As important as winning is at any time in sport, there comes a time that "how" you win starts to play a far more important role, and that time of "how" is starting to edge closer now as we fast approach the last handful of games of the home and away season.
Boolarra v Morwell East
The Demons were desperate to bounce back with some semblance of the form they had shown in the early part of the year, hosting a powerful Hawk's side, that had some kpi's themselves to tick off in their round thirteen clash, the first was to secure the points and the second was to do it in a fashion that showed their best football was still ahead of them.
In the end, Morwell East would be pretty happy just to get the premiership points after falling in by just a kick.
The Hawks 7-8-50 to the Demons 6-8-44, a special win on a special day.
Paul Henry, Morwell East coach “We were out at Boolarra celebrating Brendan Evans' record of 255 senior games at Morwell East. Huge achievement! Boolarra on their home turf has always been a hard match up for us but we finally got the monkey off our back in a tight hard fought win.”
All clubs like to win milestone matches for their most loyal players, but there is never a guarantee, the Demons doing everything they could do to ruin the party, only to fall so agonisingly short and not for the first time.
Brendan Mason, Boolarra “there is no question the boys responded from the past fortnight, but to not get the result again is disappointing"
They are so close the Demons, is isn't funny - its a season in which Boolarra will reflect at opportunities lost and those lost you cant get back.
Fish Creek v Toora
Fish Creek have been around long enough and won far more than their share by knowing when and how to be at their very best.
Nurturing the players that need some in season rest, developing those in games that won't compromise results, and testing others in unfamiliar roles to
have in the back pocket for a rainy (or finals) day.
Having the depth and talent to do all of these things is a big part of what makes this great Victorian country team so good, and Toora was the most recent team to witness first hand.
The Magpies handed a footballing lesson by forty three points.
Fish Creek 10-10-70 to Toora 3-9-27.
Jarrod Walker, Fish Creek coach "A strong performance from us, Toora came to play and made it a strong contest all day. Pleasing to see us getting the game on our terms at times and moving the ball the way we want to.”
It was more of the same for Fish Creek, the league leaders have some breathing space between themselves and a few teams just below, but there is no doubt the pressure remains to perform.
The flip side of that is that sides that perform are becoming increasingly frustrated with not achieving the results desired from the efforts given.
Jack Weston, Toora coach “The competitor in us all is getting tired of being in games against good sides for long periods of time. We perhaps addressed our slow starts to be even at quarter time, but fell away for fifteen minutes in the second and credit to Fish Creek they put on a match winning burst. A big weekend for the club against Yinnar next week.”
The Magpies will indeed get another chance, yet again against another quality opponent, in front of an expected healthy crowd for the Carlton Draught round.
Hill End v Foster
As Happy as the Hill End men had been, and deserved to be after their season breaking win just seven days earlier there was always the ominous feeling that Foster was going to send the mood crashing back to earth on the weekend and that is pretty much what we saw.
The Tigers, workmanlike in their better than one hundred point victory over the Rovers 19-11-125 to 3-2-20.
Jake Best, the former Traralgon playing coach was a standout for the Tigers with fifteen goals.
Sam Davies, Foster coach “A special day for a few of our guys who had been battling away in the ressies all year giving them a senior opportunity and getting them a win. They stepped up to the level and all contributed.”
Foster are doing everything they can, as good sides do, to have them ready for the deeper water they must venture into against the bigger fish in the competition, also impressively it must be said to, that the Tigers are also making decisions for players as they did on the weekend for the longer term benefit of the club.
The Hillsmen were acutely aware of what they were up against given they were a little short of their best against a side starting to surge at around the right time.
Ambu Uliando, Hill End coach “it was a disappointing effort against foster. Didn't have our best team in. Foster are a top quality outfit. Looking forward to the week off.”
In fact Hill End will be one of three teams that have a weekend off in round fourteen, a late season freshen up before a month more of home and away football.
MDU v Mirboo North
In normal circumstances, MDU would have hit their home turf with a certain degree of confidence, knowing that their overall form would have them deserving favourites, likely victors and provide a reasonably smooth pathway to victory and a potential finals finish line.
However there was also a certain "apprehension" starting to build around the Demons, knowing that in reality a loss could also derail their season in just two hours.
