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ROUND 5 MATCH REVIEWS – by Laurie Williams

MORWELL EAST v STONY CREEK
Morwell East condemned Stony Creek to the bottom of the table after beating them by 79 points in
great conditions at Morwell East. The home side had star game maker Joel Soutar sidelined and his
absence in the first quarter was noticeable as the East couldn’t get their usual game flowing. Stony
Creek applied the pressure with most of the play to the northern end. It was tough going for both
sides in a scraggy first quarter with Stony Creek holding on to a two point lead for most of the
quarter. Shaun Barnes was the glue holding the East together whether on the ball or in defence.
Morwell East hit the front with a goal only seconds before the end of the first quarter with a goal
from Stephen Lambert. Morwell East got their act together in the second term with Rob Michaelides
in a starring role, he booted three quick goals to swing the game away from Stony Creek who had
been battling hard, Hayden Funnell and winger Angus Wright were putting in hard with Tom Stone
gathering kicks around the mid field. The East were on a roll but at times disposal was poor with
many turnovers which Stony Creek didn’t take real advantage of. An 8-6 quarter summed up the way
Morwell East played but the Creek fired back with 3-1 to end their scoring tallying only 3-4 total for
the match, remaining scoreless in the second half which was due credit to the Morwell East
defenders. It’s going to be a long season for the Lions, playing off in the 2019 Grand Final and in
2021 after five games in are the only winless team in the competition. Morwell East overshadowed
Stony Creek after the first quarter to go on to redeem themselves after their shocker against Fish
Creek the previous week. For the East Shaun Barnes played a blinder with Rob Michaelides amongst
the best also popped through five goals, Matt Cunningham also banged four, other good players
were Tanner Higgins and Jarrod Lont with a special mention to Pat Carte for his game on the wing.
For Stony Creek Hayden Funnell, Ben Heath, Ash Zuidema, Tom Stone with an impressive game from
Angus Wright.

HILL END v MDU
Hill End kept their unbeaten status alive but just as they got a surprise visit from MDU. In windy
conditions both teams found it difficult to score goals and it the first term neither team had majors
on the board. Hill End’s run of injuries continued and it was a patched up team on the field. Hill End
redeemed themselves in the second term but it wasn’t pretty football they had seven behinds on
the board and at one stage the board read Hill End 0-7 MDU 0-3 before cracking their first goal. The
usual forwards weren’t in attendance for Hill End as play turned into a scrap. Hill End eventually
running out winner but could only score six goals from 22 shots, a poor but winnable score on the
day. MDU were never far behind Hill End but also suffered from misguided attempts at goal to finish
with 5-10. Jack Hudson topped his 2019 form with a BOG with Dane Fawcett, Jack Skinner and
Bayley Paul in good support. MDU were close but not close enough with their best being Erik
O’Loughlin, Jarrod Hoy, Tyson Findlay and Tom Corry.

NEWBOROUGH v BOOLARRA
Newborough broke through for their first win in an exciting match against Boolarra, the game high
tally of 29 goals attesting the closeness of the match. A record breaking seven goals by Newborough
in the first term setting up the game. Boolarra were no slouches either putting on 3 straight in a goal
frenzied term. The Bulldogs slowed down against the wind in the second but had built up a buffer of
20 points at the half way mark. Joel Mitchell was an excellent target up front for the Dogs with the
youngster bagging seven goals. Boolarra were never really in a position to be a real challenge to

Newborough but they did fight the game out to be impressive losers in a high scoring match 15-17 to
14-7. Joel Mitchell got the chocolates for Newborough with Coach Peter Ainsworth, Josh Bland and
Liam Cordner all good in a supporting role. Boolarra’s top scorer Joel Mason finished with five goals
and best player award was ably supported by Brendan Mason, Sam Mazou, Daniel Wilson and Aidyn
Sheers.

THORPDALE v TARWIN
There were plenty of celebrations at Thorpdale on Saturday night as the Blues relived their first win
of the season, and their first win since 2018. Thorpdale had been looking impressive without winning
in their games so far but they capped it off with a big game over Tarwin who were making their first
visit to Spud Country. It was go from the start by Thorpdale as they toyed with the Sharks. Setting up
with a 5-5 to 1-1 first term put the match beyond Tarwin. By three quarter the match looked set for
a big win by Thorpdale but the Sharks added a bit of bite to the match and got back to within 17
points at the finish. Matt Powell was on line for Thorpdale with five goals to be the pick of the
forwards while Tarwin had to share their tally between seven players. Mitchell Chopping, Shannon
Pickering, Matt Powell and Richard Mathers were voted for Thorpdale while the Sharks dished out
their awards to Ben Ellen, Kaj Patterson, Lachlan Howes and Fergus Warren.

MIRBOO NORTH v FISH CREEK
The battle between the big guns of the competition turned into a tremendous battle with the
Mirboo North Tigers just holding out to the advancing Kangaroos. The Tigers missed the influence of
Liam Nash who had starred in the previous matches. Mirboo North without a regular full forward
were all at sea in the first quarter in a term where they should have buried Fish Creek. A miserly 2-8
was pathetic from a team that is usually on target, pressure and lazy forwards being their main
hurdle. Conditions were windy but that wasn’t to blame for the rise in minor scores by both teams as
play was scrappy with too many following the ball. Mirboo North reversed their back kicking on a
positive note in the third by adding 5-2 to 3-1 and held a comfortable lead going into the last. Fish
Creek fired back with four goals in the last but it wasn’t good enough as Mirboo North run out
winners 13 points. Hudson Kerr and Ben Campbell scored three each for the Tigers while Brady
Mitchell had a good day out with five for Fish Creek.

YINNAR v FOSTER
Yinnar and Foster fought out a thriller with Foster lasting to win by three points. The Tigers looked
the better team all day and held out Yinnar right to the end. After an even arm wrestle in the first
term where neither team could goal (0-2 each), Foster broke away in the second but scoring was
tight, missed opportunities keeping Yinnar close, by three quarter Foster were eight points up.
Yinnar put up a fight in the last term trying to overpower the strong Tiger defence to almost get the
points but Foster were able to hold steady to take the first meeting by three points.

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