Senior Football
As the All Blacks travelled away from home to the North Wangaratta Sports Reserve the side knew they would have to bring their A-game to beat the fifth placed Hawks outfit.
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North Wangaratta came out of the blocks firing as they kicked four goals from four chances in the first.
Benalla had more chance in the first spell but scoring efficiency let them down as the side kicked five behinds to their one goal.
The Panthers were held scoreless in the second period as the Hawks flew ahead as they kicked five goals and four behinds to take a 47-point lead into half-time.
Benalla looked to play themselves back into the game with a couple of goals in the third, but just could not seem to stem the flow of points on the board from the Hawks.
As the game became out of reach for the Panthers in the last quarter, the Hawks piled on the misery as they kicked seven goals to close out the contest.
Final score:
Benalla 3.8 (26) North Wangaratta 19.8 (122)
Best players: Cody Crawford, Brendon Smith, Kaare Glass, David Button, Kyle Collisson, and Jesse Walker.
Goals: Tom Levy, Jayden Brady and Nicholas Spencer, 1.
A-grade
Saturdays match saw the All Blacks head to North Wangaratta, with both teams on the hunt for a second win for the season it was set to be a tough day out.
All Blacks came out hard and fast with plenty of intercepts and good transition down the court to our attacking end, our girls set the pace for what was to be a very physical game.
Going into half time 19 to 18, the girls had their work cut out for them in the second half.
Unable to string together a solid 15 minutes for four quarters the All Blacks took their foot off the pedal allowing North Wang to run away with a five point lead going into the last term.
After a solid rev up from co coaches Alara Jones and Georgia Spencer the team came out with fire in their belly’s not ready to let this game slip away just yet.
Some fantastic passages of play during the last 15 minutes saw the girls clawing their way back, with a contact called on the final whistle Co coach Georgia Spencer sunk the shot to seal the day with a draw after the siren.
Eliza Walker turned it up in the defensive goal ring, taking crucial rebounds and intercepts. Putting into play everything asked of her Eliza is improving with leaps and bound each week.
Also named in the best this week was Ashlea McDonald. Ash worked tirelessly all day to shut down her wing attack opponent and help link the play down to the attack end.
The Panthers’ pocket rocket Gertie McCallum back in the best yet again this week. Gertie had her hands over everything all day, with solid defensive pressure down the court and precision passing into the goal ring she’s definitely a player to keep watching.
Final score:
All Blacks 34 North Wangaratta 34
Awards: Ray White Award — Eliza Walker; Celebrations Award — Ashlea McDonald; Royal Hotel Award — Gertie McCallum.
Reserve football
This week the reserves had another challenge in front of them taking on North Wangaratta on their home turf.
Coming off three great wins, the boys were pumped to continue their winning run.
With a strong breeze blowing one way, the day looked to be a challenge when kicking towards the scoreboard end.
With North Wangaratta winning the toss and kicking with the breeze they were able to get off to a good start kicking three goals two behinds (20) to the visitors’ one goal one behind (7).
The first quarter was a great battle with both teams competing hard in the middle of the ground and both providing great run and carry off their back lines.
In the second quarter the Panther boys were asked to make the most of the wind, not to over posses the ball and to get quick deep entries into their forward line, to give them the best chance of scoreboard pressure.
Second game Eoin Fitzgerald going into the ruck and he was able to give the midfield first use of the ball, with Karl Mullins continuing on his great form from last week.
All Blacks’ pressure across the ground especially their defence was superb keeping the hawks scoreless in the third and providing a lot of run and carry through Ciaran Wallace, Damo Broughton and John Hughes to pump the ball forward and allow the forwards to go to work.
Inaccurate kicking stopped the panthers from extending the margin, going into the main break with a 16-point lead.
At half-time, the coach set a big challenge to his players asking them to defend hard against the wind and limit the Hawks from hitting the scoreboard.
With Mark McDermott starting in the middle of the ground along side Fitzgerald, Mullins and Kotvas, the Panthers midfield was very strong.
The boys rose to the challenge across every line and applied great pressure on the opposition to limit them to one major for the quarter and also kicking one themselves going into the third quarter break still holding a 13-point lead.
Kicking with the wind in the last the boys were asked to finish off the game and really run and attack hard.
They responded beautifully winning the midfield battle, defending solidly and sent the ball in the forwards to go to work.
The forwards kicked accurately at goal to kick five goals one behind to North Wangaratta’s two goals, to eventually run out 32-point winners.
Another great team effort by the boys who are gaining momentum and starting to really gel coming into the back half of the year.
Harry Moran was again very solid down forward and supported very well with the boys around him.
Young gun defender, John Hughes was given the task of playing on North Wangaratta’s full forward who has been in great form in-front of goal this year and was able to get on too early and keep him goalless for the whole game.
The boys now look forward to taking on Whourley in another away game and building on their current momentum.
Final score:
All Blacks 11.7 (73) to North Wangaratta 6.5 (41).
Goals: Harry Moran, 5; Tomás Ó Suilleabháin, 3; John Joe Kelly, Josh Kotvas and Karl Mullins, 1.
Awards: BRAD MILLIGAN/ SHERIDAN HOMES AWARD — Ciaran Wallace; ROYAL HOTEL AWARD — Karl Mullins; ALL BLACKS THURSDAY NIGHT DINNER — John Hughes; BENALLA GOLF CLUB AWARD — Eoin Fitzgerald. Damian Broughton and Mark McDermott also performing solidly on the day.
B-grade
Benalla’s B-grade team were keen to get back to their attacking ways this week after a close loss the week before.
Coming up against North Wangaratta, Benalla anticipated another challenging game.
Benalla got off to a steady start working with a relatively new defensive combination this week.
North Wangaratta’s organised attack and height in their shooting circle pushed Benalla early and created a fast paced game.
However, Benalla was able to work through this well, to give the shooters plenty of opportunities to score.
All Blacks lead 29 to 21 at the half.
In the second half combinations at both ends of the court began to fire with strong defensive pressure and intercepts displayed by Lis O’Halloran.
There was great connection and pressure in the mid court by Bec Mathieson and the shooting combination of Brooke Bradshaw and Sally Burgess converting well.
Final score:
Benalla 62 North Wangaratta 35.
Awards: Lis O’Halloran, Bec Mathieson, Brooke Bradshaw
B-Reserve
With percentage being a huge factor in the top six this year, Benalla B-Reserve were after a strong win against North Wangaratta to boost their percentage.
A new combination in defence of Chloe Dods and Renae Hughes saw intercepts galore all game, with their tight defence.
Jemma Smith and Hannah Ely once again demonstrating their strength individually and also as a team within the goal ring, both girls were incredibly accurate with their shooting and moved beautifully together.
Another standout this week was Erin Crook, who seamlessly fit into the centre position in the last quarter, made it her own and did everything asked of her.
Final score:
Benalla 79 North Wangarratta 24
Awards: Hannah Ely, Renae Hughes, Erin Crook
Under 15s
The U15 side faced North Wangaratta this week.
The team talked before the game that on their defensive pressure and play controlled netball.
Benalla had a strong start and continued our rhythm throughout the game.
The All Blacks pressure down the court especially the mid court was tireless resulting in many turnovers.
The shooters worked well and converted accurately while our defenders were consistently strong.
Our strong leading, consistent pressure and team work resulted in Benalla taking out the win.
Final score:
Benalla 35 North Wangaratta 17
Awards
- Heidi O’Halloran
- Matilda Horne
- Torah Heaps