Blues record best win in years
Thorpdale tasted rare success - and probably its best in years - with a three-point victory over Mirboo North in Mid Gippsland football on Saturday.
The Blues had not tasted victory in their opening three matches of the season, but they had certainly done enough to suggest they might cause some concern for the Tigers at home.
Concern is what they caused, the Blues winning 11.8-74 to 10.11-71.
“Great day for the club taking home the win in both grades of footy on Mirboo North’s home deck,” Thorpdale coach Jason Winderlich said. “A bit close for our liking at the end in the seniors, but good reward for the playing group.”
As disappointing as the loss was for the Tigers, they could only applaud the way the Blues went about their victory.
“Congratulations to Thorpy getting their first win today,” Mirboo North coach Peter Mongta said. “They played some good patches of footy and capitalised on a lot of our mistakes, so they deserved the win.”
“We did have a chance to snatch victory in the last 30 seconds, but it wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “Disappointing loss for our club.”
Hill End v Newborough
Hill End, at home, has been one of the toughest trips on the calendar for opposition clubs over many years.
The Rovers, always with strong community support, make it a sometimes uncomfortable and testing environment from which to claim a victory.
Newborough, however, are quite a different proposition this year to last, and did what they needed to do for a quite comfortable win 17.21-123 to Hill End 3-16-34.
“First time in five years we meet the Hillmen and get to sing,” Newborough coach Craig Skinner said. “We already have the Byrne Fanning Cup in the cupboard and plan to engrave it in the future.”
Skinner said the game featured the usual footy problem of perfect conditions yet both sides kicking a copious amount of points without a single excuse.
“(Mike) Santo coaches better with less talent than a star studded team, and would agree the scoreboard was not the true indicator of the game that was played,” Skinner reflected. “But, overall happy to descend with four points.”
Those four points are just another to add to the unbeaten Bulldogs’ tally, and they are the same four points that Hill End would have loved to have had.
Hill End coach Mike Santo said Newborough were far too good for his boys.
“We did battle and I don’t think the scoreboard gave our effort justice,” Santo said. “A huge last quarter blew us away. Our inaccuracy around the goal clearly didn’t help.”
“Craig has the boys well structured and playing for each other, and they’ll be hard to beat by most sides.”
Santo has remained and you can bet will remain positive about what his side is capable of. The evenness of the competition means that a quick rise up the ladder is always possible if a few wins can be put together.
Foster v Yinnar
Foster had home home ground advantage for what was expected to be yet another nail biting encounter.
However, bad kicking proved to be costly very costly - as Yinnar won 9.4-58 to 4.14-38.
“What do they say about bad kicking...it was going to catch up to us after the last few weeks, and today it did,” Foster coach Sam Davies said.
“More scoring shots and just as much of the ball, they beat us on the ground and got a few easy ones which was deflating for the group,” Davies reflected.”
He added, “the Yinnar boys had plenty to say, so there’s a good little rivalry building”.
Yinnar are slowly getting their “mojo” and with that comes confidence.
Coach Daniel Taylor said it was great to get the result in a good contested game of footy.
“I’m really proud of how we went about it, our willingness to compete and apply pressure was great to see,” Taylor said.
“Our depth has been challenged, which has given us no other option but to play the kids. And, once again, they were fantastic.”
“Foster are a good side, they controlled the game at stages but couldn’t hit the scoreboard,” Taylor added. “Credit to my boys though, they worked super hard and deserved the win.”
MDU v Fish Creek
In a game between two evenly matched sides seeking to put distance on those “middle of the ladder” teams, MDU stood tall.
MDU signalled themselves a finals contender, kicking 19.12-126 to Fish Creek’s 6.945.
“We had a really good day as a group, moved the ball well and the most pleasing thing was turning the forward entries into scores,” MDU coach Nathan Allen said.
Fish Creek would have given themselves a chance of securing a win, but the result highlights the need for teams to be either on their game or paying the price.
“We got shown up by a pretty slick and well coached outfit,” Fish Creek coach Jarrod Walker said. “It was a great day for footy and Meeniyan’s skill and work rate shone through.”
“Some good learnings for us to take from the game, so it’s time for us to roll up the sleeves and start putting in the hard yards.”
Morwell East v Stony Creek
Returning to their home ground to take on the Lions, Morwell East was keen to make it a perfect start to the season with four wins from their opening four matches.
The Hawks had previously displayed very slick movement of the ball, which, complemented with young legs, causing massive headaches for opposition sides.
Round four was no different, Morwell East defeating Stony Creek, 10.13-73 to 4.10-34.
Morwell East coach Paul Henry said it was a very physical game.
“For four quarters, Stony Creek brought the physicality, they through everything at us,” Henry said. “They played the game one-onone. My message to our boys was simple, ‘this is us, this is the way we play the game, so let’s be better at it for longer’”.
The Hawks are cruising while the pressure is now on Stony Creek.
“We were good with our pressure and tackling, which kept us in the game,” Stony Creek coach Chris VerBoon said. “Our skills let us down, just lacked that polish going forward.”
Tarwin v Boolarra
Both coming off heartbreaking three-point losses to Foster, the Sharks and Demons were keen to bounce back with victory.
In somewhat of a shoot out, it was the Sharks that got the job done, 19.8-122 to Boolarra 15.9-99.
Tarwin coach Troy Hemming said his side jumped out of the gate well before getting complacent.
“The Boolarra lads turned up the dial a little bit,” Hemmning reflected. “It was a well ground out win for us. I thought we moved the ball the best we have this year, so that’s promising.”
The Sharks’ 10 goals to two was super impressive. Equally impressive was the way the Demons didn’t give it up.
“Ten goals to two at quarter (time), and you think the game is over,” Boolarra coach Tony Giardina said. “But, to the boys’ credit, we fought back and hit the front.”
“Undisciplined free kicks cost us badly. You can’t give good sides that sort of head start and, unfortunately, we haven’t hit another four points.”
Bye: Toora.