Round 4 of the Mallee Football League kicked off with Beulah playing host
to the new look Jeparit-Rainbow side.
An evenly contested first quarter hinted at a tight match to come, however Beulah flexed their muscle and dominated the second term, pouring on 10 goals and keeping the Lakers scoreless. As a result of the domination of the second quarter, Beulah took a 76 point lead into the long break.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, and a strong looking Beulah side were victorious 113 points, their second win for the season over 100 points. Brock Orval kicked 4 for the Blues, with Denis Redden, Jason Turnbull and Michael Farrelly all kicking 3. Michael Farrelly, Tom Hallam, and Shaun Monohan were the best for Beulah. After a long day for the Lakers, Trevor Johnson, Heath Clugston, and Luke Werner were the better players.
Hopetoun locked horns with Walpeup-Underbool at the Hopetoun home ground, and both of the win-less sides were keen to register their first victory of the season. It was the home side who jumped out of the blocks with 3 goals and were able to keep Walpeup-Underbool goalless. This trend continued until the halftime break, as Hopetoun found space to move in the forward line, and had plenty of runners across the ground. The score looked ominous at halftime as Hopetoun lead 9 goals 4 behinds, to the Roo's 5 behinds.
Coach Luke Nathan reved up the visitors during the break, and they started the fightback in the third term, managing to get a couple goals back. The final term was a reflection of the first half as the Devils lifted their game another notch, and ran out comfortable 69 point victors. Lucas Cook and Ben Webster worked well together in the Hopetoun forward line, kicking 4 goals each, while Coleman Schache was again in the best players with Jackson Fisher. Better players for Walpeup-Underbool included Jeremy Brown, Ryan Stacey, and Joshua Plozza.
The final match of the round was tipped to be a tight battle, and the game between Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers and Ouyen United lived up to its hype. It was the younger Demons who were able to gain the ascendancy early in the match, and their hard work was rewarded as they took a marginal lead into each of the quarter time breaks.
Taking a 27 point lead into the last quarter, Ouyen United looked as though they were going to run away with the match, until the Tigers kick started a tremendous fightback with a 7 goals. Sea Lake-Nandaly Tigers experienced midfield ran the game out better and won by 19 points. Simon Weekly was again impressive up forward for the Tigers kicking 5 and Jarrod Arentz chipped in with 3. Veteran Colin Durie was adjudicated best on ground along with Tom and Joseph Summerhayes. For the Demons, Dominic Leach and Dylan Fishwick each kicked two goals, with Dylan also getting in the best with Marc Hahnel.
Woomelang-Lascelles had the bye.
By Daniel Huttig
