Round 10

As we hit the back half of the season and clubs are getting close to having had a look at each one of their opposition, it is becoming obvious that there is nowhere to hide, the spot you find yourself, is the spot you deserve and the chances to improve are slowly starting to diminish, that means finding something a little extra, quickly.

Boolarra v Tarwin

Two clubs that have shown patches of very good football sprinkled with some disappointing performances, met at the home of the Demons, the result to have a major impact on their chances or otherwise of playing a part in the quickly approaching finals.

Prior to the start of play, Tarwin sat fifth and Boolarra seventh, only percentage separating the two, at the end of the day it was a nail biting finish that fell the way of the visitors.

Tarwin 9-15-69 to Boolarra 10-8-68

Brendan Mason, Boolarra coach “A heartbreaking one point loss with a shot for goal right on the siren falling agonisingly short. In a finish that will be spoken about for many a year the two sets of supporters may never agree on whether or not the ball crossed the line or not with Bailey Flanagans shot from outside 50 having plenty riding on it with the margin 1 point and the siren ringing out while the ball was mid air. The man in lime green however, after a quick conference with his companions, declared no score and to the winner goes the spoils. 

Tarwin jumped us early and had their nine scoring shots been more accurate they could’ve had the game wrapped up very early. To our boys' credit though we fought back well over the next two quarters to take a 15 point lead into the final change.

With our bench reduced to 1 due to injury it was always going to be a battle of attrition over the last term.

To Tarwins credit they managed to find the front and hold on for the last few minutes and walk away winners with the narrowest of margins.

Joel Mason was excellent all day with his brother Brendan hitting the scoreboard too. Simon Noy was excellent in his return from injury as was Matt Dyer who played his first game for the season."

Tarwins eleven point quarter time lead was whittled back to four at Halftime, before Boolarra took some sort of control and appeared to have a match winning fifteen point buffer at the last break.

Lachie Jones, Tarwin coach “Well that’s the definition of stealing a win. We looked done but surged late to hit the front and then just held on. Like so many times this year we have been in a tough spot late but the message at the 3 quarter time break was let’s take out chances and don’t dwell on any mistakes.We hung tough and were able to play a really strong last 15 minutes and when we hit the front we put Jordan Staley behind the ball and he iced the game with 3 strong pack marks.

Earlier in the game, it was free flowing from both sides with a few momentum shifts and Boolarra had their chip and mark game going well.

We had an u/18’s player in Indie Cameron (son of club legend Travis) make his senior debut and that gave us a really big boost. He played a great game too and didn’t look out of place for a 17 year old. It puts us in a strong spot and next week we have a bye to refresh and reset before we take on Yinnar at home. 

Tarwin appears as though they are ready to make a move, the bye, an opportunity for a refresh and a platform from which to launch a genuine challenge in the back half of the year.

Hill End v Yinnar

The Rovers were under no illusions as to the enormity of the task and as they presented themselves to take on the might of one of the really good clubs of the MGFNL.

Yinnar had already taken the scalp of the reigning premiers to open up their season and since that time have been quietly putting together the squad and game style they hope will stand them in good stead later in the year.

That said, the Magpies have respect for any opponent and that included the winless Hill End team that faced and defeated on the weekend.

Yinnar 12-15-87 to Hill End 9-8-62

Sam McCulloch, Yinnar coach “Was a sigh of relief to come away with the four points. Certainly was not one of our better performances of the year, so credit to Hill End for their game. They were up and about and played some good footy. We were able to get our game going when challenged, which was pleasing. Plenty to work on during the week, our skills certainly weren’t up to an acceptable standard.”

The Magpies were fortunate enough to get away with some rare errors and sloppy play as their young opponents continue to work on their own craft.

Yinnar will be better prepared against better opposition, and they will need to be, as the Rovers, although eager, are not quite ready to take advantage of the opportunities they are given.

Adrian Burns, Hill End coach "Our first half was really good and maybe our best footy this year, we were up at half time, but some skill areas cost us against good sides, I really believe we could have won the game, but anyway we just keep going"

The Rovers if nothing else can hopefully get something from the fact that they were able to lead last year's grand finalists and one of this year's contenders at the halfway mark

Maybe, just maybe they are getting close to a win. 

Mirboo North v MDU

The somewhat surprise loss of the Mirboo North side to Morwell East in round nine, had meant the Tigers needed to steal one back to have their season back on track.

The task to take on the Demon, even on their home deck was never going to be an easy one and in the end it proved to be just big a task, the result MDU   to  Mirboo North, now has the Tigers as part of a handful of clubs fighting to stay in touch with the league's top six clubs.

MDU 21-8-134 to the Tigers 9-7-61.

