FOOTBALL
NORTH GIPPSLAND
BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
Gormandale 16.17 (113) def Yarram 14.6 (90)
IT’S over.
For the first time in 1485 days, Gormandale Football-Netball Club has celebrated a win in senior football.
The Tigers earned the right to sing the song after defeating Yarram, 16.17 (113) to 14.6 (90) in Round 3 of the North Gippsland Football-Netball League last Sunday.
It was the Tigers’ first senior football win since Round 1, 2022.
A long, bumpy road to this point, second-year coach Shane Duncan watched on as the final quarter transpired alongside two long-time clubmen, injured player Chris Potalej and assistant coach Stuart Passalaqua.
Potalej, who has missed the last two games after sustaining a concussion in Gormandale’s Round 1 draw against Traralgon-Tyers United, coached the Tigers to its last win before this.
While Duncan described a majority of his emotions upon the final siren at Yarram Recreation Reserve being excitement, Potalej candidly said there was a lot of relief in finally snapping a four-year losing streak.
“It’s just good to get the monkey off the back and just have that win,” he told the Express.
“You look at the supporters and the crowd that was there supporting us, (the win) didn’t mean something just to the playing group and people around the club for a while, it meant a lot to a lot of people.”
Those supporters flaunting yellow and black colours may have been thinking more of the same was going to happen, as the game began with the home team booting five of the first six goals.
Coach Duncan delivered some firm words to the playing group at the first break, as they looked down a 19 point deficit.
“I did berate them a bit at quarter time, and they needed it,” he said.
“But they responded, which is great.”
The approach was necessary to see the Tigers get into a gear, which has seen them much more competitive to begin the season compared to years prior.
Gormandale began to play dangerously, slowly chipping away at the margin with the first two goals of the second quarter, before Flynn Roscoe roved the pack, secured the ball and got on the run at the front of the coach boxes, sending through the middle sticks to push the Tigers in front for the first time.
The Demons responded through skipper Kayleb Pearce, only for the Tigers’ Liam Deering to punch one home from 50 metres out.
While Yarram garnered the next two majors, Gormandale had plenty more shots at goal, and finished with one more through Jet Clark to see the match deadlocked at 57-apiece at halftime.
As play returned, each side continued to go goal-for-goal, only for the Demons’ Wellesley Jenkins to break the tide to push Yarram ahead by 12 points deep into red time of the third term.
Gormandale on-baller Judah Leak answered at the very next centre bounce, sending the ball into the Tigers’ forward line, seeing Clark get on the end of another.
The final turn arrived with the Demons ahead by five points, with Duncan not certain how the Tigers would respond in an unfamiliar situation.
“At three quarter time, I was unsure how they’d react, given they hadn’t really been in that position before to actually win the game,” he said.
“As soon as they started to believe in that last quarter and got a little bit of confidence, we just ran away with it.”
Gormandale kept possession in its forward half to begin the final term, still making some mistakes while going at breakneck speed, only for Riley Hughes to intercept the ball, storm through the middle of the ground and send through the goal to give the Tigers the lead yet again.
The intensity of the match was getting out of hand, with the ball swinging around at a pace not seen from the two sides this year, only for the Tigers to find ruckman Peter Strong inside the forward 50.
Strong got it done on a tight angle, seeing his teammates maul him as they’d gone ahead by 11 points at the 13 minute mark.
The next few minutes played out with nerves from either end, only for Blake Hearn to eventually send through another for the Tigers in front of the scoreboard, which would be printed into the history books in due time.
Gormandale finished off with another from Deering, and as Tom Said lined up for his first, the siren rang to officially see the Tigers snap its losing streak.
Said couldn’t care for his kick, as the bench stormed the field and an army of supporters followed suit.
In Duncan’s words, the players “went nuts”.
The Tigers recruited heavily in the offseason and noted a monster preseason focussed on getting their standards up to par, which was evident in how they ran out the game.
Potalej serves as Gormandale’s football manager and said they recruited “smart”.
“We recruited people that have come into the club … the way they’ve kind of acted and been since being at the club, they’ve brought in,” he said.
“I got plenty of hugs (immediately after the game) and a lot of them were from the new recruits.”
All the new senior players were said to have recognised how significant this result was for the people that make up the club, and got around to all of those who’ve done it tough.
That includes Potalej, now into his 11th season at Gormandale.
“There’s definitely been hard times, and probably nearly more hard times than good when it comes on the footy field,” he said.
“You get a day like (on Sunday) and everything becomes worth it.”
The Tigers would have mounted a good performance in the hours following the game too, but won’t except that sole win for the year.
Almost even more remarkably, Gormandale was victorious in all three football grades over Yarram – something the Tigers hadn’t done in more than 15 years.
FOR the rest of Round 3 of North Gippsland football, three matches played out across two days at the weekend, with a solo Saturday showcase, and the rest featured on Sunday.
This gave footballers less of a window for recovery before the upcoming work week.
