With Rob Pobblestone
Round Five
Boolara v Foster
Boolarra 6-4-40 to Foster 15-8-98
Boolarra’s biggest problem in round 5 came in the shape of an in form and classy Foster football team that maintained their unbeaten season at the home of the Demons, winning 15-8-98 to 6-4-40.
Foster’s coach Sam Davies said, “Our first half was really, really good - defensively we were the best we’ve been and really limited their ball movement and capitalised on turnovers. Our backline were our strongest group all game and our shape behind the ball has been fantastic.
Second half Boolarra really brought an energy, we dropped away a bit and probably over corrected on a few things we’ve been working on.”
Make no mistake, Foster are a good side, better than 2024, and certainly in the very top few of the competition, but Boolarra too are slowly building a quality team and culture. They say you only ever lose if you don’t learn and to that end the Demons are improving even in their losses.
Mirboo North v Fish Creek
Fish Creek 15-11-101 to Mirboo North 6-5-41
As good as Mirboo North were just seven days earlier against ladder leaders Yinnar, the test for the Tigers was always going to be whether they would be able to back up that sort of performance against the reigning premiers in Fish Creek. The Kangaroos turned it on, in an impressive ten goal win.
Fish Creek’s Jarrod Walker said that it was “a tough battle yesterday with Mirboo using the corridor really well in attack and keeping our defenders on their toes. It was good to see our guys dig in for the second half, with a couple of rotations down we had to really grind the win out.”
The Tigers showed they were more than capable of matching with the Kangaroos at times, but the secret now for Mirboo is to build on those glimpses of brilliance to be better for longer. Whilst Fish Creek look destined for a top three finish, the Tigers are desperately trying to put the pieces of the side together that can have them just within reach at the business end of the year.
Stony Creek v Toora
Stony Creek 15-16-106 to Toora 7-7-49
It seems really early to be calling a round five clash a "season defining game", but you can't help but feel the result of this one between two teams wanting to be part of the league’s top six, when there is a case to be made that there is possibly only room for just one, was a match that could have more to it than just the premiership points, with that in mind the opportunity was grabbed by the scruff of the neck by the Lions.
Stony Creek’s Troy Shepardson, said that “Our boys played the footy I know they are capable of, and with getting a few key personnel back we're able to get on the winners list. Looking very forward to a bye, to freshen up.”
The Lions are looming as a “Smokey” to upset a few teams in the mid and late part of the season, their effort on the weekend even impressing the Sharks. Jai Acardi, Toora’s coach said, “We came up against a red hot Stony outfit and simply couldn’t go with them. We now reset and get back to work on the things we are good at..”
Tarwin v MDU
MDU 16-5-101 to Tarwin 10-2-62.
As happy as Tarwin were with their home ground success over Morwell East just seven days prior, the real test was their weekend match up with the might of a classy MDU. The Demons arrived at Shark Park as one of the in-form teams of the competition, and one from which the home side could get a real good gauge of just where they are. The answer, not far off!
MDU’s Rhett Kelly said, “I knew from the first contest that it was going to be a great game of footy. Both teams going in hard at the footy with great intensity. It was a high-quality game with both teams making the most of their opportunities going forward, which meant for a close game on the scoreboard.” The Demons have been super impressive and appear to have no fear of any side in the competition.
Lachie Jones, Tarwin’s coach said, “A really tough contest today for both sides. I was very proud of our effort. We finished the game with three significant injuries and it was a pretty brutal game. We were competitive for three quarters but ran out of gas but still I give full credit to Rhett and MDU, they play a strong brand and were the better side on the day.” There is no doubt the Sharks are starting to run a little thin due to injuries, and the "next man up" philosophy is noble, but at some stage the talent is tested and Tarwin would dearly love to have more players available than they currently have.
Round Six
Foster v Tarwin
Foster 10.11.71 to 7.5.47
Foster may have comfortably accounted for most opposition to date, but they nevertheless prepared themselves for a fierce contest in the shape of a Tarwin side on the rebound. Yet while the Sharks were competitive, their long list of injuries has started to take its toll, and it showed, and they were eventually defeated 7-5-47 to the Tigers 10-11-71.
