A dominant display by the Corowa Rutherglen U16 boys saw them easily account for Yarrawonga U16’s 16.15.111 to 3.4.21.
The Corowa team controlled the ball, wining the ruck clearances and moving the ball forward by finding their teammates with precision handballs and kicking.
Goals: Isaac Dickinson (7), Edward Kreutzberger (3) Tex Longmire (2) and Jayden Forge (2) helped build the winning tally.
Corowa Best: Jayden Forge, Benji Hanrahan, Angus Coghill, Isaac Dickinson, Zach Arnold and Edward Kreutzberger.
Under 14s
Final score: Roos 6.3.39 to Yarra 4.7.31
The first home game of the year was played in Wahgunyah against Yarrawonga who were second on the ladder.
The Roos came to play after a loss to Yarrawonga in the practice match. As expected, the contest was tight and the ball was doing a lot of travel between the arcs before Corowa settled first with Ajay Heagney slotting the first goal for the Roos in his first game of the season.
The ball spent a bit of time in Yarra’s forward 50 for little return whilst Franklin marked and played on in our F50 with seconds to go kicking a great goal from 40m out.
Quarter 2 was all Yarra with the Roos defence under a lot of pressure and the forwards not seeing much of the ball.
The midfield was outworked this quarter however, the Roos went into the main break with a 4 point lead.
The boys put on a display in the third quarter with goals to Franklin and Oscar Rowe. Yet again Oscar found space in front of goals with Franklin centring it to him nicely.
The Roos knew Yarra would come…and come they did. They were defending a 15-point margin and within minutes Yarra had decreased that margin to 3 points and were outworking the boys.
The young Roos had gone quiet on the field, and it looked like they would be overrun.
Instead, the boys lifted their voice and intensity around the ball resulting in a goal to Joe Lavis.
Yarra responded with another goal however the Roos responded with a goal of their own to Lach Ireland.
With less than a minute remaining Joe Lavis marked the ball just inside 50. Going back for the kick and to chew up further time he kicked the ball to Eli Lavis who was directly in front about 40m out. As the siren went Eli Lavis sent a torp on its way with it falling short.
Goals: 2 Murray-Wright, 1 Rowe, Ireland, J Lavis, Heagney
Awards: F Murray-Wright (Painters Cafe), W Massey (Peter Ellis), J Lavis (TH Kitchens & Joinery), C Wilcox (Little Oasis Beauty), B White (A&A Automotive), H Kuschert (Joel Bilney Builders) & L Arnold (Ricky D’s Pizza)
Under 12s
Finals score: Roos 5.5.35 to Yarra 5.7.37
Sunny Wahgunyah was the setting for this week's clash between the Under 12 Roos and the undefeated side from Yarrawonga.
The game started quickly with the Roos looking to move the ball into their forward-50 before Yarrawonga, proving to be a skilful side, slotted two goals from difficult positions to move ahead.
The Roos answered back through Eli Hales and went into the first break down by one point.
The second term was all about tough footy. George Smith, in his first game for the club, was exceptionally strong at the back, dominating the Yarrawonga forwards at will, and Cooper Gerhard started to use his body in the middle of the park. The midfield was pushing hard through Finley Douglas, Jagger Doody and Leo Davis, while Abe Spence and Oli Matthews were proving a real handful in the contest for the ball. Continued pressure and some deft ball movement saw Josh Parker lining up a goal from 35 metres and putting it through to close the gap, pulling the boys to within 7 points at half time.
The third quarter was again very evenly matched, though it was becoming clear that these Roos boys were not going to go away.
Some tough body work over the ball from Jackson Barber and Franco Moolman created opportunities for the midfield and Jake Witherden started to show how valuable he can be in these tight contests.
Goals to Ollie Matthews and Josh Parker were matched by Yarrawaonga but the effort from Jaxx Johnston, Ashton Powzyk and Nate Fenn was immense.
Nate Kushcert was getting stuck in at the ruck and Darcy Upton was continually found in the middle of the park, standing tall amongst the Yarrawonga defenders.
The final terms was a tense affair with the tough defense of the Roos boys starting to take its toll. Ollie Matthews' dominance in the marking contest had created a reshuffle in the Yarra lines and the Roos started to exploit this. Billy Barlow and Jobe Mills started to make themselves available and Lucas Tait worked to beat the defenses.
The boys were relentless in the final 5 minutes, creating opportunity after opportunity and a goal to Jake Witherden in the dying stages closed the gap to just 2 points, leaving the crowd on the edge of their seats. But it wasn't to be, the boys beaten by the final siren.
This was probably the gutsiest effort that the coaches have seen from these boys this year and it sets the tone for what could be a very strong season ahead.
Best players: Ollie Matthews, Josh Parker, Jake Witherden, Eli Hales, Jaxx Johnston and Darcy Upton.
Next week’s game is against Lavington Panther and will again take place at the Wahgunyah Football Ground.
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