Sport
25 July, 2026
Hopes on heroes to bring out new spirit
BOORT coach Andrew Rutley is clinging on to his side’s slimmest of chances of making the finals after a crushing 70-point loss to Birchip Watchem.
BOORT coach Andrew Rutley is clinging on to his side’s slimmest of chances of making the finals after a crushing 70-point loss to Birchip Watchem.
The Magpies had to beat the fourth-placed Bulls to realistically still be in the chase for finals, but Rutley maintains some hope ahead of a clash with unbeaten Wedderburn.
“It’s not cue in the rack – we’ll keep playing the kids and while there is a little bit of hope left, we will hold onto it,” he said.
On Saturday, Boort is holding a player reunion to celebrate the 1982 and 2008 senior premierships, along with three reserves flags.
Rutley hopes the presence of some former club heroes will inspire his young side against the Redbacks.
“We’ll be battling away and we’ll come up with a plan to try to beat them.”
The Magpies’ one-on-one defence failed against Birchip Watchem, who by contrast ran a zone defence that Boort found hard to penetrate.
“We either look a million dollars or we look 50 cents,” Rutley lamented.
“We needed to bring some pressure, but they killed us going forward.
Boort featured four juniors against the Bulls, and the coach said all had probably their best games of the season.
“They’re young and they’re learning how we want to play,” Rutley said.
Lachie Hall returned from injury with three goals for the Magpies, but they lost Kayne Rutley to a hamstring injury that may see him miss several matches with five rounds left.
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