Round 11

"We just look at it as an opportunity for young blokes to step in, one solider in, one soldier out”

Wang captain Daine Porter on the Pies next man up mentality

Wang's 12 goals to 4 after the main break saw the Pies skip past Albury, taking the Tiges spot inside the 5 in the process - the first time this season. Marring the win though, more injures to contend with for the Pies - Jackson Clarke busting a finger that might need to go under the knife.

Sneaky inclusion Mitch Robinson didn't have the impact expected, little worrying the Raiders as they notched their second win for the season against Corowa by 44 points - despite the Roos winning the inside 50 count.
The Roos have their own cheeky inclusion this week in premiership Pie - Heath Shaw, to face the Panthers.

Meanwhile, the Rovers edged out a spirited Saints outfit - who brought things back to level pegging at the half with a 5 goal second term, only to concede the same in the third.

Wodonga would have thought themselves every opportunity to extend their 6 match winning steak against Lavi, despite missing both Jack O'Sullivan's to injury & Josh Mathey debuting for Collingwood's VFL side.

The Panthers got out of the blocks quick, forcing the Doggies to battle their way back through a couple of majors from dangerous goalsneak Noah Spitiri. Celebrations were short lived though, Spitiri picking up a potentially season ending knee issue shortly after.

Wodonga held a narrow lead into the first change, but a 6 goal to 3 turned that margin around in favour of the Panthers at the half. Another fightback in the third would see just the 1 point in it at the last change, before Lavi ran home with the scoring end - 4 goals to zip.

The win keeps their faintest of top 5 chances alive with matchups against Corowa & the Raiders in their sights - while Wodonga head into a must win against North as both sides fight it out for a top 3 berth.

Goalkickers

🏉 Cal Moore extended his lead in the Doug Strang with a 7 goal haul against a depleted Tigers defence.

🏉 Raider Tom Bracher had a day out with better service against lesser opposition, bagging 7 majors against the Roos.

🏉 Hopper Josh Minogue (2nd - 30), Rovers Al Marklew, Saint Charlie Crisp & Panther Sam Hargreave all bobbed up with 4 in their respective games.

The Good - Lavi's 6 goal second term, and Billy Glanville going from strength to strength.

The Bad - North's hot start to the season looks to have fallen flat, their only win of the past month against the Panthers.

The Ugly - The Saints will be giving themselves every chance this week against an Albury outfit averaging 53 points in their past 6 games.

Match of the Round

Yarra v Rovers

A top of the table clash to round out the first half of the season is a fine serving by the football Gods. Both teams sit equal atop, solitary losses a fortnight ago but decent percentage separating the two.

Prior to a fortnight ago, the Rovers were the last team to roll the eventual premiers in R8 of last year before the Pigeons started a 17 game win streak, in which they trounced the brown and gold in the return meeting - so expect plenty in this one.

Murray, Cattapan & O'Brien vs Lewis-Smith & the Wheeler's in the mid, Lach Howe vs Will Christie in the ruck, Boyd & Masters chopping off at either end, with two of the League's leading goalkickers in Marklew & Masters trying to cause them issues.

There's captivating storylines all across the field here, but the only one that matters is - who comes out on top?

"Our goal was to be able to re-sign Joel and Garlo before the long weekend and we are stoked as a club that it has come to fruition"

Jindera recruiting manager Simon Cossor on securing Joel Mackie & Luke Garland for another season

No great surprises in the results this week, ladder positions starting to firm entering the general bye.

Jindera narrowed the percentage gap to Osborne with their comfortable win over Murray, now just under 20% separating them.

The Brookers & Giants are tied for 3rd, but a fair percentage break separating the two after Holbrook's big win over Henty. Souring the win, Jock Triggs is set to miss crunch matches against the Giants, Dogs & Power having injured his elbow.

CDHBU sit clear in 5th after a comprehensive win over Culcairn, and will look to square away their finals credentials with matches against Lockhart and Henty on the other side of the break.

Lockhart are still searching for a big scalp,  simply outclassed by their northern neighbours Osborne.

After a tight first term, the Dees were unable to match the Tiges ferocity, conceding 7 goals to 3 in the second and held goalless in the final.

Things were always going to be tough, but with the League's top goalkicker George Alexander fresh off a week's rest, the Dees were powerless to stop the sharpshooter who was unstoppable with 9.

Opportunity still presents for Lockhart after the bye, with the Power & Dogs to round out the first half of the season, hopefully with their own spearhead Ronny Middleton back in the mix.

Goalkickers

🏉 Doggy Trent Castles surrendered top spot on the table to Alexander, despite snagging 5 against the Pies.

🏉 Brooker Luke Gestier rounds out the top 3 of the goalkickers with 3 himself, bested by Cody Hewat with 4 against the Swampies.

🏉 Ryan Beveridge headed the Power's goalkickers with 6, Corey Smith close behind on 5 & George Sandral with 4, rectifying their woes from last week with 29.18 (192) over the lowly Lions.

The Good - A 5 goal to zip 3rd quarter by Howlong was the difference in their 21 point win over Billabong. The Crows actually outscored the Spiders bar that burst, in a game unlikely to be remembered.

The Bad - BB managing the same 23 shots on as RWW for a total of 5.18 (48), making their 40 point loss look a lot worse than it should have been.

