Geelong Advertiser | THE GFL has kept its ranking as Victoria’s premier competition with a 22-point interleague win over Goulburn Valley in Shepparton today.
Down at half time and struggling to kick accurately in front of goal, the GFL powered over the top of GVFL to record a 10.28 (88) to 9.12 (66) victory.
But it was the only success from the regions team’s, with the GDFL letting a 30-point second term lead slip to be overrun by North Central at St Albans Reserve.
Despite selecting a team that should have been able to carve up the wide expanses of St Albans, the GDFL looked lethargic after half time to go down by 32 points.
GDFL coach Daryl Bisset said his team was made to pay for “a lot of basic errors”.
“Terrible mistakes kept them in the game early. Look we were up by five goals early and went in (at half time) even,” Bisset said.
“We kicked 2.4 after half time and that’s not going to win you a game of footy, especially in interleague.
“They used the space really well, a lot better than we did.
“We pumped into the guys to use the whole ground here, but what happens with limited time to bring a team together they all play their game.
“We had some key rovers, ruck rovers on a Saturday and they were doing what was natural to them on a Saturday. And they (North Central) just caught us out.
“We talked about staying wide but it just never worked out.”
MEANWHILE, the BFL suffered a 17-point loss to Wimmera.
Trailing at every change, the BFL pressed late but fell short 17.13 (115) to 15.8 (98).
After being spruiked by Wimmera in the lead up to the match, BFL star Mitch Day was by far his league’s best player with seven goals.
“Disappointing the end result but the in house result - the effort was absolutely fantastic, you can’t ask for anything more, they were absolutely great,” BFL coach Mark Hilderbrandt said.
“I don’t think the Bellarine is being represented to its true capacity in the last 10 years. That’s probably why we’ve slipped down the rankings.
“This year was a pretty good indication ... but at the end of the day we can only play with the people that put their hand up. These blokes put their hand up, effort was 100 per cent, it just wasn’t good enough in the end. Maybe next year down our way it might go the other way.”
The BFL got off to a sloppy start, with plenty of possession only resulting in 2.2 compared to Wimmera’s 3.4.
Both teams then found their feet in the second term as the game opening right up, with Bellarine bagging nine goals to Wimmera’s eight for a 17-goal quarter.
Day was the man causing all the problems for the BFL as he kicked give goals for the term.
After half time Wimmera dominated the middle and were able to lock it inside their half for repeat inside-50 entries.
At the final change Hilderbrandt urged his chargers to take it on and use plenty of voice out.
But his team couldn’t respond as Wimmera held on to record a comfortable win.
