BFNL Review - Round 17, 2024

Darley simply did enough to hold off the resistance of crosstown rival Bacchus Marsh at Maddingley Park on the weekend.

The win locks in a prized third place finish for Dan Jordan's men despite a Round 18 meeting with ladder leaders Melton still to come.

While the once highly anticipated showdown is essentially a 'dead rubber' there's a host of narratives on the table for both camps to explore. More later.

The Devils went into the local derby as warm favourites and were made to work hard for their win as the reigning premiers found it difficult to shrug off the young Cobras.

Darley Captain Brett Bewley (three goals) stood up in the big moments to deny the Cobras while Brady Wright made a safe return to finish best on ground honours and equal, game high four goals.

Billy Myers proved a handful posing as another aerial threat alongside Wright.

The three were arguably the difference in the game.

The Devils led at every change winning three and a half quarters but credit to the Cobras who stayed within touch from start to finish.

Cobras’ midfield quartet Luke Goetz, Tyson Shea, Jake McCreery and Josh Huxtable waltzed out of stoppage far too often for the Devils liking, highlighting the absence of compliant clearance king Luther Baker.

Jake Owen provided the aerial target forward for the hosts to match Wright's four goal return while Isaac Nixon looked dangerous with his two majors that could easily have been more.

The Cobras surprised and impressed Devils onlookers, not to mention their own legion of fans with back-to-back goals on more than one occasion, often coast-to-coast ball movement with the aid of separation and predictability to one another - a feature not seen for a while at Cobra land.

For the Devils they ticked the box with an all-important win in the context of their season but clearly on exposed form, they remain a work in progress if they're to match it with the heavy weights at the business end.

The Cobras get some clarity around a potential bright future. The addition of some important top end and targeted role players in the coming off season could see the rise of the Cobras back to finals sooner rather than later.  

STATS THAT CAUGHT THE EYE

Brett Bewley (Darley) - 32 disposals, 13 score involvements, 12 clearances

Jake Owen (Bacchus Marsh) - 21 disposals, 12 marks, 11 score involvements

Andrew Azzopardi (Darley) - 23 disposals, 10 contested possessions, 10 score involvements 

COACHES’ VERDICT
Dennis Armfield (Bacchus Marsh)
"Very proud of the lads today in a good four quarter game where they kept taking the game on. I felt we played positive footy and showed our brand stands up. Darley made the most of turnovers and stepped up when needed."

Dan Jordan (Darley)
"Sure, happy with the win - Bacchus Marsh came to play and took the game up to us for the most part. We were able to do enough in key moments to hold them out. There were plenty of learnings to draw from the game, highlighting clear areas we need to work on. Credit to Bacchus Marsh, they hung in and made us work hard for an important win given the context of our season."

The Bloods made it ten wins on the trot with a dominant display over the Lakers at CE Brown Reserve.

It was the ninth occasion the Bloods had registered a score in excess of 100 points and their sixth win of 100 or more for the season.

Extraordinary numbers really.

Troy Scoble's flag fancies have been relentless, their edge over bottom five sides compelling.

In the eight games played against Sebastopol, Redan, Bacchus Marsh (twice), the Lakers (twice) and Melton South (twice) the average winning margin is 20 goals.

Only Bacchus Marsh (once) and Redan have managed to keep the margin under 117 points!

Dangerous Bloods’ quartet Braedyn Kight (six goals), Ryan Carter (six), Liam Carter (five) and Jordy Kight (three) combined for 20 of their goals to rattle the Lakers who really didn't know where to look next.

Bloods’ small forward Ryan Davis (three goals) made a safe return in the absence of speedster Kyle Borg.

Midfielder Jaycob Hickey, a model of consistency, made it a ninth appearance in the best players from his 14 games ahead of Conrad Farrugia, Lachie Phillips, the Carter brothers and Braedan Kight.

For the Lakers, big man Tom Zampatti continued his encouraging season with another quality performance to be named best in front of usual suspects Joel O'Connell, Angus Gove and x-factor forward Bayley Thompson who took his tally to 34 with another three goals (comp rank #8).

The Bloods should welcome the tune up against the Devils in Round 18 as Saturday marks 35 days since their last hit out against any side in the top six.

As for the Lakers, a meeting with Redan gives Rohan Brown one final opportunity to put their learnings and progress into action. 