In the end, MDU got it done as a finals aspirant should, a confidence building demolition of Mirboo North 19-6-120 to 2-2-14.
Nathan Allen, MDU coach “We had a really good win today. We were able to put a 4 quarter performance together and convert when we had momentum. Mirboo ran really hard all day and possessed the ball well at times. Even contributions from our guys all over the ground made us really hard to play against today.”
It’s possibly a coach's greatest satisfaction, having a team effort, the “all did their part” reflection of the game, and as the bar gets lifted higher, having such contributions becomes more and more crucial.
For the Tigers, there remains those “moments” in games to recognise but team success still appears a little way off.
Damian Turner, Mirboo North coach “Tough day. We showed some good signs in the first half, within striking distance again. But after half time. MDU were far too classy. Their ball use and spread was very sharp, and Sheen onsong. (Congrats on goal 1200) Again, consistency hurts us. We move on quickly from this one, continue to work hard”
The Tigers have a big club day planned in round fourteen, welcoming both past players, and one of the games greats in Gary Ablett junior, the sort of attendance that can and is likely to lift a side.
Tarwin v Thorpdale
Tarwin's chips had to be "all in" on the weekend as they welcomed Thorpdale to their home ground for what loomed as a last chance Showdown for both clubs.
A win would enable a coach to continue to sell the story of finals and when getting there, anything could happen, a loss meant that rather than telling a story, a coach needed to become a storyteller, selling the dream as to still being alive.
Thorpdale, get to tell the story, their two goal win, 12-17-89 to 11-11-77, earning them the valuable premiership points.
Jason Winderlich, Thorpdale coach “Four points was what we wanted and that’s what we got. Played some really good patches of footy, just couldn’t capitalize on the scoreboard. Tarwin played some great footy rebounding from half back as they were trying to keep their finals hopes alive.”
The Sharks day started as well as it could, all building the hope that the home side seniors could follow suit, and for much of the afternoon it appeared the careful planning might pay off.
Jason Kennedy, Tarwin coach “Our day started off well with the reserves coming home with their second win in a row with a mixture of experienced and young players having a crack. Followed by our senior/ junior buddy day. This was a rewarding way to kick start our day and all involved really enjoyed it. We also had a few good wins in netball which was great to see. For the seniors it was a huge game for us in regard to continuing our pursuit of the top six. Thorpdale ended the first quarter with a 2 goal lead and in the end this was the difference that we couldn’t peg them back. All in all I can’t fault our effort and we battled hard all day and also played some good football. We have the bye this week So it’s a good chance to freshen up and finish off the year strong”
The year is not over for Tarwin, the challenge is much greater this week than last, but a fast finish towards finals can still change things very quickly.
Yinnar v Stony Creek
Good sides don't lose two in a row, good sides don't get beaten on their home ground, Yinnar proved they are very much a side that will need to be reckoned with after bouncing back from what could have been a demoralising loss to Foster a week ago, taking care of a potentially dangerous Stony Creek team by sixteen points, 7-11-53 to 5-7-37, the margin not huge but the result enormous in the scheme of the season.
Sam McCulloch, Yinnar coach "Wet weather conditions greeted us as we welcomed Stony Creek to the Yinnar mud. The boys were keen to respond after a loss last week and started really well, applying pressure around the ball and taking our opportunities going forward. The game itself became an old fashioned slog as both teams were looking to gain territory at all costs. We felt we controlled most of the day but the Lions made a charge in the last. We held strong and finished well with a good win in the mud."
Winning ugly is always a rewarding result for a coach that has a team full of talent, but knows his men don't mind rolling up the sleeves as well and on the weekend it was possibly the difference between winning and losing.
Chris Verboon, Stony Creek “I was really happy with our effort in tough conditions. We were down to one on the bench by half time. We had a lot of the play down our end of the ground but couldn’t capitalise on the forward entries. Yinnar rebounded really well off half back and scored through clean entries. We get to rest the bodies this week with a week off. Couldn’t of come at a better time with the injuries from Saturday's game”
Deep into winter coaches are confronted with all sorts of challenges for Stony Creek winning close games remains the most pressing.
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