AN eight goal to one second quarter blitz from Riddell’s senior men proved the difference in their Riddell District Football Netball League (RDFNL) matchup against Romsey on Saturday afternoon.
The Redbacks were looking to follow up their thrilling four-point win over Woodend-Hesket against the reigning premiers who have had a slow start to the season but finally got on the winner’s list last week with a 115-point drubbing of Lancefield.
It was the home side who jumped out of the gates thanks to two goals from Josh Crump and another to spearhead Jack Jedwab.
Jack added another late in the quarter to maintain some breathing room going into quarter time, but the game turned quickly in the second term.
Six unanswered goals and eight of the nine majors kicked for the quarter meant the Bombers held a handy 24-point advantage at half time.
A settler for the younger Jedwab, Charlie, was quickly matched by the visitors after a costly 50-metre penalty gave them an easy set shot.
Corey Pertzel channelled his inner Tim Cahill not long after, blasting a volley through from the goal square, however Romsey missed a number of opportunities in the middle of the quarter to drag themselves back into it.
Riddell tried to take the sting out of the game with two quick goals early in the last, and despite a late flash from Romsey’s forward line, ran out victors 119-87.
Crump and Pertzel were named among the best, and were joined by Ethan Beer who toiled hard in defense.
The tough year continued for the Romsey reserves side, falling to their fourth loss from four games. They went down 76-27, while the under-19.5s lost their matchup by 65 points.
Meanwhile, Lancefield’s own struggles are becoming worse following a six-goal loss to Melton Centrals.
It was an unusual week for Lancefield whose training facilities were hampered by copper thieves (story on page 2), and conceding a goal in the first minute of action in the seniors footy wouldn’t have provided any relief from the long trek to the city’s west.
The Tigers fired through three consecutive goals either side of the opening break to take the lead, and kept themselves within 12 points heading into the last with another burst of four unanswered goals late in the third term.
However the home side kicked the last four to seal their second win of the season and keep Lancefield firmly at the bottom of the RDFNL senior men’s football ladder.
The addition of lanky teenager Logan Collins provided another target, and his two-goal performance was an equal-best return for the Tigers alongside Leroy Ristevski.
Ristevski was in the best once again along with Tully Fattore, Ben Sankey and John Anstey.
Results didn’t fall in favour of the reserves or under-19.5s who were beaten by 79 and 48 points respectively.
On the netball courts, Lancefield swept the Centrals in all grades. It remains unbeaten in second-place on the ladder after a 48-goal shellacking in the A-grade, highlighted by another dominant display by Shanae Brundell.
She poured in a ridiculous 69 goals from just 80 attempts and now leads the competition in scoring through five rounds.
B-grade notched its fourth win in a row, and the D-grade side are now 5-0 after a 41-10 win.
Romsey couldn’t snare its first win of the year in the A-grade competition, losing by 13 against Riddell. It was a different story for the B-grade side who continued their unbeaten run, while the Redbacks’ D-grade team also got a win.
Heading into round 6 this weekend, Romsey will be looking to prove itself against an impressive Macedon outfit when the Cats come to town, while Lancefield will welcome Woodend-Hesket.
Wallan is back in action this week in a must-watch clash in the senior men’s footy against an undefeated Diggers Rest team.
The Burras thumped the Gisborne Giants by 179 points on Saturday thanks to a 15-goal haul from former Richmond and Carlton player Callum Moore.
The winner of that will cement themselves on top of the ladder, and push their case to be the outright favourite in the competition.
