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AFLcountry thumbWeekly Times | VICTORIA Country No. 1 has capped a huge day of representative football with a thumping win against Victorian Amateur Football Association Premier team to claim the Brian Molony Cup.

Vic Country put the disappointment of the three-point loss to VAFA the last time the sides met in 2013 to rest with a 62-point win yesterday.

Vic Country took a stranglehold of the game in the third quarter when they booted six goals to VAFA’s one, and ensured a hat-trick of Victoria Country wins at Bendigo’s Queen Elizabeth Oval yesterday, 17.15 (117) to 8.7 (55).

Earlier the Vic Country No. 2 and under-19 sides also beat the corresponding VAFA outfits.

Colbinabbin’s Grant Weeks had a day out in front of goal, and up to half-time the match threatened to be a shootout with Old Trinity’s Gabe Hamilton from VAFA.

Hamilton finished with four for the day — all in the first half — but Weeks continued to cause headaches up forward to claim seven for the game.

Scores were level at quarter time after a VAFA goal after the siren, but Vic Country took a 13-point lead into the main break. By three-quarter time the deficit VAFA faced was 46 points.

Rochester’s Steven Stroobants, Albury’s Brayden O’Hara and Mt Eliza’s Justin Van Unen were the other multiple goal kickers for the day and Albury’s Dean Polo was named best-on-ground for Vic Country.

The Drouin pair of Dan Nicholls and Bob McCallum were outstanding, with McCallum shouldering the ruck duties for Vic Country after the withdrawal of Rowan Marshall during the week for VFL duties with North Ballarat.

Leopold’s Jeremy Larcombe, Redan’s Nathan Horbury, Newtown and Chilwell’s Rob Condy and Koroit’s Ben Dobson also held strong against VAFA’s forward pushes, and Old Xaverians spearhead Matthew Handley, who is currently third on the VAFA premier goal kicking tally, went goal-less.

“I’m just so pleased for the players,” Vic Country No. 1 coach Peter Knights said.

“The commitment they’ve made has been enormous and it’s just so great they’ve been rewarded for that commitment and those sacrifices with an unbelievable performance.

“I just feel so happy for them that they’ve had the reward for all their hard work.”

The final margin came as a huge surprise to Knights.

“We’ve had some unbelievably close contests and (yesterday) was just one out of the box which is again testament to how determined our playing group were,” he said.

“With our team plan we were just going to apply pressure ... and continue to apply pressure and hopefully we will break free.

“In that third quarter it came to fruition and that was probably the difference.”

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