Football
29 April, 2024
Warriors power to win on club's special day
The Stawell Warriors celebrated the club's 150th anniversary in style powering to an 86-point win over Minyip Murtoa at Central Park.
It was a tight first quarter with Stawell taking a six-point lead into quarter time. They then took advantage in the second, keeping the Burras goalless as they kicked two goals to lead by 21 at halftime. They came out hard in the third and dominated the second half to run out 15.15.105 to 2.7.19 winners.
Mitch Thorp kicked a game-high four goals for the Warriors whilst Thomas Eckel was brilliant through the middle in a best-on-the-ground display with Josh Fowkes excellent in the ruck and Mitchell Taylor down back.
Tanner Smith kicked the only two goals for the Burras with Lachlan Johns and Kade Petering among their best players.
Eckel said the atmosphere was brilliant.
"It was similar to Good Friday but it may have been a bigger crowd and the atmosphere was electric," Eckel said.
"The committee did a good job organising the day and it was an awesome night and it was a great feeling to get the win."
The great sign for the Warriors is the spread of goal kickers with nine and with Cody Driscoll only scoring one after scoring four in his first two games, Eckel was pleased others stood up.
"You can't be all one dimensional all the time up forward and to get a wide spread of goalkickers through the forwards and midfielders was great," Eckel said.
"Mitch Thorp was dominant up forward and took some good marks and Mitchell Taylor was excellent for us down back.
"We freed Mitch up and let him run and he took some great intercept marks and gave us run off halfback and created play. It was his best game for the club and he is getting better each week.
The scary thing is, I think he has a lot left in the tank and he is going to turn it on soon and I can't wait to see him do it."
Demons win tough encounter on Anzac Day
The round started off on Thursday night in the traditional Anzac Day match between Horsham and the Horsham Saints at Horsham City Oval with Horsham prevailing by 21 points.
The Demons took a two-point lead into quarter time and extended it to six at halftime in a tight first half where neither team gave an inch.
The Demons gradually won the arm wrestle in the third quarter, kicking three goals to two before kicking four in the last to run out 10.15.75 to 8.6.54 winners.
Ryan Kemp kicked a game-high three goals for the Demons in which eight of their 10 goals came from different goal kickers. Billy Carberry was sensational in the ruck and Hugo Papst was solid again for the Demons.
Nathan Koenig, Angus Martin and Corey Morgan all kicked two goals for the Saints with Gage Wright their best player alongside Mitch Martin.
Demons coach Jordy Burke said he was pleased with how they ran out the match.
"The conditions made it tough early on and once we were able to break it open the boys did well," Burke said.
"We would have liked to be more accurate in front of goals and jump on those opportunities that were presented but the spread of goal kickers was great."
Billy Carberry was named best on the ground and Burke praised his game.
"Billy has stepped up in the ruck and is influencing the contest a lot. He is a big lad and is mobile and his fitness is at a high level at the moment," Burke said.
"Brody Pope covered a lot of ground for us and was direct with the football and Ben Janetzki is doing a good job captaining with Tyler Burke.
"Jeremy Kemp has acquitted himself well in the back pocket and Lachie Hobbs and Xavier Pumpa as younger guys are doing a good job and I am happy with how all our young blokes are going."
Rats demolish Eagles in powerful display
Without Tom Mills, Jack Ganley, Xav Vearing to name a few, Ararat flexed their muscles in a dominant display against the Eagles, winning by a massive 157 points at Anzac Park.
The Eagles got out of the blocks fast kicking eight goals to one and just extended throughout the day to run out 28.24.192 to 5.5.35 winners.
Tom Williamson had a day out up forward with seven goals with Robert Armstrong, Brody Griffin and Adam Haslett getting in on the party with three apiece.
Despite his seven goals, it was Cody Lindsay's ruck work that delivered him to best on ground with Tom Mills describing it as a dominant performance.
"He got better last week and on Saturday he dominated in the ruck and gave our midfielders first use of the ball and he got a lot of ball himself," Mills said.
"Brody Griffin moved from the wing to midfield and his ball use was clean and unbelievable.
"Xavier McLoughlan was great in his first senior match and it was pleasing to see him playing a role as well as a couple of other youngsters who got their chance."
Mills said they have worked on moving the ball from the backline to forward line at training and working on their stoppages and it paid dividends with the boys executing it in style.
"We moved the ball the way we want to move it. We weren't able to do that well in the first two games but we did it well on the weekend," Mills said.
Eagles coach Matt Walder said there weren't many positives to take from the match but was pleased they didn't drop their bundle despite the massive scoreline.
"As a collective, they kept plugging away and never dropped their head," Walder said.
"Dan McKenzie stood up for a young guy. We adjusted his role to play on Jacob Bates and he did a great job.
"Machok Garang took intercept marks and steadied us a bit and is having a great start to his career at the club."
"Riley Morrow was thrown into the midfield and he provided some consistency and drive for us and Lachie Stewart also had a serviceable game and gave us something."
Walder said they need to be better prepared individually and that will come.
"We need to be better prepared and come together as a whole team and that will come as we go along," Walder said.
"We are starting further back from other clubs so we just need to bare back the bones and pattern down some basics.
"We just need to get the fundamentals right first and foremost and climb from there and then look at strategy."
Tigers pounce on the Roos
Nhill had a comprehensive 47-point win over Dimboola at Davis Park. The Tigers got out of the blocks fast, pouncing on the Roos to take a 14-point lead into quarter-time. They extended that margin to 20 at halftime and ran away with the game in the second half to win 14.15.99 to 8.4.52.
Liam Albrecht was outstanding at centre-half-back for the Tigers with Daniel Batson the star up the other end with six goals.
For the Roos, recruit Jackson Calder kicked five goals.
Tigers coach Jake McQueen was thrilled with the win in what he described as a well-rounded team game.
"We played our oval well and it was a great team game where everyone contributed and played the way we want to play," McQueen said.
"The boys are learning and growing and we are not going 100 miles an hour and are playing with method which is good to see.
"We didn't change a heap from the round one loss, we just executed the style we wanted to play and it was pleasing to see."
McQueen said Albrecht's game was one of the best games he has played for Nhill.
"His intercept marking was great and I can't wait to see the stats on how many he got," McQueen said.
"At the other end of the ground, Dan Batson provided a big target up forward. He had nine scoring shots and it was a great performance for a big fella.
"Our back six were solid and nothing got past them. I am pleased with how everyone played."