The golden age of Mallee football continued at Swan Hill on Saturday when the Mallee Football League continued its relentless march up the Worksafe VCFL ladder by defeating the higher ranked Central Murray League by a whopping 85 points.

Sponsored by Top End Training, this was another outstanding win by Mallee and follows on from wins against Wimmera last year and North Central the year before. On each occasion Mallee has been lead by coach Col Durie making it four Inter League wins in a row for Durie.

'The win was a fantastic team effort,' said an elated Durie after the game, 'with every player in the Mallee team playing a significant role in the victory.'

'The Mallee team's tackling pressure was a highlight of the game,' said Durie. 'In the end it took its toll on the opposition. Our pressure through the midfield caused turnovers which we were able to capitalise on and score goals through our two pronged combination of Damien Cupido and Cliff Ryan, and our backline was superb.'

'This was a magnificent win for the Mallee Football League and a wonderful outcome for Col,' said MFL President Alan Malcolm. 'He is a great reader of the game and his ability to bring younger players together as a cohesive unit is outstanding.'

Mallee had winners all over the ground. They were focussed, desperate and unstoppable. Even in the first half when the scores were tight, Mallee was relentless in its pursuit of the ball, they hunted in packs and looked to play on whenever possible. The high marking Central Murray side was outclassed when the ball hit the ground and this was where the stronger bodied Mallee players wrested control. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the stunning best-on-ground performance of young Trent Donnan.

Donnan was inspirational in his attack on the ball. Possessing strength that belies his years, his reading of the play took your breath away at times. Donnan had eyes only for the ball, he ran all day and continually broke away from the centre or half back driving his side into attack with accurate passing by hand or by foot. Another to inspire was the coach himself.

Col Durie was at his cool, calm and collected best against Central Murray. He controlled the area from the centre line to half forward orchestrating events and was directly responsible for a number of key plays during the day by running into space, gathering cleanly and passing off to someone heading deep into the Mallee forward line.

Durie combined well with several players including two team mates from Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers in young ruckman Dan McEwan and in the third term Cliff Ryan, but it was his work with Jerry Wilson in the second term that set Mallee up. Twice Durie was able to spot Wilson out wide on his wing with all the space in the world and an open forward line ahead. With the silky skills of Wilson dominant on one wing and fellow Demon Mitchell Taylor on the other, Mallee had match winners on both sides of the ground.

Under Durie's tutoring, the younger Mallee players really stood up. Durie could be seen talking regularly with ruckman Dan McEwan. Other youngsters such as Zac Robins and Liam Price were terrific in defence.

Mallee boasted an attack replete with goal kickers. Ryan had a great third term and ended up with four goals and Damian Cupido kicked eight under constant pressure from full back Jon Murphy. Deek Roberts was lively around the goals in the first half when the sides were going goal for goal.

Central Murray were wasteful early. With Mallee only just ahead in the first term thanks to a Durie goal after a 50m penalty against former Walpeup Underbool onballer Joshua Stone and struggling to hold their feet in the shifting topsoil, the opposition looked to be on top. Foott and Moloney were giving them drive out of the centre, Billy McInnes was taking marks and Kyle Brawn was prominent. But when firstly McInness missed and then Jesse Clark added another behind, Central Murray were wasting chances.

In the second quarter, a Cupido snap put Mallee ahead only for Central Murray to snap back the lead when Foott immediately tapped the next centre bounce straight to Moloney who ran to 50m and goaled. Then Trent Donnan intercepted a kick out of defence by Central Murray, he got the ball to Cupido who goaled again and Mallee were back in front and not headed again for the rest of the match. But it was the next goal that was really telling.

With Central Murray heading forward once again to try and wrest back the seesawing lead, the Mallee defence took their level of desperation to new heights. Donnan, Durie and Dwayne Hamlyn all took turns to force the ball back into their attack through a series of ugly kicks off the ground, punches and handballs. The ball went from half back to past half forward without a clean possession until Roberts expertly picked up the ball, turned and kicked a great goal putting Mallee two goals up and for the first time in the game looking like winners.

Roberts maintained the pressure, and followed up in the next attacking move with a kick off the ground himself, this time for Tyson Gordon to gather and gaol. Central Murray came back again, but Foott stalled their momentum by scoring a point after taking a good grab and they were looking distinctly shaky.

Foott eventually goaled after another fine mark, but Mallee replied just before the half time siren to restore their 16 point lead.

In a tight first half, Central Murray were doing well at centre bounces and at stoppages around the ground. It really looked like Hugh Foott was in for a very good day early and on several occasions he was able to get the ball out with well directed palming to the talented Xavier Moloney who created great forward movement with run and dash through the centre. With Foott and Moloney on top early, Central Murray were getting the ball quickly into their forward line only for it to be held up by a desperate Mallee defence.

Lead by Steve Lyons and Kim Hallam in the key posts, Tom Summerhayes was free to provide drive off the half backline in the first half before being shifted up on to the wing where he capped off a very good game. Kim Hallam, Liam Price and Jeremy Brown looked like they played together every week such was their teamwork and cohesion. They were cool in a crisis and weren't afraid to switch sides of the ground to maintain possession. When the game was in the balance in the second term, Mallee defence held up strongly and Central Murray just could not break through.

Liam Price did a very good job of limiting Xavier Moloney after half time. Moloney had been outstanding in the first half racking up possessions all over the ground and Price was able to curtail that influence in the second half and got many possessions and even scored a goal himself.

With the game in the balance after an even first quarter and a half, Mallee were getting on top and looked more likely to score going forward. They then blew the game wide open in a dominant third term with Ryan completely on top across half forward and Cupido ominous at full forward. Jon Murphy had the unenviable task of trying to negate Cupido's impact and did well with the assistance of his back pockets in marking duels, but the Mallee full forward proved too agile when the ball hit the ground.

In a brilliant cameo and a fine passage of play for the supporters to remember, Wilson and Durie combined in the third term to set up Ryan for one of his several third term goals. Durie got the ball in the centre, spotted Wilson out wide, Wilson plucked the ball out of the expectant arms of a Central Murray player, turned and with the most delicate of passes found Ryan who consequently slotted it through from the angle. Mallee had the game in their keeping from this moment.

'It was a proud day for Mallee,' finished off Alan Malcolm. 'With the hard work of Col Durie, Gareth Hose, Joe Summerhayes and Tony George, we have witnessed a great game of football and finished with a memorable win.'

Malcolm also referred to the very good win by the young Mallee side in the lead up to the main game. He congratulated coach Damien Hall and admired the great rapport Hall had with his charges and they responded accordingly with a resounding win. Malcolm said that at all times Hall was positive and encouraging, admirable attributes in a coach.

By Jim Gordon