By Max Davies
AS the Riddell District Football Netball League competition enters its final two rounds, Wallan senior footballers have bolstered its hopes of a strong finish after an encouraging victory over Lancefield on Saturday.
In a game that had both sides struggling to convert in front of goal, the Magpies were able to take home a 43-point win over the Tigers and will go into this weekend’s match against Woodend-Hesket with confidence.
Wallan assistant coach Spencer Mathieson said the team, coming off a bye the previous week, had a slow start, trailing by one goal at first quarter time.
“We knew Lancefield had improved this year even though their position on the ladder probably doesn’t belie that. They’re being really competitive against every good side in the comp, so we knew we had to play well,” he said.
“[The bye was] possibly why we might have started off a bit slow, it just took us a bit to get our energy up and the longer it went, the better it got.”
Tigers coach Tim Bannan said it was ‘disappointing’ his team were not able to keep up the momentum after the first quarter.
“We started really well, we ran and carried the ball really well and our delivery inside 50 was really good, but in the second quarter we fell away a bit and allowed them to get back into the game,” he said.
“It’s disappointing because I thought it was a game where if we were going to beat a top five team, it was probably the side we needed to beat, but there were still some positives.”
While Lancefield works to address the need for a consistent four-quarter performance, the weekend’s match was another opportunity for young players Cameron Osmond and Harry Behan to have a shot in the senior side.
Bannan said the side was looking to include a few more young players in the final two rounds and was hopeful for a strong performance against Riddell at home this weekend.
“We just need to finish off with beating a side above us, we’ve shown that we can run with them, but we’ve just got to finish off games,” he said.
“It comes back to belief and getting rid of that mindset that we can’t win. We need to get the mindset that we can actually beat these sides if we put our foot on the throttle and get cracking.”
With Corey Viani, Steven Boyall, Brodie Gilchrist, Angus Love and four-time goal scorer Michael Baccari drawing praise from the Magpies’ coaching staff, Mathieson was hopeful his team’s good form heading into the finals would continue with a home game win against Woodend-Hesket this weekend.
“The next two games are pretty important to where we can finish, our destiny is in our hands, which is a positive. If we can just keep getting results, the ladder position will take care of itself,” Mathieson said.
“We’re pretty confident we can get the results in the last couple of games. We don’t have to rely on anyone, we’ve just got to rely on ourselves to get the job done.”
In other Riddell league action, Romsey defeated Macedon at home in a much-needed victory after a bitter one-point loss to the Hawks the previous week.
The Redbacks held the advantage throughout the entire match, with the victory leaving them fifth on the ladder as they sit tied with the Cats on 32 points.
Diggers Rest was also able to easily account for the bottom-placed Western Rams and remain the premiership favourites, currently topping the ladder by eight points above second-placed Woodend-Hesket.
Romsey will travel to face Diggers Rest for round 17 this weekend, while Macedon will host Western Rams.
Netball
Wallan’s A Grade netballers also had a strong game at the weekend, coming out on top against host Lancefield by 36 goals.
With goalscoring efforts headed by Maeve Donegan with 51 goals, the Magpies took home a comfortable victory to keep fourth position on the netball ladder.
Macedon had the better of host Romsey while Riddell came out victorious against the visiting Melton Centrals to remain at the top of the ladder.
In contrast to their respective football sides, the Western Rams took out a dominant victory over Diggers Rest as they push for a top-four spot on the ladder.