By Max Davies
THE final round of home and away action in the Riddell District Football Netball League competition featured multiple close contests as teams prepared for finals campaigns.
While top team Diggers Rest will be premiership favourites, the senior competition is set for an intriguing finals series, with results in the second half of the season showing the evenness of the competition.
Romsey hosted Lancefield on Saturday and managed to secure a close victory despite the Tigers’ best efforts – making it three Romsey teams set to to compete in this year’s finals series.
Redbacks coach Justin Sherman said the result was especially important as the team looked ahead to its elimination final against Riddell in Woodend on Sunday.
“We’re ecstatic. It’s good to cement our spot and join the [Reserves] and the [Under 19s] in the final and it’s a really good effort by the club – I don’t think that’s happened since 2003,” he said.
“We’re definitely the underdog, there’s no doubt about that. We’re just going go to out there and play footy, enjoy it and embrace the opportunity for what it is.”
Romsey’s forward line remains a key strength as Jack Jedwab is currently the leading goalscorer for the league on 61, comfortably ahead of the next highest scorer, Melton’s Dylan Jobson on 44.
Jedwab is also the league leader for goals per game with an impressive 3.81 average.
“We’re just really happy to have [Jedwab] in a Redbacks jersey because he pretty much typifies everything that we’re all about,” Sherman said.
“I’ve got to thank all the coaches and volunteers in the club for everything they do behind the scenes to allow us to go out there and play footy, as well as hopefully make them proud this weekend.”
Riddell, meanwhile, hosted Wallan for round 18 of the season and suffered a 56-54 defeat.
Riddell finished fourth on the ladder and now faces a difficult finals campaign with no second chances.
Wallan’s Matthew Perri saw a return to form, kicking four goals against the Bombers, while Callum Langborne, Hayden Gill, Jake Layley, Michael Baccari and Riley Gilchrist were also named among the best for the match.
The win over Riddell means Wallan finished the season with back-to-back two-point wins, giving it a good hit-out before this weekend’s finals.
The Magpies will play in a qualifying final against Woodend-Hesket in Romsey on Saturday in what is set to be a tough challenge.
Wallan and Woodend-Hesket both finished on 56 points on the ladder, with the Magpies marginally ahead on percentage, but both trail ladder-leaders Diggers Rest by 12 points.
Wallan will be looking to make amends for last year’s finals efforts, where they came up short against the Burras in the preliminary final after a solid season-long campaign.
Diggers Rest remain the flag favourites ahead of this year’s finals, completing the season with only one loss at the hands of Riddell in round 15.
The Burras’ victory over the Melton Centrals at the weekend will also mean they carry significant momentum into their finals campaign; however, they will not play again until the first semi-final in Romsey on September 2, facing the winner of the Wallan versus Woodend-Hesket match.
Netball
The conclusion of the netball season will be a chance for teams to reset and regroup ahead of finals, especially for Wallan which will look to rebound following a challenging couple of rounds.
Romsey A Grade netballers, above, will also play finals with both of the Redbacks senior teams to play elimination finals on Sunday.
Wallan suffered a defeat to ladder-leaders Riddell at the weekend, meaning the Magpies finished the season with two losses in a row and slipped to fifth on the ladder behind Romsey.
It was once again a strong scoring game for both Riddell and Wallan, headed by Shelby Holter with 43 and Maeve Donegan with 27 goals, respectively.
Holter is also currently the leading goalscorer for the league, recording a total of 485 goals for the season.
The defeat means Wallan will face Romsey in Woodend in an elimination final on Sunday, with the Redbacks coming off a comfortable victory over Lancefield in round 18.
Woodend-Hesket head into the finals in good form, joining Riddell as unbeaten in the final five rounds of the season.
The Hawks will face Macedon in a qualifying final at Romsey on Saturday.