The Ugly - Henty being held goalless by the Brookers essentially negates any hope of them competing should they crack the 6.

"We were fully aware we needed four points against Tallangatta to remain in finals contention and internally believe we are not far off. We see ourselves being ultra-competitive against a side like Thurgoona"

Barny co-coach Richie Blunden on the Tigers aspirations

Most all teams will be looking forward to the bye after some very nasty margins - some taking a well earned break, others licking wounds.

Beechworth continued their strong form with a 115 point touch up of Mitta, Chiltern handed the Saints a 170 point lesson, Thurgoona demolished DMB by 30 odd goals, while KSC dished up a devastating win over Wahgunyah by 300+.

In a match holding such significance for both teams, it's hard to believe Tallangatta would have a goalless quarter, let alone 2 - certainly not helped by the suspension of spearhead James Breen.

Barny got off to the perfect start, opening a 4.3 (27) to 0.1 (1) lead at the first break. While the second saw Tallangatta hit the board, the Tiges managed to extend their lead, before again conceding just 4 behinds in the third to hold a comfortable 40 point lead at the final change, setting up the W and jumping the Hoppers into 6th spot.

It makes life very tough for Tallangatta with Beechworth & Yack on the other side of the bye, while Barny get a tune up against Wahgunyah before a do or die clash against Thurgoona.

Goalkickers

🏉 Tom Rake finds himself inside the top 5 with a bag of 8 in the Doggies thumping of the Bombers, while team mates Jake Bruce (3rd - 36) & Luke Gerecke jagged 4 apiece.

🏉 Swan Mark Doolan's 6 made up some ground on leader Breen, but still sits 9 goals below on 40.

🏉 Hawk Mitch Paton's 20 goal season tally has come in the past 3 weeks, with a haul of 12 against the Lions bumping that right up.

The Good - Yack snatching the game away from Rutherglen with 6 goals to 1 in the second term. They left the door ajar for an upset though, going goalless in the third - granted into a heavy breeze.

The Bad - Prized Swans recruit Luke Daly has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, having gone under the knife late last week for a torn PCL suffered in R7.

The Ugly - Doesn't really need to be said, does it?

“It meant a lot to a lot of Whorouly people after the game, and having people in the rooms supporting us is priceless"

Whorouly coach Lachy Moore on the Lions morale-boosting win

Heading into the King's Birthday break, Whorouly scraped their second win of the season over Tarra having been held goalless in the first term, Bonnie Doon held firm on top spot having dismantled North Wang to the tune of 115 points, Greta & Bright maintain equal second spot with their wins over King Valley & Moyhu respectively - the Blues with a fair percentage break, while Milawa & Goorambat switched places following their showdown.

A tight opener saw a 3 point lead to Goorambat at the first change, but things quickly went to hell for them in the second. 8 goals to 1 blew that lead away, reversing to a 38 point Demon lead which the Bats could only reel in slightly by the final siren.

Milawa recruits Brady Bartlett, Jared Lea & Braydon Kearns shared 7 majors between them, while captain Josh Owen found himself in the best for the 3rd time in his 4 appearances.

Barring the second quarter burst, Goorambat held firm - but footy’s a 4 quarter game, and it only takes 1 to let it all go to waste.

Goalkickers

🏉 Duane Haebich's 4 stole the lead from the suspended Cooper Thomason in the Bats loss to the Dees, while Luke Quirk filled the void for the Mountain Men with 6 in Thomason's absence.

🏉 Bonnie Doon's Al Bennett did the damage for the Bombers in their big win over North Wang, helping himself to 10 majors.

🏉 Greta spearhead Frazer Judd cracked the half tonne with his 4, but played second fiddle to Brenton Newbold's 6 in the Blues thrashing of King Valley.

The Good - Moyhu's 4 last quarter goals while holding Bright scoreless, but the damage had already been done.

The Bad - North Wang will be bitterly disappointed with their output against the Bonnie Doon after being so competitive against Bright a fortnight ago.

The Ugly - King Valley might find themselves inside the 6, but their average losing margin to the sides above them doesn't make for pleasant reading - just shy of 100 points.

"We had nothing to lose in the last-quarter...that was the message at the last huddle, we have got the momentum back, let's just roll the dice now"

Blues co-coach Dayne Carey on their get out jail free win

Bullioh may well be forgiven for thinking they'd gotten the job done at the last break, sitting 29 points clear of Cudgewa.

The Doggies had built the lead early, stunning the Blues out of the gates with 5.4 to 2 straight, continuing that effort by winning the 2nd & 3rd. However, they'd clearly run out of legs, Cudgewa's Ben Hall bobbing up as a match winner with 3 of his sides 5 final term majors while keeping Bullioh to the sole behind to steal an unlikely 2 point win.

Blue debutante Sean Swinnerton also deserves a mention, getting cleaned up to save a certain goal in final minute to keep their unbeaten run alive.

The days other match was just as thrilling, with Corryong threatening to snatch their first win in nearly 2 years.

With scores locked at the half, Tumba shot out of the blocks in the third to kick 6 goals to 3 and it looked a familiar story to the Dees. However, a 4 goal to 3 final term by Corryong threatened a boil over.

Not to be tough, as the Roos held on by under a kick despite the 1 less scoring shot.