by Jim Gordon
‘This win is history in the making,’ said Alan Malcolm, proud President of the Mallee Football League. ‘The MFL has come of age. This is a minor league defeating a major league.’
‘Coach Col Durie coordinated an outstanding performance by a group of players dominated by those born and bred Mallee,’ Malcolm added. ‘In the past two years Col has raised the bar and raised the standard of representative football in the Mallee League and the players have responded accordingly with a great win against a very good North Central side.’
History in the making is a big statement, and yet it is an accurate description of what occurred at the Donald oval on Saturday when the Mallee Football League defeated the North Central League. David slayed Goliath.
Not only did Mallee win, they won well and were clearly the better team on the day. The final margin of fifteen points flattered North Central as they never looked to be in the match and at one stage were seven goals down.
If you missed this match, you missed a treat. Mallee were brilliant. Sponsored by Bill and Tania Morrish’s Top End Training, they made an immediate impact running onto the field in their navy and white uniform and it was obvious from the very first bounce that Mallee had at their disposal a representative team that was skilful, talented, fast and fit. They were rewarded for their efforts with a victory that will long be remembered.
‘It was a really good team effort,’ said Mallee coach Col Durie, ‘with every player playing their role for the team and we stuck to our game plan for the whole day. The boys worked really hard and showed a passion for the jumper and for one another.’
From the first bounce of the first quarter, Mallee looked the goods. With Justin Chilvers and Kim Hallam winning in the ruck, Mallee were quick out of the centre usually through the good clean work of either Scott Smith, Dale Shannon or Col Durie. This match was won in the first quarter when Mallee stunned North Central to lead by 28 points at quarter time.
The opening quarter was all Mallee. Kane Robbins scored his first of three goals for the day from centre half forward, Brad Vallance and Bryce Wellington scored the next two. And there it was, this was the difference between the two sides, the ominous Mallee forward line.
When Danny Benain scored North Central’s first, they were already four goals down and when Ashley Clugston found Robins for another, it was going to be a long way back for Centrals.
Mallee were first to the ball, they backed each other up and used precision kicking to the advantage of the team. Mallee did well in the midfield winning the contested ball, moving the ball quickly and effectively into their forward line.
Mallee had a wonderful defence. This was a backline that was great at killing the contest and then getting the ball and running it out, often starting passages of play which resulted in scoring opportunities for the forwards.
And what a forward line it was. Kane Robins owned the half forward line, Brad Vallance kicked three goals from his flank, Bryce Wellington marked well and he kicked three for the day. Jeremy Rowe, Tim Hill and Rory Shannon were running well out of defence in this telling first quarter of football. The Mallee forward line was always going to be a great strength and it really worked well as a unit with individuals not seeming to care who kicked the goal as long as the team was kicking goals.
At the beginning of the second quarter, North Central scored points when they desperately needed goals. Blake Grant was in a lot of the play, marking on a lead and providing some much needed life on the North Central forward line. When Centrals finally goaled it was Vallance who found Robins for an immediate reply.
In a great piece of play, Central’s Anthony Judd passed to Ricky Allan on the boundary line for a beautiful goal, but once again Mallee replied almost immediately. This time it was Ashley Clugston who passed to Robins for him to kick truly.
Corey Jones was prominent early for North Centrals and although he scored two goals, he was often left languishing in the forward line for long periods of play when all the action was at the other end.
Kim Hallam started to impose a presence for Mallee in the second quarter with his high leaps giving his onballers and midfielders first opportunity to get the ball away. This quarter saw Mallee’s Vallance dominate across half forward. Clean in his possession and in a brilliant piece of individual play, Vallance gathered and passed to Scott Smith for a behind before he marked himself 50m out and slotted the ball goal post high.
The next piece of play was a gem. It involved a long build that started with Jeremy Rowe at half back marking and passing to Robins who fed off to the coach who found Vallance to Ashley Clugston and when David King’s shot fell just sort, Peter Caldow gathered from the pack and kicked a goal off the line. Vintage Mallee football in what will be a game long remembered.
When Jeremy Rowe took a brilliant one-hander in defence, you just knew that it was going to be Mallee’s day. Clearly best on the ground, all day the speedy Rowe was often the one at the beginning of an attacking buildup into a star-studded Mallee forward line.
North Central got one back just before half time when Danny Benaim found himself in space on a wing and it ended in a goal after Tom Petrie drove deep into the forward line.
The first part of the third term saw North Centrals a lot more determined to try and keep possession of the ball. Their intensity improved and players such as Zachary Holmes, Matthew Dillon and Cameron Hall were starting to exert an influence as the game tightened up and the ball was in the Central’s forward line for much for the first part of this term.
North Central were scoring behinds when goals were desperately needed. Travis Rugg and Cameron Hall were two offenders and they were made to pay dearly when Mallee shot the ball forward for Durie to mark and goal from 40m. This effectively put the game out of reach of a shell-shocked North Central side that never gave up and indeed outscored Mallee the latter part of the game, but it was a case of too little too late.
Blake Grant got another one back for North Central only for Vallance to goal after a free in the goal square from a front on tackle when he was going for the mark.
In the final term, North Central played their best football for the day kicking six goals to Mallee’s three. The game finished under lights after a long day of football at Donald. The evening gloom was punctuated by jubilant scenes of joy from the Mallee boys and unmitigated despair from the North Central team as they trudged off the oval.
The Mallee Football League is to be congratulated on their win against the best that the North Central League could offer. History will show that the MFL were thorough, determined and ruthless in their approach to this game. They wanted to win and they wanted to win in the best way possible, by fielding a talented team that they knew would play the best possible brand of football.
‘The vast majority of this team was made up of locally born and bred Mallee boys,’ said Alan Malcom. ‘This is a great credit to the quality of players that the Mallee area has and the best part about it was that every player wanted to play for the Mallee. We are already looking forward to the next challenge whatever it turns out to be.’
Last Modified on 29/05/2011 12:25