Almanac Footy: Western District Football Wrap – Finals time

 

Hampden FNL – 2^nd Semi Final / 1^st Semi Final

 

Top of the ladder North Warrnambool clinched a fifth consecutive Grand Final berth (there was no Grand Final in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19) with a five point win over Koroit at Portland last Saturday. The final score was 11-11-77 to 10-12-72.

 

With Koroit kicking to what had been the scoring end all day in the last quarter and leading by 1 point at the final change, two early coaches goals in the final quarter by ex-West Coast Eagles 2018 premiership ruckman and coach of North Warrnambool, Nathan Vardy, saw his team get out to a 13 point lead and after another goal to gun midfielder Jackson Grundy, who played five games with Werribee in the VFL this season, it seemed the Eagles were doing enough leading by 18 points with 21 minutes gone. Two late goals to Koroit joint coach, Sam Dobson, and a behind at the 29 minute mark to William Couch saw Koroit go down by 5 points in the end.

 

Vardy kicked 3 goals for the match and was named best player along with fly in fly out player, Sam McLachlan, and Jackson Grundy. Sam Dobson kicked 5 goals for Koroit, while Ben Miller, Angus Campbell and captain Liam Hoy were named best players.

 

Matthew ‘Snooze’ Wines played his 350^th game for North Warrnambool in this match. He’s only the second player to reach that mark in Hampden League football and has a long list of accomplishments with the club and the Hampden League, including being a HFNL Representative player multiple times, a Club Best & Fairest and being named a League Life Member in 2021. There’s one accolade missing from his football resume, despite being there on Grand Final day five times before, and all going well over the next couple of weeks he’ll get another opportunity on Friday week to add a senior premiership to the list. Matthew’s younger brother, Luke, also played his 200^th senior game for North Warrnambool on Saturday. (Another brother, Adam, played his 250^th game for North Warrnambool earlier this season.)

 

Koroit’s Connor Byrne continued his run of playing every game this season and kicking a goal in every game when he goaled in the third quarter.

 

Sunday’s first semi final at the Leura Oval in Camperdown saw South Warrnambool ran out comfortable 52 point winners over Warrnambool, 13-15-93 to 6-5-41. A big third quarter for South saw them lead at the final change by 51 points and they cruised home in the last quarter. Captain Shannon Beks again led the goal kicking with three, along with Paddy Anderson, and Jeremy Mugavin and Isaac Thomas were named best players. Goals were spread across six single goal kickers for Warrnambool and young Finn Radley was named best player for the second week in a row, along with veteran Sam Cowling.

 

In a re-run of the qualifying final from two weeks ago, Koroit will now play South Warrnambool this Saturday for the right to take on North Warrnambool in the Grand Final which will be played at the Reid Oval in Warrnambool on Friday 26 September. This Saturday’s Preliminary Final will be played at Melville Oval in Hamilton.

 

 

Mininera & District FNL – Grand Final

 

Lismore-Derrinallum ran out comfortable 64 point winners over Ararat Eagles at Mortlake on Saturday, 16-12-108 to 7-2-44. Lismore-Derrinallum finished the home and away season on top of the ladder after Ararat Eagles had spent a number of weeks on top of the ladder during the season, and the Demons were coming off an 86 point thumping of the Eagles in the second semi-final.

 

Ararat kicked to what was the scoring end in the first quarter and found themselves 22 points down at quarter time and from there it was one way traffic with the Demons piling on 12 goals to Ararat’s 6 over the next three quarters. The League’s leading goal kicker, Lachie Constable, kicked five goals with team mate Austin Humphrey kicking four, including three in five minutes in the third quarter. Best players named for Lismore-Derrinallum were Steven Ryan and Max McIntosh, both of whom won medals on the day for their performances. There were many good players for the winners as you would expect, including those two medal winners, and I thought ruckman Henry Walsh, brother of Carlton’s Sam, was best on ground – he dominated the ruck in the centre and around the ground. Small forward Andrew Cameron kicked three goals for the Eagles and was named their best player along with Zach Jenkins. One player not named in the Eagles best players (possibly because he is a joint coach) and who I thought was certainly one of their best on a bad day for the team was Tom Taurau playing across half back.

 

Lachie Constable’s five goals in the Grand Final saw him finish with 111 goals for the season (102 in 16 home and away rounds plus 9 goals across two finals).

 

It was big day for Lismore-Derrinallum as they also won the Reserves Grand Final defeating Ararat Eagles, whilst Glenthompson-Dunkeld defeated Caramut in the Under 16.5 Grand Final.

 

 

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