FOOTBALL
MID GIPPSLAND
It was an impressive second half of football that had Yallourn-Yallourn North run out winners over Newborough in round 14 on Saturday, 15.20 (110) to 7.3 (45).
The Bulldogs had yet to be beaten in the second half of the season – a draw against Yarragon was followed by gutsy wins in trying conditions against Hill End, Yinnar and Morwell East.
This week, however, Newborough were confronted with an extremely talented Bombers side on the rebound from a loss.
The Bulldogs hit the contest hard and gave the visitors little room to work their magic.
At quarter-time the margin was seven points in favour of Yallourn-Yallourn North, who were being frustrated by Newborough’s attention to one-on-one match-ups.
Inaccuracy meant the Bombers added two more goals and eight behinds in the second to let the Bulldogs within 14 points at the main break.
With playing coach Barrie Burnett, Rohan Reid, Stephen Pearson, Tyler Brown, Campbell MacInnes, and Josh Keyhoe leading the way, Yallourn-Yallourn North found their mojo in the last 30 minutes with only their continued inaccuracy stopping them from making a mess of Newborough.
“If we kicked straight after the first quarter, we could’ve made our job a little easier but we just couldn’t buy goal,” Bombers coach Barrie Burnett said.
“It was a good win and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the next four weeks before finals.”
The Bombers face Morwell East this weekend and Newborough take on Trafalgar.
Thorpdale v Yinnar
A fast start had Yinnar in control in their win over Thorpdale, 16.6 (102) to 9.9 (63).
On paper it appeared Thorpdale were on the way down while Yinnar were ready to showcase what they are capable of with a near-full list of players to choose from.
In perfect conditions, Thorpdale were eager to grab control on their home ground and hit the contest hard from the first bounce.
The visitors, however, soaked up all of the Blues’ intensity and proved to be steadier and more controlled with the ball.
Playing-coach Jaimie Aitken was setting his side up well from the back and the Blues were being pressured to bomb the ball forward.
At three-quarter-time the margin was more than seven goals and the efforts of Thorpdale’s Gavin Low, Nick Brown, Luke Collie, Jake Atkinson and Phillip Bennett were not enough to bring the Blues back.
The eventual 39-point victory was a fair reflection of the difference of the two sides on the day and set Yinnar up well for a top-three finish.
“The [first] quarter-and-a-half we brought a great game and we were doing all the things that are good indicators that we were in control, but after that we dropped off a bit,” Yinnar coach Jaime Aitken said.
“We have a pretty good run to the finals and also take on Trafalgar, which will be good to have another look at them and give us a chance to put our very best side on the park.”
Mirboo North v Yarragon
It was a seven-goal final quarter that finally secured the victory for Mirboo North over Yarragon, 13.10 (88) to 8.10 (58).
The Tigers have been on the prowl for more than a month now and their slow start to the season has been long forgotten as they put on one impressive performance after another.
At home the Tigers are capable of putting sides away very quickly.
There was no blowout early, however, and the home side knew they had a game on their hands as Yarragon started full of run and intent.
The Tigers trailed by seven points at quarter-time and knew they were going to have to fight for the four premiership points.
The Panthers’s better players in Nick Pratt, Dean Fitzgerald, Tim Farthing, Michael Whyte, Jake Cropley and Brad Wolfe were all on their game this week.
They led by 10 points at half-time and started to roll, and were five points up at the last change.
However, Joe Brooks, Braydon Wilson, Hudson Kerr, Josh Taylor, Mitchell Wightman and Riley Oddy helped claw the Tigers back into the lead with a devastating seven-goals-to-one last quarter.
“We probably should have been in front by more at quarter-time, and in the second and third quarters Yarragon – to their credit – did a good job and applied some great pressure. They are a good side,” Tigers coach Josh Taylor said.
Boolarra v Trafalgar
Trafalgar added another victory to their impressive collection for 2018, defeating Boolarra 12.14 (86) to 4.1 (25).
Ten scoring shots to two in the first quarter was possibly the sort of start the Bloods would have anticipated, but conditions meant goals were hard to come by.
Five goals and five behinds at quarter-time gave Trafalgar a healthy 23-point lead, which was extended to 25 at half-time.
The game did not hit any great heights, and for Boolarra it was an opportunity to match it with the best in the competition and gauge where they might be at.
For Trafalgar, it was a chance to trial some set plays and positional changes to execute later in the year.
“We actually gave some young guys a go, and they may not have made the most of their opportunities, and Boolarra … gave it a red hot go,” Bloods coach Clint Einsiedel said following the match.
“Probably in some ways the month ahead is like a finals series for us, before the actual finals series start.”
Morwell East v Hill End
Morwell East showed what they were capable of with a resounding win over Hill End on Saturday, 19.13 (127) to 10.16 (76).
With the hopes of finals seemingly gone, and therefore the pressure of making them also off, the Hawks played some more open and free-flowing football, which allowed 29 goals to be scored for the day.
Morwell East jumped out of the blocks and played their home ground well to go into the quarter-time break with a healthy three-goal lead.
The Hawks were best served by Frank Marks, Nick Campbell, Lucas Towns, A.ndrew Brown, Sam Delicato and Brandon Francis.
The home side started to lift the tempo on a tiring Hill End and added a further six goals to eventually run out 51-point winners.
Nick Campbell and Frank Marks grabbed four goals each for the Hawks in the win.
“I was pretty happy yesterday because we had 15 blokes who were under the age of 24,” Hawks coach Colin King said.
“There were patches when Hill End dominated the play but it was only patches and we got on top eventually. I think moving forward we might be looking okay.”
