Birchip-Watchem v Wedderburn
Wedderburn travelled to Birchip to take on the Bulls and for the second week in a row came out victors by 39-points. A spirited first quarter, seen the Redbacks stamp their authority on the game, kicking 5-9, to the Bulls 2-points. Benaim put the Redbacks on the board a couple of minutes into the game after earlier shots at goal had missed the target. Polglase who had followed the ball down from the Bulls forward line got on the end of a good passage of play by the visitors and made no mistake with his kick at goal. Barnes, DeAraugo and McKay added to the Wedderburn score. During this term the Bulls had two players sent from the ground which didn’t do their cause much good, and at the first change the Redbacks were leading comfortably by 37-points.
The second quarter was a repeat of the first with Wedderburn dominating, bad kicking by the Redbacks was keeping the Bulls in the game and by half time they would amass 15 points. Messer got the first goal for the Bulls and just prior to the long break Jake Hogan registered their second but the Redbacks lead had increased to 59-points. The first half seen many strong tackles laid by both sides and there was plenty of spirit being shown by both sides.
Both side displayed some great football in the third quarter, where the tempo lifted and produced the football that most spectators were expecting to see from the outset. Lachy Foott was moved forward for the Bulls and Kicked three goals, at the other end Barnes matched Foott’s achievement. Heading to the final break with both side managing to kick five goals for the quarter, the Bulls had played a good third term but, were still nearly 10-goals behind and had the job in front of them with only one quarter to play.
Birchip-Watchem were keen to reduce the margin Wedderburn held and were straight into action from the commencement of the final term, Lachy Foott again showed great marking skills and brought up the Bulls first of five goals for the term, minutes later he repeated the dose and when Walder kicked their third, Bulls supporters could see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, but Herdman blew that out when he kicked the only two goals for the Redbacks and the margin again was creeping out of reach of the home side. Phelan and Foott added goals for the Bulls but the Wedderburn Redbacks had set up their big winning margin in the opening two terms, the Bulls while playing better in the second half could not pull back the lead of the visitors and at full time were 39-point in arrears of the leagues leaders, who only for poor kicking could have had this final margin being greater as they had 39 scoring shots to 20 by the Bulls.
Scores Wedderburn 16-23 = 119 def Birchip-Watchem 12-8= 80
Best for Wedderburn: R. Tonkin, R. McHugh, B. Strange, S. Barnes, J. McKay, A. Postle.
Goals: S. Barnes 5, D. Benaim, B. Herdman 2, B. Rose, H. Polglase, N. Holt, J. McKay, B. DeAraugo, A. Postle and B. Strange 1 each.
Birchip-Watchem Best: A. Hutchins, R. Koops, B. Hall, L. Foott, C. Hall and C. Hallam.
Goals: L. Foott 6, P. Messer 2, J. Hogan, C. Hallam, T. Walder, J. Phelan 1 each.
St Arnaud v Charlton
Charlton grabbed the four points at Lord Nelson Park by a four point margin. In a very scrappy first quarter, with neither side being able to convert scoring opportunities. Charlton’s kicking was again off target, where they kicked 2-5 for the term, if this could have been reversed then they would have finished the opening quarter with a larger margin than the 8-points lead at the first bell. The Saints players may have still been suffering a little shock, with the departure of the clubs leading games record holder in Daniel Needs, who was cleared to Golden Rivers club Macorna, this came as a big surprise to all Saints supporters.
St Arnaud came out to play in this second quarter and was quickly into action when McNamee brought up both flags, Lantjin followed suit and the Saints were in front.
Charlton then linked well to get the ball to Wellington who put the Navy Blues back in front. St Arnaud then slammed on four quick goals to kick away from Charlton and in the closing minutes the navy Blues kicked two goals to bring the Saints lead back to 11-points at the half way mark.
It was Charlton’s turn to go on the attack in this third term, while they managed to add 5-goals to their half time tally they were again off target and added a further 7 points making it 13 to this point. St Arnaud was only able to add two goals in the quarter and was trailing by 12-points at the final change. This deficit was very achievable for the home side with one quarter to go and with the aid of a slight breeze, the Saints was looking in a more favourable position than the Navy Blues, going into the last term.
With 30 minutes of football to be played, both sides went into the last quarter with a positive thought on the final outcome. Trailing by just 12-points the Saints reduced that lead of Charlton early in the last, but Charlton was not finished with, and with both sides trying their best to gain the four points the game became scrappy again and scoring was hard to achieve for both sides. Charlton finally broke the drought and brought up their only goal for the term. Holding onto a small lead the Charlton defenders were doing their job well, ably led by Matt Winsall. The Saints attacking moves were only rewarded with points but the margin was back to 10-points as the clock counted down to full time before the Saints managed a goal and a glimmer of hope for another win, but the time clock reached full time and the Navy Blues had held on for a four point win, and now replaces the Saints in the top four.
Scores Charlton 11-15=81 def St Arnaud 11-11=77
Best for Charlton: A. McGurk, M. Winsall, R. Thompson, R. Wellington, K. Sait and A. Judd.
Goals: R. Wellington 3, K. Clifford, Joe McGrath, R. Thompson 2, A. Bence, C. Thiesz 1 each.
Best for St Arnaud: T. Petrie, J. Miles, R. Wild, J. McNamee, S. Dyke, L. Cunningham.
Goals: J. McNamee 3, A. Lantjin 2, J. Tillig, N. Baldwin, N. Coglan, L. Cunningham, A. McIntyre, B. Ezard 1 each.
Wycheproof-Narraport v Donald
The Demons and Royal Blues put on a top display of football in the opening quarter at Wycheproof in front of a large crowd. Both sides created many scoring opportunities with only a point separating the teams at quarter time. Donald had managed to kick 5 goals straight while the Demons had kicked 4-5 in the opener.
Wyche-Narraport was the more dominant team in this second quarter with Jones and Turner being good focal points. For the Donald side Blake Grant and James Burke was their equal at the other end and at the half time break Donald were much closer to the Demons than many had thought and trailed by just 13-points.
After the long break it was all Wyche-Narraport as they piled on a further seven goals and held the visitors to the one goal. The Demons had many winners and the Royal Blues, who had some late withdrawals prior to the game, could not match the skills of Jones, Keane, Prestidge. Harrison and Bell were solid performers for the Donald side but it was the overall strength of the Demons that was giving them the edge.
Holding a commanding lead of 50-points going into the last quarter the home sides only had to hold the Royal Blues to record a win and take outright second on the North Central Ladder. This they were able to achieve even though being outscored by Donald, but the scoring of Donald fell well short when the final siren sounded and the Demons had secured their win by 43-points.
The Demons now take on Wedderburn at Donaldson Park next week in the top of the table clash, while Donald has the bye.
Scores Wycheproof-Narraport 18-11= 119 def Donald 12- 4= 76
Best for Wycheproof-Narraport: J. White, G. Turner, L. Borthwick, J. Keane, J. Turner, B. Bish.
Goals for the Demons: C. Jones 7, G. turner 5, J. Keane 2, J. White, K. Prestidge, S. Allan and Boe Bish 1 each.
Best for Donald: T. Bell, H. Maatman, B. Grant, C. O’Rourke, J. Burke and K. Harberger.
Goals: B. Grant 4, J. Burke 3, D. Harrison, T. Bell, N. Dunstan and T. Grant 1 each.
Next Week
Wedderburn v Wycheproof-Narraport 1 v 2
Charlton v Birchip-Watchem 4 v 3
Boort v St Arnaud 5 v 6
Donald Bye
Last Modified on 17/06/2012 14:00