Bringing the cup home to Gippsland
TRFM Gippsland League has officially launched its campaign to climb back up the AFL Victoria Country Championships ladder.
Steve Hazelman’s side defeated Yarra Valley Mountain District Football Netball League by 71 points at Drouin Recreation Reserve on Saturday to return to eighth on the championship rankings.
The all-star team was slow off the mark, with Traralgon coach Mark Collison opening Gippsland’s tally after four minutes.
The home team managed just one more major in an inaccurate opening term, which saw it take an 11 point lead into quarter time.
“Twelve entries to one and we have kicked two goals, it’s not good enough is it? We need to convert better than that,” coach Hazelman said.
“We have had a good start. Let’s put some scoreboard pressure on. Let’s run ‘em off their feet and get some clean entries.”
Gippsland had the upper hand early in the second, before the visitor leveled the contest, to be within 10 points at half time.
“It’s game on here boys! We have got to make sure we get off to a good start. Don’t panic, (go) down the line, reset and go again. We have had most of the footy, we just have to capitalise,” Hazelman said during his half time address.
Gippsland was two players down heading into the second half, with Jack Lipman (kidney) joining Sale teammate Jordan Dessent (hamstring) on the sidelines.
“We are a couple down, it’s a big ground here (and) we need to make sure this second half we don’t give them a sniff,” Hazelman said.
His side was able to open the game up in the third term and took a 31 point lead at the final break.
The host side slammed on six goals to none in its best quarter of the afternoon, to run out a convincing winner, 13.17 (95) to 3.6 (24).
“It was a bit a struggle in the first half, (Yarra Valley) putting numbers behind the footy and tried to clog us up, but I thought the guys really worked hard and in the second half we were able to open the game up and have a win,” Hazelman said post match.
“We had the majority of the play, it was just about trying to get the game on our terms a bit.”
Drouin’s Daniel Nicholls was awarded the medal for best on ground.
“It’s always good to play these games (with) the best of the best players,” Nicholls said.
“It’s always a tough hit out. We were lucky to get the win and I was lucky to get the medal, so I’m pretty happy with that.”
Nicholls was one of four Hawks in the line up, all of who played their part.
Captaining the league for the first time, McCallum was also named among the best and finished with two goals.
“I’m pretty happy with the performance. It’s pretty tough coming together at short notice, but I thought we did well,” McCallum said.
“At a couple of points I saw the Drouin boys link up coming out of the back line and do exactly what we do at training, so it’s good to see they listen.”
Other standouts for the home side were Collison, Michael Stockdale and late inclusions Luke Dyer and Kane Martin.
Nicholls capped his performance with three goals, McCallum and Tim Northe finished with two each, while Martin, Collison, Hughes, James Gibbs, John Gooch and Jarryd Drew also contributed majors.
Big forward Scott Dwyer was awarded the AFL Victoria Country medal as Yarra Valley’s best.
TRFM Gippsland League now has a date with Bendigo Football Netball League in next year’s clash between seventh and eighth on the interleague rankings.
“We’ve been there before, we just need to go up there and try and win now,” Hazelman said.
Hazelman has signed as coach for two years.
TRFM Gippsland League also tasted success in two of the day’s three other matches.
Morwell’s Riley Hogarth was awarded the best on ground medal in Gippsland’s 28 point win in the Under 18 football, while Kasey Guttridge was best on court in the 17 and under netball team’s 41-35 win.
Unfortunately Gippsland was unable to record a clean sweep, with the league’s Regional State League Champions Challenge winning open netball team falling to a classy Yarra Valley side 63-38.
In good hands: Aaron Heppell, Shem Hawking and Jake Best with the coveted cup after Gippsland ran out convincing winners over Yarra Valley Mountain District.
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Posted by Sarah Vella on May 26 2015. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
