FOOTBALL

MID GIPPSLAND

By MITCH BERECHREE

 

Qualifying Final

Foster 16.12 (108) def Yinnar 4.5 (29)

FOSTER steamrolled its way into the Mid Gippsland Football-Netball League senior football grand final after a huge win over a listless Yinnar at Tarwin on Saturday.

The reigning premier had the game parcelled up at the long break, where their lead was just a single point shy of 10 goals before running out semi-final winners 16.12 (108) to 4.5 (29).Where it not for a Nixon Hall masterclass in the last term, where the gun on baller went forward for the Magpies and kicked three late goals, the margin may well have exceeded three figures.

But more on that later, back to where it all began.

The neutrals in attendance had their choice of key matchups to watch all over the ground.

Brett Eddy and Jake Best were manned up by Brendan Chapman and Mark Stolk in the Foster front half, with Shaun Chaseling having Olli McColl for company early doors.

At the other end, Kane Grinstead-Jones, Lachlan Pratt and Will Robertson had Aaron Rhodes, James Morris and Liam Bentley close by, with Brock Cripps appearing to go to Mick Geary.

In the middle, it was star versus star everywhere you dared to look. Jesse Bowe of Yinnar took on Jack Rathjen in the ruck, with Foster’s league medal winner Angus Norton getting James De Virgilio. Jack Weston was head-to-head with Clancy Mills and Bailey Anwgin and Blake Van Der Meer entered into a one v one shootout.

Like I said, matchups for days.

Fast forward to quarter time and it was all one-way traffic.

Foster led 4.2 (26) to 1.0 (6). Eerything Foster coach Jake Best would have wanted played out. Rathjen had more than negated Bowe’s influence, Norton was in danger of leather poisoning, Weston, who was seemingly playing a touch on the more combative side than usual, found the footy when he wanted, and the key forwards for Foster had all had a lick or two of the ice cream.

Gippsland FM stats man Sam Crane kept a note of the “inside 50s”, which Foster won 22 to 11. Foster also won the clearances, four to three, and the tackles 22-20, despite having more of the ball.

All this after Yinnar opened the goal kicking through Flynn Schill 10 minutes into the match. (On this point if anyone had told you at the time Yinnar would not kick its second goal until the last term, you’d have complimented their tin foil hat).

The opening goal was rapidly offset though by the big guns, with Eddy, Best and Chaseling slotting the next four between them. Curiously, the game’s first four goals all came from free kicks in a game where it actually felt like the umpires had little or no work to do (well done to them).

Surely things would change after Yinnar hit its huddle and reassessed. The league’s second-best home-and-away side would correct a few things, get the game back on even terms and hit the scoreboard. They weren’t playing to get into the grand final for no reason!

The second quarter only saw things get worse for the Magpies. It was the first of two goalless terms for them, Foster winning it 6.4 (40) to a single, solitary, lonely behind. The margin sat at 59 points and the game was all but done.

It started again with Best, then it was Rathjen, Chaseling again and then Eddy, before Best again kicked truly. This one however was pretty special. The coach had the footy hard up on the boundary about 35 metres from goal. Too far to go left leg across the body, angle too tight for a standard drop punt. Taking the liberties of a coach, a gun forward and leading by plenty, Best went with the banana. He bent it beautifully from left to right and the goal umpire had nothing more to do than to simply lean back and watch the Sherrin sail directly between the two big sticks.

The only thing more spectacular than the goal was the celebration, which saw Best lean back to ride the footy home with two hands in the air and then turn and take off like Winx before jumping into the air like Red Rum.

At the main break, Yinnar coach, Sam McCulloch, flicked a few magnets around. He got Chapman further up the ground, switched Harri McColl forward and sent Geary to the middle with Sam Walsh.

If he was hoping for an immediate lift on the scoreboard, he was sadly out of luck, as the game turned into an arm wrestle with both sides struggling to score.

If he was hoping to simply stem the flow and learn a few things before a possible re-match in two weeks, well I guess time may tell.

The term’s only major came from the boot of Foster skipper and best-on-ground contender Dylan Williams nearly seven minutes in. With Yinnar only adding a single point themselves, they went to the last break a long way behind.

Both sides had huge support at their final huddle, with the Yinnar faithful refusing to drop off, while the Foster fans enjoyed every minute of what would have been a pretty upbeat final address for the day.

Refusing to go down without a fight, Yinnar kept grinding. They moved Hall forward and he went on a tear that might have the coach wondering where to apply the team of the year contender at his next outing. To keep him in the midfield or to let him loose up forward where he took five marks and helped himself to half-a-dozen scoring opportunities.

But before Hall got his trio of majors, the Foster front half had its say to start the last quarter. Best got his fifth, James Morris snagged one, and Weston was set to launch into a celebration that may have matched his coach’s before the umpire indicated his flying shot hit the post.

From here on though it was all Hall. The front half marks and goals that alluded Yinnar all day were suddenly available, and he kicked three in a row before passing of a kickable shot or two and missed one other.

A glass half full Yinnar supporter might point to a second half where they were only beaten six goals to three, but the truth is the damage was done early.

Williams, Norton, Schneider and Weston were in everything for the winners. Eddy and Best kicked 10 between them. Chaseling did as he needed with two, as did Harry Flavelle. Morris, Rhodes and Bentley beat their opponent’s and the winners cruise off to the grand final in two weeks’ time.

The break will hopefully be enough time for Mick Cooke, the vice-captain and centre half forward who was a late withdrawal on Saturday, to get himself right and for skipper Williams to get over whatever niggle he had that saw him limp off the ground late.

