Almanac Footy: Western District Football Wrap

 

Hampden FNL – Round 18

 

Terang-Mortlake at home couldn’t hold onto fifth spot on the ladder going down by 1 point to Warrnambool and with Portland recording a 51 point win over Cobden they jumped back into the five where to be fair they’ve been for the majority of the season. Terang-Mortlake trailed all day and kicked 1 goal 6 behinds in the final quarter to Warrnambool’s 1 goal and so obviously had their opportunities but in saying that both teams had similar scoring opportunities and scored very similar with Warrnambool winning 6-14-50 to 6-13-49.

 

Small forward, Luke Cody, kicked three of his teams six goals and Warrnambool were best served by Tyler Murnane and captain, Jackson Bell. Best players for Terang-Mortlake were William Moloney and joint captain, Alexander Moloney. Ex Sydney Swans player, Colin O’Riordan, didn’t play in this game after playing four of the five previous matches for Terang-Mortlake and played a total of six games for the season. Another ex AFL player, Trent West, who was a mid-season recruit for the club played against Warrnambool, which was his fifth game for the season after playing his first game for Terang-Mortlake in Round 8 on 31 May against North Warrnambool. I have commented previously that it seemed from the outside that Terang-Mortlake were planning on doing enough to make finals and then have a solid run at the premiership over the four weeks of finals, but after making the Preliminary Final the last two years that run was brought undone by Warrnambool on Saturday. It obviously hurt Terang-Mortlake not winning enough games earlier in the season and not having players play each week didn’t help their cause. It will be interesting to see if this impacts their recruiting decisions in 2026.

 

Portland made their longest away trip to take on Cobden and ran out 51 point winners, 17-10-112 to 9-7-61.  Young Jett Lovell in his second senior game kicked four goals for Portland and Toby Jennings and Tanner Lovell were named best players. This was the second game in a row where three Lovell brothers, Tanner, Kade and Jett all played in the senior team together. Jett is still under 17 in football terms. Best players for Cobden were Guy Walsh and Jordan Fowler.

 

South Warrnambool at home defeated Port Fairy by 28 points, 10-13-73 to 6-9-45, to hang onto second position on the ladder. Shannon Beks kicked five goals for the Roosters in his 150^th game and was named best player along with Harry Lee. Best players for Port Fairy were Kaine Mercovich and James Edmonds.

 

Top of the ladder North Warrnambool were too strong for the Hamilton Kangaroos at Melville Oval in Hamilton and ran out 51 point winners, 13-15-93 to 6-6-42.  Zac Everall kicked three goals for North and Luke Wines and Harry Keast were named best players. Michael Barlow also played this game for North, his fifth for the season. Hamish Cook and Deacon White were named best players for the home team.

 

In the final game of the round Koroit at home defeated Camperdown, 18-15-123 to 4-7-31. Koroit certainly seem to be running into form at the right end of the season and joint coach Sam Dobson kicked nine goals for the home team whilst young Connor Byrne continued his run of goal kicking again kicking one goal in this game to mean he has played every game this season and kicked at least one goal in every one of those games. Best players named for Koroit were Clem Nagorcka and captain, Liam Hoy. Best players for Camperdown were Luke Kavenagh and Alec Thomas.

 

Sam Dobson from Koroit was the leading goal kicker for the home and away season with 58, ahead of Luke Cody from Warrnambool on 51 and Connor Byrne from Koroit on 47.

 

This weekend’s Qualifying Final will be played between South Warrnambool and Koroit at Mortlake on Saturday and the Elimination Final will be played between Warrnambool and Portland at Koroit on Sunday.

 

 

South West District FNL – Preliminary Final

 

Cavendish defeated Coleraine by 11 points in Saturday’s Preliminary Final to proceed to this weekend’s Grand Final where they will take on Dartmoor. The Preliminary Final score was Cavendish 10-10-70 to Coleraine 9-5-59.

