Sport
26 June, 2026
Streamroller red hot in second half
WITH his team trailing by five points at halt-time, Wedderburn coach Tom Metherell’s message to his players was simple.
WITH his team trailing by five points at halt-time, Wedderburn coach Tom Metherell’s message to his players was simple.
After a poor start against last season’s North Central premiers Calder United, things were beginning to shift.
“Stick in there – the game was definitely starting to turn towards us,” Metherell said.
And turn it most certainly did.
After Calder booted a behind at the beginning of the third quarter, Wedderburn kicked the next 16 scores as the second half turned into a rout and a 52-point win.
The Redbacks scored 8.11 to 0.2 in the second half to maintain their unbeaten record this season.
It was the coach himself who set in train dynamic turnovers that caught Calder napping and had the Redbacks surging to victory, its unblemished record for the season intact.
Metherell was winning the ball across the half-back line, switching play through the midfield.
Jayden Jones was full of grit, Oscar Holt full of vigour around goals although at times inaccurate and even veteran Danny Benaim popped through a major as the turn turned fast.
Hamish Lockhart continued his good season form and Tyler Curtis had a real impact as Wedderburn romped to 52-point win.
“Calder were using their big bodies well,” Metherell said, “and we just needed to get our hands on it first and get it out to our runners, which is our strength.
“We changed the way we wanted to move the footy, being smarter.” Metherell praised a genuine team performance.
“We had 21 competitors on the weekend – I don’t want to single anyone out.”
With an 8-0 record, Metherell said, “We know teams are going to come after us with where we are on the ladder.”
And the Redbacks are happy for them to bring it on.
This week Wedderburn travels to Charlton, which lost by 146 points to St Arnaud on Saturday, coming heavily back to earth after the narrow defeat with Dane Swan in the team a week earlier.
The Redbacks, already boasting a percentage nudging 250, can expect to add some more against the Navy Blues before the league’s fourth and final bye on July 4.
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Pies make it three on the trot
THREE wins in a row have Boort back in the North Central finals race, but the Magpies have a daunting next five rounds in prospect.
Sitting in sixth place on the ladder, they play all of the five teams above them, starting with Sea Lake Nandaly next Saturday.
Boort’s narrow win over Donald kept the team’s finals prospects alive, in a match that coach Andrew Rutley described as “a bit of a shootout”. The Magpies won by nine points, with a three-goal buffer the side established in the first quarter proving pivotal when the Royal Blues made a charge in the last quarter.
A 23-point three-quarter time lead always looked like being enough to hold off the Donald surge, and so it proved.
The return of key players from injury has given Boort flexibility it had been missing.
Captain Keiren Wilson’s presence has been important in a forward role, but he was switched into defence to bolster the backline in the last quarter.
Ruckman Connor Dalgleish was back from a long absence, and he was eased into the game as a key forward, with a few spells in the ruck to help James Byrne, who was best afield.
Byrne has shouldered the ruck burden while Dalgleish has been missing but will be able to resume a key defensive role in coming weeks, which Rutley is looking forward to.
Not named in Boort’s best, surprisingly, was Danko Bzenic. His three goals came at vital times in the match and his on-field leadership crucial in keeping the Royals at bay.
“We do tend to leak big scores, but James will be able to stiffen our defence,” Rutley said.
Donald’s round seven match with Birchip Watchem was revised from a one-point win to a draw on review.
The Magpies’ poor percentage is now less of an issue, with the Bulls just two points ahead of the ladder and taking their 52 per cent lead out of the equation.
Read More: Wedderburn, Berrimal, Boort