Border Mail |
ACTIONS, not words. That’s all that really matters in football.
You can talk the talk, but when push comes to shove you need to walk the walk if you want respect on the field.
It’s time the Ovens and Murray started to walk the walk.
Take nothing away from the 22 men that represented the league at Visy Park on Saturday, they tried their best.
But sadly, it wasn’t anywhere near good enough.
To be blunt, half of Saturday’s team that took on the Peninsula league wouldn’t have got a game if every player — injured, unavailable or otherwise — was available for the O and M.
But they weren’t, and that’s all that really matters.
Everybody that represented the league on Saturday is a good player in their own right.
But you need top-line players, not good ones, if you want to win these games.
Ovens and Murray coach Matt Pendergast admitted as much after Saturday’s 45-point loss.
“I think a lot of people underestimate the step up and the heat of the footy here and it really showed,” he said.
“Maybe if we had a few classier, headline players it might have been different.
“I think our team could have played better on another day but we don’t get that chance.
“I thought we had a class team and was really confident but we got sat right on our backsides today.
“It just shows you’ve got to be on.
“But at the end of the day we had 22 blokes who wanted to put their hand up to play and I was stoked with that.”
The warning bells rang early on Saturday, when Peninsula kicked the first three goals of the game.
They rang again when Peninsula rammed home five consecutive majors leading into the half-time break.
That ring became deafening when they rammed home seven of the game’s final eight goals.
As hard as it is to comprehend, the O and M rarely looked like winning.
They were without a stack of elite players, sure, but the Peninsula was hardly at its best either.
Ash Eames, Bryon and Anthony Barry were just a couple of names not there and 16 of the Peninsula’s players were making their debut at representative level.
There were simply no excuses.
And Pendergast wasn’t making them.
“We were put under
the pump and the perceived pressure was there and we couldn’t handle it,” a candid Pendergast said.
“In the clinches some of our more lightly-built players did turn the footy over, but that’s going to happen.”
North Albury gun Adam Prior was targeted as the man the Peninsula wanted to stop.
And they did just that.
Prior, who barely had a shot on goal, let alone kick one, desperately needed a partner up forward and it’s hard to remember him pulling down a contested mark all game.
The Peninsula defence made sure of it.
Charles Gaylard, Luke Garland and Jamie Sheahan, meanwhile, all had their moments but weren’t the superstar performers we’ve become accustomed to on the Border.
Craig Ednie, Brad Murray and Matt Pendergast, the heart and soul of the team, battled manfully all game but even the mercurial Ednie made uncharacteristic mistakes.
He sprayed a shot at goal from just 15 metres out on the run in the first quarter that took the wind right out of the team’s sails.
It’s hard to remember him ever doing that for Yarrawonga.
He then spilled an easy mark, albeit with interference from the sun, all by himself deep inside 50 the following quarter.
It was one of those days.
The clear highlight, though, was the performance of Pigeons’ defender Jarrod Thompson down back.
Thompson was playing against the Ovens and Murray for the Hampden league this time last year.
He was the O and M’s best player on Saturday and rightfully awarded with the league medal.
He’s hard, tough, versatile and didn’t lose a one-on-one all game.
Brayden Irving, Tim Mavric and Shane McDonald, meanwhile, were Peninsula’s standouts on the day.
McDonald is a bonafide superstar and as happy as he might be at home club Bonbeach, O and M clubs would be foolish not to at least ask the question about heading north at the end of the season.
As for the repercussions of Saturday’s loss?
It’s a debate that could be had until the cows come home but it’s clear representative football is in dire trouble.
At least in the Ovens and Murray, anyway.
Something — anything — has to be done to get the best players on board.
The league’s reputation depends on it.
