Ellinbank DFL Round 1 review

MATCH REVIEW

Saturday’s result between Ellinbank and Lang Lang in the Ellinbank District Football League potentially left more questions than answers.

The Eagles, who have been a much improved outfit under Ben Wragg, may have shown they have the potential to be one of the top teams in the competition with their comfortable 10 goal win over a Tiger outfit that had recruited well.

Albeit the Tigers were missing some of their off-season recruits, including the Greene brothers. Whether that is the difference, and if the Tigers and gel and improve remains to be seen.

The Eagles burst out of the blocks to stun their opposition, kicking five goals to one in the first term to open a handy buffer.

Two goals to one in a torrid second term ensured the Eagles maintained a handy buffer at the long break, and they went on with it in the second half.

Four goals to one in the third term saw the margin blow out to nine goals and a first up result for the Tigers looked unlikely.

The Eagles scored two goals to one in the final term to close it out, with Tim Mashado using his speed to good affect to finish with four goals while Mitchell Cowan chipped in with three majors.

Josh Peterson showed his worth as a handy addition, providing drive and setting up attacks with his usual precision possession.

Hayden Stagg, Francis D’Agostino, Adam Cook and Michael Urie also featured among the better players for the Eagles.

With four individual goal scorers and only scoring one goal in each power, the Tigers will need to find more avenues to score. They will hope recruit Aaron Rose can find more goals in coming weeks.

Recruits Travis Kitchin and Luke Collie were supported by Liam O’Connor, previous best and fairest winner Sam Kendall, Lachlan Barwick and Andrew Thompson.

The Tigers eventually fell well-short of the mark of their fancied opponents, with Ellinbank winning 13-14 (92) to 4-8 (32).

MATCH REVIEW

Season 2018 grand finalist Longwarry showed it means business, kicking away in the final term to comfortably account for a Neerim-Neerim South team that had star players Chris Urie, Calum Shiels, Tyssen Morrow and Josh Morrison at their disposal.

The match had promised to be a close contest between two sides expected to be the top end of the ladder this season, and for the most part that’s what occurred.

Along with its key players returning, new recruit Matthew Laskey filled a need in the forward line with his three goals instrumental in helping the Cats curtail the influence of last season’s grand finalists.

While the Crows shot out to a 13-point buffer at the first change, the Cats hung in for much of the match with a 15-point deficit at the final change not insurmountable for an improved Cats team.

Longwarry’s inaccurate return of 3-9 in the third term had helped keep the Cats in the contest.

Desperate to get their season off to a winning start, the Crows responded accordingly and turned it around in the final term.

Five goals to two behinds saw the final score blow out to 12-20 (92) to 6-10 (46), which is perhaps not an accurate reflection of the close nature of the contest.

Longwarry coach Daniel Fry and Braydon McHugh stood up in front of goal when it counted, each finishing with three goals.

Kane Oldham and Danny Wells used their speed to good effect as the Crows ran the game out. Talls Nick Redley and Ben Cuckson were influential, as was Jack Muirhead.

It was the usual suspects showing their class for the Cats, led by Urie, Shiels, Aiden Dibsdale, Dean Stringer, Nathan Bayne and Tyler Pratt.

MATCH REVIEW

After a 2018 premiership, combined with Buln Buln losing a number of good players this year mainly to Warragul, momentum was in Nyora’s favour running out. Straight kicking from both sides, the home team Nyora were three goals to two at the first break. Some sloppy kicking in the second, Buln Buln were still in contention at half time, as Nyora kicked three goals and three points in the third.

Buln Buln kept to the trend of one goal per quarter and were 27 points down going into the final term. Finishing with some flight, the visiting Lyrebirds held Nyora to just one goal in the final term, making it a 28-point victory to the locals. The score line showed what was a more potent attack of Nyora, but a promising script for the Lyrebirds. Hayden Barker was in good form, he kicked a bold three goals for Buln Buln.

Premiership player Ilan ‘Ossie’ Osman was one of the Saints best, he kicked four goals. “I lost track of how many marks Ossie took, he was taking grabs all over the forward half,” says Nyora President Gavin Doig. “Brad Arnold was one of our big recruits coming into this year, he was really impressive this week.” Nyora is trying to get by with a reduced number of junior players, so if you want to join – get in contact. “It looks like we’ll have 18 blokes playing under 18s this year which is good news, but it’s been a struggle,” says Doig.

MATCH REVIEW

The seniors kicked to the Drouin Road end with the ground in excellent condition, Poowong opened the season with a point but it was Catani who scored the first major followed up by a kick out of bounds.

A good mark by Mitch Cochrane led to Poowong’s first goal of the season but Catani replied with a goal and they were looking dangerous, but Jack Hazendonk and Tom Wyatt replied with good goals from loose balls.

Catani immediately replied followed by a point from a snap. Poowong’s Trevor Hooker kicked a great goal from the boundary and with Jai Newcombe kicking a great goal on the run Poowong were looking good, a late free kick to Catani resulted in no score. Quarter time: Poowong 5.3.33 to Catani 3.0.18.

At the start of the second quarter, Catani attacked hard with Paul Pattison and No 44 was in everything, but some wayward kicking led to four points in a row with Poowong adding two points, then from a free kick Catani hand balled to Paul Pattison for a goal, Poowong had a couple of snaps both out of bounds.

Catani getting two late goals one bouncing through and then a quick snap to take the lead at half time. Poowong 5.5.35 Catani 6.4.40; a five point lead.

A disappointing second quarter by Poowong after a promising start had let Catani back into the game and they had their tails up, the third quarter would be vital to both sides. Poowong started with a goal off the ground to James Doria followed by a hand pass to Tom Wyatt for another, then a good mark to Catani resulted in a goal followed by a point.

Then goals to Tom Wyatt from the boundary two goals to James Doria and one to Jack Hazendonk. Poowong had opened a good 31-point lead at three quarter time. Poowong 12.6.78 to Catani 7.5.47. Both sides worked hard in the last quarter with goals to Jack Hazendonk and James Doria and plus three points and three out of bounds, Catani added two goals and a point. A good win by Poowong but without the wayward kicking the gap could have been greater but a good opener with some good passages of play during the game.

MATCH REVIEW