All Blacks unable to quell Milawa barrage

The home side came out and matched Milawa at the contest in the first quarter where it was a tight affair with multiple scoring opportunities and the Panthers’ midfield breaking even.

Kyle Collison was active early, putting a show on with his excellent ball use through traffic.

In the second Benalla had a mental lapse and allowed the opposition to run away with the game.

The All Blacks were slow to react and the game burst open for Milawa to close out the first half.

In the second half Irish team mate John Hughes took to the senior side for the first time and provided a shinning light what was a disappointing day.

John has great athleticism and and used his speed to burst threw tackles and provide great run off the backline for the All Blacks.

Kieran Linke continues to show great class for the Panthers, always finding a target and never being fazed by the pressure or physicality of the opposition.

This coming week the All Blacks will regroup, strip it back to basics and be ready to give North Wangaratta their best shot.

A-Grade

This week saw Benalla come up against an unbeaten Milawa side.

The Demons certainly did not disappoint on Saturday coming out very strong all over the court.

The All Blacks girls struggled to find their feet in the first half with a scoreline of 16 to 38.

After setting small goals in place at half-time the Panthers came out with a renewed work ethic providing some good passages of play up and down the court.

Gertie (Ray White Award) was named best on court for her work down the court, fighting hard for incepts and transitioning the ball from defence to the shooters.

Also named in the best players was Elyse (Allure Lux Award) who seems to be settling well into the attack end after spending the first half of the season down in defence.

Ash (Royal Hotel Award) was named in with the best players working hard all game against one of the best wing attack players in the league, putting into practice plays that Benalla have been working on.

The final score for the day was 31-73

Next week sees the All Blacks travel to North Wangaratta in what should be a very competitive game.

Reserves football

Coming off a two-week break, the Reserves boys were keen to continue their winning run and notch up their third win in a row against Milawa at home.

Missing big forward Harry Moran, and another four stepping up into the seniors, the boys had to reshuffle their forward line and midfield to accommodate.

The first quarter was high pressure from both teams, causing the ball to rebound from end to end with both defences working hard.

Milawa was able to make the most of its inside 50s, kicking 2.2.14 to the Panthers’ 0.1.6.

At the break, the Benalla boys were urged to continue their pressure and attack on the ball, and to stay composed inside forward 50.

Kicking with a slight breeze the Panthers knuckled down and got to work getting on top of Milawa around the contest and breaking the lines off full back and half back.

Applying great forward pressure enabled Benalla to get multiple inside 50s and kick two goals five behinds to Milawa’s one goal.

Going into the main break the All Blacks had a slight lead 3.5.23 to Milawa’s 3.2.20.

The third quarter saw good pressure from both sides, with the Panthers fighting out every contest.

The experienced Milawa side was able to find gaps in the All Blacks’ half back line and get on top of the scoreboard, kicking two goals three behinds to the Panthers’ one goal.

At the last break, the Panthers were urged to continue to take the game on, as the coach believed that they had more run in their legs than the opposition.

Benalla was asked to not overuse the ball and to get it deep to our forwards.

The boys responded beautifully and applied great pressure, run and carried the ball well and got it into the forwards to out score the opposition with three goals and three behinds to just one behind.

The final score was Panthers 7.8.50 to Milawa 5.6.36.

Two highlights of the last quarter came from two Irishmen playing their first games of AFL.

Midfielder Karl Mullins launched a kick from the wing, landing it about 25 out from goal, which rolled on through the big sticks.

The second highlight came from Tomas O’Suilleabhain, who found himself deep in the forward pocket, took on three defenders, touched the ball on the ground and kicked an awesome goal from a very tight angle to get the Panthers over the line.

It was a hard task to pick out the best players for the day as the defenders, midfeilders and forwards all battled hard for four quarters out of four for their best team win of the year.

Goals: Tomas O’Suilleabhain, 3; Callum Kirk, 2; Jayden Brady, Karl Mullins 1.

Best players: Karl Mullins (Brad Milligan/Sherridan Homes Award), Josh Kotvas (Benalla Golf Club Award), Tomas O’Suilleabhain (Coffeez To Go Award), Mark Mcdermott (All Blacks Thursday Night Dinner). Ahren McNab and Jack Melrose also played great games.

B-Grade

Benalla Panthers’ B-Grade side came up against a quality and relentless opposition in Milawa this week, who have been the league’s B-grade benchmark for many years now.