STATS THAT CAUGHT THE EYE

Liam Carter (Melton) - 24 disposals, 18 score involvements, 15 marks

Jaycob Hickey (Melton) - 37 disposals, 20 contested possessions, 11 clearances

Tom Zampatti (Lake Wendouree) - 86 hitouts, 20 disposals, 8 intercept possessions 

COACHES’ VERDICT
Rohan Brown (Lake Wendouree)
"Melton were very good and used the ball far more efficiently moving forward and gave their forwards great looks at it. I thought for periods of the game we played some good footy even though the margin doesn't recognise that. We let ourselves down and gave opposition goals through fundamental error. Great to give three debutants experience against quality opposition including our U/17s Captain Rawdon Rogers who didn't look out of place. We are looking forward to next week celebrating Nathan Pring's 200th senior game, only the second player in Lakers history to achieve it."

Troy Scoble (Melton)
"To go to Ballarat and get the win is always the goal no matter how we are to do it. We were pleased with our ability to run and create opportunities to score through the whole game. Our contest phase was strong too and our defence phase challenged by the Lakers who were really consistent at contest. Credit to Rohan and his group. We are proud of our group being challenged over the last two weeks away from home and a number of young players getting opportunities at senior level. We continue to get the list ready for another top three match up next week before the finals commence."

The Kangas were simply too strong for too long, overpowering a Lions’ outfit at the Clarke Oval on the BFNL ‘Match of the Day’.

In form Kanga Bryson McDougall finished the game with a game high five goals ahead of Jackson Merrett (three) who was important with his cameo drift forward getting under the guard of the Lions’ defence.

Matty White had his pride in the right frame of mind early as they took advantage of the Kangas adjustment to the big ground, opening up a deserved 14-point lead at quarter time.

The Lions matched the physicality of the Kangas and looked every bit dangerous with their ball movement and favourable inside 50 count.

But the response after the break from the visitors was emphatic, six unanswered goals to arrest momentum, obtaining a 20-point lead.

The 8.0-48 to 4.4-28 scoreline served as the barometer for opportunity made and lost.   

Not dissimilar to Melton, East Point are all on the same page with and without the ball.

While their enviable ball movement is something to behold, it's their set up behind play, without the ball, that is strangling opposition.

On countless occasions, Sunbury players (in possession) were left bereft of options as a wall of red, white, and blue stood tall in the distance.

Since Round 9, Kangas’ opposition have managed miserly returns of 25, 44, 24, 57, 24, 20, 65 and 50 points.

Come finals, experienced coaches Troy Scoble, Dan Jordan, Brendan McCartney, Chris Maple and White will have to find a way through or Joe Carmody's Kangas will march on their winning ways, already at 14 wins.

Jacob Brown and Merrett were named best for the winners ahead of a host contributors simply playing their role.

If you want to beat East Point, you have to beat them all - it's not about a select few anymore.

For Sunbury Brock Landt, Nathan Doyle and Josh Guthrie shouldered a lot of the responsibility between the arcs and made solid contributions. Leading forward Jake Sutton finished with three goals.   

STATS THAT CAUGHT THE EYE

Jacob Brown (East Point) - 30 disposals, 10 marks, 10 intercept possessions

Matt Johnston (East Point) - 33 disposals, 16 contested possessions, 9 marks

Tyson Lever (Sunbury) - 30 disposals, 14 intercept possessions, 10 marks 

COACHES’ VERDICT
Matt White (Sunbury)
"Started the game well and came out after half time to hold well but the second and fourth quarters killed us. East Point turned it up when they needed to and proved why they're a top side."

Joe Carmody (East Point)
"Sunbury challenged us for most of the day. Young players stood up and complemented our more experienced players with their run and pressure. Always a hard place to win at, so really pleasing to get the points."

Finals bound Ballarat extended their unbeaten run to six games with a big win over the Panthers at Melton Recreation Reserve on Saturday.

The margin could well have been greater if not for some wasted opportunities on goal by the visitors.

Harry Butler booted a game high four goals for the winners ahead of 10 other Swans to hit the scoreboard.

Paddy Simpson, Ben Wardly and GWV Rebels talent Sam McDonald chimed in with three goals, to round out the multiple contributors from the Swans.

