Benalla Junior Footy Match report round five

The teams used the support, guidance, and motivation their mothers give them to play some of their best football.

Under-12s — Benalla Red v Junior Magpies

Fantastic conditions awaited a highly anticipated match between Benalla Red and Wangaratta Magpies juniors at Benalla Showgrounds on Saturday. Benalla jumped out of the blocks with Bodie Gall giving first use to the talented Benalla midfield, kicking two early majors before the visitors steadied. The second quarter was an arm wrestle with both sides making runs. With the game in the balance Benalla Red made all the play in the premiership quarter with Jack Hart stamping his authority on the contest and hitting the scoreboard (five goals for the day). Ollie Smith’s tenacious pressure proved to be important, hitting the scoreboard himself and providing the likes of Georgia Trethowan many scoring opportunities. To the Magpies’ credit they finished the game off strong and looked to be creeping back into the game, ultimately Benalla Red taking the win by 19 points.

Final score: Benalla Red 8.7 (55) def Junior Magpies 5.6 (36)

Goals: Jack Hart 5, Oliver Smith, Tom Snell, Georgia Trethowan.

Best players: Georgia Trethowan, Benji McKean, Jimmy Humphrey, Louis Horne, Tom Snell, Bodie Gall

Under 12s — Benalla Black v Myrtleford

In what was our first home game for the year we knew we had a tough game coming up playing the top-of-the-ladder Myrtleford side. They got the jump on us early and kicked away to an early lead, despite the brave efforts of our backline led by Kayden Randell who is really finding his feet as a strong defensive player. With a few players out and only one on the bench, we shuffled the magnets around to try some new things, which allowed our players a chance to try out different position and gain valuable experience. Being six goals down at half-time we knew we had a tough task in the second half. Blacks’ second half effort was improved with the whole team effort to slow down the Myrtleford side to keep them to just the two goals in the second half to our one goal. It was a great team effort with everyone doing their bit. The team is continuing to grow each week but will enjoy a weekend off.

Final Score: Benalla Black 1.4 (10) def by Myrtleford 10.3 (63)

Goals: Caleb Thwaites

Best players: Jackson Quarrell, Kayden Randell, Jack Davies, Jagga Schintler, Tyson Brown, Lincoln Richardson

Under 14s — Benalla Red v Junior Magpies

On Mother’s Day weekend, the under-14 Benalla Reds side drew upon the inspiration from our mothers and mother-like figures in our lives. Our theme for the game was “The 1%” where if we honoured the small details the larger ones would take care of themselves. The hard running, tackling with intent, encouraging, playing in at all opportunities and most importantly playing our role for our team by beating our opponent — these were our 1%s for 80 minutes. Unfortunately, we did not do these for the first quarter and the Wangaratta Magpies took advantage of our lethargy and kicked seven goals to our zero. Our first quarter was very disappointing; yet the following three quarters were promising. Charlie Pollard’s shift from forward to midfield plus the reliable Noah Cooney to defence provided a solid and consistent platform for competing. Jack Pollard, Thomas Mount and Xavier DeFazio battled hard after a rusty beginning while debutant Tom Snell proved very capable in the upper age game. Kudos to the Magpies whose hard and competitive nature from the first bounce taught us a valuable lesson.

We break for a week, reflect on what we did well and where we can improve and look forward to our next challenge.

Final score: Benalla Red 3.8 (26) def by Junior Magpies 16.12 (108)

Goals: Cash Nolen, Charlie Pollard, Lucas Webster

Best players: Charlie Pollard, Noah Cooney, Jack Pollard, Tom Mount, Xavier DeFazio, Tom Snell

Under 14s — Benalla Black v Myrtleford

Benalla Black took on a powerful Myrtleford outfit for their first home game of the season. After a rousing pre-game presentation from the players’ mothers in honour of Mother’s Day and lessons learned from the previous week Black got off to an impressive start attacking the ball with intent and hard running. Josh Byers and Kobi Thwaites were prominent for Black, Kobi winning the hard ball and Josh taking some impressive, contested marks up forward. Jackson Fry continues to grow in stature each week and he was again impressive on the wing. At the half-time siren Benalla had a slender lead. Benalla knew that Myrtleford would come out hard in the third term and they had to weather the storm, to Myrtleford’s credit they began to run hard and created opportunities for each other. The back six were working hard with Charlie Bell and Nicholas White repelling many opposition attacks. The game was still up for grabs, and it was going to come down to which team wanted it more. Hudson Blyss had worked tirelessly in the ruck all day and continued to give his all. Tom Osborne was playing his best game of the season in and under feeding the ball out to his running teammates. In what was a great game of football Myrtleford went on to a 12-point win.

Final score: Benalla Black 5.5 (35) def by Myrtleford 6.11 (47)

Goals: Josh Byers 2, Kobi Thwaites, Josh Montgomery, Ollie Parker

Best players: Kobi Thwaites, Jackson Fry, Josh Byers, Nicholas White, Hudson Blyss, Charlie Bell

Under 17s — Benalla v Junior Magpies

It was a tough day at the office for the under-17s group this week. The first quarter, although we were scoreless, was defensively one of the best we'd played. J-Mac, Jobe Stovell and Logan Hyland worked overtime on our back line to restrict the Magpies to just one goal. Mitchell Cooney joined in with reliable, strong marking, restricting a fast-attacking Magpies’ forward line to four goals in the second. Although Gater worked tirelessly to feed the ball to our midfielders, fitness became our worst enemy with only a handful of boys able to keep up with the Maggies for a full four quarters. Josh Hart kicked our only major of the day in the third, but the damage had been done as the Magpies piled on eight of their own. Barring the third quarter, our tackling pressure was quite good, but the boys need to put in a full four quarters of effort to make an impact.

Final score: Benalla 1.1 (7) def by Magpies 17.11 (113)

Goals: Josh Hart

Best players: Mitch Cooney, Josh Hart, Sam Gates, Jobe Stovell, Logan Hyland, Josh Mathieson