Football
4 August, 2025
Thunder move a game clear in five
Southern Mallee Thunder accounted for the Horsham Saints on Saturday in the latest round of the Wimmera Football Netball League, and in doing so earned a bit of breathing space heading into finals.
Southern Mallee Thunder accounted for the Horsham Saints on Saturday in the latest round of the Wimmera Football Netball League, and in doing so earned a bit of breathing space heading into finals.
The Thunder are now clear a game in fourth, behind Ararat (56 points), Nhill (40 points) and Stawell (36 points).
Minyip Murtoa and Dimboola are both on 24 points.
Despite the Saints getting off to a brilliant start – leading by 29 points at the end of the first quarter – the Thunder held the lead going into half-time, 6.3 (39) to 7.4 (46).
The away side, the Thunder, grew that lead after the break and it was out to 14 points heading into the last quarter, with final scores being 9.6 (60) to 13.10 (88).
The Thunder were buoyed by the efforts of Kai Sheers, who booted five majors, while Billy Lloyd and Lou White joined Sheers in best-on-ground honours.
For the home side Gage Wright was among the best and the leading goal scorer with three, while Judd Wright and Sam Clyne were also in form.
In conditions perfect for footy, coach of the Thunder, Kieran Delahunty, said the opposition got the jump on his side on Saturday.
"In saying that, we had the footy inside our forward 50 for probably the first 10, 15 minutes and just couldn't capitalise," Delahunty said.
"To their credit, every time they went down their end they were scoring."
The coach addressed his players at the break about getting back to basics and winning the contested footy and Delahunty said once the Thunder were able to get their hands on the footy, they were able to turn the game around in the following quarter.
He credited the win to a "massive whole-team performance".
"Kai Sheers got the reward on the scoreboard, kicking five goals, and was super," Delahunty said.
"Tommy Clarke was good up forward as well and the Long boys did their job down back, doing a great job there."
