Victorian Amateur Football Association gets over Western Australian Amateur Football League at Trevor Barker Oval
The VAFA’s successful year of representative football continued on Saturday with the Premier B to Division 4 side beating the WAAFL at Sandringham’s Trevor Barker Oval.
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The Victorian Amateur Football Association’s successful year of representative football continued on Saturday with the Premier B to Division 4 side coming away with a 16-point win over the Western Australian Amateur Football League at Sandringham’s Trevor Barker Oval.
The Big V broke a seven-game losing streak at this level, and added to the wins of the Premier men’s and women’s teams in Adelaide earlier this year, when it scrapped its way to a 9.6 (60) to 6.8 (44) win over the Sandgropers.
With the Ammos securing their first win at this level since 2006, coach Russell Barnes couldn’t contain his excitement for a team that had less than four weeks to prepare.
“The team have done a great job in such a small amount of time, it was a really good team effort from the entire 22 players,” he said.
“It was a tough day overall and it swung back and forward. There were periods where we dominated, then they got the upper hand and it seemed to go like that all day.
“With the breeze going across the ground there wasn’t much advantage to either end and our focus was to trap the ball forward and create stoppage after stoppage.”
Eight points down at the major break, the Vics drew level by three-quarter time. The Big V then slammed on three unanswered goals in the last stanza to break the visitors’ hearts.
Though Kane Nissenbaum (Ajax) earned the Spirit of the Big V award, Barnes found it difficult to select his best players.
“It’s hard to pick players out and I don’t really think anyone took the game apart but I would say that captain Tim Nixon (Caulfield Grammarians) set the standard and Phil Dyck (Aquinas) changed the game when he started to dominate the ruck and get possessions around the ground,” he said. “Nissenbaum went onto their prime mover and shut him out of the game and Manny Dolan (St Mary’s Salesian) worked very hard up forward for us.
“In the last quarter WA had 15 inside 50s, so credit must also go to Andy Kay (Marcellin) and Max Ellis (Fitzroy) who held them out and kept them goalless.
In a tight game Nick Reeves Smith (Ivanhoe), with two goals, was the only multiple goal kicker for the Vics.
Barnes said he hoped this level of football becomes a consistent part of the VAFA rep calendar.
“At the end of the day we wanted to get respect by winning but more importantly make great contacts for life and that’s what this type of football is about and that’s making connections and friends for life,” he said “It’s great for everybody involved and you never forget days like this.”
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