Rhett Kelly, MDU coach “It was another fantastic day for football! Facing a young team, you're never quite sure what to expect, and Mirboo certainly started strong, putting us on the back foot early. However, we were able to regroup at quarter time and get the game back on our terms. I'm super proud of the boys for their work rate around the ball and their ability to spread and move the football forward, creating plenty of opportunities for us.”

The fast start by the Tigers, although soon reeled in by MDU, shows that the Tigers are capable, but youth will need to be developed and patience given, slowly but surely the improvements are coming, achieving a more consistent effort will evolve, but like all clubs you would rather it sooner than later.

Damian Turner, Mirboo North coach “Full credit to MDU, they showed their class across the majority of the game. We started strongly and had some great moments, and while we couldn’t maintain it, the effort and attitude never wavered.

Injuries continue to challenge us, but the boys showed real resilience and a willingness to adapt, which is super impressive. Another U18 debuted this week, which is a great sign for the future and valuable experience for our young brigade.”

The Tigers best days may well be in the future, whilst for the Demons, right here right now is the moment they must seize.

A fortnight of losses aside, MDU have performed extraordinarily well and with a top six six position seemingly locked away it’s now all about improvement within the group.

Stony Creek v Foster

Opposition clubs appear to be paying the price for Foster's recent one kick loss to Fish Creek, the Tigers did a number on Toora in round nine and in round ten it was Stony Creek's turn to feel the wrath of the highly credentialed Tigers team.

Foster have had many admirers for most of the season and their weekend performance has done nothing to dampen opinion that they may well be the next big thing of the MGFNL.

Foster 15-11-101 defeated The Lions 6-5-41.

Sam Davies, Foster coach “Solid four quarter performance from us with a couple of really good moments - Stony definitely had strong patches, especially for the first 10 minutes of each quarter and really tried to play a high contest game.”

The ten goal margin indicates a one way affair, in reality however, the Lions had moments every bit as impressive as their opposition.

It’s just that Foster did what good sides do in even the smallest of opportunities seized and that’s make their opponents pay the price.

Troy Shepardson, Stony Creek coach “We took on a ladder leading Foster on the weekend who proved why there on top. With a great run and spread game, the score board didn't reflect how close the game was, with our boys well in the contest.”

The MGFNL competition is a little similar to this clash with very little separating the top few to the rest.

Clubs bottom four to six players, patches of play where concentration is lost and where decision making can be improved usually the difference.

Thorpdale v Fish Creek

Thorpdale were admirable in their loss to Yinnar just a week ago, and again left it all out on the park when they took on league leaders Fish Creek on the weekend.

The Blue's honesty and attack on the ball cannot be questioned, but they do appear to be just a few soldiers short to take on the very best, and that's what they faced on the weekend.

Fish Creek 12-13-85 to Thorpdale 8-7-55

Jarrad Walker, Fish Creek coach “A really solid game for us yesterday. We had probably our youngest team in for a few years so we stripped the game right back to a few simple KPIs for each group. We were able to tick these off at each 1/4 time break which was a real positive and probably one of our more consistent 4 quarter games for the year. Thorpdale was good all day, also battling a few injuries but stuck at it right until the end. It was probably only the last 10-15 minutes we were able to kick a couple of goals in a row and end up with a nice lead.”

The Blues efforts are as they have always been, honest, but just short of being enough to win against the very best.

Fish Creek won all four quarters by four points, ten, thirteen and three. The final margin, five goals.

Daniel Taylor, Thorpdale coach “ We started the game off really well but didn't get any scoreboard pressure which was a little frustrating. After quarter time fishy took control and were the better team for the rest of the day. Some basic skill errors really hurt us again, we need to clean that up if we want to be able to compete with the best teams."

Thorpdale now must turn their attention to Toora, a team less than a month ago, you might pencil in for a win, but with two wins in the past three weeks, this will be yet another tough test for the Blues.

Toora v Newborough

This clash was always going to be determined by one of the last men standing, both clubs have been hit hard by far too many injuries and as a result have also spat out some inconsistent performances, but even with that said, 

their seasons were far from over, with the winner destined to live to fight another day.

Toora were brilliant all afternoon, a big seventy three point victory. 21-14-140 to 10-7-67

Pat Frendo, Newborough coach “Very tough loss on the weekend against Toora. Started off really well and quickly went away from what got us an early lead. Toora showed they were hungrier and cracked in harder at every opportunity.”

The loss is a bad one for the Bulldogs, not devastating but bad enough to put their season under pressure.

The Magpies have now won two from their past three, and seemingly from nowhere they are starting to surge.

Jay Acardi, Toora coach “A perfect winter's day for football at Toora and we had a great contest against a young up and coming team in Newborough. 

They jumped out of the blocks early and kicked two goals before we even touched the ball. To our boys credit we didn’t panic and got the game on our terms. Really proud of how the boys responded after the previous game.”

The response from the whole club has been impressive and a couple more victories over the coming weeks can start to have a few at Toora talking..