Shepp News |
It was fitting Luke Morgan was the man responsible for the kick which sealed Benalla’s rise to second place on the Goulburn Valley Football League ladder.
The Saints’ playing coach, who has overseen the incredible transformation from wooden spooner to flag contender, launched a long bomb from just beyond 50
Benalla also beat the now third-placed reigning premier in round four.
The two wins over the Bulldogs are, arguably, the most significant of this fairytale season that is far from over.
‘‘I didn’t actually hit it that well, so it was lucky it went through,’’ Morgan said.
‘‘I don’t think I’ve ever kicked a winning goal like that .
The Saints kicked the contest’s last two majors, with VFL star Will Martiniello, who made a triumphant return, capitalising on some rare Tim Lanyon ill-discipline to slot the first of them.
Lanyon was unhappy to have given away the initial free kick, but subsequent protests cost him and his side consecutive 50
Tatura has lost two of its past three games, but this was more honourable than the last, having dug deep to recover from a 10-point third-term deficit to lead by nine points at one stage in the final quarter.
A lapse at the start of the second half — and some Alistair Jacka brilliance, opposed to Tom Sullivan — cost the Bulldogs dearly.
Jacka snuck forward to twice mark and boot goals within three minutes of the restart and was also involved in the scoring chain which ended with Brody Webster putting Benalla ahead for the first time.
Jacka’s third major later in the term gave the Saints their biggest advantage of 10 points.
This was the period Tatura coach Scott Grigg was most disappointed with.
‘‘I thought we were really good today. They’re a good side and we knew that,’’ Grigg said.
‘‘We just let ourselves down at a few crucial moments in the game and, unfortunately, they capitalised.
‘‘We beat them in inside 50s in the first and second quarters, so we probably had to take our opportunity there and then, but the game comes back to the third quarter’s first 10 minutes.
‘‘We turned it around in the second half of the third quarter and got ourselves nine points up .
Grigg blamed several of Benalla’s third-quarter goals on his players finding trouble when they chose to go through the corridor rather than the ‘‘outside channels’’.
The Bulldogs, and in particular Brendon Hollow, started well, with their unerring pressure repeatedly causing the Saints to turn the ball over in the middle of the ground.
They held the Saints to just two behinds in the opening quarter and took a 19-point edge into the second term, but the hosts’ intensity lifted and they gradually worked their way back into the game.
Lachie Smith and Jake Pallpratt held up the defence, while the Martiniello brothers, James and Will, did the grunt work — leaving Jacka to display his ‘‘spunk’’, as Morgan put it.
James Sullivan did a competent job in a run-with role on usual ball magnet Morgan.
Benalla’s forward brutes Shayne McKean and Jordan Wolff — the former a veteran and the other just 19 — and VFL-listed ruckman Will Sullivan also did their bit.
Speedster Jye Warren turned in a hard-working performance for Tatura and its back six was good, with Chris Ryan, Tom Miller and Tom Durward leading the way.
Miller (twice) and Durward each performed telling, yet ultimately unrewarded, acts on the last line when the Bulldogs still held the lead in the fourth term.
