Melton back in the Ballarat league grand final with win over Sebastopol
Melton is one win away from ending a 17-year premiership drought after marching into the Ballarat league decider with a commanding semi-final win.
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Melton is back on the grand final stage.
The Bloods secured direct passage to the Ballarat league’s big dance with a 43-point win over Sebastopol at MacPherson Park on Saturday.
After two years of cancelled seasons, the club atoned for its preliminary final loss to the Burras in 2019 and will have a chance at redemption after losing the 2018 decider.
Melton is looking to snap a 17-year drought with the club’s last flag won in 2005.
Despite kicking 0.5 in the first quarter, the Bloods controlled the game from quarter-time and ran out 12.14 (86) to 6.7 (43) winners.
Coach Aaron Tymms said holding Sebastopol to one goal with the wind in the third quarter was critical.
“I reckon it was a three to four goal breeze and we missed some really easy goals, so it must have been horrible,” he said.
“There was only two goals kicked up that end and one of them was a 50 (metre penalty).
“We knew we had enough footy, we kicked five behinds (in the first quarter), so we knew we could come back.
“That third quarter was big, our defenders stood tall, and we outscored them so that was huge from our defenders and our midfielders to get back and help.”
After a five-goal opening term, the Burras would kick only one more major for the game.
Melton piled on six unanswered goals in the second quarter to turn a 26-point deficit into a 12-point lead at half-time.
Despite kicking into the wind, the Bloods outscored the visitors in the third term, increasing the lead to 21 points and finished strongly to seal a grand final berth.
Liam Carter starred with four goals, including all three fourth-quarter majors, while Riley Walker, Brett McIntyre and Kyle Borg also impressed.
Melton’s reserves also beat Sebastopol in the major semi-final, ensuring two teams would vie for premiership glory.
After missing a second week through injury, ruckman Mark Orr looms as a likely grand final inclusion.
Tymms said he was dreading selection night ahead of next week’s game.
“Yeah, they’ll probably be a couple of blokes that will be devastated,” he said.
“We’ve still got two weeks and a couple of training sessions to go.
“The reserves beat Sebas to go straight through too, so when we’re picking on Thursday night as least they’ll have a game to go back to. It eases my mind a little bit but it will still be tough.”
Lachlan Cassidy was Sebastopol’s best in defeat with Riley O’Keefe, James Richards, Toby Hutt and Connor O’Shea also standing tall.
The Burras will face Ballarat in the preliminary final at Mars Stadium on Saturday.
The Swans survived an stirring Darley comeback in the minor semi-final to keep their season alive after losing to Melton in the qualifying final.
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Tymms was looking forward to watching the two potential rivals clash.
“We didn’t play against (Josh) Gibson the week before and I thought he was the different against Darley so it will interesting to have another look at him,” Tymms said.
“Our game was really contested so I reckon there’ll be a few sore Sebas boys but after watching the Ballarat-Darley game it looked like Ballarat ran out of legs late.
“I’m going to stick with Sebas only just for the fact I picked them at the start of the year as my best side.”
WHY MELTON IS EXTRA WARY OF BURRAS THREAT
Melton coach Aaron Tymms certainly won’t be taking Sebastopol lightly, after all he picked them for the premiership in the pre-season.
Asked before the season which Ballarat league club other than your own would win the flag, Tymms nominated Sebastopol and nothing he’s seen in 2022 has changed his mind.
“At the start of the year I was asked who could win the flag, if not yourself, and I think Sebas,” he said.
“I think they’re a really good, even side, obviously very dangerous up forward and defensively they’re really strong as well.
“(Tony) Lockyer might have hurt himself but he’s their general and sets them up off the half-back line, (Lachlan) Cassidy is very good in the midfield, (James) Keeble is an X-Factor in the forward line and (Toby) Hutt kicked four on the weekend.”
Along with the Bloods, the Burras are arguably the form team in the competition, winning six of their past seven matches.
Sebas knocked out last year’s “minor premier” North Ballarat on Saturday in an elimination final to set up a semi-final showdown for a place in the grand final.
Melton booked its place with an impressive 23-point win over Ballarat in the qualifying final at MacPherson Oval.
With the Bloods’ reserves also playing Sebas on Saturday, Tymms forecast a tough night at the selection table.
Ruckman Mark Orr is expected to be fit after missing the win over the Swans through injury.
“He copped a bit of a knock against Lake in the last game so we thought we’d give him the week off and hopefully he’s cherry ripe now,” Tymms said.
“We got through unscathed, which is good, so providing Orr gets up we should be able to pick our best side.
“It will be a difficult Thursday night because there weren’t too many blokes who didn’t play well on Saturday, so someone is going to be very unlucky.
“We play Sebas in the reserves as well so it’s a good position to be in, the club’s healthy at the moment.
“There’s a big prize for the winner, it would be nice to go straight through but it’s not the end of the world if not.”
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After a tight first half – Ballarat held a one-point lead at half-time – Melton kicked away in the third quarter.
The Bloods booted six goals to one to break the game open and take a 31-point buffer into the final change before running out 13.9 (87) to 9.10 (64) winners.
Jack Walker was named best-on-ground in the win, while Jaycob Hickey, Jordyn Cotter and Brenton Payne also impressed.
Ballarat will tackle Darley in the minor semi-final after the Devils eliminated reigning premier East Point by a single behind on Sunday.
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