By Colin MacGillivray
WALLAN atoned for one poor performance with a win against Woodend-Hesket on Saturday and is keen to do the same when it takes on Riddell District Football Netball League ladder leader Diggers Rest this weekend.
The Magpies, who sit third on the ladder, have only two losses and a draw from 15 games this season, with the draw coming against Woodend-Hesket in round two and one of the losses to Diggers Rest.
Both results came after slow starts, an error Wallan assistant coach Spencer Mathieson was happy to see rectified in Saturday’s 13.10 (88) to 8.3 (51) win against the Hawks.
Mathieson said Wallan’s coaches challenged the players to switch on from the start.
“We knew going in that Woodend-Hesket would be well organised and well coached, so we had to play smarter and better than we did in the first quarter of round two,” he said.
“They kicked to the scoring end in the first quarter and we won the first quarter by 10 points and were five goals up by half time. That set us up a lot better than last time.”
Despite a third-quarter run that cut Wallan’s lead to little more than two goals, the Magpies were able to reestablish their dominance and run out the game comfortably in front of a home crowd.
Pat Mahoney rucked well all day in a best-on-ground performance, feeding the likes of Jarryd Bonello, Ricky Schraven and Steve Boyall in Wallan’s on-ball unit.
Defenders Matt Bonello, Cody Lynch and Corey Baker stifled Woodend-Hesket’s scoring opportunities while at the other end of the ground Corey Grindlay slotted four goals.
With Wallan unable to rise above or fall below third place, Mathieson said the team would rest players as needed this weekend.
He said the team was confident of a better showing than in round eight, when it lost to Diggers Rest by 40 points.
“Hopefully we play a lot better because that was probably our worst performance for the season, so we need to redeem ourselves,” he said.
“They beat us in contested footy. We were second to the ball and that was the crux of it.
“They’re probably the premiership favourites, so we need to make sure we play properly against them heading into the finals.
“We’re a lot better than what we showed against them in round eight and I’m pretty confident we can bounce back.”
Wallan will play at Greenhill Reserve again this weekend, celebrating the premiership reunions of the 1992, 2000, 2001 and 2002 teams.
Romsey will also prepare for finals this week with a tune-up against Woodend-Hesket after beating Melton Centrals 17.12 (114) to 6.5 (41) in an impressive display at Romsey Park.
With captain Nathan Blair leading the way, the Redbacks piled on 10 first-half goals to the Blues’ two, and were never seriously challenged.
Among the other star performers for Romsey were Matt Burkett, Jack Jedwab with five goals, Matthew Hoy in his first senior appearance of the year, and Will Di Pietro.
Lancefield lacked the firepower to keep up with Diggers Rest in their round 17 clash, with the Tigers losing by 101 points despite some impressively accurate goal kicking.
Mathew Higgins, Matt Bowden, Joe Slattery and Harrison Taylor played solid games while Tom Atwell and Brendan Crowhurst kicked three goals each, but it was not enough to prevent a 22.17 (149) to 8.0 (48) loss.
Lancefield will host Riddell in the final round of the season.