Overall results were a lot more favourable for the competition, after an opening two rounds which were accompanied with a number of blowouts.
That still didn’t stop a few sides from doing a number of their opponent.
Cowwarr 22.31 (163) def TTU 1.6 (12)
IN a marquee Anzac Day fixture, Traralgon Tyers United was no match for Cowwarr.
The Saints recorded their third consecutive win to begin the season, coming in their largest too, spanking the Bombers to the tune of 151 points, 22.31 (163) to 1.6 (12).
Given how decimated TTU have become over the span of one offseason, and alternatively, how prolific Cowwarr have become due to a monster recruiting period, the result seemed obvious from the outset.
Keenan Hughes produced one his best first quarter performances of his career, garnering five goals in the opening proceedings as the Saints came out the other end with a lead of 65 points to nothing.
While only three goals were kicked for the rest of the first half, they all came from Cowwarr, as the Bombers were held goalless.
Given TTU have been competitive for close to a decade at this point, and played off in the last four grand finals, this would have to be a first for the club in some time.
The Bombers finally hit the scoreboard majorly to begin the third quarter through Nicholas Rutter, but the Saints weren’t going to take their foot off the pedal, adding another three goals to move over the 100-point mark.
Cowwarr finished off at their best towards the final siren, which saw Hughes finish with nine goals on the day.
On-baller Tristen Waack was awarded the Anzac Medal as best-on-ground, with Hughes, Ben Coffey, Mitchell McMaster, Brady Hood, and Michael Bloss also noted for their performances.
David Waddell, Rutter, Trent Hourigan, Matt Anderson, Patrick Moio, and Quinn Sinclair were the best for TTU.
YYN 15.11 (101) def Churchill 10.15 (75)
ON Sunday, Yallourn Yallourn North needed to find an extra gear to dispel of Churchill.
The Jets did enough to come out on top at Gaskin Park, 15.11 (101) to 10.15 (75).
Plenty of biff opened the match, as both sides indicated they were definitely not the best of friends, but YYN early on showed their experience to end the first quarter ahead by 14 points.
After an early goal for the Cougars, the Jets continued to hound with four of the five of the next six goals, seeing them go into halftime with a 27-point lead.
Player coach Chris Williams wouldn’t have been too pleased with what transpired, as the Cougars failed to capitalised on many opportunities in front of goal, which was reflected with nine behinds and just four goals.
Churchill then opened the second half with a force, pounding on the first three goals including two from skipper Travis Nash.
His latter goal saw him up and about as the Cougars got within seven points, creating danger for their visiting opponent.
Young Chase Boxshall broke the gaining tide for the Jets with a sensational snap around the body, only for Churchill to answer again through Nash getting out the back for an easy one.
Dylan Keyhoe was able to save an even less favourable score line for the Jets, with a toe-poke just before three quarter time.
YYN playing coaches Dean MacDonald and Barrie Burnett addressed the group each, with Burnett demanding that they not except what played out during the third term.
The Jets returned to a more traditional line-up seen in their era of success, with Josh Keyhoe swung back forward to boot the opening goal of the fourth quarter, while Darcy Shellcot and Dylan Bentley were pushed into defence due to injury concerns with Campbell MacInnes.
Dylan Bath went bang with an impressive shot from the boundary nearest to the front gate, and Dylan Keyhoe soon after added his fifth goal for the day to push the Jets out to north of 20 points.
Elliott De Carli was best-on-ground for YYN, followed by Dylan Keyhoe, Shellcot, Jai Massese, Brandon Mcauliffe, and Cody MacDonald with two goals.
Despite the end result, Nash may have done enough to grab the three league votes with four goals for Churchill, while Hayden Weir, Lachlan Kerr, Xavier Hughes, Jordan Fenech, and Tom Sevenson were others to play well for the Cougars.
Woodside 23.13 (151) def Glengarry 9.12 (66)
WOODSIDE returned to the winner’s list by defeating Glengarry, 23.13 (151) to 9.12 (66).
After a surprise thrashing at the hands of Cowwarr the week prior, the Wildcats got the job done in significant fashion over the Magpies at Woodside
Recreation Reserve.
Jumping out to an early 30-point lead after the first break, Woodside quickly went out by 10 goals by halftime.
The margin appeared to remain that way through the rest of the game, due to how the third quarter played out, but the Wildcats wanted to make sure they finished at their best.
Woodside added seven goals to the final siren, while the Magpies booted four in their own right.
Riley Denovan and Hudson Holmes combined for 16 goals during the match, while Cooper Earles was the other multiple goal score for the Wildcats with two.
Adam Janssen was best on for Woodside, followed by Denovan, Daniel Missen, Ryan Foat, Josh Morgan, and Ashton Janssen.
Callum Mitchell, Jesse Lee (two goals), Xavier Taylor, Zachary Bastin, Kade Marsh, and Ben Cheetham were named in the best for Glengarry.
HEYFIELD, Rosedale and Sale City all had the bye.
