ONE of the great days occurred in the Wallan Football Netball Club’s history on Saturday as their 110-point win against Melton Centrals means they jump Diggers Rest, who had the bye, and finish first on the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season.
Not only was the minor premiership a huge celebration for the club, Wallan forward Lachlan Smart also came into the day needing to kick at least eight goals to put his name alongside Diggers Rest’s Callum Moore in the league goalkicking.
He instead kicked 10 goals, and jumped Moore, who could only sit on the sidelines and watch.
Opening the game, Wallan kicked the first five of six goals with Smart already stocking up with four goals.
Leading by 27 at the first break, the Centrals did their best to fightback, dobbing the first two goals in the second, until it became an arm-wrestle from their with Wallan kicking the next three of five in the quarter.
At half time, Smart sat on six goals, two behind Moore in the league goal kicking.
He then kicked a quick one to start the third, before it was his time to shine, getting the hands from Chris Stewart, and slotting it straight through the big sticks to go tied with Moore.
His ninth goal for the day to go in the standalone lead saw a Wallan player run into an open goal square, before instead handballing it backwards, over an opposition player, to Smart who kicked his ninth from five metres out.
It’s a luxury they could afford, being so dominant throughout the year with elite talent across the ground like Smart, Jake Carlisle, Dion Hill and Ben Dessent.
Wallan then went on to dominate and have fun in the final term, kicking nine goals to win 57-167 and finish the year on top of the ladder.
They look forward to a huge game against Diggers Rest next week in Kyneton where the winner would set themselves up with an easier game in the hunt for a grand final.
In the reserves, Wallan went undefeated for the year, winning their game against the Centrals by 94 points, and the under-19.5s lost their game, helping Melton Centrals finish in the finals.
In the netball, it was a good finish for the A-grade, who won, but finished second due to Woodend winning their match.
The under 19.5s won and finished first on the ladder meaning the club finished with three teams on top of the ladder across all competitions.
Over in Romsey, the Redbacks closed their poor year out with a huge win at home against the Gisborne Giants.
The game started in the way of the Giants who led at the first break 15-31.
In the second, it was a lot more of the same, dominance from Gisborne, as Cam Freake and Matt Quigley dominated.
It must have been a Nathan Blair special at half time for Romsey though, as the third quarter was arguably the best they’ve played all year.
Gisborne kicked the first, but it was game on when the Redbakcs then kicked the next nine of 10 goals for the game.
It was kickstarted by Corey Pertzel who had 11 disposals and a goal in the quarter.
Jack Jedwab added three to his name, and it got the whole ground and crowd pumping for a huge last quarter in the dead rubber.
The Redbacks held a 10-point lead at the final break, and conceded the first of the quarter due to a timely mistake down forward.
But they then kicked the next three, to push the lead to 28 points with roughly 10 minutes to go.
The Giants went bang bang with another two goals, closing it to 14 points at the 25th minute mark of the quarter, until Josh Crump put the game to bed for Romsey, who had a great kickstart to their Mad Monday celebrations.
Pertzel finished with 38 disposals, eight clearances and a goal, while Jedwab kicked another bag of six, making it 72 goals for the year, only nine back from Smart in the league goal kicking.
Very impressive from a guy playing in a team with only four wins for the year.
Nathan Hoy, Sam Wilson were both good, and it was an impressive day for some younger players of Romsey who look to be the next generation like Dylan Kenyon who was huge in the ruck all day.
The reserves went down again, this time by 61 points, finishing the year winless in a dark reality since their grand final loss against Wallan just 12 months ago.
The under-19.5s also lost in a must-win game to play finals, while in the netball, Romsey got beaten in all grades except for the B-grade, where the ladies finished first on the ladder.
Lancefield got done against Macedon by 108 points before the Women’s grand final.
Macedon kicked 38 scoring shots to five and it sums up a disappointing year for the Tigers seniors side who didn’t win a game.
In a positive note, there were some outstanding players across the year like Reuben Schembri and Walter King plus some more acquisition of young talent who are crucial to future success if they stick around.
The Tigers reserves lost by two points in a thriller against the second-placed Cats.
A win would have given them a finals spot, instead they finish the year in eighth place.
In the Netball, the B-grade side finished first on the ladder and they should go well in the A-grade who although finishing fifth, only sat two wins off first.
Smart takes goalkicking title
WALLAN were the winners in many ways on Saturday, not only claiming the senior men’s minor premiership, but also claiming the goalkicking title through spearhead Lachlan Smart.
The Magpies’ 110-point win over Melton Centrals ensured they took the minor premiership, with Diggers Rest having a bye, ahead of the two teams meeting in this Saturday’s qualifying final at Kyneton.
Smart, in his first season at the club after crossing from Deer Park, needed eight goals to tie with Diggers Rest spearhead Callum Moore, and nine to beat him.
Smart brought up his ninth goal in the third quarter to take the title.
It has been a successful season in many ways for the Magpies, with the team finishing minor premiers in seniors, undefeated in the reserves for a second straight season and carrying a 35-game winning streak and finishing fifth in the under-19.5 campaign.
On the netball court, Wallan finished second in A-grade, third in B-grade and on top in the 19-and-under grade, only missing out in C and D-grades.