Foster’s Sam Davies said, “We were really challenged today, they’ll beat teams and really contend for a finals position if they stay healthy. We showed a lot of grit and just found a way to score and keep pressure on when we were up against it though so I’m really proud of the group.” Foster now sit atop of the MGFNL ladder with five wins from as many matches, the Tigers are good and getting better as we dive deeper into the season.
Tarwin, however, should not be forgotten in this contest, as the Sharks at one stage looked as though they might actually steal the win. Coach Lachie Jones said it was, “A tough loss to swallow on the weekend for us. We took the game up to them in lots of areas but a seven minute lapse after half time proved costly and was probably the difference. Good sides don’t have these lapses so we will focus some time on that in our review. A few injuries again doesn’t help the cause but we will keep persisting."
Fish Creek v Morwell East
Fish Creek 18.25.133 to Morwell East 5.3.33
Fish Creek were inaccurate but still comfortable winners on the weekend, beating beleaguered Morwell East 18-25-133 to 5-3-33.
The Roos’ Jarrad Walker said that it was a “Solid win on the weekend against Morwell East, who from all reports have been struck down with a big number of injuries. Credit to them for fighting the game out and hopefully they can get some numbers back soon. Still a bit for us to work on with our skills and ball movement a work in progress.”
The Hawks are focused on getting more soldiers on the park, and then on turning their fortunes around after a horror start to the year. Paul Henry, Morwell East’s coach said “We were undermanned coming into a game you don't want to be undermanned in. We battle hard! To be honest it was seven minutes at the back end of quarters two and four where the heavy scoring was done. Other than that, like I said, we battled hard.” Coach Henry defends his team, as he should, but this Hawks team needs to find something from somewhere, and they need to do it as soon as possible. Fish Creek, on the other hand, is cruising through the season doing what Fish Creek does.
Toora v Mirboo North
Toora 5.15.45 to Mirboo North 8.5.53
It’s still reasonably early in the season to highlight this clash as a "must win match", but the reality was that it was very much the case for both of these two teams. Mirboo North with just two wins and Toora searching for their first both needed the premiership points to keep in touch with the top six sides in the competition.
The Tigers proved too tough, even away from home, victors by just eight points, 8-5-53 to 5-15-45.
It was a costly loss for the Toora team, who certainly had their chances, but some bad decisions made can turn a game quickly and in this instance there was no coming back. Toora’s Jay Acardi said that it was “a really tough loss against Mirboo North who had a crack all day. Quite a few missed opportunities in front of goal and some undisciplined acts were very costly and in a tight contest unfortunately they are the difference. So now we face another big challenge against Morwell East who play their ground extremely well.”
The clash between the Hawks and the Magpies looms as a must win for both clubs, the losing team can probably kiss goodbye any chance of playing finals this season, which at round seven is a cruel call and makes for a very long home and away season.
Yinnar v MDU
Yinnar 15.6.96 to MDU 15.9.99
This clash had the Magpies rolling into round six with five wins from as many matches, and welcoming an in-form Demons side that hadn't tasted defeat since round one. In the end it was the visitors who came home with the win, with MDU 15-9-99 defeating Yinnar 15-6-96 in one of the games of the year.
MDU’s Rhett Kelly said that it was “another great game of footy on the weekend. We understood that it was going to be a huge challenge to take on Yinnar on their home deck but I knew the lads were up to it after playing some good footy the last few weeks. I thought we started that game really well, but to Yinnar's credit, they kept spreading hard from the contest and put some pressure on us across the second and third quarters. I asked the boys for a big effort in the last quarter, which is what they delivered. The game could have gone either way, but I am proud that we fought it out till the end. Yinnar is a solid team, and we look forward to another hit out in the second half of the year.”
As good as the Demons were, it was a tight game and could have easily gone the other way. Yinnar’s Sam McCulloch said it was a “Very disappointing loss. We played some really good footy at different periods throughout the day, but weren’t able to maintain it for four quarters, which wont win games against good opposition. Will learn a lot from the game and work on the areas which let us down. Can’t wait to have the opportunity to respond and redeem ourselves against Foster. It will be a good test to see where we are at the moment against what looks like the team to beat right now."
Stony Creek had the bye
Mid-Gippsland Football League Ladders
