Wimmera sitting mid-field after loss

Wimmera Football League sits 17th in 2019 AFL Victoria Community Championship rankings after a loss to Bellarine in Horsham at the weekend.

Wimmera sits on top of what is almost a second-division table in a championship field including 32 country and metropolitan leagues.

Metropolitan-based Eastern and Northern leagues sit one and two respectively on the rankings table and will fight it out in a new-look top-of-the table clash next year.

Traditional country powerhouse competitions Geelong, Ovens and Murray and Mornington Peninsula-nepean sit third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Goulburn Valley, Western, Hampden, Ballarat and South East round out the top 10, with Bendigo, Gippsland, Yarra Ranges, Bellarine, Murray and Central Murray ahead of Wimmera.

Bellarine forward Jordan Erskine proved a major difference between the sides in an entertaining and slick contest, kicking six goals as the visitors ran away with the game with a dominant final term.

The Big W suffered a major blow before the game with pivotal Minyip-murtoa forward and follower Kieran Delahunty and Nhill’s Ben Jones out of action injured.

Their absence left the Wimmera squad short of key-position attacking and rucking options, threw out team balance and the lack of a prominent forward became more obvious as the game progressed.

Wimmera, despite earning its share of the ball in the midfield traffic, constantly ran into a stoic Bellarine defence, which rebounded efficiently and zeroed in on the strongly built Erskine.

Delahunty’s Burras team-mate Warwick Stone, who won the Max Burke Medal, impressively shouldered much of the Big W’s rucking duties, while Southern Mallee Giants’ Sam Weddell was defiant across half back.

Stawell’s Tom Taurau was also strong in the clinches, Horsham Saints coach Luke Fisher was in everything and others such as Burras coach Damian Cameron and Horsham’s Ben Lakin did well. Horsham player Ryan Kemp kicked three goals.

But it was Bellarine’s day, with big Andrew Jarvis having plenty of say at the centre ball-ups and James Linton, Billy Barnes and Josh Finch all in the winning mix.

Seven goals to one in the final quarter clinched a 37-point win.

Some Wimmera fans could have been forgiven for experiencing a sense of déjà vu as young Bellarine player Blake Sutterby also picked up a swag of kicks.

Sutterby is the son of former Stawell premiership player and Wimmera league representative and Toohey Medallist Simon Sutterby and has inherited many of his father’s playing idiosyncrasies.

Simon Sutterby watched the game with Wimmera family members alongside former Geelong star Andrew Bews, whose son Jackson was also in the team.

Wimmera will have to wait to find out who it plays in next year’s championships when leagues make decisions on their involvement in the titles.