WEDDERBURN’S finals hopes remain well and truly alive after defeating Nullawil by 12 points to move back into the North Central top four at the weekend.
The 9.15 (69) to 7.15 (57) win gave the Redbacks fourth spot from the Maroons ahead of the final home-and-away round, which is now certain to be filled with drama and emotion as Nullawil and Wycheproof-Narraport play their final regular-season matches before amalgamating next season.
As a matter of coincidence, the two clubs play each other, with the Maroons now needing to beat the Demons and rely on third-placed Donald defeating Wedderburn to play finals in their last season.
After a game where both sides struggled with accuracy, Wedderburn senior coach Tom Metherell said his team won thanks to a consistent four-quarter performance.
“It was a great result, we were always confident going into the game with how we’ve gone this year, we’ve shown that our best footy matches the best sides,” Metherell said.
“We probably haven’t been consistent enough in our other games against those top sides, but we just fought it out for four quarters, and it was great to see.
“We were really good in the first half last weekend against Birchip, and we probably had their measure in the first half, but we really dropped away in the second half, so we had a big emphasis on not only being strong in the first half, but continuing on after half-time against Nullawil.
“Our ball movement was good, we tried to use our short passing game and change lanes with our short kicks.
“We came in with a game plan and stuck to it, which was really good.”
The second quarter proved decisive, as the Redbacks kicked four goals to one to open an 18-point lead at half-time.
From there, they held the advantage, with the Maroons continuing to press but unable to fight their way back into the contest and get back in front.
“Across the board our boys were unbelievable, it was a full team effort from everyone that was required to get the job done,” Metherell said.
“Junior Miller is a young fella who started in the twos at the start of the year, and he was sensational. He’s a small pressure forward and his pressure was through the roof, which created several scoring opportunities for us.
“Oscar Holt was another who was really good again, Jackson McEwan was really good, and Joe Lockhart was solid and played a good captain’s game also.”
Also named among the Redbacks’ better players were Metherell and Samuel Lockhart, while Matthew Wade was the dominant player on the ground for Nullawil, with the veteran midfielder doing everything possible to drag his club over the line and lock away fourth spot.
Jordan Humphreys continued his strong form in his return from injury, with Daniel Watts, Zac Caccaviello, Andrew Oberdorfer and Billy Forrester also named as the Maroons’ better players.
Wycheproof-Narraport will go into this weekend’s clash with Nullawil confident following their upset win over ladder leaders Birchip-Watchem.
In their final home game before amalgamation, the Demons were full of running from the first minute of their emotion-charged match in front of a big home crowd.
The 10.13 (73) to 9.7 (61) result dented Birchip-Watchem’s chances of finishing minor premiers given they have a final-round bye.
Spearhead Ben Edwards played a lone hand in attack, kicking seven of Birchip-Watchem’s nine goals in a dominant performance, with Josh Grabowski, Thomas Trewin and Koby Hommelhoff among the Demons’ best.
The other upset of the round was at Boort Park, where the Magpies defeated the finals-bound Royal Blues by 71 points after kicking seven unanswered goals in the opening quarter.
Boort held Donald goalless in the opening quarter on their way to recording their sixth win of the season, 19.9 (123) to 6.10 (46).
Jhye Baddeley-Kelly and Jarrod Fitzpatrick were among the best for the Magpies.
The final game of the round pitted the two bottom teams against each other, with St Arnaud registering their second win of the season, an 11-point victory over Charlton.
The 10.6 (66) to 7.13 (55) result ensured the Navies would go into their final game of the season against reigning premiers Sea Lake Nandaly still chasing their first win of the season.
