Deakin delight for GVL after interleague upset

On Saturday afternoon, Goulburn Valley League interleague co-coaches Mark Lambourn and Sam Reid could have been forgiven for uttering a similar sentiment after GVL delivered a rousing performance against Ovens and Murray League to defeat its rival by 15 points in a moment of immense pride for the region.

Heading into the match, the common consensus among onlookers was that an O&M victory was a near certainty. The question was just how long GVL could stay in the race.

The pre-game prediction seemed prophetic as the game reached the five-minute mark of the second quarter, with O&M leading 5.2 (32) to 0.7 (7).

The scoreline didn’t do justice to the even nature of the contest, but when the margin hit 25 points early in the second term, GVL needed a spark.

Up stepped Mansfield’s running machine, Harry Mahoney.

The lightning-quick winger gave the crowd a moment to savour as he picked the ball up from half-back to create a running chain of kicks and handballs, during which he had four touches, before the play finished with a set shot for Mahoney in GVL’s forward 50.

The shot hit the post, but Mahoney’s efforts had lit a spark that the O&M would fail to extinguish for the rest of the match.

From that point, GVL started to gain ascendancy in the contest and around the ground.

Late call-up to the side Kyle Clarke (Shepparton United) was busy off half-back and at one point took a courageous back-with-the-flight mark.

GVL was able to quickly move the ball to Echuca’s Hugh Byrne at centre half-forward, who then found Kyabram’s Anthony Depasquale, who ran inside 50 to kick GVL’s first goal.

Byrne then also had a hand in GVL’s second goal, with his quick kick from congestion finding Jed Woods’ (Mooroopna) chest 20m out directly in front.

The pressure forward promptly converted.

A long-bomb set shot goal from interleague captain Daniel Johnston made it three on the trot and cut the margin to eight points just before the main break.

The first half was a tough outing for GVL’s key forwards, Johnston and Riley Mason (Seymour), as O&M flooded the backline in an attempt to stop GVL’s key aerial attacking threats.

To start the second half, GVL lowered its eyes better when going inside 50 and locked the ball in its half for long stretches.

The only times O&M looked to threaten the score sheet were through quick rebounding exits from the defensive 50, where its forwards could use their speed to get out the back.

A run-down tackle from Johnston on the edge of the 50 got the crowd roaring. This led to Shepparton’s Joel Brett selling some candy before snapping on goal, just missing to the left for a behind to give GVL the lead for the first time with roughly seven minutes to go in the third term.

A couple of minutes later, O&M’s dangerous running half-back Archer Gardiner burst out of defensive 50, taking a couple of bounces before GVL’s Woods produced an inspiring chase-down tackle in front of the home side’s bench.

The ball was quickly moved on to Mason, who received a free kick on the 50m arc and kicked truly, handing GVL a seven-point lead as the underdogs could smell an upset.

If there were any concerns that GVL may fall away in the final term, they were somewhat quashed by one of regional football’s marks of the year as young gun Byrne sat on an O&M defender’s shoulders for what felt like an eternity.

O&M eventually started to regain momentum late in the quarter, but the damage was done by that point.

GVL’s Matt Lias (Echuca), who was prolific through the midfield, kicked the sealer halfway through the final term before being swamped by his GVL teammates as the lead got out to 21 points.

The match finished 8.15 (63) to 6.6 (48) in GVL’s favour, as the home side defeated O&M for the first time since 2010.

What the interleague fixture may look like in the coming years is up in the air, with no clear decision yet to be made by governing bodies on its future.

However, GVL co-coach Lambourn wasn’t concerned with what may happen down the track. Instead, the veteran coach credited his boys’ dedication and passion for the GVL jumper as part of the reason for their success on Saturday.

“Don’t anyone ever challenge me that those guys that were out there today playing (didn’t care about the result),” Lambourn said.

“They were absolutely putting everything on the line and that showed.

“The beauty of it is no-one got injured, so they are all right to return to club football next week, but like I said, their commitment through the game and through training, making contact with me on whether they can make training or not, was first class and you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

In terms of the match, Lambourn was proud of how his side worked its way into the contest despite the 0.7 start.

“We did start slow and, to me, that was just a team that hadn’t spent a lot of time together and understanding each other and understanding the role they had to play,” he said.

“We talked about how we needed to enter the ball into our forward 50 and lower the eyes a bit and kick it deeper into those pockets.

“We had three big guys up there and we probably weren’t giving them enough of an opportunity.

“As the game progressed, the Harry Mahoneys and Matty Liases really started to get on their game and start to run and you saw our forward line start to open up and work better.”

Mahoney earned man-of-the-match honours for his tireless run, elite skills and constant drive on the wing for GVL.

GVL action returns this weekend with a jam-packed round eight fixture.