Lions go down despite home advantage

The Mulwala verses Nathalia contest was another first in the COVID-19 times with the game being played at Lonsdale Reserve Mulwala as a Nathalia home game.

MFNC welcomed the Nathalia crew and helped them out setting up and running the day in unfamiliar surroundings. It was great to have football and netball back, even if all MFNL games had to be played in NSW to ensure they got off the ground.

Hopefully this coming week will see further easing of restrictions in Victoria and Victorian clubs can get back to playing their home games on their own grounds.

The contest at senior level was set to be a contest between two final aspirants with the winner gaining a clear edge in the position on the ladder.

Mulwala welcomed a few players back from injury post the bye and weeks off due to cancellations, these players coming in helped to offset the boys who couldn’t make it back due to COVID restrictions.

The Nathalia team had a clear height and weight advantage over the Mulwala team, which was a telling factor in the context of the conditions, which were quite heavy due to rain during the week. Mulwala had an important milestone to celebrate with Tim Doyle reaching his 150th senior game for the club, a great achievement for a loyal player who began in the 4ths many years back.

The Mulwala midfielders were quick to capitalise on the tap work of Jack Sutherland in the middle, setting up Cam Magher who opened the scoring for Mulwala with a nice set shot.

A series of missed set shots by Mulwala meant they didn’t take full advantage of the opportunities they created.

There were a number of costly turn overs through the middle of the ground with the rebounds causing havoc for the Mulwala back line who were being caught one out against taller Nathalia opponents.

Jack Sutherland was working hard in the

Nathalia 5.1, 10.3, 16.5, 17.8.110.

Mulwala 3.2, 8.3, 10.4, 11.6.72.

Goals: Nathalia: Liam Evans 5, Jason Limbrick 3, Brodie Ross 3, Matt Davies 3, Bailey (FP) Bell 1, Thomas Byrnes 1, Alex Hicks 1.

Mulwala: Cameron Magher 3, Jackson Gash 3, Jack Sutherland 1, Matthew McLachlan 1, Sean Johns 1, Zach Scott 1, Joshua Hammond 1.

Best: Nathalia: Tom Nihill, Bailey (FP) Bell, Jarrod Maskell, Drew Barnes, Brodie Ross, Ben Armstrong.

Mulwala: Cameron Magher, Jack Sutherland, Bradley Wilson, Jackson Gash, Bodhi Butts, Joshua Ednie. ruck against Nathalia’s multiple tall options, with the lack of tall support an issue across the day.

In the contests Butts, Gash, Wilson and Doyle were doing everything they could to get the ball flowing Mulwala’s way, however it became a real arm wrestle which was an advantage to bigger bodied Nathalia players.

After an even first term the teams continued to go goal for goal for the remainder of the first half with Mulwala unable to get inside the two-goal buffer Nathalia had managed to create earlier.

The Mulwala young players Tanner Nyholm, Zach Scott and Josh Ednie were giving their all but were out of their weight division in many of their contests, but this didn’t dampen their enthusiasm.

The move of Jackson Gash forward provided another leading option to support Cam Magher who continued to present and contest every forward entry.

Mulwala’s efficiency in creating scores from their forward entries was not at the same level as Nathalia who had multiple tall options up their end.

The all important third term saw Nathalia build their lead whilst Mulwala found it difficult to hit the scoreboard off their multiple opportunities.

The football wasn’t flowing in any sector of the ground with stoppage after stoppage sapping the energy of the players.

Nathalia were able to make the most of their opportunities to extend their lead and take a strong lead into the final break.

The last term became a real stale mate in the heavy conditions and this was to Nathalia’s advantage with Mulwala unable to eat into their lead.

The Mulwala players were still battling hard against the odds but didn’t surrender at any stage.

The younger Mulwala players will learn from the experience of going up against the MFL’s most dominant team for the past decade and look to get back on the winners list next week against Moama at home.

Reserves

6.10.46 defeated by Mulwala

With a lot of senior players out or unable to travel some thought the Reserves might be the ones that suffer.

This wasn’t the case with a few old timers dropping back into the forward line and the whole team really knuckling down for the usual scrap that you get from Nathalia.

Sean Robbo and Andy Miller were getting a bit of the ball early, Rohan Davies was doing some good things and Scoffa was patrolling the forward line like a white pointer.

Mul were just a bit cleaner with the footy and around the goals and Beaso and Lingy were teaming up brilliantly in the back keeping it all together.

A great team effort and a quality win against a good team.

Goals: Mulwala: Nicholas O’Bryan 5, Sean Robinson 4, Isaac Pitches 1, Rohan Davies 1, Jack Macdermid 1.

Nathalia: Harrison Hawks 2, Jared Laffy 2, Daniel Robinson 1, Andrew Gelsi 1.

Best: Mulwala: Sean Robinson, Rohan Davies, Nathan Beasley, Randall Perkinson, Nicholas O’Bryan, Andrew Miller.

Nathalia: Ian Fulton, Andrew Gelsi, Jared Laffy, Matt Carroll, Jack Bell, Harrison Hawks.

Thirds

Nathalia

22.6.138.

The biggest danger to the thirds will only be themselves on days like this and they proved that they won’t be going easy on any teams very early on.

The boys were sharing the ball around brilliantly

1.2.8

defeated

Under 17s

Mulwala had the bye.

Under 15s

by

Mulwala

Nathalia 12 defeated by Mulwala 33.

Good strong win by the girls. The goalers worked extremely well together with the help of the mid court feeding the ball in.

Defence worked well, picking off balls and helping bring the ball down to the attacking end.

The awards went to Kaleisha Pell and Brigit Hamilton.

Under 13s

Nathalia 11 defeated by Mulwala 37.

The awards went to Emily Linehan and Roxy Cameron.

The girls were keen to return to netball after a couple of weeks off and started the game strong.

The girls are really playing as a team with everyone contributing to the win. Emily moved well in the ring and hardly missed a goal. and finding their forwards with some sublime delivery.

Jyda was battling against a bigger opponent and holding his own, but the likes of Mitchy Adkins playing in his 50th game were crumbing all the opportunities that came along.

The Mul boys didn’t take the pedal off all game and a great team effort saw them really punish their opponents which was great to see.

Goals: Mulwala: Jyda House 11, Charley McKenna 4, Daniel Psaltiras 3, Rory Bartlett 1, Hudson Gillies 1, Jett Peters 1,

Mitch Adkins 1.

Nathalia: Charlie Dietrich 1.

Best: Mulwala: Jyda House, Charley McKenna, Hudson Gillies, Jett Peters, Caleb Mitchell, Oscar Elliott.

Nathalia: Gus Bramwell, Oliver Sheehan, Max Frostick, Darcy Conroy, Jack Hutchins, Mason Cobbledick.

Fourths

Nathalia 14.10.94 defeated Mulwala 0.3.3.

It was great to have the boys back playing footy in NSW after the 2-week break and unfortunately they forgot to bring their footy boots.

Nathalia had a few too many bigger lads that took hold of the game early and the Mul boys couldn’t get near the footy.

Max Holgate was having a great crack and giving fellow onballers Van, Ollie and Zach some good use. Nash was as usual getting plenty of it and playing well above his size, and Max and Sonny O’Bryan were trying to show up the old man before he had a run in the 2’s later on.

The boys kept trying all day and will look forward to some continuous play.

Best: M. Holgate, O. Nagle, N. McNamara, M. O’Bryan, S. O’Bryan.

Roxy applied pressure in defence all game which resulted in numerous turnovers.

Charlie worked hard all game in WD. Another win for the girls who are having a great season.