Swans midfielder Lewis Rinaldi was named best afield ahead of Butler, ruckman Marcus Powling and fellow mid Paddy Simpson while Bailey Fraser and Rhys Perry rounded out a host of Swans players to have an impact in the percentage building win.

The Panthers started well with Jarrod Bibby, Jesse Muse and Ryder Rousch getting on the scoresheet early.

However, the Panthers were held goalless by the Swans after quarter time as the gears of the game started to grind on the home side.

Tenacious trio Cody Chapman, Broden Collins and Mitch Fino were named amongst the best as the regular contributors put in another mountain of workload for their beloved Panthers.

John Kovarik, Lachlan Peterson and Rhys Lee were also noted for their efforts.

The Swans will face the ultimate test ahead of finals as they host a formidable East Point outfit at Alfredton Recreation Reserve this Saturday.

Melton South will end their season with a trip to Marty Busch Reserve to face off against Sebastopol with the Burra fresh off the bye.

STATS THAT CAUGHT THE EYE

Lewis Rinaldi (Ballarat) - 38 disposals, 28 contested possessions, 19 clearances

Harry Butler (Ballarat) - 20 disposals, 14 score involvements, 8 marks

Broden Collins (Melton South) - 49 hit outs, 27 disposals, 20 contested possessions 

COACHES’ VERDICT
Travis Hodgson (Melton South)
"Got off to a pretty good start and lost (Darby) Schilder and (Jarrod) Bibby early. Ballarat were far superior regardless, scoring easily and shrinking the ground on us when we were in offence. They were wasteful in front of goal, otherwise the margin would have been much greater."

Chris Maple (Ballarat)
"A pretty ordinary game of football today. We wasted a lot of opportunities on goal. Credit to Melton South, they brought a lot of pressure."

North Ballarat won the battle of youth over coming Redan at City Oval by 26 points.

The Roosters found themselves under the pump early as the Lions piled on five unanswered goals in the first term before they awoke from their slumber.

To recover and add 12 goals to four for the remainder of the game is a credit to the progressive maturity shown by Brendan McCartney's young group.

Mid-season edition Joel Freeman had four goals from as many kicks at one stage before finishing with a match winning five goals in a low scoring affair.

The former Cobra has booted 18 goals from his last four games with three hauls of five and one game of three.

After a promising start that saw the Lions lead at the first change by 19 points, a recess was all the Roosters needed to kickstart their comeback.

The deficit took little time to reel in after the break as the Roosters arrested back the lead before gaining a handy 16-point lead at half time.

A fairly even second half transpired with a five-goals-to-four conclusion in favour of the Roosters as they extended their advantage to 26 at the final siren.

Josh Sparkman, Cam McCullum, Tom Bromley Lynch and Issac Carey carried the bulk of heavy lifting and supply to aid Freeman with an aerial contest inside 50.

Brayden Purchase also won the nod of approval to be named in the best.

Experienced 200+ gamer Simon McCartin appeared to be hampered with a hamstring issue and will be monitored ahead of a sudden death elimination final in a fortnights time.

For Redan, Coach Gary Learmonth identified Jacob Short, Rudie Forde, Lachie Bond (three goals), Grant Bell (four goals), Lachie George and Liam Farnswoth as the major contributors in a losing side.

The Lions have a chance to end their home and away season on a high with a trip to CE Brown Reserve to take on the Lakers.

North Ballarat have the bye.  

STATS THAT CAUGHT THE EYE

Joshua Sparkman (North Ballarat) - 33 disposals, 17 contested possessions, 9 clearances

Cam McCallum (North Ballarat) - 60 hitouts, 17 disposals, 14 contested possessions

Rudie Forde (Redan) - 27 hitouts, 24 disposals, 17 contested possessions 

COACHES’ VERDICT
Gary Learmonth (Redan)
"Was a good game of footy between two young sides with lots of players missing. There was lots to like across the day but unfortunately our consistency from contest to contest and skill execution wasn't good enough against a side that held structure for longer. Really proud of the way the boys have continued to dig in. We played our 24th U/19 player for the season so lots to work with and build on. Massive game against the Lakers to finish the season."

Brendan McCartney (North Ballarat)
“We were up and down during the game. Our fight after quarter time was great. Gave ourselves a chance to play decent footy with our stoppage and pressure work. It's been a big few months coping with plenty of obstacles. Good chance to train well and fine tune going into finals now."