Football
2 July, 2025
Dimboola outplayed by Minyip Murtoa
Dimboola got off to a slow start in their clash against Minyip Murtoa on Saturday, before going on to lose by 58 points.
The Burras led by 27 points at the end of the first quarter, 51 at half-time and 56 heading into the final quarter.
Final scores were Dimboola 6.6 (42) to Minyip Murtoa 15.10 (100).
Co-coach of Dimboola Andrew Moore contributed a couple of goals for his side, as did Jack Landt, while Ben Miller and Simon Hobbs were the better players in the team.
For Minyip Murtoa, five players booted two majors apiece – Liam Kidd, Luke Fisher, Nick Cushing, Oscar Gawith and Seth Talbot – and Tanner Smith and Kidd were named best on ground.
Moore said the Burras put his side under a lot of pressure - and it wasn't as though they didn't expect that, they just didn't handle it well.
"We didn't handle it both to the level we wanted to, and the level we expect we should have," commented Moore.
"They did jump us, but we still had a fair bit of the footy, it was more our turning the ball over that cost us.
"We unfortunately were having shallow entries into our 50, and they guarded us off well, and went with a bit of speed through the corridor, hurting us through the turnover."
Admitting it was a challenging game on Saturday, and the Dimboola side weren't able to play the game how they like to for a large part, Moore said there is always something to take from a match - lose or win.
"There were definitely patches there which were promising, and a lot of the guys that are younger, we are starting to see their development and growth, building their confidence after stringing a couple of games together," Moore said.
"And their opportunities will continue through the remainder of the year, which will be nice.
"I think we were able to reset, the final half for us was better, still not to the level we would like, but we were able to match it, or more just have a bit more pressure on the score with our entries, and guard them off a bit more.
"We wish that was at the start of the game, but it was pleasing to know we can reset ourselves and make a few changes positionally to maintain some consistency in the last half."
It doesn't get any easier for Dimboola this Saturday, as they will line up against the ladder leaders in Ararat.
The first, and last time, the sides met this season, Ararat accounted for Dimboola in a dominating win, just like the cream of the crop have most teams they have met this year.
Final scores in that game, back on April 26, were Ararat 24.14 158 to Dimboola 6.5 41.
But Moore says his Dimboola side has improved since then.
Despite this, and in describing Ararat, like other coaches do in the league, as the "benchmark", Moore said it isn't going to be an easy match.
"The club is fantastic and they are building a really successful team down there," Moore admitted.
"It's going to be tough, but we are always up for the challenge and from our point of view, we love challenging ourselves each week and we know how competitive the competition is at the moment.
"There are plenty of areas we need to get better at, grow, and hopefully we can put some of those things in play (on Saturday) when we come up against the best team in the competition."
Moore said the biggest change since they lined up against Ararat last time is that their players that are younger are now more experienced.
"Just in terms of games, and they have been able to stamp their talent on the game," Moore said.
"We've tinkered with our game style in terms of last season to this year, especially in our defensive side of the game, and making sure we are getting consistency, not just from one quarter to the next, but in personnel as well."
