GDFL Interleague Review
By Tom Gribble
23rd May 2015
THE Geelong District Football League will now have to wait until at least 2017 to play the Bellarine after losing to North Central by 33 points in the AFL Victoria Country Championships clash at St Albans on Saturday.
The opening to the match was a scrappy one with both sides eager to display their ability to run and carry the ball, but were let down by foot skills early in the piece.
After a tug-of-war between the sides for the early ascendancy, it was Dylan Witney who scored the first major for the day after he regathered the ball from his own smothered kick to goal from 45 metres.
Witney’s goal appeared to ease the Raiders’ nerves, as they scored immediately from the center bounce courtesy of North Geelong’s Jamie Pitman and when Tom Mullane-Grant marked and goaled just outside the square to give the his side an 18-point lead, signs looked ominous for the visiting side.
However, North Central managed to put a halt to the Raiders’ momentum when Ricky Allan kicked his first of three for day to reduce the GDFL’S lead to just 10 points at quarter time.
The Raiders came out flying in the second quarter with two quick goals from vice-captain Derek Fitzsimmons.
The first of which came when he goaled from 50m after captain Jackson Macleod was unable to take his kick following a heavy collision when going back with the flight of the ball.
Mullane-Grant kicked his second following some individual brilliance from Witney to give his side a five-goal lead early in the second quarter.
Momentum drastically shifted after influential on-baller Blake Hutchinson went off the ground limping and from there North Central were able to dominant the inside ball which allowed its outside midfielders to spread and penetrate the Raiders’ defence.
The home side had no answer for North Central’s run and carry as they went on kick six unanswered goals to take back the ascendency just before the half time break, but a late goal from Witney with just seconds to go levelled the scores at half time.
Much like the opening quarter, it was a scrappy start to the second half, before a goal from Joe McGrath restored North Central’s advantage and when Allen kicked his second the visitors had extended the lead to 12 points.
Despite the visitors being in control, goals from Pitman and Hutchinson cut the deficit to just one-point as the Raiders looked to regain the momentum.
However, another late surge from North Central saw them take a 16-point lead into the final break courtesy of goals from Joe McGrath and Luke Hammond.
Raiders’ coach Daryl Bisset moved captain Jackson Macleod down back for the last quarter to try give his side some spark and composure off the half back line but it didn’t have the desired result.
Although resilient and not afraid to take the game on in the final term, the home side was punished for skill errors as North Central extended its lead to 33 points at the time of the final siren.
McGrath finished with four majors, while Daniel Castellano caused the Raiders’ backline many headaches as the lively forward kicked three as well as missing a couple of other opportunities.
Hutchinson was named the Raiders’ best on ground. He battled hard all day in the middle despite his side being dominated in the inside battle for large portions of the game.
Luke Fisher was named best afield for North Central. The midfielder was clinical, composed and heavily involved in creating many of his side’s scoring opportunities.
Despite the result, Bisset was proud of his team’s effort.
“These are the blokes that wanted to play, they’re not blokes that shy away from it, they want to represent the league [and] it was just one of those days,” he said.
“Hopefully they’ll grow for the rest of the year, (and) they’ll take something out of this game.”
Bissett said the inside work of the visitors’ midfielders and their ability to spread from the contest was his side’s undoing, but refused to blame injuries for his sides loss.
“That killed us in the end, I think we just had a few blokes that were just a little bit tired and little bit sore,” he said.
“We also lost (James) Fisher who was doing alright against their ruckman and that’s when we were getting that inside ball out.
“I’m not blaming injuries but they didn’t help us along the way they were a very good side, they played well they had a very good system.”
The Raiders will now take on Central Highlands in next year’s championships.
Last Modified on 04/06/2015 10:43