Round 11

The weekend was one in which a "line in the sand" needed to be drawn by a number of clubs so as to determine their team's destination.

Some lived to fight another day, others fell short, and now face a testing two months of home and away football unlikely to lead to a finals reward.

MDU v Morwell East

For Morwell East there remained  just a glimmer of hope that a steady climb up the ladder was still possible, if only they could regain some of their football of twelve months ago.  

The problem however was a strong and steady Demon's team that had the opportunity to kill off the Hawks season. in one afternoon and that's exactly what they appear to have done.

MDU 12-7-79 to Morwell East 7-7-49

Rhett Kelly, MDU coach “It was great to come away with the four points, especially after Morwell East put up such a strong fight in the second half. We started the game really well and absorbed Morwell East's pressure to have a small lead at quarter time. Our pressure in the second quarter was excellent, allowing us to play a lot of forward-half football with repeat entries. While we probably didn't capitalize enough on those entries, I was still extremely happy with our first-half efforts.

Credit to Morwell East for coming out strong after halftime and putting the pressure back on us. We were a bit lost structurally after a player was sent off at the start of the third quarter, and they were able to take advantage of that. Morwell East also scored a few goals late in the game, which was a bit disappointing from our end, but as I said, it was great to come away with the four points.

We have the bye this week, so we'll use this time to freshen up. It will also be great to see some returning players over the next couple of weeks.

As important as winning is, for Morwell East it's been about competing, being honest and aggressive, playing Hawk's footy, and it seems they are getting closer and closer to doing that.

Paul Henry, Morwell East coach “We competed all day against MDU. We had a lot of forward fifty entries in the first quarter, just didn't capitalise. MDU did. We got out worked in the second quarter. Second half we outscored them by a goal. Got within four goals in the last but MDU was too good in the end. We are playing better footy.”

Finals might not be on the agenda, but there is no question that Morwell East are capable of playing a part in how the shape of the top six finishes up.

The Hawks best is enough to trouble most and that trouble is also enough to throw another club's season off the rails.

Fish Creek v Hill End

Bottom of the ladder Hill End strolled into the home of top team Fish Creek, not with extraordinary confidence, but at least with some belief they could keep in touch, such was their performance just seven days earlier against Yinnar. 

It soon became obvious however that the Kangaroos were going to be a very different proposition.

Fish Creek 25-17-167 comfortable winners over Hill End 2-2-14.

Jarrad Walker, Fish Creek coach “A pleasing performance by us yesterday. We started moving the ball a lot better in the second half which helped to create more space in the forward line and get some better looks at goal. It was good to see our forwards continue to work together and share the footy around to have a more even contribution of goal scorers. Darcy Berryman is in a hot run of form and was great to see Jai Stefani get on the end of a couple after working really hard on the track. 

Hats off to Hill End who made us earn it all day, especially the Hill End ruckman (not sure on name) who went all day in the ruck and made us make a few changes in our ruck stocks. They’ve got some handy juniors coming through so good luck to them for the rest of the year.

Adrian Burns, Hill End coach "They are a very good side, they are awesome, they had some players out and we had eight players out ourselves, the boys that were in did a good job, we had a fifteen year old that did a good job  young Hamish Phoenix is a ripper, so it wasn't all bad but I would've like a bit more of a fight from us."

Sometimes a loss can hurt a side for more than week in which it happened, the challenge for Hill End now is to respond in a more worthy way in round twelve against Toora.

Foster v Mirboo North

The battle of the two Tiger teams was not so much about the battle of emblems, it was more about the 2025 survival of Mirboo North.

The visiting Tiger team entered the round as eighth on the league ladder but just percentage from sixth position, which meant that scoreboard, both win or lose was important.

Onje out of two ain't bad, but it's not ideal for Mirboo North beaten by close to enough to ten goals.

Foster 10-10-70 to the Tigers 1-5-11

Sam Davies, Foster coach “Ticked the box on the weekend. - Damo (Mirboo coach) definitely had his boys well drilled playing plus two essentially behind the footy all day which made it a very ugly game. We will start to see some players come back from injury over the next few weeks which will be helpful for numbers everywhere."

It's a scary thought that a side better than good can get even better, but that's the proposition that opposition sides will face in the coming weeks.

The Tigers may have been on the receiving end of a pretty solid beating, but there remained a lot to like about the way the visitors went about their business.

Damian Turner, Mirboo North coach “This was always going to be a tough trip with so many first choice players out- but I couldn’t have been prouder of the fight and scrap of my boys. I felt We really did make it hard for Foster, and they stuck to a plan and never went away.

Sam has a good strong list, and in the end their class and finishing was too Much.  we will take some learnings from today and  even a small amount of confidence.”

Any amount of confidence is worth nurturing for Mirboo North, as they grow their young talent into a force that will be much tougher to get over, in the months and seasons ahead.

For now they remain in the fight for a finals spot, but it will take finding some short term improvements.