 

Cavendish led by one goal at three quarter time, but Coleraine were kicking to the scoring end in the last quarter however Cavendish finished the stronger to run out winners by 11 points. Lee Coghlan, one of three Coghlan brothers in the team, kicked three goals for Cavendish and coach, Sam Gibson, was named best player along with backman, Rick Luhrs. Best players for Coleraine were Zach Hartley, who also kicked three goals, and Harry Armstrong.  The experience of Lee Coghlan, a Bendigo FNL Best & Fairest Medallist (Michelsen Medal winner) in 2009 and Sam Gibson, who has played with the Box Hill Hawks in the VFL came to the fore and will be needed again if they are to get over the line against hot favourite Dartmoor in this Saturday’s Grand Final at Melville Oval in Hamilton. The Grand Final will be broadcast live on local radio 88.9 MixxFM, part of the Ace Radio network, and the station can be picked up via the LiSTNR App on your preferred device if out of the region.

 

There is still a bit to play out off field for Dartmoor this week at the tribunal in the lead up to the Grand Final and so its going to be an interesting week. The matter to be heard by the tribunal carries over from the second semi-final match between Dartmoor and Cavendish.

 

The SWDFNL held its Best and Fairest count on Sunday night and young goal kicking midfielder from Dartmoor, Ethan Murdock, who was recruited to the club this season from Kingston in South Australia was a runaway winner with 30 votes to defeat his nearest rival, Charlie Youngman, of Coleraine on 18 votes. Murdock also won the Under 21 player of the year.

 

Jordi Withers of Tyrendarra won the leading goal kicker with 70 goals in the home and away season (76 in total for the season counting his two finals games).

 

 

Mininera & District FNL – 2^nd Semi Final and 1^st Semi Final

 

Lismore-Derrinallum stamped their authority with an 86 point win over the Ararat Eagles at Willaura on Saturday in the second semi-final. Lismore-Derrinallum finished the season on top of the ladder but Ararat Eagles were on top of the ladder for most of the year and so this was set to be a huge clash. The two teams only played once during the home and away season and that was a 10 point win to the Ararat Eagles.

 

The Eagles kicked with a slight breeze in the first quarter but trailed by 5 points at quarter time and that was the end of the day for them as they didn’t kick another goal for the match managing to score 4 points after quarter time to go down 14-19-103 to 2-5-17. Century goal kicker, Lachie Constable of Lismore-Derrinallum, kicked four goals and backman Dale Marquand and ruckman, Henry Walsh, brother of Carlton’s Sam, were named best players for the victors. Captain, Jackson Taurau, and Aaron Watts were named best players for the Eagles.

 

In Sunday’s First Semi Final at Lismore fifth placed Tatyoon upset reigning premiers and third placed Penshurst running out 20 point winners in the end, 12-8-80 to 8-12-60. Tatyoon led for most of the game with Penshurst leading twice in the second half and whilst there wasn’t much in the game all day Tatyoon just seemed to be doing enough all day. Coach, Jayden Watson, was a late out for Penshurst on the morning of the match and Penshurst just couldn’t get the game on their terms. Joshua Lee kicked six goals for Tatyoon and was their best player along with dashing backman, Cameron Anderson. Best players for Penshurst were young midfielder Jock Nicholls and another young midfielder/forward in Henry Bensch. Bensch also kicked two goals.

 

In a local derby, the Ararat Eagles will now take on Tatyoon in this Saturday’s Preliminary Final at the Conna Wilson Reserve, Mininera, with the winner progressing to the following weeks Grand Final at Mortlake and a clash with Lismore Derrinallum. As usual for M&DFNL finals, the games will be live streamed via the M&DFNL Facebook page. Tatyoon will like their chances against Ararat Eagles and will match up well, but whether either can beat Lismore-Derrinallum is another story. One thing we do know though – football is a funny game sometimes.

 

 

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