21 May Raiders now ranked 18th thanks to three-peat
GDFL interleague coaches Reece Holwell and Mark McDowell hailed their midfield group after securing a nine point win over Heathcote & District at the Keith Barclay Oval.
Inverleigh forward Jak Kennedy Hunt found five goals (before hobbling off in the third term with a quad injury) as a result of the Raiders’ dominant 14 to 6 centre clearance differential.
As a result the Raiders now sit 18th on the AFL Victoria community championship table below the Wimmera FNL who hosted the Bellarine on Saturday.
“I believe the win comes down to our tackle count, we had 10 to 5 in the first term and 15 to 10 in the second so we almost doubled them in the first half,” Holwell said.
McDowell added, “Our centre clearance count was dominant as well which enabled us to put their defenders under the pump early in the game.”
The work rate of midfielders Matt Tyquin, Dalton Grundell and Dylan Witney early allowed Kennedy Hunt to land four goals by the closing stages of the second term.
However missed opportunities from Corio coach Andy Challis and Geelong West star Brayden Mitchell left the door ajar at half time with a 10-point lead.
“At half time we highlighted our wasted kicking toward the scoring end and we recognised that we didn’t lock it on the scoreboard but we still had the ball,” Holwell said.
“You’d rather be inefficient with the ball than not having the ball at all but that was a big one,” McDowell added.
Anakie ruckman Luke Wilson was awarded the Worksafe medal judged by the GDFL coaching panel when battling Heathcote’s rotating talls for a majority of the game.
“It was probably a spot that we were a bit worried about and we knew that he (Wilson) would be doing 90 per cent of the ruck today,” Holwell said.
“It was only in his last two games that he brought himself into form; we heard that he recaptured his best footy in the last few weeks so this medal is for his turn around.”
“His tap work was also superb giving our midfielders first use which was massive.”
Kennedy Hunt finished with the Darryl Jones medal as the best GDFL player judged by the GDFL commentators Jason Doherty, Dale Smythe, Grubby Cations and Alex Tigani.
“If you take him (Kennedy Hunt) out today then where else are you going to find a forward that brings you five goals and helps sets up another two or three,” Holwell said.
Interestingly, McDowell continued to cast the spotlight on players outside of his Inverleigh circle with sincerity.
“Samuel Jacka (Thomson) took seven intercept marks in the backline and there were a couple of times as well where he just ended the contests with some killer spoils,” he explained.
“Those sorts of stats and efforts were really powerful in the game.”
Post match seven Bell Post Hill players proudly posed with the Worksafe community championship trophy before passing it on to the seven Inverleigh representatives on the day.
This was the last opportunity for the premiership contenders to share a laugh before the premiership race livens up.
“We gave Adrian Fantella a bit of a role early on Ryan Semmell and he was happy to play that role and then late in the game he started getting his hands on the footy as well,” Holwell said.
“It’s an even spread, we didn’t have a guy stand out with 30 disposals and we explained after the game that it was pretty hard to pick a medal winner because they all had great moments.”
“Even Jackson Smith (Werribee) is young but he had a five minute period where he stood up and he looked like a 200 game veteran so we’re just so pleased how everyone played their role.”
Final Scores:
GDFL 10.17 (77) defeated HDFNL 10.8 (68)
Goals: Jak Kennedy Hunt 5, Jayden Ettridge 2, Brayden Mitchell, Tim Barton and Dylan Witney.
Best: Luke Wilson, Samuel Jacka, Dylan Witney, Michael Best, Adrian Fantella and Jak Kennedy Hunt.
Disposals:
25 – Matt Tyquin (Bannockburn)
21 – Adrian Fantella (Bell Post Hill)
21 – Andrew Challis (Corio)
19 – Dylan Witney (Belmont Lions)
17 – Michael Best (Inverleigh)
16 – Dalton Grundell (Inverleigh)
15 – Jackson Smith (Werribee Centrals)
14 – Samuel Jacka (Thomson)
14 – Alexander Gubbins (Winchelsea)
13 – Casey Meehan (Inverleigh)
12 – Jayden Ettridge (Bell Post Hill)
12 – Matthew James (Bell Post Hill)
11 – Tim Barton (Bell Post Hill)
10 – Michael Grozdanovski (Inverleigh)
10 – Luke Wilson (Anakie)
9 – Jak Kennedy Hunt (Inverleigh)
9 – Brayden Mitchell (Geelong West)
9 – Jake Barlow (Bell Post Hill)
8 – Justin Baxter (Inverleigh)
8 – Cam Addie (Bell Post Hill)
5 – Beau McNamara (Bell Post Hill)
4 – Rob Logue (Inverleigh)
By Alex Tigani
GDFL Media (19/05/2018)
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