By Max Davies
Wallan’s home game triple-header was rounded off with a comfortable win over Macedon at the weekend, leaving the Pies tied with Woodend-Hesket for second on the Riddell District Football Netball League senior football ladder.
The Magpies’ 92-38 victory over the Cats never looked in doubt, keeping the visitors to just five goals for the match.
Wallan finally played in improved weather after two weeks of difficult wet and windy conditions at Greenhill Reserve.
Assistant coach Spencer Mathieson said Wallan put in a strong four-quarter performance that built on its win against Romsey in round 10.
“We had a good win against Romsey the week before, so we just wanted to back up our performance because previous to that we lost a couple in a row,” he said.
“It was a bit of a closer game after half time, but we’re really happy with how everyone went. We had plenty of contributors and it was hard to pick best players.”
In addition to a strong backline, Mathieson named Patrick Baccari, Corey Viani, and Steven Boyall as standout performers.
Impressive forward efforts by Matthew Perri and Angelos Sidhom also drew praise, the pair scoring three goals each to contribute to the team’s 13-goal total.
“Our backline were really good, we kept the other side under 50 points, which was fantastic. It’s definitely encouraging,” Mathieson said.
Wallan will this week travel to face bottom-of-the-ladder Western Rams, who are yet to record a win this season, but Mathieson said the team needed to stay focused.
“It’s about us. We just want to make sure that we produce the footy that we have been playing the last couple of weeks, so the focus is to do that when we go to the Rams,” he said.
“Regardless of the competition, we just want to make sure we put together a consistent effort.”
In other Riddell league action, Lancefield failed to respond to the challenge of Diggers Rest and went down in a 38-point defeat at home.
It was always going to be a tough match for the lower-ranked Tigers in facing the ladder leaders, but in a hard-fought game, Lancefield was unable to overcome a strong Burras effort.
The result means the Burras are now 12 points clear of second-placed Wallan on the ladder.
Melton Centrals also hosted the Rams at the weekend, demolishing the visitors by 127 points, while Riddell had the better of the visiting Woodend-Hesket in a 74-28 victory.
In this weekend’s matches, Lancefield will host Woodend-Hesket, Riddell travel to face Macedon, and Romsey returns from a bye host Melton Centrals.
Netball
Wallan’s A Grade netballers did not share in the same fortune as the senior football side, as the Magpies recorded a 29-29 tie against the visiting Cats.
Wallan’s efforts were headed by goal shooter Maeve Donegan and goal attack Rebekah Konstantopoulos – the pair scoring 18 and 11 goals respectively.
A closely contested game means Macedon has now recorded two tied matches for the season but remains second on the ladder behind Riddell, while Wallan sits fourth.
Riddell faced off against Woodend-Hesket and came out on top by four points to keep its 10-round winning streak alive, having only recorded one loss, which came in the first round.
In a streak that Lancefield will want to quickly break, the Tigers were defeated by Diggers Rest. It was Lancefield’s second match in a row where it lost by less than three points – going down 51-53 in the Burras’ second win of the season.
The biggest margin of the round was recorded between Melton Centrals and visiting Western Rams, the latter winning by 17 goals.