Newborough v Stony Creek

It was always going to be hard to justify the loser of this clash as a continued contender for a finals berth, given a loss would mean not only would they need to string some victories together moving forward, 

but relying on others to lose also started to come to the occasion.

The pressure now squarely on Stony Creek after going down by just a kick.

Newborough 12-15-87 to the Lions 12-10-82.

Pat Frendo, Newborough coach “Massive win for us at the kennel on the weekend,  First four quarter performance we’ve played in some time. Started the game well kicking 6.1 in the first, then hurt ourselves in the second quarter going 1.8 in front of goals. Managed to steady the ship a bit in the second half and gave ourselves a 6 goal lead late in the last before we switched off and allowed 5 goals in the last 8 minutes.

Four points is four points for us, we will take the win and move on to next week where we play Mirboo on their home deck.”

When the Bulldogs were hot they were hot, hundred gamer Liam Cordner, was well supported by team mates Harrison Gallagher, Kyle Jennings and Wade Anderson, which made the day even more special.

Newborough, battling with injuries for most of the season, hung in there and eventually found the line, despite the Lions attempting to pounce late.

Troy Shepardson, Stony Creek coach “Travelled to Newborough and took on a side who were desperate to get back on the winners list and for three quarters they out worked us, boys dug deep in the last to try steal a win, but fell short by five points. Hopefully we can roll the momentum of the last quarter into next week.”

The Lions have shown at times that they can play some incredibly good football, but grouping quarters together and then matches still seems a little allusive, but when they do, watch out.

Toora v Thorpdale

Getting a handle on just what type of Toora was going to turn up has proved to be a tough task in recent weeks.

Two wins out of three ain't half bad and that's exactly what the Magpies had produced in the past month leading into another tough challenge against the Blues..

On their home deck Toora knew a victory would have themselves within a whisker of the top half of the ladder, the problem was a fi\erce visitor in the shape of Thorpdale.

The Blues too good 15-10-100 just managing to keep the home side at arms length 13-8-86.

Daniel Taylor, Thorpdale coach “Great game of footy which could have gone either way. I felt at halftime Toora had the momentum and when they kicked the first goal after halftime to take a 14 point lead it looked like we were on the ropes abit, to the boys credit we really got to work, our midfield got on top, intensity and pressure lifted around the ball and we managed to get some forward half territory which got the game back on our terms at the last change. Cracker of a last quarter with a few lead changes before we settled and kicked the last 2 goals to get an important win for our season moving forward.  Really proud of the effort from the whole group but I thought Gav Low in the ruck was fantastic all day, Lachie Wallace was brilliant late and our full forward Cougar The Weapon Millsom had a day out and was the difference on the day kicking 8 goals straight.”

The Magpies struggled to keep the key forward down, and that coupled with some poor decisions proved to be costly to a Magpies side that, in recent weeks, looked as though they were ready to make a significant move up the ladder.

Jay Acardi, Toora coach “We had a really tough encounter against Thorpy on the weekend. The game was played at a high level and a physical one. It was a close match all day and to their credit they were able to take their chances when it mattered to grab the win. Really proud of the effort our lads showed but some silly errors at crucial moments in the last quarter were costly but I’m sure we will learn from them and move on."

Toora sit third to bottom on the MGFNL ladder but just two games from the top six, there is now little room for error or to be on the wrong side of any further close games.

Yinnar v Boolarra

As important as a win was for Yinnar, also a priority, was the way in which they went about their business.

The Magpies did what they needed to do against Hill End a week earlier, but the standard produced on that day was well below that expected by coach Sam McCulloch.

A visiting Demons side, whose season was very much alive, was expected to be a much tougher proposition, and it was, at least for a little while.

Yinnar 11-12-78 to Boolarra 5-7-37.

Sam McCulloch, Yinnar coach “In what was a big day for the club with many of our past players and supporters on hand to watch, Was great to come away with the 4 points.

We were expecting a tough game and that’s exactly what we got. The game was quite a battle and took us until the last quarter to break away and record a good win.”

Yinnar did what they needed to do, butare also aware that further improved performances will be needed in the weeks ahead, whilst for the Demons, who sit just a game shy of a coveted top six spot, there remains some work to be done in the run home to finals.

Brendan Mason, Boolarra coach “After an arm wrestle in the first half injuries again took their toll on our lineup with only one rotation available after quarter time. Our back six worked hard with Mason Porykali doing an outstanding job to keep Kane Grinstead Jones out of the action. To Yinnar's credit they found a gear after halftime with their midfield particularly damaging in both their clearance work and in hitting the scoreboard.

Inaccuracy cost us early however all credit goes to the home side who played the full four quarters at much closer to 100% than we were able to."

After last week’s heartbreaking loss and another lesson learnt today we look forward to the challenge of taking on the reigning premiership in Fish Creek next week at home.”

A loss to Fish Creek may well mean that Boolarra fall two games behind sixth place with just seven rounds remaining, a tough proposition indeed as they must then not only win games, but rely also on others to lose. 

BYE: Tarwin.