Ocean Grove break nine-game losing streak with stirring victory over Anglesea

Despite a nine-game losing streak, a BFNL veteran knew a drought-breaking win wasn’t far away. Read where he felt the club had gone wrong.

Jye Walker joined Ocean Grove in 2023 after a coaching stint at Newcomb. Picture: Alan Barber

It was the kind of stirring victory Ocean Grove veteran Jye Walker knew they had in them, despite an alarming win-loss record in 2025.

After a promising start to the BFNL season with a 20-point win over last year’s semi-finalist Modewarre, the Grubbers would drop the next nine in a row, and in pretty emphatic style.

Their barren run flew in the face of what is widely regarded as the most even BFNL season in a long time, with the likes of Queenscliff, Portarlington and Newcomb showing strong signs of improvement.

However, Walker, who arrived at Shell Rd in 2023 after his coaching tenure at Newcomb was cut short, thought the Grubbers’ issues this year could be linked to a lack of forward connection.

And it was obviously showing up on the scoreboard.

Jye Walker spoils the ball against Newcomb in his first season at the Grubbers in 2023. Picture: Mark Wilson

Coming into Round 11 against Anglesea, the Grubbers had won just a single opening term of the season, against the Warriors, with six goalless quarters and a total of 72 points.

He hasn’t seen the Premier Data numbers from Saturday, but it felt like the Grubbers had enjoyed the usual amount of possession and inside 50s at Shell Rd against the Roos.

And this time they were sticking forward line marks while negating Anglesea’s surge momentum.

“Forward of centre going inside 50, we made a lot of errors throughout the year and we just couldn’t finish off that kick inside 50 for a lot of our season,” Walker said.

“Whether that’s down to every team having a big key forward (apart from us) ... or whether its down to just not trusting our instincts or the confidence was down in players after loss after loss, it’s hard to put your finger on.

“When you see it go right, and you see guys lower their eyes and hit up the forward and leading targets, it allows a lot more versatility in the ball movement because (opposition) players can’t drop off you anymore.

Ocean Grove broke a nine-game losing streak after beating Anglesea. Picture: Ocean Grove Football Club.

“It’s not so predictable to the opposition but it is to your teammates, that’s probably what’s happened to us most of the year, we’ve gone inside and we’ve missed a few targets so we’ve ended up going long and high ... and they just pick us off.

“We got some one-one-ones inside 50 (on Saturday) rather than just going to packs more often than not.”

He said the Grubbers were also winning enough contested footy, but they were coughing it up too frequently and found it difficult to win it back.

However, the 1-9 Ocean Grove were also able to respond after the Roos slowly chiselled away at their lead.

Anglesea were within two points late in the third term after Declan Everett kicked a major.

But the Grubbers were able to win their third final term of the year and equal their best last quarter score of 6.3 — produced after two scoreless terms against Queenscliff in Round 5.

“You probably could have forgiven a few of the guys (for thinking): ‘Here we go, how are we going to hold onto this?’,” he said.

“Maybe just because of the way we were playing during the day, players didn’t go into their shells, they still played to win and move the footy and try and create something, which allowed us to still have that ball movement that we wanted.

“Young guys they get pretty confident with themselves when they get a bit of momentum.

“We’ve got a few young half back flankers and some young guys who have taken up key positions in our backline, who were able to chop off their kicks into the forward 50 and take off and take the game on.

“That bit of young confidence was able to shine for us.”

Taj Wyburd, with the 2024 WAFL premiership cup, joined Ocean Grove during the off-season.

However, Walker was quick to point out last year’s grand finalists were missing some “prime movers” with Dale Kerr, Max Virgona, Dylan Featon and Noah McGregor-Dawson out.

Walker said the Grubbers had been feeling confident after a solid pre-season, but the results simply haven’t fallen their way.

“Misery loves company and sometimes when you don’t get things right, it snowballs a little bit,” he said.

“Pretty quickly you lose one or two and then we’re down nine in a row.

“It certainly hasn’t been the season we were hoping for.

“There wasn’t much difference in the way that we prepared on the weekend, we’ve tried to keep the group upbeat all year, training probably hasn’t dropped throughout the season, I think it was more of a persistent application (on Saturday).

“We were able to stick some tackles, actually use the ball well early and deny Anglesea a bit of the football and a bit of their surging game which gives them a lot of momentum.

“Get a good start for the first time in a while.”

Originally published as Ocean Grove break nine-game losing streak with stirring victory over Anglesea