Sport
26 April, 2026
Power surge as Redbacks fine tune play plan
WEDDERBURN has jumped into top spot on the North Central football ladder after barely faltering at Donaldson Park on Saturday.
WEDDERBURN has jumped into top spot on the North Central football ladder after barely faltering at Donaldson Park on Saturday.
The scoreboard showed the Redbacks finishing 143 points ahead of Charlton.
Key forward recruits Matt Perri and Tyler Curtis seized every opportunity around goal. Perri made the smallest of spaces around the square look big as he slotted seven majors with ease.
But it was across the midfield and the half-back line where Wedderburn asserted near absolute supremacy.
Hamish Lockhart, Jackson McEwen, Noah Furlong and Joe Lockhart at times overshadowed the defensive aptitude of coach Tom Metherell, winning the ball on the town flank and switching play across the ground in a telling third term.
Charlton has shown five minutes of spirit late in that quarter, took the game up to Wedderburn and was rewarded with a goal by Jake Lawry.
The Navies actually got on top, something they tried hard to achieve in the opening minutes of the first and second terms before Wedderburn took control.
That third quarter lunge stirred Wedderburn to a new level and it was all down to Metherell.
Despite the Redbacks’ dominance - and there will be far bigger tests to come this season - the game plan of Metherell’s Marvels can be fine tuned further.
Numbers were too crowded at stages of the first quarter and when Wedderburn went deep, Charlton so often launched short-lived advances back up the ground through Liam Ireland and Sean O’Connor.
But it was in the ruck that Charlton had glimmers of hope. Ben Lanyon won more than half the centre duals, only to see Wedderburn’s midfield win the ball on the second or third opportunity and punish the Navies.
Goal front accuracy was also a challenge for the Redbacks but a strong eight-goal final term showed a widening web.
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