especially the Hill End ruckman (not sure on name) who went all day in the ruck and made us make a few changes in our ruck stocks. They’ve got some handy juniors coming through so good luck to them for the rest of the year.”
Adrian Burns, Hill End’s coach said "They are a very good side, they are awesome, they had some players out and we had eight players out ourselves, the boys that were in did a good job, we had a fifteen year old that did a good job young Hamish Phoenix is a ripper, so it wasn't all bad but I would've like a bit more of a fight from us."
Tiger v Tiger battle taken by Foster
Foster 10-10-70 to the Tigers 1-5-11
Round 11, Foster Showgrounds
The battle of the two Tiger teams was not so much about the battle of emblems, it was more about the 2025 survival of Mirboo North. The visiting Tiger team entered the round as eighth on the league ladder but just percentage away from sixth position, which meant that the scoreboard, whether winning or losing, was important. It's not ideal then, for Mirboo North to be beaten by close to enough to ten goals.
Sam Davies, Foster’s coach reckoned his team “Ticked the box on the weekend. Damo (Mirboo coach) definitely had his boys well drilled, playing plus two essentially behind the footy all day which made it a very ugly game. We will start to see some players come back from injury over the next few weeks which will be helpful for numbers everywhere."
It's a scary thought that a side better than good can get even better, but that's the proposition that opposition sides will face in the coming weeks. The Tigers may have been on the receiving end of a pretty solid beating, but there remained a lot to like about the way the visitors went about their business.
Damian Turner, Mirboo North’s coach said that “this was always going to be a tough trip with so many first choice players out, but I couldn’t have been prouder of the fight and scrap of my boys. I felt we really did make it hard for Foster, and they stuck to a plan and never went away.
Sam has a good strong list, and in the end their class and finishing was too much. We will take some learnings from today and even a small amount of confidence.”
Pressure on Lions as finals approach
Newborough 12-15-87 to Stony Creek 12-10-82.
Round 11, Newborough Kennel
It was always going to be hard to justify the loser of this clash as a continued contender for a finals berth, given a loss would mean not only would they need to string some victories together moving forward, but they will also be relying on others to lose. The pressure is now squarely on Stony Creek after going down by just a kick.
Pat Frendo, Newborough coach said it was a “massive win for us at the kennel on the weekend, First four quarter performance we’ve played in some time. Started the game well kicking 6.1 in the first, then hurt ourselves in the second quarter going 1.8 in front of goals. Managed to steady the ship a bit in the second half and gave ourselves a 6 goal lead late in the last before we switched off and allowed 5 goals in the last 8 minutes. Four points is four points for us, we will take the win and move on to next week where we play Mirboo on their home deck.”
When the Bulldogs were hot they were hot, and hundred gamer Liam Cordner was well supported by team mates Harrison Gallagher, Kyle Jennings and Wade Anderson, which made the day even more special.
Troy Shepardson, Stony Creek’s coach said that they “travelled to Newborough and took on a side who were desperate to get back on the winners’ list and for three quarters they out worked us. Boys dug deep in the last to try to steal a win, but fell short by five points. Hopefully we can roll the momentum of the last quarter into next week.”
Blues topple Pies
Thorpdale 15-10-100 to Toora 13-8-86.
Round 11, Toora Rec Reserve
Getting a handle on just what version of Toora was going to turn up has proved to be a tough task in recent weeks. Two wins out of three ain't half bad and that's exactly what the Magpies had produced in the past month leading into another tough challenge against the Blues. On their home deck, Toora knew a victory would have them within a whisker of the top half of the ladder - the problem was a fierce visitor in the shape of Thorpdale, who managed to keep the home side at arms’ length.
Daniel Taylor, Thorpdale’s coach said it was a “great game of footy which could have gone either way. I felt at halftime Toora had the momentum and when they kicked the first goal after halftime to take a 14 point lead it looked like we were on the ropes a bit. To the boys’ credit we really got to work, our midfield got on top, intensity and pressure lifted around the ball and we managed to get some forward half territory which got the game back on our terms at the last change. Cracker of a last quarter with a few lead changes before we settled and kicked the last two goals to get an important win for our season moving forward. Really proud of the effort from the whole group but I thought Gav Low in the ruck was fantastic all day, Lachie Wallace was brilliant late and our full forward Cougar ‘The Weapon’ Millsom had a day out and was the difference on the day kicking 8 goals straight.”
The Magpies struggled to keep the Blues’ key forward down, and that, coupled with some poor decisions proved to be costly to a Magpies side that, in recent weeks, looked as though they were ready to make a significant move up the ladder.
Jay Acardi, Toora’s coach said it was “a really tough encounter against Thorpy on the weekend. The game was played at a high level and a physical one. It was a close match all day and to their credit they were able to take their chances when it mattered to grab the win. Really proud of the effort our lads showed but some silly errors at crucial moments in the last quarter were costly, but I’m sure we will learn from them and move on."
Toora sit third to bottom on the MGFNL ladder but just two games from the top six, there is now little room for error or to be on the wrong side of any further close games.
