Violet Town no match for Merrigum

Violet Town on home turf expected a fierce challenge from Merrigum but thought it could match anything thrown at it. However, the Bulldogs jumped the home side and never looked backed, smashing the Towners by over 100 points.

An inspirational game by skipper Ryan Jennings stood out. Two goals and a couple of speckies — Jennings was simply outstanding. Bo McCarthy was also great with 33 touches and a heap of tackles. Ryan Lloyd-Williams is enjoying his best year and was fantastic against a flood of forward entries, and Mitch Saunders tried hard, but it was basically a bad day at the office.

My volunteer of the week goes to Annie Quaine. She sort of does everything in town. This week she volunteered to help out in the canteen — six hours later, this brilliant lady was still there. Take a bow, Annie, the club loves you!

Best: R Jennings, R Lloyd-Williams, B McCarthy, F Weekes, M Saunders, R Johnson

Goals: R Jennings 2, K Dunn 1, A Moleta 1, C Fallon 1

Reserves

Merrigum 9.9.63 defeated Violet Town 6.5.41

A slow start proved costly for the twos, with poor discipline in the first quarter hurting badly. Merrigum was able to capitalise on having an extra man to take a 20-point lead into the first break. After this, the game was pretty even, with the lead not ever more than 28 points, but the Towners just couldn’t manage to peg back the first-quarter deficit.

Best: T Thomson, A Symes-Robinson, S Atkinson, I Handy, K Hudson, B Keys

Goals: C Atkinson 2, W Smith 1, N Robinson 1, J Hynes 1, A McCole 1

Under-18s

Violet Town 15.16.106 defeated Shepparton East 7.2.44

Under-15s

Violet Town 29.16.190 defeated Undera 0.0.0

Playing back at home, against the same opposition as last week, the focus was on teamwork. Within the first 30 seconds the Towners had goaled, following a ruck tap from Angus Richardson directly into the path of Lincoln Woolley, who burst through the centre, kicking into attack for Koby Ross to score. Defensive pressure was great, with Undera struggling to get the ball past the centre with its limited opportunities.

The coaches’ messages were clear at each change: pick up your players when they are kicking out from goal, don’t stop after your first effort, ensure you also have second and third efforts, keep the talk up on the ground and most importantly, kick to the player in the best position and not just to the best player.

All of these resulted in the best team performance so far this season, with a ‘team first’ mentality of respecting the opposition, respecting teammates and getting the whole team involved. This was evidenced by 11 goal scorers on the day and a couple of big bags for Ryder Robertson and Koby Ross.

Best players: Ryder Robertson, Kai Dervish, Billy Dyer, Luke Welsh, Nate Nicholas and Koby Ross

Goal kickers: Ryder Robertson 10, Koby Ross 7, Billy Dyer 3, Parker Jeffrey 2, Nate Nicolas, Angus Richardson, Luke Welsh, Mason Butterworth, Kobi Fruend, Kai Dervish, Lincoln Woolley 1

Netball

A Grade

Violet Town 49 defeated Merrigum 33

While still having areas that need work, A Grade is improving week by week and continued its winning form on Saturday. All players stood tall and held their own against fierce opposition. Kolby Wild nailed many intercepts in the backline, earning herself a best on court, along with Jo Wild, who applied strong pressure through the centre.

B Grade

Merrigum 42 defeated Violet Town 36

Taking on second-placed Merrigum was always going to be a challenge and it took our B Grade a while to settle in, but after a few changes at halftime the players turned the tide, even winning the last quarter. The girls are growing in confidence every week and the close losses will soon be turning into victories. Teagan Kubeil and Ash Antonis played strongly and received the awards.

C Grade

Merrigum 47 defeated Violet Town 26

Don’t let the end score fool you, Violet Town fought hard in this game and showed its best performance to date, even leading the game by three goals at one stage. The Towners had worked hard on their defensive pressure at training, and it showed with numerous turnovers allowing more scoring opportunities than they’ve had to date.

Unfortunately, the team tired in the second half and at times struggled with feeding into the ring and converting goals. Merrigum was able to storm away in the final quarter for a well-deserved win. There were positive signs from the Towners and with more work on attacking combinations and improved fitness, the girls are on the right track.

Awards went to Rachel Brown and Makaila Gilbee, who implemented every defensive technique they had worked on at training and had a huge impact on the game.

C Reserve

Merrigum 51 defeated Violet Town 32

It was a similar story in C Reserve, with Violet Town applying strong pressure throughout the game and holding Merrigum to account, being just three goals down early in the third quarter before Merrigum got away.

Mikayla Cole and Nicole Butterworth worked well in goals together, nearly doubling the team’s previous highest score!

The midcourt was led by Bianca Robins and Mikaela Dunn, who worked well together getting strong passes down court and in to the goalers.

There was good communication and leading the play from Bianca; she and Erin Dawson were the loudest voices on court, as usual.

Ellex Best, in her comeback game, gelled well with the rest of the team, coming straight in and playing strongly with a standout quarter in centre.

C Res is starting to form a strong team and show real promise, which will have it competitive in the weeks to come.

Awards went to Nicole Butterworth and Ellex Best.

Under-17s

Merrigum 56 defeated Violet Town 19

It was a strong start, with both sides going goal for goal. Merrigum came out of the first quarter break the better of the two teams and started to gain momentum and force Violet Town to make errors in attack.

This forced Violet Town to make changes at halftime. The Towners couldn’t stop Merrigum’s pressure and Violet Town continued to make errors in attack, which resulted in Merrigum pushing the margin out.

In the final quarter, Violet Town worked hard until the end but unfortunately the damage had been done. Awards went to Emily Buitenhuis and Ash Antonis.

Under-15s

Violet Town 49 defeated Merrigum 31

The Towners started strong, dominating with five quick goals. Izzy, Abi, Lilliana and Elliotte applied great pressure in the centre throughout the game. Their ability to create space, lead and secure ball possessions was fantastic to watch.

Ella and Issy worked fluidly together in the ring, showing Merrigum’s defence they were in control.

Defensively, Matilda and Georgia stood tall and strong, working brilliantly as a team, ultimately hindering their opponents’ attempts at goal.

Violet Town players really put into practice the skills they have been refining in their training sessions. They fought hard and tirelessly to celebrate a much-deserved win. Amazing effort, girls!

Awards went to Matilda, Ella and Lilliana.