Both teams were undefeated before the match started and Benalla was keen to see how they matched up.

Benalla worked smartly in the bye rounds to plan for how they could consistently compete and try to force errors from familiar and class Milawa opponents at both ends of the court.

The game started fast and Milawa got the jump on Benalla early, scoring the first three goals of the game.

Benalla found its feet with the leadership of Kellie Holmes and Sally Burgess steadying the team, and they were goal for goal for some time.

Following heightened pressure by Milawa late in the first quarter, Milawa was out to a five-goal lead at the first break.

The match ebbed and flowed in a similar pattern throughout the second and third quarters, Benalla was able to claw the five-to-six goal lead back to within one to two goals early in the quarter.

The turnaround was due to implementing a high work rate defensively led by the combination of Gemma Mathieson and Andrea Hooker and through the midcourt and attacking end lead by Bec Mathieson and Brooke Bradshaw.

As quality sides do, Milawa continued to pressure with fast play, shooting accuracy and defensive changes that kept Benalla thinking.

Milawa again lead by five going into the last quarter.

Benalla added height to the defensive ring for the final quarter, moving Lis O’Halloran to this end of the court, and some fresh legs to try and bridge the gap.

Combined with organised defensive pressure through the mid-court Benalla had a strong final quarter, but unfortunately could not get the better of a formidable Milawa side, going down by two goals at the final siren.

Awards: Kellie Holmes, Gemma Mathieson, Lis O’Halloran

B-Reserve

With Milawa and Blacks sitting on the same points on the ladder, the Benalla girls knew this was an important game.

The All Blacks started strong, with incredible accuracy from Jemma Smith and beautiful movement from Courtney Sammon in goals, finishing the first quarter down by one.

Benalla made up some ground in the second quarter, finishing 22-22.

Mel Reaper fed the ball beautifully and made getting out for the centre pass an easy task.

Catherine Dennis was the gift that kept giving, playing both attack and defensive centre roles with precision.

The defensive end made up of Keeley Sheehan, Renae Hughes, Chloe Dods and Erin Crook demonstrated their strength all game, getting intercepts and making Milawa earn every goal.

The All Blacks finished one up going into the last quarter, however, ended the game going down 37-40.

It was an incredible game from Benalla and one to be proud of.

The All Blacks were the best side all game, it was just unfortunately not reflected in the end score.

Safe to say the Benalla girls will go into our next game against Milawa with a vengeance.

Awards Catherine Dennis, Jemma Smith, Chloe Dods

Under-17

The All Blacks’ under-17s came up against bottom-placed Milawa today looking to get another win on the board.

Benalla started strong in trying conditions with lack of calls coming their way, but the girls kept their heads up.

The Panthers’ mid court set the tone of the game with Indi Nicholls and Remi Nicholas taking great intercepts and feed beautifully into the ring all day.

Shooters Jess Holland, Kaylah Devlin and Tiahna Neal made great progress with their screening in the ring creating amazing shots.

Ever-reliable defenders Emily Baker, Charlotte Quilliam and Grace Cooke stepped up their defence capitalising on every rebound and stayed strong all day.

Benalla had a tough day and should be proud of the work ethic and commitment to the end.

The home side’s resilience and go-hard attitude prevailed in the end and we took home a well-deserved win with the final score being All Blacks 27 Milawa 23.

Awards: Indi Nicholls, Jess Holland, Emily Baker

Under-15

The Under-15 Panthers met with Milawa this week after a two-week break.

Benalla’s defensive end with Amber Renkin Seers and Immy Randall as usual were solid and worked overtime with disciplined pressure resulting in many turnovers.

The Panthers’ centre court led by Georgia Levy and her constant defensive pressure created great passages of play with Zellie Nicholls, Caitlin Crowe and Lexi Squires who with consistent leading and defensive pressure were solid all game and displayed great passages of play to our attacking line.

The home side welcomed back Heidi O’Halloran to the side after injury and she made an impact working seamlessly with Matilda Horne, who has been a solid shooter and once again rose to some overly tight defence and when asked to show strength she delivered.

The club is proud of all the girls for showing resilience and keeping their heads held high and coming through with an amazing win which they thoroughly deserved as they were the better team on the day.

It took discipline and belief in themselves and each other to achieve this win with a final score of 22-20.

Awards: Georgia Levy, Heidi O’Halloran, Immy Randall