Benalla’s Nick Warnock was named the Goulburn Valley League’s best for the interleague clash against the Ovens and Murray League at the weekend.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Benalla duo Nick Warnock and Nathan Wright pulled on the purple and gold Goulburn Valley League jumpers on Saturday in the hope of helping the league retain the Ash-Wilson Trophy, however, they were blitzed by a dominant Ovens and Murray Football Netball League.
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Interleague scribes would have been keeping one eye on the record books as, at one point, the O&M threatened a triple-figure drubbing of the incumbent titleholder, but a face-saving six-goal final quarter from the GVL restored some pride in the purple and gold jumper.
Beyond that, the preceding three quarters were dominated by an O&M outfit with pressure and pace to burn.
Former VFL man Kaelen Bradtke and Benalla’s Wright traded the first goals of the day, setting up what appeared to be a day of see-sawing interleague action.
But instead, the GVL was forced to wait until the fourth quarter for its next major as the O&M slammed home 13 unanswered goals on, arguably, interleague football’s biggest stage.
North Albury’s Josh Murphy proved the chief tormentor for the GV, with three of his six majors for the day coming in the first quarter as O&M jumped to a 35-point buffer at the first break.
GVL ruckman Ash Holland was at his typical battling best and Lewis McShane generated opportunities down forward in the first half against the flow of play.
Benalla’s Nathan Wright kicked one goal for the GVL on a tough day for forwards.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
But as would be the theme for the day, poor ball use was the GVL’s kryptonite as Jacob Conlan and Bradtke made the GVL pay for a slew of behinds down the other end to take the margin out to a half-time margin of 59 points.
A shifting of the magnets helped the GVL show glimpses, but ultimately the O&M foot was slammed hard down on the pedal.
Warnock intercepted some of the O&M’s more probing inside-50 entries, but another three goals to the host saw the lead out to a game-high 79 points and the threat of a triple-figure drubbing loomed large in scarcely believable scenes.
Kade Chalcraft finally broke the goalless streak for the GVL early in the fourth quarter with a slickly converted set shot, followed swiftly by McShane’s own major to generate a bit of buzz among the faithful.
Cohen Paul’s shift forward yielded fruit with a game-high two majors for the GVL and Nathan Rachele cashed in on the momentum shift with a goal of his own.
However, it was Murphy with the final say of the day, his sixth goal handing the O&M an 18.19 (127) to 7.8 (50) triumph and the GVL one of its bigger defeats.
For GVL coach Dale Osborne, the result boiled down to better preparation and cleaner ball use on the part of the O&M, but he remained optimistic about the experience provided for his playing group.
“We finished off a lot better than we started,” Osborne said.
“For me, it was just our ability to stem the bleeding from what O&M was delivering us early on, which set them up and gave them that confidence.
“We won a lot of the uncontested marks and inside-50s, but we just didn’t capitalise.
“Our skill execution was poor; they had a lot of front-on pressure which made it hard for us to hit targets.
“It doesn’t matter how much you have the footy – whoever uses it better will usually win the game.
“They’ve been training together for 10 weeks, so they’re pretty well structured and they had a system that worked for them.
“The boys bought in and the experience has been good. We only trained for three weeks, but the group really connected, which made the result even worse for us.
Murphy earned best-on-ground honours, but the GVL, on a stage designed to showcase the best talents in the competition, wasn’t without players of its own sending a reminder of their class.
“Nick Warnock was sensational, he would have clunked about 10, 12 marks,” Osborne said.
“Ash Holland was really good in the ruck, throwing Oliver Warburton on the ball in the second half gave us a bit more drive in the middle.
“Aidan Robinson and Bryce Stephenson worked their a*se off down back against some pretty exceptional delivery.
“Jake Watts was good, he gave us some run, same with Archie Watt.
“Ned Byrne nearly broke a goal post; it was a big hit, but he’s all right. It takes a bit more than that to dint him.”
