Melton Centrals hand Diggers Rest shock defeat to end RDFNL drought
Melton Centrals has knocked off RDFNL rival Diggers Rest for the first time in nearly two decades to send coach Matt Sproule out on a high.
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Talk about finishing the season on a high.
Melton Centrals punished a wayward Diggers Rest to record a stunning six-point RDFNL upset win at Bloomdale Oval on Saturday.
The Blues’ victory ended a nearly two decade long drought against the Burras and sent retiring coach Matt Sproule out on a high.
Diggers will rue a horrific 5.15 (45) to 8.3 (51) scoreline but that would be to undersell Centrals’ performance.
The underdogs led at every change bar quarter-time and while the Burras peppered the goals in the second half, the Blues pressure forced difficult shots.
Sproule said it showed what the club is capable of.
“I got told 19 years (since we’d beaten Diggers Rest), so it’s great to finish on,” Sproule said.
“A nice way to finish the season and a nice way to finish my coaching career, it was good fun.
“We had Sammy Apineru’s 150th game and Jonny Ferri’s 150th last week, so the boys have lifted for them the last two weeks.
“The club is in good nick, we just need to get a couple of quality players and we’ve shown that when we come with the right attitude we can play really good footy.
“The seniors never miss a training session, they love hanging out together, so they’ve been a pleasure to coach and got reward for effort.”
Diggers Rest held a two-point margin at quarter-time before Melton Centrals took control in the second term, claiming a three-point lead at half-time.
The Blues booted three goals straight to extend the advantage to 11 points at three-quarter-time as the Burras added 1.4.
Centrals kicked the first major of the last term to make it 17 points before the home team finished strongly – but inaccurately – kicking 1.6.
“To be honest, at half-time we had similar scoring shots and were a few points up,” Sproule said.
“They missed a couple of the third and kicked poorly in the last but we kicked the first goal of the last quarter to go three goals up and had a chance to go four goals in front.
“They had all the play in the last 15 minutes but we put numbers behind the footy and chipped it around.”
Off-season recruit Brad Layton played his best game for Centrals with a match-winning five goals, while Dylan McDonald, Jacob Thornton-Gielen and Evan Donoghue excelled in defence.
Sam Apineru also impressed in his milestone match.
“Milan Savic has played the last two weeks after his basketball commitments finished and when he plays he doesn’t need to get much of the footy,” Sproule said.
“Milan gets the second best defender, Dylan Jobson gets the best and Brad can play closer to goals where he likes playing and he made the most of it.
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RDFNL: END OF AN ERA AT DIGGERS REST
“Dylan McDonald played on (Mitch) Jensen and he kicked two.
“He’s only 20 years of age and has improved out of sight this year.
“We’ve been trying to play him up the ground but he needed to play back on some good forwards the last two weeks and has been super, he ran off Jensen and did really well.”
The win sees Melton Centrals finish eighth with three wins this season, the same number as last year removing two games against Western Rams.
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