Darley is the only undefeated team in BFNL after win over Melton
Darley stands alone as the only undefeated team in the Ballarat league after outlasting premier Melton in a top-of-the-table blockbuster.
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Darley is the last unbeaten team standing in the Ballarat league.
The Devils stormed home to snare an 11-point win over reigning premier Melton on Saturday in the top-of-the-table battle of undefeated teams at MacPherson Oval.
In a see-sawing contest, Darley over-turned a five-point three-quarter-time deficit by kicking the only three goals of the final term to win 11.10 (76) to 8.17 (65).
The Bloods had four more scoring shots but were left to rue inaccuracy after kicking 3.7 in the first quarter, 3.6 in the third and 0.4 in the last.
However, Devils coach Dan Jordan played down the significance of the Round 8 fixture.
“Given who we’ve played in the last couple of weeks we’ve always had an eye on this game,” he said.
“We knew coming off Melton South and Lake Wendouree it would be hot early and they were certainly the better side early but we ground our way back into the game well.
“I think they were a little underdone and needing a break so it was a bit of an opportunity for us but it was good to get the win.
“We’re not treating it as anything other than another four points to be honest.”
A “two to three-goal breeze” saw the lead change at every interval as Melton took an early seven-point margin, Darley held sway at half-time by four points before the Bloods held a five-point advantage at three-quarter-time.
“We went a little bit defensive in the third quarter thinking if we were within a few goals at three-quarter-time then we could over-run them,” Jordan said.
“They came out hard at the start of the third and kicked three in a row but we dug our heels in and got the game back on our terms half-way through so the boys were pretty buoyant at the break.
“Our last quarter was our best patch, in truth we should have won the game by more.
“We dominated the last quarter but didn’t get the reward for effort we were looking for but in saying that they were also pretty wasteful with shots that would have kept them in the game or even put them back in front.”
Billy Myers continued his outstanding start to the season, kicking three goals and helping put Darley on top in the middle when he was moved into the ruck.
The versatile big man now has 23 goals for the season, equal third in the competition, but proved he can make an impact anywhere on the ground.
“He’s starting to really find his feet now, Billy,” Jordan said.
“We’ve used him in a number of different roles, he started up forward and was a focal point but then we threw him in the ruck because (Brett) McIntyre and (Ben) Archard were having a bit of dominance in there.
“He did an ankle just before half-time but played through it and I thought he gave us a lot of imputes in there.
“If I played him forward the whole time he probably kicks 60, 70 goals but he’s a victim of his own versatility, for us it’s really handy.”
Experienced defender Matthew Brett excelled, Will Johnson kicked three goals, while Billy Sullivan, Shane Page and Adam and Andrew Azzopardi also impressed.
Myers is expected to be fit for the trip to North Ballarat in a fortnight with his ankle injury but Luther Baker is racing the clock after injuring his hamstring.
For Melton, Blake Souter was best-afield, while Archard, Lachie Walker and Jordyn Cotter were also important.
Despite the win, and 8-0 start without a home ground, Jordan said Melton was still the team to beat this season.
“It was good for our boys to be exposed to that four-quarter intensity as opposed to quick bursts that win games,” he said.
“We’ll get a lot of confidence out of it … now that we’ve got a big scalp like that I think we’re in the mix but we’ve got a tricky little patch coming up too.
“In my opinion the loss isn’t necessarily bad for them, there was a bit of talk before the game that they were looking for the break.
“Eight games from the start of the year in our competition is a pretty tough ask, so maybe we got them at a time where there was an opportunity and we took advantage of that.
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“I still think they’re the benchmark, they’ve played the top six, whereas we’ve played Sunbury and Melton and East Point, who we also got at an opportunistic time.”
The BFNL will take a league bye over the King’s Birthday long weekend with Darley travelling to North Ballarat and Melton having back-to-back byes.
Elsewhere, Bacchus Marsh came away with a 10-point win over Lake Wendouree in Ballarat, North Ballarat thrashed Melton South by 192 points, Sebastopol got the better of East Point by 34 points and Sunbury was too good for Redan at home in a 27-point win.
What the future looks like for Ballarat league
With Melton South departing, the Ballarat league has been left with 10 teams for the 2025 season but “future planning” means a replacement could be found for the Panthers.
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