By Max Davies
LANCEFIELD took home a win in Riddell District Football Netball League senior football action at the weekend, keeping the struggling Western Rams winless in a comprehensive thumping.
While the Tigers were able to record a dominating away victory 118 to two points, coach Tim Bannan said his side still needed to find a consistent four-quarter effort if they wanted to move up the ladder.
“The wind was pretty strong for the first three quarters, and they set up really well defensively, so we struggled to kick a few goals early on,” he said.
“We’re just starting to get some structure back with our midfield setup and we just started to play some really good footy towards the end of the game.
“We’ve just got to get that four-quarter effort happening earlier on if we want to run with some of the top sides, but we finished off really well.”
The Tigers had multiple players return to the side, with the likes of Thomas Waters, Zach Webb, Leroy Ristevski and Anthoney Pacers finding their feet again after limited experience this year.
“We’ve got our predominant midfield back, so we were just trying to work on some structure, which worked really well,” Bannan said.
“[The Rams] were good for the first half – they’re a pretty physical team but they’re not dirty. They just stopped our run of play and dropped guys back behind the footy, which they did really smartly, so we had to work our way around that.”
Drawing praise was forward Alex Simpson, who kicked seven goals, as well as Zach Webb, Riley O’Meara and Luke Malone who impressed in the midfield.
Lancefield will this weekend host Wallan who are returning from a bye, with Bannan expecting a tough match as his team works to chase down a top-six spot on the ladder.
“We know it’s going to be a tough challenge, but I think we can match it with them if we play four quarters of footy – not one, two or three.
We have to play four quarters to get ourselves an opportunity,” he said.
“It’s our second last home game for the year so hopefully we can sneak a win against one of these top five sides before the end of the year, which would be good to see.”
In other Riddell League action, Romsey went down by one point in an away game thriller against Woodend-Hesket in what was another closely contested late-game loss.
With only one point the margin at the last break, the Redbacks’ best efforts – spearheaded by Jack Jedwab’s seven goals for the match – were not enough to stop the Hawks from sneaking ahead by just one behind at the final siren.
Elsewhere, Riddell was able to break Diggers Rest’s undefeated streak in an 89 to 44-point victory, while Macedon had the better of the visiting Melton Centrals.
This weekend’s schedule for round 16 has Romsey hosting Macedon, while Melton travel to Riddells Creek for what will be a tough match against the Bombers, and last-placed Rams will host Diggers Rest.
Netball
While the majority of the league’s netball scores mirrored the success of their football counterparts, Lancefield’s A Grade side was unable to match the charging Rams.
Tigers’ shooter Tarnee Hammond was the top-scorer for her side on 25, however, a dual effort from the Rams’ attacking players proved too tough to overcome.
Riddell showed strong form, while Woodend-Hesket and Macedon, who each took out victories against Diggers Rest, Romsey and Melton respectively.
With only three rounds left in the season, Riddell sits atop the ladder ahead by eight points over Macedon and Woodend-Hesket, while Wallan remains fourth with Romsey in pursuit.
