Gisborne Giants celebrating first senior Riddell District victory, beating Lancefield

It’s taken Riddell District newcomer Gisborne Giants just five games to register their first senior victory … and, yes, the boys knew the words to the song.

Gisborne Giants sing the song after their first win.

They knew the words and the song was “sung with gusto”.

Gisborne Giants celebrated their first senior Riddell District win on Saturday, making history with a 15-point win over Lancefield.

In their fifth match since stepping into senior football, the Giants ran out 16.7 (103) to 13.10 (88) victors at Lancefield Park – also the first time the fledgling club has hit 100 points.

Captain Brad Mangan booted five goals and gun midfielder Matt Quigley was prolific to guide their younger teammates.

Gisborne coach Andrew Hall said it was a massive achievement for those that had helped build the club.

“I said to the group, we need to extend immense gratitude to the people that built our foundation,” Hall said.

“The build from the grassroots was clearly evident, we’ve debuted nine juniors and we’ve now got under-17s getting critical 19s experience.

“Saturday was great, we celebrated that night and that was around the process that’s been put in place and the people around us.

“They did know the words, I think there’s been discussions among the group that if we were lucky enough to secure a win, no one wanted to be out of the loop.

“It was sung with gusto. We were out the back, in the big shed, it was a full house.”

Hall paid tribute to the several people who had had a hand in getting the club off the ground; Adrian O’Connor, Mark McKenzie, Aaron McLean, Tom Heagney, Steve Atherton, John Claassen, Jarrod Dixon, Anton Bant, Brendan du Camp, Matt Bourke, Gary Hester and Brandon Gauci.

Both clubs were chasing their first win of the season but it was the Giants that burst out of the blocks with a five-goal opening term.

A 14-point quarter-time lead had been whittled down to 11 points at half-time.

However, the visitors surged again in the third quarter, piling on six goals to two to take a 32-point lead into the final change.

It proved match-winning.

While Lancefield kicked four goals to two in the last, the result condemns the Tigers to a 21st straight defeat dating back to 2023.

Quigley was outstanding in midfield, while Hall paid tribute to some of his young charges.

“Matt played the best game of the year, he was outstanding, and Brad Mangan stood up as leaders do,” Hall said.

“Our young emerging ruckman in Seth was absolutely brilliant, James O’Connor, Cameron Freake and Oscar Schnoor, you could see the development in those young guys and the confidence level building.

“One of the strengths of our group has been learning off the best players in the comp, they’re running around with Daniel Toman and Sam Darley and learning so much each week.”

For Lancefield, Leroy Ristevski was named best afield, along with Harry Behan, while Tom Jackson couldn’t have done much more, booting seven goals.

Gisborne now faces a challenging month, facing Wallan, Diggers Rest and Riddell before a bye.

Hall said the win was perfectly timed for his young team to reflect on and build from.

“With young people it’s really important to have positives they can grab on to and a win gives them a platform from which they can build,” he said.

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“We understand what we’re up against in the next three weeks and this win will give them a bedrock from which they can perform.

“Wins don’t come along easily, so everyone you’ve got to bank and they’ll use it to underpin their next performance.”

Elsewhere, Riddell was too strong for Woodend-Hesket in a 39-point win and Romsey rained on Marlion Pickett’s Melton South debut, pinching a two-point nail-biter.

Wallan’s accuracy saw it edge Macedon by 13 points, despite the Cats having seven more scoring shots, and Kyneton thumped Melton Centrals by 67 points.

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Gisborne Giants are 0-4 and coach Andrew Hall has “enjoyed every minute of it”.

The Riddell District expansion club has shown some promising signs in its debut season, pushing Woodend-Hesket to 27 points on Saturday in its best performance to date.

In its opening three matches, the Giants lost to Kyneton by 110 points, Macedon by 53 and Melton South by 84.

Positively, the club has cracked 60 points in two of its four outings and scored 59 in the rain-affected clash with the Panthers.

Matt Quigley, James Hall, Matt Wallace and Brodie Andrews have been outstanding, while skipper and key forward Brad Mangan has 10 goals.

Matt Quigley in action for Gisborne Giants. Picture: Lissa Hall

Gisborne travels to fellow winless club Lancefield on Saturday looking to open its senior account.

Hall admits its an unusual feeling for a winless club but it’s an unusual season.

“We’ve had a wonderful start,” he said.

“At 0-4, we had a gathering on Saturday night but the feeling around the place was totally excitement about travelling to Lancefield this week.

“The club has put so much work into building the program, to get to this point with a bunch of young people and our older stock who couldn’t be happier with where we’re at, it’s really good signs.

“We’re pinching ourselves we’re in the comp and been competitive.”

Gisborne’s young players could have been forgiven for throwing in the towel at half-time against Woodend, having just given up a nine-goal second term to trail by 43 points.

However, the Giants won the second half – the first time they’ve achieved that – and Hall said it felt like the club had had a win.

“We’re starting to better understand the type of footy we want to play, take the game on and having an attacking mindset, I encourage them to make mistakes and learn from them,” Hall said.

“It was an interesting half-time, we came in knowing we’d taken the foot off the pedal and that’s what good sides can do to you.

“I challenged the group to sustain a four-quarter effort and they came out with a renewed vigour, save for some decision-making errors and things that are easily fixable, we were in the game.

“To quote Craig Macrae, we felt like we were winners, we felt at the end of the game we’d had a small win.”

While the Kyneton season-opener was a blow out, Gisborne was only 10 points down at half-time against Macedon, last year’s preliminary finalist.

The team was 32 points behind at half-time against Melton South.

Hall said match fitness and consistency were areas of improvement.

“The game against Kyneton was exactly what we expected against what we think will be a top-four side,” he said.

“The learnings that came out of that game, particularly the level of the competition and the type of gamestyle – the contested style the league is known for – really showed. That was a great learning curve for our kids.

“The second game against Macedon was a really good game to better understand a top-four side.

“They had a few out but nonetheless we adjusted better to the pace of the game, certainly to the contested ball, for a half or a little more of a half of footy.

“The game against Melton South, on a smaller ground, heavily contested in poor conditions was a real test for our younger group.

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“Nonetheless, we were in the game until about the 20 minute-mark of the third quarter and I was really pleased with the effort.

“Again, just getting that match fitness and readiness into 10 to 12 kids that had played under four games of senior football became telling.”

Gisborne will be eyeing a historic win at Lancefield on Saturday against a Tigers outfit desperate for a win themselves, currently riding a 20-game losing streak

It then gets difficult with matches against grand finalist Wallan, 2023 premier Diggers Rest and reigning premier Riddell before a Round 9 bye.