For Yinnar, Bobby Linton was good both in and out of the ruck, and Hall clearly earned his stripes with three of his side’s four goals.

Young gun Harvey McKay continues to impress, and defenders Tom Robertson and Chapman had plenty of touches with the ball being in their vicinity most of the day.

Yinnar have a week to dust themselves off and get back on the front foot as they look to take on Fish Creek in a preliminary final and the chance to take another swing at the reigning champ in a fortnight.

Postgame, Foster coach Best said he was “happy with the win” before adding “but we turn our focus to the next game”.

“Still one more to go,” he said signing off with a decent smile on his face.

McCulloch said postgame, “Full credit to Foster, who brought outstanding pressure, intensity, and physicality around the ground from the opening bounce. Their work rate and commitment were evident throughout the game, and unfortunately, we were unable to match that intensity or maintain the standards we have set for ourselves”.

“We were comprehensively beaten across all areas of the game and, ultimately, didn’t perform at the level required to compete with Foster.

“We will learn from this performance, respond the right way and make sure we are ready for the opportunity ahead. There is no value in dwelling on the result, and our focus now turns to moving forward quickly and preparing ourselves for the preliminary final.

“We know we will need to produce a significantly better brand of footy, if we are to earn our place in the grand final.”

 

Semi Final

Fish Creek 9.9 (63) def MDU 8.7 (55)

A BUMPER crowd at Newborough’s Northern Reserve saw Fish Creek survive a scare against Meeniyan Dumbalk Unied in Sunday’s first semi-final.

The Kangaroos won 9.9 (63) to 8.7 (55).

Fish Creek, who finished third on the ladder, got off to a flyer with six first term goals to the Demons’ sole major.

With MDU flooding back into the Fish Creek front half, scoring was tough early doors, but when Jai Stefani won a free kick at centre half forward and sent the ball to the hot spot, Jacko Wiedemann took advantage to snap the game’s first major and get his side underway.

When Blaine Coates found Charlie Wilson in the square, the superstar forward kicked the first of his seven for Fish Creek.

Wilson’s second at the 10-minute mark spelt a warning to the MDU coach’s box, and his third at the 15-minute mark set off all the alarm bells. MDU’s Shay Walsh put the next on the scoreboard and relieved some of the pressure, but it was all one-way traffic to the quarter time siren.

When Tom Cameron was sat on his rear end and Charlie Wilson was gifted his fourth goal as a result of the 50-metre penalty, and then Harry Smith, in the short sleeves for a change, finished the quarter with Fishy Creek’s sixth goal, the Kangaroos went to the first change leading by five goals.

The second quarter started similarly to the first, with the Kangaroos dominant. Only poor kicking in front of goal stopped them blowing the game apart, with Fish Creek registering four behinds before Wilson (who else) found the big sticks.

With the lead out to 40 points, the game was surely done and dusted.

Well, it seemed not, as MDU found a lift and went on a run of four goals to end the half. They clawed their way back to within 22 points and took some hope and a little momentum to the long break.

Firstly, Walsh found Connor Krohn who kicked truly from 40, then from a forward 50 stoppage, Jaymie Youle kicked one from the square and it was back-to-back goals for the Demons. When Walsh slotted his second from a free kick, the game was all of a sudden alive heading to the main break.

Fish Creek did its best to snuff out any hope of a comeback by booting the first of the third term only 90 seconds in, but MDU refused to yield. They answered this with a major of their own and it was at the 12 minute mark before Fish Creek slotted its second late in the term to take a 28 point lead to the last break.

You’d have suspected this was enough, but with Charlie Wilson done for the day, having booted seven of his side’s nine, MDU must have felt there was at least some hope. And that’s exactly how they played the last quarter.

The Demons kept Fish Creek to just three minor scores while racking up multiple scoring opportunities themselves. If not for inaccuracy, the Demons would surely have got much closer than the final eight point margin they went down by.

As the saying goes though, to the winners goes the spoils, and Fish Creek has kept its season alive.

Charlie Wilson was best on for the Kangaroos. He was joined iby Jacob Lamers and Sam McGannon. The only other goal kickers for Fish Creek were Jacko Wiedemann, who kicked the game’s first, and Harry Smith, who also hit the scoreboard early.

For MDU, Tomas Corry pipped Shay Walsh for best on honours. Walsh booted five of his side’s eight, with Pat Kerr, Krohn and Youle registering singles.

Postgame, Demons coach Rhett Kelly, who has been a great contributor to our season (thanks Rhett!), acknowledged it was “a disappointing way to finish the season” before adding “well done to Fish Creek, they deserved the win today”.

He continued that he and the side “knew Fish Creek were going to come out firing, and our plan was to absorb that early pressure and as the game went on use our work rate and fitness to hopefully get on top of them”.

In a case of the operation was a success, but the patient died, Kelly noted that ” we gave them too much of a head start in the first quarter and it made it difficult to work our way back into the game”.

Asked about the side’s effort to come back from five goals down, Kelly said “to the boys’ credit, though, they never gave up. They kept chipping away, kept working and continued to fight right until the final siren. I’m super proud of the way they went about it, particularly the effort they showed when things weren’t going our way”.

Reflecting on the season overall, Kelly offered up the following: “Obviously I’m disappointed that we finished the season on that note, but there are plenty of positives to take from the year. We’ve seen some really good development across the group, particularly from some of our younger players who have come on a lot over the past 12 months. Now it’s about taking what we’ve learned, enjoying a bit of a break and then looking to rebuild and come back stronger next season”.

While for Kelly and MDU it might be about next year, for the rest of us, it is all about this weekend when Yinnar and Fish Creek battle it out for a spot in the grand final against Foster.

Can. Not. Wait!