THE GOLDEN Rivers Football League has set up a match-up with neighbouring competition, Loddon Valley next year following a 67-point win against Kyabram District in Saturday’s AFL Victoria Community Championship match at Tallygaroopna.
In the match involving the 33rd and 34th-ranked leagues in Victoria, it was the hosts who were the first to register a major thanks to Michael Morgan, but from there it was one-way traffic as the visitors piled on the next seven straight goals through five players.
Murrabit coach, Nathan Henry led the way in the opening term, with two of his three majors coming in the first stanza.
Stanhope backman Michael Coad and Ardmona midfielder Klae Rowan threw their bodies on the line with some strong tackles in a physical opening term, but it wasn’t enough to stem the constant flow of inside 50s as Golden Rivers controlled the tempo in the first quarter to hold a 22-point lead at the break.
In the second term Merrigum utility Jake Ross gave KDFNL vice-captain Ryan Jones a chop-out in the ruck and competed well despite giving away a good 10 centimetres to Golden Rivers big man, Tim Hanna (Hay).
Poor hand skills and costly turnovers rued any chance of a KDFNL fightback before the main break as the visitors dominated the clearances and went into the sheds up by 41 points.
A great strike from beyond the arc by young gun Rowan saw KDFNL begin the third quarter with the momentum, but the explosive power from onballer Daniel Watts saw Golden Rivers boot seven of the next eight goals to put the game to bed.
KDFNL skipper and Avenel midfielder, Don Stirling was having a quiet afternoon and hardly celebrated the last goal of the third term as the visitors went into final huddle with an unassailable 68-point lead.
Quambatook recruit, James Lloyd was enjoying a day out and snagged his fifth in the opening exchanges of the fourth quarter, which then turned into a shoot-out.
The teams traded six goals apiece in the final stanza as tired legs saw the intensity zapped from the contest, but the pick of the scores came from the monster right boot of Girgarre’s Jones.
KDFNL hung tough until the very end but Quambatook forward Tobie Cameron’s goal on the siren would prove the final nail in the coffin.
Watts was deservingly given the nod as the umpires’ best-on-ground for Golden Rivers, while it was onballer Kasey Duncan who collected the award for KDFNL.
Other KDFNL contributors included Michael McKenzie, Paul Parsons and Ashton Cashion, while the victors the best supporting acts went to Kyle Brasser and Jackson Ferguson.
“It was a good little bag, but I wish I had of kicked straight and could have got a double figures, but it was my first interleague seniors game and I loved it,” Lloyd said after the match.
“I got a real good corky in the third so I struggled with kicking after that but to get that last goal and finish strong was good and it’s nice to finally kick some goals I guess.”
Despite just one training session, Golden Rivers looked a far more polished outfit and playing coach Jack O’Rourke agreed a combination of experience and desire won out on the day.
”Our boys’ commitment to each other was the difference, just the unity within the group, we all went out for tea last night (Friday) and trained well together on Thursday,” he said.
“We spent a lot of time talking about what’s going to work and at this level the only thing that works is contested footy and sharing the footy and working for each other, so our whole game plan was around effort and being selfless.
“The game was played in good spirits, although it was a bit of a blowout it was still a tough day and to their credit they didn’t lay down, they came back in the last quarter and hit the scoreboard.”
O’Rourke believes the match was decided in the middle and praised Hanna for giving his side first use of the footy.
“Where we won it was in the midfield, but we had a team full of guys in specialist areas, we didn’t just pick a team full of midfielders, we picked defenders, forwards and mids and left them in their areas,” he said.
“I think that was the key to our strength and just our quick ball movement, that first option to spread quickly out of the stoppages.”
O’Rourke was a late call up after 10 players in his squad pulled out in the days leading up to the match, but the ageing onballer still made an impact with a solid hit-out.
“I haven’t played interleague the last couple of years, I’m getting a bit long in the tooth, but I love it and it’s great for the kids,” he said.
“We all play for different clubs back home but it doesn’t mean we can’t be mates and you get to test yourself at a high level of footy, so it’s good for the boys development and they’ll take a lot back to their clubs.”
Golden Rivers remains 34th in the rankings, with Kyabram and District dropping to 37th and a match-up with South West District in 2017.
