Results show great gulf in reserves
The gulf between the team top half of the ladder and the teams sitting on the bottom half in the EDFL reserves competition could not have been illustrated better than in Saturday's results. Smallest winning margin was 43 points. The greatest margin was 102 points.
Ellinbank presided over the destruction of Buln Buln at Buln Buln. The Lyrebirds kicked just one goal for the entirety of the match. The Eagles, on the other hand, put 10-7 on the scoreboard. The visitors kicked 25 points in the first, 13 points in the second, 14 in the third and 15 in the final term. Buln Buln would have remained scoreless had it not been for the boot of Lex Wright, who found the posts in the third quarter. Lang Lang gave Nyora an 81-point thumping at home in their round nine match. The Saints had just a single behind on the scoreboard in the first term, the Tigers had 18 points.
Nyora picked up their game in the second quarter but only just. They kicked a goal and added three behinds to their tally. The Tigers would not score again all match. The Saints put three goals four on the board in the third and four majors and two behinds in the final term. Longwarry's 102-point win over Catani was the biggest of the weekend.
The Crows rocketed ahead from the opening bounce with 31 points to the Blues' one goal two. Catani added just one more behind before the main break and did not score again until the final term, when they kicked another two behinds to bring their tally to one goal five. Longwarry on the other hand had been dominating for the entire match and walked away with a 16.17-113 scoreline. Neerim Neerim South's home game against Yarragon saw the Cats take down the Panthers, winning by 49 points. The Panthers were scoreless until the second term when they kicked one clean goal. In the third they added two majors and two behinds, bringing their tally to 20 points in total. But a look to the Cats’ side of the scoreboard would reveal a sizeable Neerim Neerim South lead of 31 points. The final term brought another three goals for the Cats. The final scoreline was 10.11-71 to 3.4-22. Poowong’s 43-point win over Nilma Darnum was the slimmest of the round. The Bombers had just one behind on the board in the first term. They added a goal and two behinds by the main break.
They did not add to that tally until the fourth term when they put five goals one on the board in an impressive final effort.
Poowong meanwhile had been busy extending their lead at every turn -- a 23point lead in the first quarter; a 43-point lead in the second; and a 66-point lead in the third. The final scoreline was 12.1082 to 6.3-39.
The weekend's results forces no ladder changes in the top five and the bottom two sides, Catani and Nilma Darnum, remain in ninth and 10th place respectively. The only change is Yarragon’s drop to seventh and Neerim Neerim South's rise to sixth.