FOOTBALL
MID GIPPSLAND
Trafalgar have firmed as the side to beat with a strong 33-point victory over Yallourn-Yallourn North on Saturday, 16.8 (104) to 11.5 (71).
The visitors had only been beaten once in season 2018 leading into the game and it was Trafalgar who claimed that scalp.
At quarter-time scores were locked away at three goals and one behind apiece.
The Bombers have had most of the potent firepower in front of goals this season, but it was the Bloods who found gaps in the home side’s defence during the second term, kicking five goals and hitting the major break with a handy 19-point lead.
The home crowd were waiting for a comeback from their team in the third quarter, but the visitors remained in control and extended their lead to 35 points at the last break.
The Bombers didn’t give it up but it turned out to be a bridge too far, despite league leading goalkicker and Bomber full-forward Dean Macdonald still managing to kick eight goals.
Trafalgar’s goalkickers included Matthew Swenson with six, Darcy Brock (four) and Daniel Hayes (two).
“We saw a fairly big improvement last week against Newborough and that flowed on nicely into this week. We will continue to work hard and to get that win today was pretty pleasing,” Bloods coach Clint Einsiedel said.
Trafalgar now have 15 wins from 16 starts and any doubts their demanding style of game might have been starting to wear a bit thin were well and truly put to bed on Saturday.
Yinnar v Yarragon
Yinnar continued to play good footy at the right time of the year and got the win over Yarragon in round 16, 15.20 (110) to 5.7 (37).
Yinnar are regarded by most as the team to beat for this year’s premiership, and that’s despite sitting in third position and losses to teams above them and even a couple below them.
The Magpies have ever-so-quietly been going about their business, hoping their rapid improvement may have gone unnoticed by those around them.
Saturdays’ performance shone a light on a team that was starting to put it together and that was most obvious in the first quarter when Yinnar peppered the goals for five majors from 11 attempts to earn a 20-point lead at the first break.
Inaccuracy by the Magpies was the Panthers’ best ally in the third term, when seven attempts only turned up two goals.
The margin was 45 points at three-quarter-time but the Magpies were far from finished.
Michael Stockdale, Brendan Chapman, Dean Linton, Jaydyn Embry, Brad McBride and Lincoln Albanese were some of the better contributors for the premiership contenders.
Yarragon’s best players were Dean Fitzgerald, Brad Wolfe, Michael Jolly, Thomas Follett, Mark Quigley and Brad Thomas.
“Our goalkicking is the most frustrating and we need to work on that a bit more but we also need to get on our home ground more, which has been hard given the wet conditions, but that said we are missing chances we shouldn’t be,” Yinnar coach Jaime Aitken said.
Yinnar face Trafalgar on Saturday.
Morwell East v Thorpdale
Morwell East finally did what they had been promising to do when they claimed the points against Thorpdale, 15.7 (97) to 10.11 (71).
At quarter-time you may have been forgiven for thinking the Hawks were going to give it up when the pressure was on given the Blues’ led by 21 points at the first break.
The Blues had certainly come to play and were, on the scoreboard at least, in control of a game that could have killed the Hawks’ hopes of finals.
It was a desire to win that changed the game in the second term when the Hawks turned a sizeable deficit into a 14-point lead.
For the first time in a long time, the Hawks were going into a half-time break with a lead and the belief they could actually win a game against a respected opponent and finals contender.
Frank Marks, Matthew Cunningham, Brendan Evans, Zach Mangion, Jarrod Lont and Tanner Higgins were leading the way for the home side and helped them extend their lead to 20 at the major break.
Hill End v Mirboo North
Mirboo North sliced through Hill End with the greatest of ease, 21.15 (141) to 3.7 (25).
A lead of 21 points at quarter-time had Mirboo North well placed, but it was their efforts in the second term that really broke the game open.
A further five goals shot the margin out to 51 points in what was destined to be a match-winning margin.
Damien Turner, Clancy Bennett, Zac Kilgower, Dom Pinneri, Josh Taylor and Tim Traill were getting plenty of the ball for the Tigers.
With another 11 goals added in the second half, the margin blew out and goalkicking was shared among half the side with Tim Trail leading the way with five.
“They put on some pretty good pressure, but we have ramped it up the past couple of weeks and our skills have been good too, so at this stage we are pretty much where we want to be,” Tigers coach Josh Taylor said.
Newborough v Boolarra
Newborough did as expected and gave Boolarra a good old fashioned beating, 20.20 (140) to 2.4 (6).
The Bulldogs jumped out of the blocks early and with 10 scoring shots to one, the Demons might think themselves lucky that the homes side’s inaccuracy had them trailing by just four straight kicks.
It was in the second quarter that Newborough did the damage and added better than seven goals to blow their lead out to 70 points.
The Bulldogs Matt Sawyer, Dominic McColl, Jared Risol, JB Faustin, Jesse White and Rob Wilson were best and Jared Risol was to also to lead the goalkickers for the day with an impressive bag of nine, the most of any Bulldogs forward this season.
“I firmly believe we can win another game and that is likely to make us wait until the last round of the season to see who finishes in the top five,” Newborough coach Tom Hallinan said.
