Country footy: Myrtleford, Irymple and Stawell victorious
Myrtleford has overcome more serious injuries to record an unforgettable win against another finals-bound team. See who lifted them over the line.
Victoria
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Myrtleford is literally limping towards another Ovens and Murray league finals campaign with a wretched run of injuries that will deny the club a serious shot at ending a 52-year premiership drought.
A casualty list that includes season-ending injuries to co-coaches Jake Sharp and Dawson Simpson and big doubts about whether former Greater Western Sydney and Western Bulldogs player Ryan Griffen will play again grew on Saturday with serious knee and leg injuries to Rhys Grant and Ben Paul.
But Myrtleford rose above the latest setbacks for a courageous 11-point win against Wangaratta Rovers.
The two teams’ chances of pushing into the top five appear remote. They will almost certainly meet again in the elimination final.
Sharp suffered his fourth serious knee injury five weeks ago and Simpson is also out long-term with a knee injury.
“It’s one of the best wins I’ve been part of and I wasn’t even out there,” Sharp said.
“We’ve been challenged with injuries, but the application and task from our players for four quarters ultimately got us the win.
“Our league is so strong at the moment that you can’t afford to be off your game.
“But in terms of where we and Rovers sit on the ladder it was a really important win.”
Sharp confirmed Simpson’s knee was in a “bad way”.
“I’m not sure what we’ve done, smashed a few plates or broken a few mirrors, but hopefully that is it for the year,” he said.
Myrtleford had 22 senior and reserves players on the injured list at the weekend.
It trailed by 15 points in the third term, but pulled the deficit back to a goal at the last change.
Gutsy win by â¦@alpinesaintsâ© over â¦@wangroversâ© today in â¦@omfnlâ© â¦@theweeklytimesâ© â¦@SENVicCountryâ© â¦@ctryfootyscoresâ© pic.twitter.com/g2NTWsY6lk
— David Johnston (@david_johnston5) July 23, 2022
Scores were level twice early in the final term before Myrtleford kicked away with five goals to two with a run of impressive goals from captain Mitch Dalbosco and Kurt Aylett, who finished with three, and debutant Levi Young, who booted the sealer from the square.
Veteran Matt Dussin was cool in a crisis late with two timely marks across halfback and Sam Martyn kept finding the ball at crucial stages.
Murray Waite was also a star with four goals in the first three quarters when Myrtleford was under siege from Rovers, who couldn’t deliver the knockout blow.
Wangaratta Rovers coach Daryn Cresswell, who is yet to coach an O and M team into a grand final, has major injury concerns of his own.
League best and fairest contender Sam Murray may not play again until finals with a serious hamstring injury from last week’s loss to Yarrawonga and another former AFL recruit, Lukas Webb, also missed with a hamstring injury.
Dangerous forward Tom Boyd was held goalless.
Callum Crisp, the younger brother of Collingwood star Jack, was the best big man on the ground for Myrtleford.
SUNRAYSIA
Wentworth’s unbeaten start to the Sunraysia league has ended with Irymple stunning its highly fancied opponent by 46 points on Saturday.
Wentworth had won 11 matches on the trot and Irymple was coming off a narrow loss last round to Ouyen United.
But Irymple successfully shut down its opponent by restricting it to just four goals for the match.
Wentworth went goalless in the second and third terms with Irymple co-coach Tom Brownbridge totally blanketing Wentworth coach Wade Hancock, who had kicked 58 goals for the season going into the match.
Another avenue to goals for Wentworth, Jackson Ferguson was a late out.
Irymple’s ability to shut down Wentworth largely came from dominant displays across halfback from Nando Cirillo and Zac Wandin.
Connor Mensch’s pace on the wing for Irymple was also a telling factor in an even team performance from the victors.
Irymple is still missing prime mover Dan Coghlan, who has not played since round one due to injury and small forward Nick Pezzaniti, who has kicked 35 goals in nine matches, has also been out for the last month.
WIMMERA
Stawell recruit Mitch Thorp played a starring role in a thrilling six-point win against Dimboola on Saturday.
Scores were level with less than two minutes to play in a match played in rain for the entire day when Thorp snapped the winning goal.
Thorp kicked all Stawell’s four goals for the match to be easily best-on-ground.
Only one-point separated the two teams at quarter, half and three-quarter time before the deadlock was broken late as ruckman Jarrod Stafford and wingman Tom Walker were also among Stawell’s best players.
Jesse Eckel, the brother of Stawell coach Tom, also did a telling tagging job on Dimboola co-coach Jak Landt.
The Wimmera league premiership race is wide open with Dimboola beating top team Ararat by five points last week and third placed Stawell 1-1 in head-to-head encounters with Ararat.
Second placed Minyip-Murtoa beat Stawell by one point last time they met with the two teams to play again in round 17.
Originally published as Country footy: Myrtleford, Irymple and Stawell victorious
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